Business class: Upping the upgrade

It's more than just a bigger seat. While most flyers cope with limited legroom and a dwindling list of amenities, the space at the front of the plane is only getting nicer. What was once a slightly wider chair and nicer flight attendant may now be a seat behind a privacy wall that doubles as a bed and comes with a curated selection of skin products. It’s economics. Business-class seats are a huge driver of airline revenue. And from the beginning, the not-quite first-class seats have provided airlines new ways to create loyal customers and then reward them for their allegiance. Buckle up and stretch out your legs, we’re going to fly through this. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Sponsored by [Quartz Weekly Obsession] Business class November 02, 2021 A cushy view from the front --------------------------------------------------------------- While most flyers cope with limited legroom and a dwindling list of amenities, the space at the front of the plane is only getting nicer. What was once a slightly wider chair and nicer flight attendant may now be a seat behind a privacy wall that doubles as a bed and comes with a curated selection of skin products. It’s economics. Business-class seats are a huge driver of airline revenue. And from the beginning, the not-quite first-class seats have provided airlines new ways to create loyal customers and then reward them for their allegiance. Buckle up and stretch out your legs, we’re going to fly through this. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( By the digits [12%:]( Share of airline passengers who are business travelers [$40,000:]( Amount American Airlines reportedly saved by removing one olive from each salad served in first class [$38,000:]( Price of a one-way, first-class suite ticket between New York and Abu Dhabi in 2016. It included a three-room suite with a living room, double bed, and private bathroom with shower, but will [likely never fly again](. 279%: Increase in premium-economy seats available for booking globally between 2015 and 2019, according to data from Cirium analyzed by Quartz [$675:]( Price of round-trip business and first-class fares Cathay Pacific accidentally advertised—and honored—in 2019, about one-tenth the normal price [+7 kg (15 lbs):]( Average weight of business travelers compared to the average leisure traveler Giphy EXPLAIN IT LIKE I’M 5! Premium seating is big business for airlines --------------------------------------------------------------- Business class is more than just luxury for those who can afford it—it’s important economics for airlines. To show how this works, [Quartz’s David Yanofsky analyzed]( a year’s worth of data on the most popular domestic route in the US: Los Angeles (LAX) to New York (JFK). The data showed that the 13% of passengers who paid at least $800 or more accounted for 40% of the revenue generated by this route. On top of that, the 3.6% of passengers who spent more than $2,000 on their tickets contributed 21% of the route’s aggregate revenue. American Airlines and United relied the most on these pricey tickets on the JFK to LAX route. Over 10% of each airline’s revenue on the route comes from tickets priced at $3,600 and up. But the more recent trend of offering tiered economy seating, from “[basic economy](” up through premium, may be even more of a reliable money maker. As accommodations in coach have declined and business class is still woefully out of reach for the masses, demand has grown for an in-between option. Enter “premium economy,” typically offering a few more inches of legroom and slightly better boarding status, which [Bloomberg calls]( “one of the most lucrative innovations in modern flying.” The [value to the airline]( is obvious: “Travelers pay prices that are broadly double–and sometimes triple–economy fares. And here’s the brilliant part from an airline’s perspective: in adding this cash-generating cabin, they incur only modestly higher costs without siphoning affluent travelers from their posher cabins.” Reuters/Hyungwon Kang Pop quiz Which of these is an actual name of an airline’s economy-plus class? Main Cabin UltraClub ClassyGlobal Traveler PlusHot Seat Correct. This is the real name of Air Asia’s economy-plus class. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Quotable “The majority of the high-value passengers prefer to be left alone than lavished upon. It’s utility that carries the day, not luxury.” — [Bruce Spear](, a travel and transportation analyst at consulting firm Oliver Wyman Giphy The way we ✈ now It’s all business all the time --------------------------------------------------------------- Just like there are aircraft configured to exclusively fly coach passengers like those operated by Southwest, Ryanair, Easyjet, and Spirit—there are aircraft focused on filling up planes with only business class passengers. Many have tried and [failed to operate whole airlines]( this way, but some airlines have found success on a route-by-route basis. Technically the supersonic Concorde was a 100% business class configuration, but with the aircraft about as wide as [a regional jet]( the offering was comparatively pedestrian. Of course, when your flight is only 3.5 hours long, there’s not a lot of time to take advantage of much additional luxury. Compagnie, a French airline, operates A321neo aircraft in entirely business class configurations. It flies a maximum of 76 passengers per plane between New York and Paris, New York and Nice, and Paris and Tel Aviv. Then there are [sports teams]( and the charter operators who cater to them by configuring planes with business class only arrangements. Generally speaking, tall and broad-shouldered athletes don’t fit well in standard airline seats. The US military flies VIPs in business class-like configurations that [roll onto transport planes](. It’s the famous backdrop for the circa 2012 viral Tumblr [Texts from Hillary Clinton](. Brief history [1940s:]( To meet the demand for cheaper fares, airlines create different classes that reserve the best levels of comfort and service for those willing to pay the most. Most airlines begin offering two classes, but some have four: deluxe (or upper first) class, first, tourist, and economy. [Late 1950s:]( The typical cabin layout that remains on most commercial airplanes is established, mainly on the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8, which remain two of the most popular airline models into the 1970s. [1976:]( The first commercial Concorde flights depart London and Paris. [1978:]( The US deregulates the airline industry, allowing carriers to compete on the basis of different cabins and ticket prices for the first time. [1979:]( In response to skyrocketing first-class fares, Qantas launches what many consider the first-ever “Business Class”—though others give credit to British Airways, which called its class between economy and first “Club Class” in 1978. That same year, Pan Am also reveals its “Clipper Class.” [1983:]( Delta introduces Medallion Service. The seats are similar to its coach class but the service is improved and the cabin has more privacy. Delta soon installs marginally wider seats and cabin dividers, establishing its first business class offering. [1992:]( Continental Airlines combines its first and business classes into one cabin, creating BusinessFirst. While not the first airline to take such a step, Continental is credited with popularizing the elite version of business class by offering seats with 55 inches (140 cm) of legroom and eliminating middle seats for fares comparable to other airlines’ inferior versions. [Early 1990s:]( Premium economy debuts in Taiwan and the UK, followed shortly by equivalent tiers at EVA Airways and Virgin Atlantic. [2000:]( British Airways is the first airline to offer fully flat beds in business class, setting a [new standard for comfort](. [2003:]( The final Concorde flight leaves New York en route to London. [2007:]( Jet Airways becomes the first airline to provide in-flight “suites,” but business-class “pods” soon become the norm. 2019: Airlines reach peak business class with 352 million seats available globally—more than double the 2013 level according to data from Cirium, analyzed by Quartz. [2021:]( Airlines see leisure travelers with lots of unspent frequent-flyer points booking flights in business and first class, splurging after a year away from travel. Photograph by Eric Helgas, styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Listen to this! An Obsession upgrade --------------------------------------------------------------- Want to know even more about business class? Then listen to [this week’s episode]( of the Quartz Obsession podcast, which features Quartz Things editor David Yanofsky going down the rabbit hole. [Click here to listen](, or subscribe on [Spotify](, [Apple](, [Google](, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sponsored by American Express [Listen now]( Fun fact! On early commercial flights circa the 1930s, all passengers on the twin-engine Douglas DC-3 [could recline on a bed](, though only the rich could afford to fly. Giphy MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION How do I score a deal on premium airfare? --------------------------------------------------------------- Definitely don’t try to just sneak into first class. [Bad things will happen](. And unfortunately, mistake fares like [the one made by Cathay Pacific]( are rare, but when they do happen, you can be alerted immediately and have a chance to pounce courtesy of sites like [secretflying.com](, [cheapflightslab.com](, and [flynous.com](. You’ll have better luck by saving your miles or points and putting them toward a premium seat or upgrade instead of an economy ticket. When compared to the cash price of a flight, points or miles used to book often go farther for seats in premium economy and business class. [Other techniques for saving on nicer flight accommodations include]( splitting up your trip with a middle destination (A-B, B-C) and considering lesser-known airlines, especially on transatlantic flights. Take me down this 🐰 hole! ✈️ United Airlines’ ultra-elite Global Services program isn’t advertised—and what it takes to earn the status is somewhat a mystery. Find out what we know about this and other invitation-only airline loyalty programs in a [special report for Quartz members](. (And yes, the story is a few years old, but Global Services still exists, though we don’t know how or if the membership criteria have changed—that’s the whole point.) YouTube Watch this! Flying first class? Of course not! Company policy. --------------------------------------------------------------- A boardroom of smarmy backstabbing Brits get their comeuppance for trying to sabotage their New York-based colleague in this classic British Airways ad from 1987. Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko Poll How important is flying comfortably? [Click here to vote]( Comfort is my middle nameI will starve for a week to avoid economyDon’t care, just get me there 💬 LET'S TALK! In our last poll about [zombies](, 41% of you said that in the case of a zombie apocalypse you’d band together with your fellow humans, 31% of you would head out on your own to avoid the undead and the living, and 28% of you would just let the hoard take you. 💌 Geoffrey wrote in to say: “Thought it’d be worth mentioning that the Chinese also have their own history of zombie-like beings called Jiangshi that have been around for a few hundred years or more as well. They’ve spawned their own genre in Hong Kong film for a few decades now and more recently even found an audience in a new eponymous tabletop role-playing game. Certainly very different from African and Western zombies but in their own right pretty interesting and popular in Asian culture.” 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20business%20class&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) 🎲 [Show me a random Obsession]( Today’s email was written by [Justin Sablich]( and [David Yanofsky](, edited by [Annaliese Griffin](, and produced by [Jordan Weinstock](. [facebook]([twitter]([external-link]( The correct answer to the quiz is Hot Seat. Enjoying the Quartz Weekly Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! Want to advertise in the Quartz Weekly Obsession? Send us an email at ads@qz.com. Not enjoying it? No worries. [Click here]( to unsubscribe. Quartz | 675 Avenue of the Americas, 4th Fl | New York, NY 10011 | United States