First and business class travel

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To alleviate the tedium and discomfort of long flights, many passengers investigate the option of flying in first or business class. This article discusses whether it's worth the price and how you can reduce the cost.

What you get

Amenities in first and business class vary widely by airline and even plane type, and it's absolutely imperative to research carefully before choosing.

The following overview discusses the amenities you can expect on a long-haul flight, loosely defined as over six hours. Few airlines offer first class for shorter trips anymore — except in the United States, where business class is usually not offered and domestic "first" approximates business class elsewhere — and short-haul business class is increasingly converging on offering the same limited in-flight facilities as economy class, the main selling point being flexibility and access to perks like airport lounges.

Business class

Why fly business? Lie-flat seats allow you to rest and hit the road running for your early morning meeting. (This is a good one to tell to your boss.) You can move around and stretch easily, helping prevent DVT. Fewer crying babies, strange body odors and hysterical first-time flyers.

For a long time, business class was akin to economy with larger seats and more seat pitch (space for your legs), but the continuing drive to strip all frills out of economy and outcompete other airlines' business classes has seen some major changes in the past decade.

At the airport, business class flyers typically have a separate check-in area or at least their own row, and can access a business class lounge that offers drinks, nibbles, newspapers and maybe Internet access. Some of the best lounges offer showers and even nap rooms. Note that you can typically only use a business class lounge at your departure airport and when waiting for a connection, although some airlines allow long-haul passengers to use them on arrival as well.

Once on board — and you're usually boarded first — seat pitch in business remains good by any measure: while 91cm (36") is considered unusually generous in economy, few business seats are under 100cm (40") and 130-153cm (50-60") is considered standard. However, for many travellers the most important consideration is recline, particularly the holy grail of the flat bed seat (180° recline, parallel to the floor), which pretty much guarantees a good night's sleep. True flat bed seats are rare and expensive, with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class pioneering the concept, but lie-flat seats, angled seats like those found in Air France's business class cabin, which recline to an angle of perhaps 170° and are vertically tilted to squeeze in better, are increasingly common. Generally, flat bed service is more expensive and can be found only on premium carriers like BA or Singapore Airlines. Any type of sleeper seat is usually only found on long-haul aircraft — check carefully to see whether your plane is equipped.

Food and drink in business class is much better than the slop usually encountered in economy class. You can expect to be given actual menus with several choices, with courses served one by one from actual porcelain plates and accompanied by free drinks. Some airlines allow you to preorder from an extensive menu before you fly, in which case the meal will be boarded specially for you.

Entertainment options in business class are also good, with audio and video on demand (AVOD) a standard amenity, either via a display built into your seat or portable DVD players passed out by request. Power sockets for laptops are often provided and Internet access may be available too.

The last perk comes as the end, as you'll be the first out of the plane and into the immigration and customs lines.

First class

Why fly first? It's your honeymoon and your wedding didn't bankrupt you. You're a paparazzi hoping to spot celebrities. You're a celebrity hoping to avoid paparazzi. You fly enough to gain frequent flier status privileges - including complimentary upgrades! It's your reward for all those mid-February business trips to Fargo.

Due to the arms race to improve business class, first class is a slowly dying breed. Many airlines have dropped it entirely and those that still offer it limit it to "premier" routes with very heavy traffic and hence enough people willing to pay for the privilege.

The first class experience begins before you board the plane: some airlines like Thai throw in limousine transfers to and from the airport, where you can expect to have your bags carried by a porter, be checked in at a private first class check-in area and enjoy your first glass of bubbly at a first-class lounge. Lufthansa's Frankfurt hub goes a step further, dedicating an entire terminal to first-class flyers!

Once onboard, first class is perhaps best known for the superlative meal service, and indeed high-quality champagne, lobster tail and caviar do still feature on some menus. These days, though, the trend is towards a wide selection of entrees served to order and lengthy wine lists. Service is very personal, with first class cabin crew tending to as few as two or three passengers each.

A standard amenity in modern first class is a lie-flat seat, which lies completely flat (180 degrees) and and is increasingly offered in suite or cradle configurations where you have a curtain or other privacy divider to separate you from other passengers. (Come 2007, Virgin Atlantic is promising to pioneer double suites on its A380 superjumbos, although its Upper Class is strictly speaking somewhere between business and first class!) When reclined, the seat will actually resemble a bed, made up by crew with comfortable linens, pillows, etc. Pyjamas are usually provided and even the toiletry kit will contain recognizable brand names. When sitting up, seat pitch regularly exceeds 200cm (80") and there are rarely more than 4 seats in a row.

Last but not least, first class gets the best seats in the plane. This is almost invariably at the front of the plane, where engine noise and turbulence are minimized.

How to fly

It's a question on the mind of many an economy class passenger as they troop past those big seats on their way to the back of the bus: just how did these lucky plonkers end up here, and how come I didn't?

Cash

The obvious way of flying in first or business class is to fork out a thick wad of money for the privilege (or, better yet, get your company to do it for you). However, this does not come cheap: as rough rules of thumb, you can expect to pay four times the normal economy fare for business, and eleven times for first class!

Generally speaking, there is no point in even looking for discounts for business or first-class seats on direct flights from A to B. Airlines know well that there is a certain core group of flyers who are willing to pay top dollar for the privilege of getting somewhere fast and in comfort, and charge accordingly. For example, a direct flight from Singapore to Los Angeles and back in business costs a whopping US$5000 before taxes, and discounted seats are simply not available.

A better solution is to look for connecting flights that go from A to B via a third destination C, preferably so that flights from C to B are very popular and competitive. If you're willing to route through Bangkok, you can now get from Singapore to LA on Thai Airways for just US$2880, and if you accept a less flexible, restricted J-class ticket the price drops further yet to an almost tolerable US$2240 — under three times the average economy class price.

If you're willing to further forego the "speed" factor, you may be able to scout out better deals. For example, at time of writing, Asiana offers business class flights between Bangkok and Los Angeles for just US$1600 (including taxes). The catch? You'll be stuck with a 15-hour layover at Seoul in both directions. Likewise, you can knock a few thousand off that US$5000 Singapore Airlines flight if you buy your tickets from Sri Lanka — but if you're departing from Singapore, that means flying Singapore-Colombo-Singapore-Los Angeles-Singapore-Colombo-Singapore!

If you're planning a really long trip, consider a Round the world ticket. They are also available in business and first class versions, which are comparatively affordable, being usually priced at (roughly) twice and thrice the economy version.

Last but not least, if flying with others, many airlines offer "companion tickets" where, if you buy one full-price business or first ticket, you get another one cheaply or even for free.

Frequent flyer miles

Many frequent flyers consider business/first class awards and upgrades the best way to use your miles. Instead of the 4x/11x spreads for cash, you can typically get an business class award for as little as 1.5x the miles for an economy and first class awards for just 2x (although the ratios vary from program to program).

The flip side, though, is lack of availability and total inflexibility. For airlines, getting somebody to burn up 200,000 miles on a first class seat that would otherwise have gone empty is an excellent trade — but having that award flyer displace somebody who would willingly have paid US$10000 for the seat is a terrible trade. You thus need to make your reservations as early as possible — some start calling as soon as award inventory is released, which may be 6-12 months before the flight!

If you have a long-haul economy flight that you'd like to upgrade, the airline may be willing to sell you an award upgrade, where you get bumped up to business class in exchange for some miles. These come in two flavors: the expensive confirmed upgrade, where you are guaranteed a business class seat in advance, and the comparatively cheap standby upgrade, where you will only get told at checkin (or even the gate!) whether you'll be sipping champagne in first or chewing on your knees in steerage today.

Status

Having elite status with an airline or within an airline alliance can net you complimentary upgrades to business or first. Typically this requires tens of thousands of miles to be racked up to your account, often requiring requalification each year, but if you’re flying more than about 25,000 miles a year, you should be able to gain at least a basic level of elite status. And, as you gain higher status (Continental Airlines, for examples, has four levels of elite) your chances of a free upgrades rise. Another tip regarding elite status which can guarantee an upgrade is to look for certain economy fare classes which offer instant upgrades for elite members. On Continental, once again, an elite member with a Y, B, or M class coach ticket will be automatically upgraded.

First/Business-only airlines

Several airlines have attempted to fly only entire airplanes of first or business-class seats. The fares are often much cheaper than the business class seats of major airlines, due to the business/first class flyers not having to subsidise the economy class seats.

• L'Avion [1] Paris Orly/New York Newark Liberty. Business class only airline.
• Paramount Airways [2] Multiple routes in Southern India. Business Class only domestic airline.

Erstwhile competitors MAXjet, EOS, and Silverjet all ceased operations in 2007-2008.

Discounters

A dodgy class of dealers known as first and business class discounters merge the two approaches: they buy people's frequent-flyer miles on the cheap, and sell them on to travellers at steeply discounted prices.

The business depends on a loophole in most airmile programs that allows the miles holder to redeem miles for tickets for other travelers. The stated intent of the clause is to allow the miles holder to exchange miles for tickets for family or close friends. Through a broker, the miles holder instead redeems their miles for a ticket for a stranger. The stranger pays the broker, and the broker pays the miles holder -- minus the brokerage fee.

Wikitravel does not give legal advice. Nothing on Wikitravel should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of law.

In terms of criminal law, dealing in frequent flyer miles is generally legal, except in the US state of Utah which has a specific state law prohibiting such trading. However, such trading usually violates the terms of the frequent flyer program itself. The contract stipulations for airline miles typically disallow buying tickets with miles for someone who isn't a close relation. If discovered, the airline may choose to punish one or both parties by invalidating remaining miles, invalidating the ticket itself without compensation, or (in extreme circumstances) even suing you or the broker for damages.

A discount ticket is therefore a shaky proposition; there is a real possibility that you will be refused the seat you paid thousands of dollars for. Airline mile brokers usually refuse to give refunds or other service if the transaction doesn't work out.

Types of discounters

There are brokers that deal in bulk purchase of seats and their resale and brokers that deal with individual sellers and purchasers. The latter tend to deal only with the most expensive seats and can give the best savings. For a real budget traveller the seats are still hundreds of dollars, but for a business traveller this can result in savings of thousands more. The former can yield excellent deals and are sometimes known as general sales agents or bucket shops. In dealing with them it is worth checking online oneself with the airline's own website in order to make sure that there is no cheaper ticket available.

Business brokers

• TheMileageClub.com[3]Facilitates the buying and selling of Miles, specializes in selling the cheapest First and Business Class tickets usually cheaper than the Airlines and Online travel sites to all international destinations

• AccessFares.com [4] - Travel + Leisure Magazine said AccessFares is the "Best Place to get the Lowest Business Class Fares".
• BizClassDeals.com [5] - BizClassDeals specializes in discounted Business Class airfares. They negotiate contracted bulk rates for Business Class tickets with most major airlines, and offer reduced fares for Business Class flights not available to the general public.
• Cooktravel.net [6] - Business class discounts from American Express.
• FlyBizClass.com [7] - Offers discounts on First and Business Class Flights to all destinations.
• GetJetSet.Net [8] - a very personalized service and they both sell tickets and buy miles. They're members of the Better Business Bureau and provide a guarantee on the ticket.
• Imperial Travel [9] - American Express Representatives, Virtuoso member with over 45 years in the business.
• MileageAwardsClearinghouse [10] - buys and sells tickets, has good information on

the legal position. No guarantees or business address available.

• Planetamex.com [11] - American Express Representatives. Specializing in international First Class Airfare and Business Class Airfare at a discounted fare.

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