Travel Made Luxurious -- for a Price

Nov. 17, 2006 — -- As millions of Americans gird themselves for the long airport lines and packed planes forecast for Thanksgiving travel, the buzz in the airline business is about sweeping improvements for the privileged few who can afford premium fares.

At least four airlines have announced investments of hundreds of millions of dollars -- not to relieve the cramped conditions in coach and improve the sometimes surly service, but to make first and business class on international routes even more luxurious. Why? Because that's where the money is.

Over the last two years premium travel -- first and business class -- has grown by double digits each year. Most airlines now count 40 percent of their revenue from passengers in the front. And airlines are battling for their business, because fares can range from $5,000 to $12,000 for first and business class trips across the Atlantic and Pacific.

One reason people are willing to pay that much money is to be fresh, rested and ready for a business meeting in a far-off location. Another is the increasing desire for privacy.

"Nobody wants to wake up while flying across the Atlantic and find somebody drooling in their face or be working on a laptop and see somebody looking over their shoulder," says Eva Leonard, editor in chief of Business Traveler USA.

"We've seen strong, underlying demand for premium traffic and it's not just driven by business travel," says Willie Walsh, CEO of British Airways. "We've seen very strong evidence that people are prepared to pay a premium and travel in comfort."

Walsh could also say that his airline and others are creating an "extreme" first and business class in pursuit of high fare passengers. It is the fastest growing segment of the airline business.

It was British Airways that began the competition for lucrative premium customers six years ago by introducing flat-bed seats in business class. And this week the airline unveiled yet a new seat and enhanced service -- the product of a $200 million investment.

The seats are 25 percent wider than the ones they replace and have a motorized mechanism that turns them -- at the touch of the customer -- into a six-foot-long bed. Airline officials said the seat, which took three years to design, holds the passenger in "the same position it naturally seeks in zero gravity."

But like its previous seat, the new BA seat is in a "ying-yang" or "toes to nose" configuration. One of the paired seats faces toward the front of the plane, the other toward the back.

BA has also caught up with some other carriers by introducing an on-demand entertainment system, with dozens of movie and music choices that come from a server based system.

And for the first time, two U.S. airlines -- American and Delta -- have announced they are rolling out flat- or almost flat-bed seats in business class.

American Airlines' new seats recline to 171 degrees and slide forward to a length of 77 inches. Like BA, it is adding a new entertainment system and claims its passengers can sleep in any position in the new seat.

"Customers will now have the capability of adjusting this seat to their personal preferences," said an American executive.

Delta, despite being bankrupt, is investing millions to roll out a new flat-bed business class seat. It will provide a six-foot, three-inch bed. Jim Whitehurst, Delta's CEO says it will be an "unparalleled experience for our customers."

But a note of caution: Neither airline will have its long-haul fleets fully equipped with the news seats for several years.

The standard for improvements in premium cabins may have been set recently by Singapore Airlines, one of the industry's leaders. In a splashy ceremony in Singapore featuring singing flight attendants and a light show, the airline raised the curtain on a wide ranging, $360 million overhaul of its first, business and economy cabins.

But first class was the showstopper, with what one reporter called the ultimate flying bed.

The seat is almost three feet wide -- double the width of the standard coach seat and a third bigger than first class seats on most other airlines. It is so big that two people can sit side by side.

When asked if that would return romance to flying, if two people could share the seat overnight, a Singapore executive said dryly, "The seat is for one person, only."

One, or two people, can watch one of 100 movies Singapore Airlines is offering on a new entertainment system, with a 23-inch flat video screen.

And then, there's the bed. It stretches out to 80 inches and comes complete with turndown service, including a duvet cover. The cost for the lucky few who can afford it is $10,000 or more, roundtrip.

Independent business travel analyst Joe Brancatelli says the seat "raises the bar" for other airlines.

Business Traveler's Leonard uses superlatives. "Over the top," she says. "Luxurious, extremely comfortable."

And all of the airlines upgrading their amenities will provide enhanced, personal service.

"It's the kind of service I don't think most Americans are accustomed to," Leonard says.

Indeed, in the crowded, cramped coach cabins in the United States service and food have mostly disappeared since 9/11. It has not returned despite recent booming business and rising fares -- up by 11.5 percent last year, the biggest increase in a decade. And few airlines are investing any money back in the cheap seats.

"It's sheer economics," Leonard says. "They understand that people are going to pay less for a ticket. They're going to expect to get less out of the experience."

Increasingly, all that economy class ticket gets you is getting from one place to another.

As the president of one of the world's biggest airlines said recently -- but not for attribution: "Ticket prices drive the amount of service in the back of the plane, just as they do in the front."