This is what's been proposed (along with other tax reforms). I don't know if it has been formally approved yet.
- Thread starter MiamiDRGuy
- Start date
Arajet Pricing - OUCH
Maria is correct. There are airlines (BA for one) in Europe where "business class" is basically economy seats (row) with the middle seat blocked off.
It is normally just for domestic travel through Europe you find this. Not the long-haul flights.
Sounds good, so that's one airline and their domestic service (within the UK?)? "in Europe", there are quite a few airlines... I have never flown with BA, so I cannot say, but I have flown, just to name a few, with Condor, Lufthansa, Air France, Ryanair, Austrian Air and Finnair. All of those are "in Europe"...
Also, it might well be that aircrafts used within one country, so actual domestic travel the situation is different, but I don't see where someone was referring to domestic travel before your post.
So my friend and the medical staff recommending traveling only in business class must have been lying then...
I haven’t seen that, it certainly is not common. Could be a replacement plane configured for a different route and a different seating configuration. However I can imagine a proper business class setup has more priority on long haul flights than domestic flights for the reasons already mentioned. Also narrowbody aircraft are more limited in seat configurations.
For me the “magic” of flying like decades ago has long gone and I actually started to hate it.
No, it is actually very common. That has always been the "standing" joke about domestic travel in Europe. The business class seat which is basically an economy seat/row with the middle seat blocked. You won't find it on long-haul international flights or every airline.
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I think pretty much every airline in Europe does this on their short-haul flights (not just domestic, I'm talking any flight less than 5 hours). Follow the links below if you don't believe me, for Swiss, Iberia, British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa. Those are the only ones I checked but I'm pretty sure all of them follow this model.
The point is, according to the airlines, that for short-haul people care more about the experience at the airport, baggage allowances, lounge access, priority boarding, priority luggage delivery at the destination, than they do about having bigger seats on the aircraft for a 2 hour flight.
Are you referring to the distance between rows (pitch?) or free seats in the middle, as I'm confused now? I have only been referring to the slightly higher distance between rows of seats (business vs. economy), as that was the only thing relevant in the case I mentioned. Well yes, if the middle seat is blocked, that does give more legroom, but I have no idea if that was a thing 20 years ago... I have no idea of any other aspects. As said, I've only ever flown economy class, and the only reason my friend (in his early 20s, due to work) traveled in business class was his height (and his sports sponsors paid the flights).
With the majority of the airlines you mention, aside from Lufthansa and Air France, I've never flown, and never ever domestic (domestic travel always with train/car/etc). Always within countries even within Europe.
How do those $$$ work out for you? I travelled NYC to SAV on amtrak for 2-3 years. Twelve hours and over $200. (Miami, I think is 16 hours). Then put a low cost fare to that plus cab rides to and from train to airport...sounds like total misery. LOL
I've never ridden on a train but I thought they were supposed to be comfortable and scenic, no?
yes for the elite. However, Penn station NYC to Savannah/Miami is Veeeery far from elite. Kinda like a gua gua in SD. Did it for 2 years as they had a late afternoon to Savannah Ga.. Brought a book and my lunch and woke up (without losing a day of work)the following morning sitting on GO.
On BA and Iberia which are the two I fly most, the seat pitch (distance between the seats) is exactly the same in business as in economy on a short-haul. The only difference is that they block off the middle seat. Depending on how many business class seats they have sold, they move the curtain that divides business and economy forward or back, so obviously they are exactly the same seats.
On their long-haul fleet they all have lie-flat beds and "suites" which are little cabins with doors, it's a very different concept.
If I can say this very tactfully without offending a lot of people, quite a number of Americans are, shall I say, a "little larger" so I think the US airlines need to provide seats that these larger passengers can actually fit into, even on the shortest flights. I was on an Iberia flight where some of us boarded, then they had to stop boarding and send everyone back to the gate because a lady was so fat she couldn't get into her (business class) seat and had got stuck.
The boss of Ryanair wants to charge to use the toilets and to have "standing only" tickets on his flights. I bet Spirit loved those ideas.
None that I know of have larger seats in coach class(?). Several US airlines require overly obese passengers to buy two seats though.
Well, business class anyway, but some of these people are so obese they wouldn't fit in wider business class seats either! I remember one time where the passenger was so fat he couldn't get the seat belt on even when using the seat belt extender!
If Im not wrong I remember to see fuel charges flying witn Copa in one of my trips. Let me ask to a friend if he has a recent brake down from one for his trips, I dont find mines.
Southwest tried this (require 2 seats); it did not go very far. Not many others really do require this, they tried but again it did not really get that far.