Tag Archives: business class

Norwegian Airlines Steals the Show

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On my travels back from London, I was stranded without a flight and so I went looking for the best deal in business class from London to Boston non-stop. That’s when I discovered Norwegian Airlines. At $650 one-way, their business class competes very well against the main carriers in terms of price (approximately 75% cheaper). However, would it really be 25% of the experience then? It was worth taking the risk and anyhow I had heard so many interesting things about Norwegian that I knew I had to try it.

Norwegian is the third largest transporter of passengers in the low-cost sector of the European airline business. It sits behind Ryanair and EasyJet. They run around 30 million passengers per year and they started their long-haul operation in 2013. Unlike WOW Airlines, who also have incredibly inexpensive fares, Norwegian provides a business class experience for travelers that would like to pay slightly more.

Norwegian operates out of London Gatwick Airport. Getting there involves an easy train link from Victoria Station to Gatwick directly. The train service is great, is relatively inexpensive, runs every 15 minutes, and takes about 30 minutes to get there. Norwegian operates out of the South Terminal which in actual fact is the first airline you encounter as you come out of the train station. Thus, there is no need to take another train transit to the North Terminal. You are straight in and straight out. Incidentally, security lines at Gatwick, at least in the South Terminal, are fantastic compared to those at Heathrow. There is virtually no wait time and it’s highly efficient. Norwegian even has a lounge right in the extensive shopping area. Although I only could spend 10 minutes there, it was satisfactory.

So, how was the flying experience?

London to Boston is around a 7.5 hour flight and the Boeing Dreamliner is used exclusively on this route. I love that plane. In economy, all of the seats looked fine with enough leg room. In business, I had a ton of leg room although the seats did not go back into a full bed. However, for a day flight, I would never usually use that feature anyway. The seats were a little light on padding but not a problem. The food was basic and came in a box but it was fine. When is airline food ever more than fine anyway? The service on board was fantastic and everyone had a great attitude. The entertainment center was decent as well. I always carry my own headsets on a plane and it was quite easy to find the plug to connect on this flight. That is something I can’t say about most other airlines I fly with.

How good was it? Well, on a scale of 1-10 based on $650, it was a 10. Would I take it again? For $650 you bet! I loved it!

Upgrade or not to Upgrade

To Upgrade or not to Upgrade

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For all of those passengers that are lucky enough to sit in the business class or first class section of an airplane, you may well imagine how important you are to that airline.

Airlines are trying to sign you up for their frequent flyer cards, give you their Silver and Gold cards, and adorn you in incentives because you happen to be sitting in the part of the plane that makes money and they want you back. They are using all of their tricks to sway you in the decision to upgrade or not to upgrade. Those airline seats that you occupy have been well thought out and optimized for your comfort, convenience, and their dollars.

Not to say that if you are in the back of the plane, it’s all misery.

There is a trickledown effect due to the fact that the airlines are smarting up the front of the plane. After all, you do not want class warfare at 35,000 feet in the sky.

Well never mind because in the front they want your business and they are prepared to pamper you. But it is going to cost you money. A round-trip transatlantic fare in first class on British Airways costs between $16,000-$22,000, business class around $7,000, premium economy around $2,200, and lowly old economy about $1,500. So you can imagine how much money these guys are making on that tiny piece of space given the fact that you are sitting in the same cylindrical tube as everyone else.

When you look at that value proposition, you have to say that economy is a pretty good deal. I mean seriously, who is paying $20,000 for a first class seat when you can find a deal out there for $1,000 in economy. If you fly between London and Boston, you are on a 5 hour and 50 minute flight. I do not care how good the service is, I can always find a sandwich, a couple glasses of wine, and a decent movie or two to wind my way across the Atlantic while I think of how I saved $19,000 on a bit of extra leg room, a very average meal, and a wash bag that you wouldn’t even re-gift. Incidentally, in business class, the wash bag on most flights is something that amazes me even more. It’s like how could they design a bag with so much space and so little in it? Where do you find toothpaste that small? Why the socks? I have my own socks and if I go to the bathroom truly I am going to wear my shoes. Guys are messy!

So differentiating the front of the plane is critical to these guys.

There are three kinds of configurations at the front of the plane. There is the yin-yang design that BA employs, the staggered herringbone that Virgin employs, or the “stacked-V’ of other airlines. Have you ever wondered why if you are sitting in business class on a plane, such as BA, that you are facing a person that you do not know and awkwardly trying to figure out how to put the screen up between the two of you without looking to offend? Ever wondered why when on a Virgin plane that the shape of the seats is in a fishbone? It’s feast or famine here. You are either lying flat down or sitting straight up. There is no in between. Then there is the Delta setup where everyone mysteriously is fitted in a certain way so that you never actually see too much of the person next to you…thank God. The reason they do all of this of course is because they can give you more room, your own space, and more importantly they can fit more of you in that huge expanding revenue-generating area.

Designing airline seats for business and first class is an art within itself; creating a space that feels like your own space with a flat bed and video screen with endless options for watching TV and movies. Not long ago in 1995, British Airways introduced the first flat-bed seat in first class, and in 1999 introduced it to business class as well. Up until then, business class passengers had no advantage other than a slightly better meal. Nowadays the game is played around bed, board, and beyond! At the higher end, airlines compete for your business with lavish meals including caviar in first class. They entice you with a goody bag that contains scents, oils, and perfumes from boutique distributors. New 32-inch video screens (bigger than some we have in our kitchens) are being introduced into a private cabin. On real long hauls in first class you now get a shower (of course!) plus a potential for a double bed. Just when you thought you got your marriage around twin beds you can now bring it back again!

Image courtesy of DesignBoom.com: http://www.designboom.com/design/singapore-airlines-first-class-interior-design-by-bmw-designworks/

Trains vs. Planes

Trains vs. Planes

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A too tight connection at JFK gave me the opportunity to change up my itinerary, grab a cab to Baltimore Grand Central Station, and take the Acela to Penn Station in New York.  I have to say, when you have the opportunity to ride on the train, it is just so much more civilized than flying.  Frighteningly, there is no security, which means you can arrive only 10 minutes (even less!) before the train pulls in.  And the trains are always on time….well nearly!

At Penn Station, I never quite understood how to make the transition out to JFK.  I arrived there and sought out some help.  Fighting the commuter traffic which was rushing between stations and platforms, I managed to connect to the Long Island Rail Road ($10) which sped me out to Jamaica.  At that point, I got off there and took the AirTrain ($5) straight to JFK.  I was at the Delta Terminal in no time at all.  Penn Station to the Delta Terminal was 40 minutes.  No traffic, no hassle, and so I wandered to the Delta Lounge, grabbed a bite, and a beer, and got ready for the nonstop to Barcelona.  Loved that day!

While I was getting ready for my flight, I started thinking about the benefits of nonstop flights.  I have to confess that a nonstop on an overnight journey is optimal.  In other words, if you gave me a chance to fly LA – Rome via London for a chance to get more airline miles on BA, I would say no contest.  I will take the nonstop all the way.  By the way, when can you ever use those miles anyway?  How about practically never unless you don’t work and are totally date flexible.  So taking the nonstop to Barcelona from JFK was a solid winner as opposed to connecting over Madrid out of Washington-Dulles.

Delta has improved dramatically over the two years. They are scoring up there with Jet Blue and Alaskan and have left their other erstwhile competitors in the dust. Wake up American!! The business configuration is better than most, the TV and movie selection is pretty good , and the food and service was fine.  On an overnight flight, I tend to get the food out of the way before I get on the plane.  Once the plane is in the air, I am all about taking some sleeping tablets to grab my five or six hours before we hit the European morning.  I must confess to never having breakfast on an airplane.  I would rather grab the extra hour and a coffee and croissant when I hit land.  Have you ever tasted airline coffee?  It is worse than hotel coffee and that is pretty bad!

Late Flight to Istanbul Pietro Place

A Late Flight to Istanbul

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The great thing about flying on Turkish Airlines from Boston is that they have a very late flight at 11:40 pm.  In addition, if you are heading onwards to Tel Aviv, as I was, connections are pretty good.  Package that with a business class fare that is not one of those jaw dropping dreadful price points that make you wonder who ever pays for those flights at full fare, and you have it.  Dinner at a good restaurant in Boston and a late night flight departure is a great way to spend the first part of a transatlantic flight.  The preparation at least is going to be decent!

Turkish Airlines, as I found out, unfortunately did not have flat beds, but staff were pretty good, seats were decent for business class and the rest I simply can’t remember as I took an Ambien! Next stop was Istanbul about 9 hours later.  Istanbul is a funky airport.  Old bits shoved onto sleek new bits makes for a decent transit stop.  Tel Aviv was next on my journey and flight time wasn’t bad.  Actually, service on the Tel Aviv flight and leg room was better than the long transatlantic flight.  They must know we all take Ambien for the long hauls!

Basement Bargains Abroad

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There is good news out there for international travel. The RyanAir, Southwest airline, Easy Jet model has moved into long haul. You get food of course, but instead of departing from a major hub like Boston, you fly from Providence and the price difference on a transatlantic flight to Germany can be over $1000.

No way! Yes!

And here’s the deal. If you think airlines you’ve never heard of, like Condor, are going to force British Airways or Lufthansa to change their fare structure, think again. The big guys are figuring that you don’t want to fly from an airport that’s 30 miles from where you originally wanted to fly to, even for bargain travel. And the chances are that you didn’t check the routing thoroughly enough on Expedia. If you want to fly from Boston to Frankfurt, that’s what you’re going to get, prices from Boston to Frankfurt. So you’ve got to be smart and outsmart the technology, which is going to auto-populate and drive you to the bigger hubs.

Furthermore, business class is cheap on these airlines; baggage fees are waived and the booze is still free. So drink up, enjoy the Euro and look for Condor expanding beyond Seattle, Las Vegas, Ft. Lauderdale and Baltimore. And in case you’re looking for nonstop from New York, Chicago or LA on second-tier airlines – good luck, you’re not going to find them. Happy Travels! Oh, and guess what, the secret’s out Condor is actually owned by Lufthansa.

On the Subject of Seating…

On the Subject of Seating… have you ever wondered why you feel like a million dollars when you get an upgrade to business or first class? Is it because you have escaped the back of the plane? Well, partly of course. Who really wants to sit cramped up for 8 hours playing elbow war with your fellow passengers? Or worse still, knee war with the person in front of you who actually thinks that it’s cool to lower his seat so you can barely breathe or function. But the reality is that this feeling of elation as you settle into your semi luxurious environment and as you watch the coach passengers cramped into their seats has been carefully stage managed. After all, it is still the same long tube. Imagine if I said, “How about a hotel night for $24,000 with a lousy meal and your bed is a single bed and you’ll be sleeping next to someone you don’t know who snores all night?”

coach

So, architects have to create a dream or illusion. A great article in the New Yorker called “Game of Thrones” by David Owen tells the story of how it all started. In 1995, British Airways was the first airline to introduce fully flat beds in first class. From then on in, horizontal sleeping in airplanes became a competitive war of out-maneuvering and upping the ante, eventually spreading to business class while the poor coach fliers felt their knees touching the backseat of the passenger in front of them more and more. I recently went to an Emirates launch where they boasted of having showers for first class passengers.

One of the amazing things about the experience of flying in comfort is that it becomes addictive and can often be the highlight of the trip. A company based in the Shoreditch area of London designs airline seats for both Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific. James Park, its founder, started the company in 1974. His job is to create a space that is compliant with the safety regulations with a cool entertainment system and seating that can be acceptable in coach and astonishing in first class. All of this comes at an enormous cost. One of the amazing things is that the small video screen in coach which serves as your in-flight entertainment can cost around $1,000 per inch. That means that it’s roughly $10,000 per screen in coach alone. Not a bad precaution as it ensures that there are no cross wires so that somebody in 33C is not suddenly flying the plane. Seats have to be refreshed and ready for immediate re-boarding. Think of a wine spill or something even more grotesque!

Both Singapore and Cathay have been number one and number two in alternating years in airline comfort and first class/business class travelers’ choice for many years. The amount of design that goes into creating the space that you are sitting in is where the architects make their money. If you are flying on Alitalia in “Magnifica” class, then you know that they did not spend any money on their interior architecture. If you fly Delta, United, or American, for the most part you will not experience that same dream sequence as Singapore, Cathay, or Emirates. These are the big players in comfort zones and it stretches from the front to the back of the plane. No detail is left behind. You can even sleep with your wife in a double bed with a private curtain if you want to.

10-amazing-first-class-airline-seats-that-are-better-than-a-hotel-room

British Airways reaches for a place in the upper hierarchy and even though their fleet has been upgraded, it is still miles away from the design and style of those three airlines. The fishbone-style seating in Virgin is cramped and out of date. Even on American Airlines, which has just upped the ante on its New York – London route by refitting its first class cabins, it misses the most important aspect of all of flying which is the service, the attentiveness, and the enthusiasm of the flight attendants from the top to the bottom of the plane.

Ultimately, you can spend all the money you want on refitting a plane but the flight attendants have the potential to undo it all in one second. That is the most reassuring part of the ever-changing tube we spend our lives flying in. No matter how fancy they make it inside, the fact is that the winning formula has to have the human element. The smile, the special attention, and imagining that every single person especially in coach is doing this for the first time and you have only one chance to make a first impression.

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The Airline Blues

When you get on a plane, do you ever think about how bizarre it really all is? We queue up and are herded into our designated sections of coach, premium coach, emergency exit priority seats, business, or first.

The plane essentially is a long narrow tube with varying degrees of comfort depending upon what you pay. We pray for upgrades to try to escape the nastiness of coach and use miles wherever we can to increase the likelihood of better seating and then get ready for the long journey across the Atlantic or Pacific or down the east coast. We expect to be served the worst food in the world, are grateful for the small bag of peanuts (unless there is someone on board who has a peanut allergy in which case you are forbidden from that small pleasure), pay for dreadful wine and warm beer, purchase the earplugs that are so bad that it’s not worth the cost, and put up with for the most part dreadful service from flight attendants who really gave up liking their jobs 30 years ago.

Well good news on the food front. Airlines are starting to understand that there is revenue to gain in food. Most people on long haul don’t invest in sandwiches or carry on food at airports. Wolfgang Puck and Gordon Ramsay have made inroads here but we still anxiously wait for the moment when we are handed the menu and pick the plastic chicken with congealed rice.

Madrid_Wine_and_Food_at_Table

Now overseas airlines are offering special cuisine food. On Air France you can choose from a variety of food options. There is French cuisine foie gras, duck confit, or Asian healthy or the usual but dramatically improved vegetarian options. Different from the past is that they charge you more for this service. The cost is between $20 – $30. But the food is actually decent and it’s worth it simply to watch the passenger in the seat next to you with the congealed and shriveled piece of over cooked meat (animal not known) stare at your appetizing concoction longingly.

It’s being rolled out in Europe first and American carriers, ever slow to move on this, are evaluating. Evaluating! This is a business opportunity. You can make money and have well fed happy fliers in coach. Hang on. Let’s not rush into this. They are our clients after all!!

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