Value for the money – Transatlantic Business Class
Pulling up availability and pricing on the Continental Airlines website for a Houston to Gatwick, U.K. business class seat for this week, there were no seats available in C-class (their premium service). So, I priced a round-trip seat next week: $7,771.00 for a 9 hour flight. After taxes, the ride will cost $1,000 almost hour. The British Airways site priced $7,594 for First Class service (which includes taxes). Sir Richard Branson will charge $10,369.14 to fly in the front end of Virgin Atlantic from New York. Whew!
And what do you get with these hefty price tags: spacious seating with private entertainment systems; gourmet meals, drinks, snacks and impeccable flight attendant service throughout the flight; Inflight amenities may include a massage, lounge-wear, and top-of-class comfort; Airport perks range from special check-in counters and limousine pick-up to premium loyalty mileage rewards. During your journey, you can plug in your laptop and work – then rest comfortably – then work again. Once you land, you will be fresh to start conducting business with most flights arriving in the morning.
Four start-up airlines are offering more affordable single service, business-class flights across the Atlantic to the East Coast: Silverjet from England and L’Avion from France have joined Maxjet and Eos airlines offering prices as low as $1,398 round-trip. Some are calling it “Lite” business class, with fewer amenities, but still quality service to include: comfortable seating, robust meal service, individual entertainment systems, and some airport club arrangements. All still for a fraction of the cost.
These new carriers appeal to the average business class passenger who is not likely to have the exorbitant travel budgets of the Fortune 1,000 companies. Prior to these new carriers, these unfortunate businesspersons endured 9 hours of coach class where they experienced inadequate room to layout a laptop, “chicken” or “beef” dining, and uncomfortable seats that reclined to a restrictive, back-breaking pitch. Yet, $7,000 - $10,000 tickets are a bit hard to swallow. So these start-up carriers offer an upgraded seat comparable in price to a coach class ticket, which incidentally today is listed at $1521.00 from IAH – LGW.
Virgin Atlantic which offers premium service on its transatlantic flights has announced plans to sell single-class, premium service flights also using single-aisle aircraft. While their pricing strategy has not yet been announced, it is unlikely to erode their current profitable “Upper Class Suite”. The airlines’ pricing gurus have declared that when their seats are full in premium class, they do not need any coach passengers to make money.
With the Open Skis bilateral between the U.S. and the E.U., the competition for premium class service is heating up. When Maxjet and Eos started flying in 2005, the naysayers said they did not have sustainable business models and yet they are – flying still. They offer value to a significant market segment. Expect the transatlantic premium class to continue evolving over the next few years. We will keep you posted.
