Flying First Class: New Luxury for the Rich!

In the last post about Ethiad Airways' luxury three-room suites I should have mentioned that there's a lot of other airlines that are getting into the game of catering to the super rich.

For decades we've all known about the spacious first class cabin up in the front of the plane - screened off from the riffraff by forbidding closed curtains. We know they have plenty of leg room and that their seats recline all the way into beds for overnight flights. We've heard about the sumptuous steak and lobster meals and the fine wines and champagne, served on real china with glass stemware, silverware, and linen napkins - compared to the casseroles in plastic trays that are shoveled out back in coach.

But now things are going to extreme. While most airlines can't compete with Ethiad in offering three-room suites, they're still going nuts in trying to lure and accommodate the rich. Some of them are installing what they refer to as 'suites' but in reality are just small cubicles with space enough for a narrow bed right beside the already-wide seats. Each cubicle has it's own big screen TV and the linens on the bed are of the highest quality. The meals are chef created and the wine list is not unlike a fine restaurant. Nevertheless, there's certainly no private toilets in these cubicles like in Ethiad, so rich people still have to stand on line to pee just like everyone else on the plane.

Whether or not this extraordinary accommodation for the rich has anything to do with why seats are squeezed so tightly together back in coach I haven't a clue although my suspicions are high.

If you have time this evening to indulge in sheer fantasy about how the rich travel, here's some fun YouTube links to a few airlines that are unashamedly promoting their groveling to the rich with their so-called suites. Personally I'm concerned about all the elaborate table settings and what happens when the plane hits turbulence - with all those wine glasses and china plates hitting you in the face or dumped in your lap. Maybe that's a risk the rich are willingly to take, so who am I to judge?

In any case, take a look at these airlines and see for yourself what they have to offer - provided you're rich and can afford it:

Lufthansa
Air France- La Premiere Suite
British Air
Singapore Airlines

Thanks for dropping in this evening. I hope your holiday travels are as smooth and comfortable as possible. If for some amazing reason I do get to go home for the holidays, I'll be sitting way back there in coach with my knees squeezed up to my chin.

Andrew