For those who missed my earlier TAROM A318 business class review, I want to focus here on how a flight attendant turned my economy class seat into a business class seat…which helps understand why European carriers do business class a very different way than US carriers.
Turning An Economy Class Seat Into A Business Class Seat It A Little Easier On European Carriers…
When you fly “business class” within Europe on most carriers (like Air France, British Airways, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, or SWISS), you will not find a “real” business class seat, as you can expect in North America or Asia. By real I mean a wider seat with more recline than economy class.
Instead, you can expect the same seat as economy class, but generally, the middle seat will be blocked such that you have a bit more elbow room. Sometimes you will have more legroom as well if seats are spaced a little further apart. These middle seats often have fold-down trays that can be used as shared space between the aisle and window seat to place beverages on.
While there are some exceptions (as I experienced on Bulgaria Air), there is wisdom in doing it this way. These aircraft tend to have cabin partitions (curtains) that can be adjusted based on how many business class tickets are sold. This so-called “variable” configuration makes it possible to keep selling business class tickets (as I’ve seen on some Lufthansa flights where business class can stretch back to the emergency exit rows in the middle of the plane).
On my recent TAROM flight, three rows were designated for business class and I was booked in the last row. But upon boarding, the curtain was behind row two…
I chucked…I knew the fix…but showed a flight attendant my boarding pass and let her know that I was in business class and supposed to be seated in row three. She signaled to her colleague, explained to him what was going on, and he went to work…
He “unlocked” the cabin partition, moved it back, locked it back in place, and then lowered the console in the center seat.
Voila!
In 20 seconds, he turned my economy class seat into a business class seat!
And yes, I could not help but to think of Fearghal O’Farrell, a member of the cabin crew on Our Lady Air from the UK comedy Come Fly With Me:
(start at 1:55)
European business class is a complete joke.
Some Eurobiz products used to have cranks to give the seats in the first several rows more leg room. They got rid of that eventually.
This is stupid.
I’m confused why this would matter if seats are reserved? Surely you still wouldn’t have someone assigned to the middle seat, so how does moving the curtain really change anything?
I believe I would have been treated as an economy class passenger, not business class passenger, had I not notified them…I don’t think they were reading the manifest. I certainly was not addressed by name. The flight was half full.
I’m thinking… shouldn’t there be metal spikes sticking out of the seat to keep the plebes from sitting on it? THAT would show your true status. 🙂
Matt, I should hate you but I don’t. I was on daughter duty today looking after her while my wife hung out with a friend so I had to take her for bubble tea and then to costco to pick up some goodies. You get “business class” with an extra empty seat next to you. Good for you.
I hope you had a dollar hot dog!