My good friend Ed from Pizza in Motion recently wrote a story entitled, Here’s Why Most Of What You’ve Heard About Business And First Class Is Rubbish. This post represents my response to him.
Ed takes issues with the fact that some travel bloggers, myself included, will offer a negative business class review.
My fellow bloggers, I love them all. Well, most of them. They tell you how great business class is. And, they also tell you how horrible some business class products are. That’s where I get off the hype bus.
I’m not sure “horrible” is the right word, but it is true that not all business class products are created equally. He continues:
So, what’s my beef with international business and first class? Nothing. I love them all. Pretty much every darn one. I just don’t agree with the people who tell you why you shouldn’t fly a particular business class product. People love to rip British Airways for their inferior layout and poor service. First, there’s nothing wrong with the seat. If you’re exceptionally tall or wide, you might have some trouble with it. News flash, if you’re either of those things you won’t fit comfortably into many business class seats.
I happen to agree with Ed on the British Airways issue…I have no problem with dense business class seating on British Airways or United.
But not all business class products are created equal. My job is to help you evaluate them, so when it comes time for you to book, you will make the most informed choice.
An Example
Take American Airlines versus British Airways on, say, a New York to London route. If you are using your American miles, a ticket on either carrier costs the same 57,500 miles. But you’ll only pay $5.60 out-of-pocket on American while you will pay over 100X times that…over $560…for a British Airways flight. And the BA flight also has an inferior business class seat! Whether you are buying your ticket with cash or miles, it seems to me flying on American makes a lot more sense than flying on British Airways.
When I tell you that you should not fly British Airways using miles, it is not because I dislike the product or don’t find it “good enough”. Rather, I just view it as a comparatively poor value.
Here’s another example. In my recent Virgin Atlantic review, I actually found the business class seat terribly uncomfortable. That wasn’t me being a diva, but my back letting me know it didn’t like a seat that did not recline. With so many choices to London, why pay 75,000 miles + over $500 in taxes/fees when there are superior options? And if there were no other options, perhaps it is better to save your miles + money and fly economy class. Not because business is horrible, but because it is not worthwhile.
The point of criticizing a business class product or proclaiming that I won’t waste my miles to fly British Airways is not an absolute judgement, but a relative one rooted in value. Always keep that in mind.
CONCLUSION
I fully agree with Ed’s final conclusion:
When my fellow bloggers tell you why they just can’t stand a particular airline’s business class, be smart and make your own mind up.
If I was offended by readers disagreeing with me, I’d be in a perpetual state of annoyance…just read the comments for even some of the news stories I cover. My point is never to think for you. But I am uniquely situated to evaluate multiple products and offer consistent feedback on them so that you can make your own choice from a better-informed position.
My own experience and viewpoint is merely a datapoint for you to consider. But I hope that by explaining my methodology and through clear pictures and narrative you can understand why, for example, I would steer you away from business class on Virgin Atlantic or, say, an Air France A380.
Indeed, either product is far better than economy class and even premium economy class. But if you are going to spend cash for a ticket or use your miles, I want you to do so in a smart way.
Yeah, I do not understand that blogger’s position. I’ve flown a bunch of different business classes and I don’t “love all of them” and they are most certainly not all created equal. I’ve had some fantastic business class experiences with great food, lie flat beds with soft bedding that enabled me to sleep, extensive in-flight entertainment and lovely service, not to mention beautiful lounge experiences on the ground. At the other end, I’ve struggled to sleep in angle lie-flat seats, pushed back a dinner meal which I couldn’t bring myself to eat, experienced indifferent service from flight attendants and sat in lounges not much better than the terminal outside!
The thing I love about the proliferation of bloggers’ posting extensive flight reviews (with plenty of photos) is that now I can get a pretty good sense of a business class experience before trying it out. This really helps me to manage expectations and make informed consumer choices based on service and hard product.
I’d rather read an honest review than one that told me everything was wonderful.
There are big differences in every luxury product, not just Business Class seats and service.
Thanks Matthew for flying Virgin so I don’t have to. 😉
I think where Ed gets it wrong is that yes, there is a “good” and “bad” when it comes to value for money, as you allude to. Spending 57,500 miles and $500 in fuel surcharges for BA J is a poor use of resources when you can get a comparable or better product for less cost.
As for the rest, well, it’s all subjective. You have many who love reverse herringbone seats, but I actually hate them because they make it impossible to talk to my wife. Meanwhile food & beverage influences my ratings more than it does others. Personally I think our subjective opinions open the door to a lively discussion in the comments, which beats “they’re all great” any day.
He obviously hasn’t spent enough time in BA J class – it’s not the layout or even the service, those are more than adequate. It’s the seat and that effing “foot stool” extension. On my last flight, when ever I would turn over on my side, that extension would collapse slamming into the seat it was attached to. I couldn’t move, the cabin was full. What a complete piece of shit business class seat for the money (or points).
I have had no problem with the VS seats, but being 5’5 means I don’t have issues like Matthew does.
Not having status i will look at things differently. BA will charge me to pick a seat prior to check-in. Everyone else does not, hence on principle BA is out. United don’t fly to JFK so they are out too. American didn’t offer a premium economy product so they were out until recently.
You’re all just trying to get clicks in some way. The opinion and headline gets the initial clicks and shares, but people keep going back to the websites that provide the value and information that is most important to each reader.
There are publications that rank different products, but might not be clear in their methodology. That’s the kind of ranking that would easy to judge or get upset about.
There is no bad product. Only mismatch between expectations and quality.
I like British airways. I live in Vegas. Non stop to London approx 9:45 hours. Yes I have points and it’s cost for me approx $500-$600 one way. BA I take off at 9:30pm. I sleep, I like the food and I watch TV and I sleep
Usually I prefer American Airlines or United but I like business and first class with British airways. Thank you
On long-haul flights, to me, the worst business class is still better than the best economy class. I do like the trip reports with all the facts to know what I am getting (and often which seats are the best or worst for different reasons). One thing about American with miles, though, is that they are not on the transfer lists for Amex or Chase Sapphire, but BA and many others are.
The problem being is BA J/F at saver rates is plentiful, AA J/F is, well, not (for obvious reasons, in that BA makes a lot more actual cash from a J redemption, AA only gets to write some miles off the books, and last I checked you can’t use miles to buy Jet-A for your plane or pay a vendor, you need actual cash for that).
It comes down to this when you make “sub-optimal” redemptions like BA J/F as opposed to AA J/F: do you want to actually fly on dates you want and pay more money, or do you want to spend weeks looking for unicorns and needles in haystacks?
You are correct that the problem is BA is often the only one with space. Then what? That’s a personal decision, but we need to be informed going in. And on that point, I think Ed and I agree.
I agree with the original post. There really isn’t a bad international business experience. Sure there are some that are better than others. However, even British Airways, which people are constantly ripping is an extremely good experience compared to what travel used to be.
When bloggers say a business class is bad you have to take it with a grain of salt. Either the blogger means 1) the airlines Business class is not as good as the alternatives; 2) the blogger has become so entitled that he forgets what the economy alternative is like; or 3) it is hyperbole.
Even when a blogger says a business class is terrible, they are still having a way better experience than 90% of the other passengers on the plane. I feel like bloggers sometimes forget that and makes them come off as entitled or petty.
That being said I appreciate the candor as it when multiple options are available it is good to know that American may be better than British, but some reviewers will tear a product a part and make it seem like they would never fly it again. Truth is if that is their only option (which sometimes it is) they would fly that business class again rather than moving back in the plane.
yes there are…its called deltas 767 business class seat.
When a product marketed as business class is objectively worse than the average global benchmark for premium economy, it should definitely be called out as “bad”. If it isn’t, then maybe “buy/ redeem with caution” is more appropriate.
I agree with you – it’s a matter of value, and some bloggers don’t take price into consideration in their evaluation and that’s a major flaw!
A recliner in business class is poor value on $8,000 long-haul flight, even though it is still more comfortable than a $500 economy seat.
I’ve frequently flown Turkish Airlines with their dreaded 2-3-3 layout with middle seats between Asia and Europe. But at $1,600 round-trip, I’ll take them over my favorite SQ $4,000 anytime…
I would argue that HA’s A330 J seats are actually worse than Y. Mind you, I’m talking about the old seats, which may be all gone by now so it might be a moot point. On the 11 hour JFK-HNL, I honestly think I would have been more comfortable in Y. There was a hard bar in the back and the footrest forced me into a very uncomfortable position.
I’ll be trying the new A330 HA seats very soon. You scared me for a second!
I think a lot of bloggers are getting a bit bored. An exemplar of the same would be Lucky over at OMAAT. The difference in his writing style from when he started out all the way to the present is quite stark. While his earlier reports shared a sense of wonder, now there is just a sense of ennui that has crept into his writing.
Personally, I believe that business is better than premium economy, which is better than economy, even if one is flying a downmarket airline.