Take a guess? Some fancy hotel in Switzerland? The Umaid Bhavan? A gold encrusted Emirates one? No, believe it or not, its first and sometimes business class on any International airline. Yes, that squeezed in flat bed on any aircraft can cost you more per night than some of the best hotels in the world.
Why?
Let’s start with check in…yes there is a separate queue which is generally much shorter. However if you are a frequent flyer, flying any class of travel, you can usually use the same biz class queue or , as in the case of Jet Airways, there may even be a specially designated one.
Luggage allowance…yes sure you are allowed more weight on first and biz class…but most frequent flyers are too..and how much do you want to carry anyway???
At the Air France Business Class Lounge at CDG with a friend
Lounges…all sounds fancy but most of the time, especially on night flights, lounges are packed and you often get better food, service and a guaranteed seat at any of the many F&B outlets available at any International airport. Oh yes, you don’t pay in the lounge…but do you really want the pathetic food often on offer and an average drink anyway? Except KL airport where the Malaysian Airlines Biz and First class lounges have 24 hour around the clock buffets, an actual coffee bar serving a variety of coffees, foot massage service and even showers. The new Air France lounge in SCDG Paris is quite swish – average food but delicious champagne. These are exceptions rather than the rule though. …and wifi? Well that’s everywhere in the airport anywhere…and to boot there is no signal for most mobile providers in the lounge in Mumbai…quite a pain when this would have been the ideal moment for a nice long, quiet chat? If you, for other reasons, like the idea of an exclusive lounge, you don’t have to travel biz class to get in. Most frequent flyers can get access even if they are flying economy and some credit card companies also offer this perk to their gold and platinum members.
Ok..you can board when you like on biz class. Big deal, you’re just offered a juice when you get on board anyway. The serious spirited stuff comes much later. So, on biz and first class, you get “cuisine” , champagne, good wines (at least good labels..how they behave when they are up in the sky in a pressurised cabin is another question) ,choices of meals , cutlery, crockery and all the trappings but you must realize that the food is heated in the same oven as down the back and whether its fish/chicken or vegetarian, the end result is going to be more or less the same. …on a night flight, this is all a bit useless anyway…all you want to do is sleep…you get all this in economy, only the service is slower(of course, there are more of you to serve), and the “meal” comes on a plastic tray and plastic glasses. If you really desperate for good food which you can eat when you want to, not when it is served to you, then take your own. I used to…its most gratifying.
Service however is as good or bad across all classes. It really depends on the airline, not the class of travel. Singapore Airline hostess seem to exude the same courtesy, charm and efficiency across the whole plane…the same with Jet Airways… and Air India uniformly apologetic
The dividing line between first/biz and cattle class has to be the flat bed ..this does really guarantee you a good night’s sleep and for me, this is the only convincing argument for flying the upper classes. You have to be really tired and really capable of deep, meditative sleep, to be able to get 40 winks in a chair in economy!
Now let’s look at the economics. So, for one night’s sleep Mumbai-London, you pay an average of 100,000 rupees…often much more in season. For 100,000 rupees, you could saunter out of Heathrow airport, take a black cab to central London, stay at almost any five star hotel for the night, have a better dinner than any flight kitchen could produce and probably be left with enough money for a spa treatment and maybe even some retail therapy. If your business/client/someone else is taking care of your biz/first class ticket or if you can effortlessly upgrade yourself on miles/points/vouchers, please go ahead and fly the upper classes. If not, think about flying Economy and using the extra dosh to have a blast. It’s worth it.