In a previous post, I compared short haul business class in Europe vs. the United States. Within Europe, you’ll typically find that short haul business class simply consists of economy seats with a blocked adjacent seat, plus priority services and improved inflight service.
Often when people fly business class within Europe for the first time, they’re shocked to find that there are no special business class seats. In this post, I thought it would be interesting to discuss the “why” of intra-Europe business class. Why is Europe the most disappointing region when it comes to business class hard product on shot haul flights? Let’s discuss that…
In this post:
Why intra-Europe business class is the way it is
Why does business class on intra-Europe flights typically consist of economy seats with blocked adjacent seats, rather than a dedicated cabin with more spacious seats? It’s an interesting question, and I’ll share my take. I’d say most of the reasons are fairly obvious, but there’s a bit of nuance.
Competitive dynamics allow for this product
The most basic reason that European airlines have the intra-Europe business class seats that they have is “because they can.” European skies are controlled by the “big three” European airline groups — Air France-KLM, IAG, and Lufthansa Group — and those airlines all use the same “economy seats with blocked middles” model.
So while the airlines aren’t colluding, I think they all know it’s in their best interest to keep things the way they are. The competitive dynamics are the same reason that US airlines don’t typically offer lounge access on domestic flights, and don’t have meal services on flights of under two or so hours.
These cabins offer incredible flexibility
As is true around the world, premium demand isn’t equal between markets. A Monday morning London to Zurich flight is going to have much different business class demand than a Saturday night Vienna to Tirana flight.
The single greatest upside for airlines with simply designating certain seats as being business class is that they can adjust premium capacity with every single flight, simply by moving a cabin divider. The upside there is huge.
Obviously Europe isn’t alone in having varying premium cabin demand between flights. The difference is that US airlines generally offer unlimited complimentary upgrades to elite members, while that’s not really a thing in Europe.
In the United States, airlines earn a huge percentage of their profits from loyalty programs, so in ways, they don’t mind if there are some empty premium seats, since they can deliver on those benefits that keep people loyal. Keep in mind that European carriers can’t fully copy this success, since interchange fees are much lower in Europe.
If one of the major European carriers were to innovate and start introducing a real business class product within Europe, they’d likely be putting themselves at a significant disadvantage. Sure, maybe they could command a small revenue premium for the business class seats that they can sell (though so many intra-Europe business class seats are sold as part of long haul itineraries), but there would be all kinds of situations were capacity and demand are completely mismatched.
The flexible cabin size is also great in terms of being able to maximize revenue with selling upgrades. European airlines increasingly sell reasonably priced upgrades for cash leading up to departure. There’s huge upside when economy isn’t full, where simply seating someone on “the other side of the curtain” is basically pure profit. Meanwhile on a flight with very high economy demand and good yields, the airline can easily make the business class cabin smaller.
The average stage length of flights is short
Another major consideration is that geographically, the most traveled air corridors in Europe are much shorter than in the United States. So in Europe, a large percentage of flights are somewhere around an hour, much more so than in the United States.
The truth is that the extra space isn’t really needed as much on flights of this length, compared to flights in the United States. Admittedly there are some exceptions in both regions, but broadly speaking, that’s true.
European airlines with proper business class seats
It’s interesting to note that some European airlines do actually have “proper” seats in business class on short haul flights, rather than just repurposing economy seats. Generally speaking, these are airlines in Eastern Europe, often close to Asia, and this probably reflects the different expectations that consumers have in these regions.
With that in mind, several airlines come to mind:
- Turkish Airlines has proper business class seats on most of its regional aircraft, though also has some planes with economy seats that have blocked middle seats
- Icelandair has real business class seats, but that also reflects that the airline flies to both the United States and all over Europe with these types of planes
- Russian airlines mostly have proper business class, including Aeroflot, S7 Airlines, and others
- Bulgaria Air A220s and Georgian Airways 737s have a proper business class cabin
- It’s also worth acknowledging that some European airlines rotate jets with long haul business class seats on short haul flights within Europe (like Aer Lingus A321LRs and A321XLRs, TAP Air Portugal A321LRs, etc.,), but that’s different from a purpose-built premium product
Bottom line
European airlines aren’t exactly known for their spacious intra-Europe business class products, which typically just consist of economy seats at the front of the cabin with blocked adjacent seats. People often wonder how European airlines “get away” with this.
On the most basic level, it’s because they can — when it’s just the standard in the region, there’s not much of an incentive to innovate. For that matter, there’s huge upside for airlines with this, in terms of the flexibility it offers them to adjust capacity between flights. Given the short lengths of most flights within Europe, I suspect they don’t feel the need to change a whole lot.
What’s your take on the business class hard product on flights in Europe?
Unsure why author thinks this is Big 3 de facto collusion. Around 30 percent of flights are the LCC.
Instead, I think it may be a demand issue.
Keep in mind that Europeans have other great options - rail and bus networks - so air's chief value add is speed rather than comfort. (Coach rail is a more comfortable seat than business class air, and rail also offers business class and first class products)
Can anybody remember when BA (and LH and AF?) switched from 2-2 up front to the empty seat approach?
ISTR it was in the 1970s.
It's the tiny legroom I find horrible after transferring from a proper business class seat.
I vastly prefer the empty middle over a huffy, chatty, obese American next to me in a slightly larger seat.
And even worse: it's always packed with people who got "status" from some points they got for buying female hygiene products at Walgreens or whatever. Status my ...s.
European biz is far superior to American fIrST kuh-lass. Even if for the seat'mates' alone.
Twice I have had a plane swap at the last minute, and had an A350 from Munich to Frankfurt. Lie flat seat for a 40 minute flight!
As I commented for the other article, I think that there is real competition between many European cities that are serviced by a number of low cost carriers and I think many Europeans would be okay with taking the effecient train system. Consider that the difference in total time between a flight and a train may not be that much. I also agree with the comments that mentioned because of the short flight time the...
As I commented for the other article, I think that there is real competition between many European cities that are serviced by a number of low cost carriers and I think many Europeans would be okay with taking the effecient train system. Consider that the difference in total time between a flight and a train may not be that much. I also agree with the comments that mentioned because of the short flight time the ground experience becomes more important. I think the US airlines make up for their system because their loyalty programs have become big business. Due to lounge over crowding they have not been able to offer lounge access for domestic business class but many people have access through a credit card anyway....
There are two types of collusion: overt and tacit. Overt collusion is illegal but tacit collusion (TC) occurs in all sorts of industry every day. There's no need for firms to communicate with each other under TC; they just have to see what the other 'guys' are up to and decide not to rock the boat.
Also, bear in mind that Europe has plenty of 3-4 hour flights which don't have a proper business class,...
There are two types of collusion: overt and tacit. Overt collusion is illegal but tacit collusion (TC) occurs in all sorts of industry every day. There's no need for firms to communicate with each other under TC; they just have to see what the other 'guys' are up to and decide not to rock the boat.
Also, bear in mind that Europe has plenty of 3-4 hour flights which don't have a proper business class, with HEL-TFS being one of the longest (approx 6 hours) using this faux business class.
This is half the reason I like connecting in Helsinki these days - Finnair offers proper business class on their A350s on LHR - HEL
What I frankly do not understand is the American obsession with the seats. I fly LH all the time, averaging four flights every month. For two hours it is very comfortable. What Americans miss is that they offer real services in biz on flights below 2 1/2 hours. All I hear in U. S. are complaints about service. Not so on the flights I take.
OH how you swoon about burgers. I get served full...
What I frankly do not understand is the American obsession with the seats. I fly LH all the time, averaging four flights every month. For two hours it is very comfortable. What Americans miss is that they offer real services in biz on flights below 2 1/2 hours. All I hear in U. S. are complaints about service. Not so on the flights I take.
OH how you swoon about burgers. I get served full course meals breakfast, lunch and dinner. And we always have lounge availability for intra-Europe flights.
Quite often I see seat configurations change based upon sales. That is smart business.
Ben, yes Turkish has real biz class. But who awants to fly to the Frozen North, via Turkeye, from western Europe?
It is not seats, it is personal space. Look the comment below being able to bring your own food into a plane but not your own space.
TBH if you are a regular flyer of LH you would know their business class 'meals' especially on the <2.5hr flights typically consist of (with no option apart from take it or leave it) a small cold plate with a bread roll and some kind of sweet.
Meanwhile, back in Economy, seats are hard, seat pitch painful, the departure lounge by the gate crowded, security has long lines and staff apparently encouraged to yell at grannies.
This is the best free market competition offers?
When you choose your airline, you get what you choose. Not my experience, but I don't fly Ryanair.
Crowded lounges and yelling security staff is not a problem unique to Europe.
That is why in Europe it is better to travel by train, the time compared to an airplane is not much and they have real business class seats. Even companies like Trenitalia have sleeper seats in their executive services.
Busiest routes in Europe by seats with average flight time.
1
Rome – Madrid
~1.32M
~2h 35m
2
Lisbon – Madrid
~1.29M
~1h 20m
3
Copenhagen – Oslo
~1.27M
~1h 10m
4
Düsseldorf – Palma
~1.26M
~2h 15m
5
Dublin – London Heathrow
~1.22M
~1h 25m
6
Amsterdam – Barcelona
~1.21M
~2h 10m
7
Barcelona – Rome
~1.19M
~2h 15m
8
Stockholm – Copenhagen
~1.17M
~1h 10m
9
London Heathrow – Frankfurt
~1.12M
~1h 40m
10
London Heathrow – Paris CDG
~1.10M
~1h 15m
“Why is Europe the most disappointing region when it comes to business class hard product on shot haul flights?”
Ben, I think you mean to say short haul…
I actually prefer the European business class to the US. The blocked middle seat gives me more personal space, the service/food/extras are better than the US first. The seats are typically comfortable enough (I’m 6’1”, 200lb; ymmv).
I saw some comments that nobody uses EuroBiz or it is just for long haul connection. On HAM - ZRH (my regular route) planes are often full and have 5-8 rows of business class, on other routes especially out of FRA I have seen planes with 12 rows of J (speaking of great service..).
The demand is definitely there and the usage varies by route, one thing the EuroBiz concept is quite strong at.
Why, unlike in Asia, you don’t see wide bodies and lie-flat seats on two-hour hops in the US?
I guess it’s a different market, and so is Europe...
It's really ironic given many Europeans tend to be taller. I believe 19 of the world's 20 tallest countries are European.
Hence, I argue that physically the European market definitely needs proper business class seats.
Disclaimer: I am biased given I am 6.9 with wide shoulders. Those camping chairs are ridiculous. Really lousy politicians who did not command proper business seats like in African countries.
“Most flights in Europe are around an hour”. Simply not true, unless you define Europe to be London, France, Germany and Northern Italy (as you seem to do Ben)
But yes, most flights in Europe are around the 90-120 min mark, and few flights have durations longer than 3-3.5 hours (mostly the Canaries and perhaps Finland).
This is a lame debate, the European business class model meets European needs. Period. Europeans are slimmer...
“Most flights in Europe are around an hour”. Simply not true, unless you define Europe to be London, France, Germany and Northern Italy (as you seem to do Ben)
But yes, most flights in Europe are around the 90-120 min mark, and few flights have durations longer than 3-3.5 hours (mostly the Canaries and perhaps Finland).
This is a lame debate, the European business class model meets European needs. Period. Europeans are slimmer and not obsessed over size. We would rather have lounge access and a proper meal rather than a bigger seat with granola bars and a lovely wait by the gate.
Incorrect. We Europeans are taller and tallness correlates with width.
With 2.05m / 6.9 and with sportive statue those camping chairs are really uncomfortable. There are many Europeans who love to pay a premium for more comfortable seats.
Actually in my situation I avoid European business since a seat on the overwing exit is much more comfortable but still not wide enough. Ironically, you sometimes can buy a free middle seat but not on...
Incorrect. We Europeans are taller and tallness correlates with width.
With 2.05m / 6.9 and with sportive statue those camping chairs are really uncomfortable. There are many Europeans who love to pay a premium for more comfortable seats.
Actually in my situation I avoid European business since a seat on the overwing exit is much more comfortable but still not wide enough. Ironically, you sometimes can buy a free middle seat but not on the overwing exit. Need to buy another ticket for an imaginary friend. At least I can claim a tax refund after the flight.
Europeans are not taller than Americans, except for maybe the Dutch and the nordics. I am sorry that you feel cramped, but your situation would not necessarily be better in US business class, as the pitch is similar. At 2.05 you are not the norm, you are the exception, for good and for bad.
FYI, The Canaries are in Africa. So this has nothing to do with an article on European flights....
The Canary Islands while geographically in Africa are culturally and politically tied to Europe. They are part of Europe’s domestic aviation space and considered a short haul destination for all accounts. Why is there always a boomer willing to talk out of their ass*s? Good lord.
For example Lufthansa would have two totaly diffrent configurations on same route on diffrent days due to dynamic cabins. For example
Sunday 1800 FRA-MUC had 2 rows (8 seats) of Business Class while Monday 0900 FRA-MUC had 12 rows (48 seats) of Business on A321.
I really don't mind the blocked middle seat concept but the real problem is that the leg room isn't any better, some have really short pitch.
There is also more to innereuropean business class as opposed to domestic First in the USA. You do get lounge access and you normally have a dedicated security line.
And also on the normal 1-2 hour flights within Europe you get a proper meal.
You buy a C ticket in the US, you don't get priority security or lounge access. If your flight is less than two hours, you get no food, but whiskey.
You buy a euro C ticket, you get priority security and lounge access. Food is included on board as well, and your flight is usually less than two hours. The seat may be the same as economy, but the pitch in the front of the plane is a little better.
"You buy a C ticket in the US, you don't get priority security"
That's not always true. Some US airports do have non-preCheck express lanes for premium customers/
My beef with Intra Europe is BA who have the monopoly on LHR-LCA they use 320 or 321 for a flight that is in excess of 4 hours business on this route is a scandal. A route I use often
On LHR -ATH anything but BA always Aegean a wonderful product but still tthe standard seat configuration. On short haul less then 3 hourd dont pay the premium.
Could we just stop referring to Turkish as a European airline? It's a Middle East carrier, from a Middle Eastern country
What continent is Edirne located on? And if your middle east assignment is because Turkey is majority Muslim. what continent is Albania located on?
IST is in Europe so why shouldn't Turkish be referred to as a European airline?
"European skies are controlled by the “big three” European airline groups — Air France-KLM, IAG, and Lufthansa Group" <-- On which metric are you basing this? If I take only the top 10 European airlines by passenger (from Wikipedia), then the "big three" transported about 39% of all passengers in 2024. Ryanair (#1) transported about 22%, Easyjet (#5) and Turkish Airlines (#6) about 10% each, WizzAir (#7) 7%, Aeroflot (#8) 6%. And the share for...
"European skies are controlled by the “big three” European airline groups — Air France-KLM, IAG, and Lufthansa Group" <-- On which metric are you basing this? If I take only the top 10 European airlines by passenger (from Wikipedia), then the "big three" transported about 39% of all passengers in 2024. Ryanair (#1) transported about 22%, Easyjet (#5) and Turkish Airlines (#6) about 10% each, WizzAir (#7) 7%, Aeroflot (#8) 6%. And the share for the "big three" gets even lower when you consider all European airlines.
I think that your perception is about 10 years old when Ryanair and Easyjet were much smaller. Back then the "big three" had more than 50% market share.
1/ Turkey is not Europe
2/ Ben was referring to full-service carriers, so you can remove easyJet, WizzAir and Ryanair (which don't have business class, by the way)
3/ While you're right about Aeroflot, they aren't really competing outside of Russia and CIS, at the moment
The Istanbul airport is in Europe as is two thirds of it's population. I guess you failed geography
Flew last month on Tap in J Prg to Lis on A321LR.. completely different experience, slept for two hours. It was amazing flight
I flew on BA to Mykonos and it's perhaps not surprising for a very premium route but there were a full 12 rows of business class, going back to include both exit rows. Quite a revenue opportunity if they were collecting a substantial additional fare for those "premium" seats.
As someone who always checks at least 1 bag (often 2) when flying to Europe, I've found that upgrading to business class is sometimes close to the same price as flying economy and paying to check 2 bags. Add in lounge access and a pretty good in-flight meal, and it can be a great deal for the right price.
I can second that. We we travel for month or two, I can take two bags, each 32 kilos. What can you do in economy. So, it's not all about dear.
Monday morning Frankfurt to London, 2/3 of the cabin length are marketed as business class. No way to offer this capacity with a dedicated hard product. The flexibility is brilliant for airlines and it is acceptable to customers given the mostly short flight times. And if business class was constantly sold out on the banking/consulting race tracks, that wouldn’t please customers either.
TBH as a former airline RM guy, I have always loved the European style of business class for the flexibility. Personally, the wide seat we get in the US is just slightly better than an economy plus seat with an empty middle to me.
But I always joked with my team about flexibility piece of the euro-biz. The fact that the LOPA can effectively be changed flight to flight theoretically. Obviously there are logistical...
TBH as a former airline RM guy, I have always loved the European style of business class for the flexibility. Personally, the wide seat we get in the US is just slightly better than an economy plus seat with an empty middle to me.
But I always joked with my team about flexibility piece of the euro-biz. The fact that the LOPA can effectively be changed flight to flight theoretically. Obviously there are logistical scenarios that need to be played out, but was always an interesting idea.
Would it really be that bad if US converted to a blocked middle set model? Maybe a few more extra inches of legroom + the blocked middle seat + the same existing service standards (food, dedicated FA and bathroom?
To be honest I don't really understand all the fuzz. Most euro flights are relativly short, 2-3 hours at most. With that in mind I'll must rather have decent service and a nice meal (honestly US carriers, a "premium snack basket" is the best you can manage during a 90 min flight?) rather than the bigger seats found in domestic first. If you are shocked by seats when boarding you should have done better research into what you were paying for in the first place.
Sh!t on that. There are are plenty of US domestic narrowbody flights in excess of 5hrs. If I want food, I'll eat it at home or in an airport lounge. I want space.
Yes, Turkish has business class seats on single aisles planes (comparable to Premium Economy seats on two aisle planes).
But when flying from Western Europe (e.g. Lyon) to Asia, I prefer flying a short 45 minute flight in intra-Europe business class to then connect to the flat bed over a 3-hour feeder flight on a Premium Economy-Like seat to then connect to the flat bed.
Other than that, I am not the biggest fan...
Yes, Turkish has business class seats on single aisles planes (comparable to Premium Economy seats on two aisle planes).
But when flying from Western Europe (e.g. Lyon) to Asia, I prefer flying a short 45 minute flight in intra-Europe business class to then connect to the flat bed over a 3-hour feeder flight on a Premium Economy-Like seat to then connect to the flat bed.
Other than that, I am not the biggest fan of TK anymore since they use their single aisles for a lot of Asian and African destinations.
Maybe TK has real business class seats because their most traveled routes, IST to various cities in Germany, Paris, London, Brussels, are on average 3 hours long. I traveled with wide bodies on those routes several times.
It is not a real business class if the seat is the same seat as the economy seat. Period. No if or buts.
And yet 'First Class' in the USA domestically and outside the USA are also viewed completely differently.
The amount of Americans that tell me they 'flew First Class' on Virgin from the US to the UK don't get it when I say 'err Virgin Atlantic don't have First Class'.
I think there is so much information available for travellers these days - look at a review online, look at Youtube - that if you...
And yet 'First Class' in the USA domestically and outside the USA are also viewed completely differently.
The amount of Americans that tell me they 'flew First Class' on Virgin from the US to the UK don't get it when I say 'err Virgin Atlantic don't have First Class'.
I think there is so much information available for travellers these days - look at a review online, look at Youtube - that if you get a terrible shock when you arrive in Europe to find 'business class' is the same seat as economy, that's on the traveller.
It is worth also pointing out that in Europe airlines often compete with high speed rail. For example Eurostar trains carry ten times as many passengers per day as BA does between London and Paris and domestic flights within France or Germany are virtually non existent.
It is interesting you bring the rail comparison because, correct me if I am wrong, both the Eurostar and the TGV in France offer different seats on their premium cabins: 2 x 1 versus 2 x 2. If the trains do it why not the planes? It is shocking Europeans pay up to 5x-10x the price of economy for the same legroom and seat width. Americans have higher standards and demand more for their money.
But that's exactly the thing. I don't know ANYONE that buys a business class intra Europe ticket. TBH, the product seems to primarily exist to offer a 'through' business class fare from say New York to London via AMS on KLM or New York to Amsterdam via London on BA. I see this as aircrew for a legacy European airline so we can obviously see with our personal devices who is connecting etc.
But back...
But that's exactly the thing. I don't know ANYONE that buys a business class intra Europe ticket. TBH, the product seems to primarily exist to offer a 'through' business class fare from say New York to London via AMS on KLM or New York to Amsterdam via London on BA. I see this as aircrew for a legacy European airline so we can obviously see with our personal devices who is connecting etc.
But back to your point re train vs plane absolutely, the trains do have a different hard product.
I buy business class tickets within Europe if they're well priced and/or I need the tier miles- that's maybe a third of the time.
I bought a LHR -> DUB business seat back in January. Between the bag fees, etc. was about the same as economy, and the extras were nice.
@Duck Ling
The point about the "through" fares is why I am somewhat surprised it exists.
If flying saying BER-DFW I would always prefer to change in the US to get the American front cabin for the short section which I regard as enormously preferable.
I suppose the effect of the JVs prevents this competitive signal reaching management.
"Americans have higher standards and demand more for their money."
Not really - it's shocking to me that you can pay for so-called First Class and get no lounge access. On a short domestic flight, this matters, as you might spend as much time in the lounge as you would in the air.
For comparison, Australian domestic business class gets you both a somewhat bigger seat and lounge access.
"The amount of Americans that tell me they 'flew First Class' on Virgin from the US to the UK don't get it when I say 'err Virgin Atlantic don't have First Class'."
To be fair, Virgin does market it as Upper Class, in an attempt to blur the lines between Business and First, and to suggest that their product is elevated above a typical business class (even though it isn't). So I can see how the confusion arises.
When you choose your airline, you get what you choose. Not my experience, but I don't fly Ryanair.