What consumers expect in business varies greatly around the globe, especially for short haul and regional flights. You’ll probably find the world’s best regional business class products in Asia (including the Middle East), where you’ll often receive lounge access, flat beds, delicious food, and attentive service.
Continue reading: Regional Business Class In USA Vs. Europe: Which Is Better?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Seats are better in the US. In Europe, there's almost always a meal . . . even on the shortest flights . . . as well as lounge access.
Too bad we can't get US Domestic First seating with Europe's Food/Drink and Lounge.....
to me business class in europe is the equivalent of premium comfort in the USA. So it's worse.
The headline made me think this was going to be a comparison of regional jet business class. In which case, my comment is that it’s amazing that in Europe you can get a hot meal on a regional jet in business class, while in the US you can barely get some granola bites.
You’ll probably find the world’s best regional business class products in Asia (including the Middle East), where you’ll often receive lounge access, flat beds, delicious food, and attentive service.
I hope you’re not including South Asia in this? It’s either East Asia or the Middle East — South Asian airlines can’t really compete with them, and even then only Air India and SriLankan are worth flying regionally in general. IndiGo’s so-called Stretch product is more or less on par with US domestic first class, not more.
Even within Southeast Asia, only SQ has flat beds on narrowbody aircraft (the 737 MAX), as well as PR on the A321neo (not the A321). TG, MH and GA don’t have any, though TG is taking delivery of new A321neos in the near future.
Europe is better because you actually have a chance to get a business class seat on short notice. In the US the domestic first seats are a fixed (usually small number), and filled with upgrades and upsales the closer it gets to departure. So when you need to rebook either out of choice or because of IROPS you're often stuck in the back, something that basically doesn't happen in Europe.
Better seat is more important for me, so US wins. If I want a reasonable meal in the air, most airports have something decent to go. If I want a nice meal, there are lots of restaurants on the ground.
For shorter distances in Europe there are often trains. On rare occasion, you can find a plane with better seats intra-Europe.
Not comparable. Most of Europe are 2-2.5h flights. Noone cares much about the extreme ends. Whereas US is concentrated on the continent edges (flyerover states) thus often longer flights. While I would wish for for true 2-2 seating, I welcome not having the aisle blocked military style especially with pilots chatting then for another 20mins. 757/767 fine but those are rare.
But most importantly, Europe has no automatic upgrades to business for 'status' customers, filling first. Didn't pay, seat remains free. Full US cabins are just annoying, particularly on those 4-6h flights. And you get more often a meal that is edible, as opposed to US slop.
Well, if you consider Turkish airlines European, as IATA and Skytrax do,
then, TK wins.
Otherwise, speaking generally, I agree with Ben. Because of the seats, US wins.
IMHO, a decent compromise for intra-Europe C/J would be to have E+/MCE/C+/PC levels of seat pitch (34-36”) for all the seats in the forward cabin. I think some airlines do have increased pitch, but it’s more like 30-32”.
When sold as either C/J or Y/M, it would make a meaningful difference in comfort. Bonus if they added padding, better tech, or headrests/footrests to differentiate them from the rest of the seats.
And without the complimentary upgrades. US first always is full…so you have a guaranteed neighbor
The proof of the pudding is in the eating …. European world class airlines continue to outperform their U.S. counterparts …. “It’s written in the Scripture’s” according to Obadiah Hakeswill. Some will know the to be scripture’s to be published by SkyTrax …. 🙂
I would argue that US biz class is incredibly popular. People are willing to pay a lot more for it, participate in loyalty schemes just to have little to no chance of an upgrade, and airlines are rushing to add capacity or even introduce biz class for the first time ever.
Lee, in other words you are saying that the European product is more ‘rounded’ and not simply hardware related?
Lee, in other words you are saying that the European product is more ‘rounded’ and not simply hardware related?
For me the price difference between Y and J in Europe is usually 150€-200€ per segment when outright booking business saver and 95€-120€ when upgrading / bidding for an upgrade later on (the difference is that the Y-saver doesn't include luggage and an upgrade doesn't change that). For me the seat is completely fine for up to 3 hours. Usually the legroom in the first 10 rows is quite good, especially if you can stretch one leg under the middle seat.
For me the biggest advantage in the US is the wifi and power socket, if I would get these I would outright pay for J in order to make sure I can work productively.
Interesting take. I haven't flown either Indigo nor AirIndia but from the coverage I would have assumes Indigo is the premium option in India!
I really wish the euro airlines had an economy plus section with 3-4" of extra legroom for the "business" part of the plane. That would make a huge difference. The current Spirit airlines like pitch of like 29-30" is a killer.
If premium travel is about the total experience, then European carriers win by a mile.
1. flying in the USA is a joke regardless of class.
2. Europe is a couple of steps better
3. SouthEast tops all. i.e SQ from Singapore to Danang in business you your treated as a human being.
In addition to the meal and lounge access, business class in Europe gets a much improved ground service. Separate check-in counters with short lines, priority security at many airports and priority baggage. For those without status, these are significant improvements to the travel experience. And yes, the flight attendants manage to serve drinks and a tasty meal even on a 45 minute flight. i summary, it is usually worth the upgrade.
I can bring my own food on the plane. I can't bring my own space on the plane.
Occasionally you end up with outliers for intra-Europe. Just last week, I flew LIS-FRA on TAP. It was their A321XLR with lie flat seats.
Absolutely. The equation is very complex, but this question was simple, the choices were narrow, hence the short answer.
There is a reason I use SQ or ANA way more than any other airline.
What do people think about the GoJet CR550 that UA flies? Originally a CR700 with 70 seats with a recreated interior of 10 F Class seats, 20 Economy Plus and 20 Economy = 50 seats with a self serve snack bar and storage bins for roller boards in cabin so no need to gate check? I have still not had the chance to fly this aircraft but I reading good reviews.
Adam
David from Simply Aviation made a very good video fairly defending European business class vs America domestic first class. What type is better all comes down to the value Europeans have vs Americans. Americans value the in flight experience, Europeans value the ground experience, and your reasoning does mirror David’s argument: The flights are shorter within Europe, so there’s a bigger emphasis on the ground experience and the soft product in general vs the hard product.
Love it. Fewer F seats than an E75 but love the extra storage and it just feels nicely spacious.
Overall I prefer the experience of European business over domestic first. Better food, wine and service. The lounge access is nice but I usually find a priority pass lounge when flying coach in Europe. For a flight over four hours i prefer the increased recline and less used lav offered in domestic first despite the inferior food, service etc. However I don't feel like I have more personal space in domestic first as someone is sitting closer to me.
Agree 100%, even coach in SE Asia generally has better food and service than domestic first and flying biz is always a pleasure.
I think it should be noted why you can get lounge access for European business class and why there are few upgrades available or the opposite which is why the upgrades exist within the US and why within the US the lounge access is not offered. Also, just to expand on the comments, in Europe there is a suitable alternative to flying with the legacy carriers....there are many more low cost carriers and there is the train. I think this is another reason why airlines in Europe have emphasized the on the ground expereince and why there is not overcrowding doing so.
The only thing that really matters is the seat, so therefore: (1) Turkish Airlines, (2) USA, (3) Rest of Europe.
I'm with you, I'll take the extra space on a short flight.
But Zurich to Geneva? Aw, c'mon. It's under 3 hrs on the train downtown to downtown, runs every hour, train has wifi (or use your mobile data). If you're hungry, there's a restaurant car with real food,