Which Airlines Have The Most First Class Seats? From 8 To 2,214 Seats

Sorry for nitpicking, but LH F is either 4 or 8 seats per bird, so the total number cannot possibly be 283.

@ Dror -- So that's where I noted in the bullet point that people may quibble with me a bit. I consider the Allegris capacity to be three rather than four. I think it would be fine to go either way there, but for suites that can accommodate multiple people, I went based on base capacity.

Yes, it can technically seat up to four people, but only three individual tickets can be sold.

This is me finding out SWISS has more First Class seats than Singapore. I suppose it’s not too surprising, given that they install A330-300s with First Class and SQ’s main long haul workhorse (the A350) have none. What does it say we’ve heard far more about SQ’s compared to LX’s?

I imagine ability to (relatively easily) get with points is a big factor

Ray, one forgets SQ’s tremendous A380 F suits. A real treat for those who know …. 🙂

I'm surprised Korean Air has that large of a footprint. I feel like it's on so few routes.

I think BA deserves a nod, even if its first class isn't particularly good. It also has a very substantial first class footprint. Pretty much all frequencies to major US hubs get them

Hi Ben,

Garuda Indonesia is soon to be bringing the PK-GIF aircraft back into service after an extended period. The plane was out of commission so its livery could be updated to the presidential Republik Indonesia livery. This matches the livery of another aircraft in the fleet, PK-GIG. As a result, the airline will have two planes with identical liveries and first-class cabins available for both government and commercial use.

I do not see Georgian Airways on the list here. They have one 767 with 2 first class seats (although I do not know how to book them even though the plane seems to consistently be flying between TBS and TLV).

Interesting analysis, Ben! Thanks for taking the time to do the math on this. It's really impressive how some of these airlines have such small footprint yet have invested quite a lot in their First Class ground experience. I know there are ways to access these F lounges with status or paid access but it's still impressive to see the level of investment given the small volume in the grand scheme of things.

Sorry folks but I just cannot accept that American Airlines has any aircraft fitted with anything like a First Class seat fitted.
By comparison with World Class airlines, AA only offers J seats, regardless of what people might try to have us believe.

@AeroB13a:
... and i agree on that.
Some sort of decent airlines try to call their product "FIRST CLASS", but the reality is far from what any real traveler should understand as First Class.

I agree. There is the notion that BA F was the world's best business class. I thought a FC can't be worse than BA's. Then I flew AA F. AA F isn't even the best business class...

So what. The calculations only have meaning as to determine your chance of being on a plane with a first class with that airline. I think the number of first class seats on a specific plane is a better metric. If there are too many it looses the experience and the exclusive aspect.

You have such an interesting brain, Ben. 🙂

While I was reading, I pondered - why haven’t US airlines rebranded their domestic first class product as business class? Is it “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” or simply because their footprint is so large it would be cost prohibitive to rebrand, or something else? Branding-wise it’s not like the average US airline’s A321 says first or business class on the seat; most references to the product are digital these days. As you state it is confusing for the uninitiated passenger to fly from Denver to Chicago to Cancun on the same plane type and have one of each flight use each term.

I’m not talking about the overall quality of product (let’s not go down that road!), simply the naming conventions.

Maybe it's because Asiana Airlines' planes are included.

What a fun post! I would be really curious what % of an airline’s planes has first class because that would help us know a rough idea of what % of flights on any given airline offer F, unrelated to how many actual seats are on each plane.

Asiana no longer has first class; only seats remain on the 380.

Ray, several reasons for that I would say: the SQ premium brand is stronger than Swiss; the SQ network is larger; the SQ marketing budget is larger and more their promotion/publicity is more ubiquitous, by a country mile. Chances are, the target market for FC is more likely to be exposed to SQ than Swiss.

I see you added Kuwait Airways after this post was published initially without it on the list. (I guess your recent first class experience with them was not all that memorable.)

How about Air Côte d'Ivoire? I think you reported they recently added first class in a new delivery.

American Airlines seems to be an aberration if your data is correct. American has 160 seats on 20 aircraft compared to Japan Airline with 140 seats and China Eastern with 120. I see comments that the quality is subpar but is this an opportunity to reduce the seat count to improve the first class experience?

I flew more than 100 times from Paris to Rio de Janeiro (Brasil) in La Premiere first class with Air France and when I see today the Air France first class (La Premiere) and a lot of other first class seats and place, really only Air France offer the real La Premiere first class. About service and food, try to do better than La Premiere with their French chef koks.
Kind regards,
André

I flew more than 100 times from Paris to Rio de Janeiro (Brasil) in La Premiere first class with Air France and when I see today the Air France first class (La Premiere) and a lot of other first class seats and place, really only Air France offer the real La Premiere first class. About service and food, try to do better than La Premiere with their French chef koks.
Kind regards,
Alain André

A most interesting critique Alain, thank you for your view.

I was taken with the AF New La Premiere product during Ben’s live blog session earlier in the year. The product impressed me so much that I have booked (1 H&L), CDG-SIN for our next trip East.

As a matter of fact my last AF flight (Rio-Paris) was most uncomfortable, over rated and very expensive. Soon afterwards AF stopped flying Concorde on that route.

If you would care to elaborate on your New La Premiere experience, then I would be certain to read your post. In anticipation ….

Not to nitpick your posting style Lucky (and I mentioned this once before a while back) but a simple table format of presenting the airline/seat/plane info would be graphically easier to read, and save repeating about 300 words on the page. " has planes with first class, with a total capacity of seats..."
Maybe this has to do with search optimization.

"I would be really curious what % of an airline’s planes has first class because that would help us know a rough idea of what % of flights on any given airline offer F"

That can get tricky though, because some airlines (especially British Airways) routinely fly first-equipped aircraft on routes where they don't actually sell the seats as first class.