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…
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?
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.
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.
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.