Nigeria’s Air Peace Has A “Fake” First Class: Ugh, Do I Have To Fly It Now?

Guys, I was so close to flying every first class product in the world. But now Air Peace, the Nigerian airline run by a guy who has been indicted in the United States for bank fraud, money laundering, and obstruction, apparently decided that it has first class as well… even though it doesn’t actually have first class? Let me explain…

Air Peace’s suspicious 777 first class, available to London

I pride myself in reviewing as many premium cabin airline products as possible, and I’m very close to reviewing every single class product in the world.

Up until now, I thought that the only two airlines in the world I hadn’t reviewed in first class were Starlux Airlines and Air Côte d’Ivoire. Fortunately I’m working on changing that, and trying both of them:

• Starlux has started selling miles, which shaves around 50% off the standard first class fare; while still expensive, it’s an investment I’m willing to make
• That leaves me just with Air Côte d’Ivoire, so if push comes to shove, I’ll just spend way more money than I’d like to in order to be a completionist and be (to my knowledge) the only person who has reviewed every first class in the world

Well, that was my plan, but then a couple of readers pointed out that I haven’t flown Air Peace first class. For those not familiar, Air Peace is a private airline in Nigeria that has a wide body fleet consisting of a few 777s, each of which is different. One came from Emirates, one came from Japan Airlines, and one came from Singapore Airlines, and virtually no changes have been made to the interiors.

Now, I’ve written about Air Peace in the past, and the airline did at the time have one ex-Emirates 777 with a first class cabin. We’re talking about a very old, previous generation first class, and not the suites the airline has now. However, that plane has been grounded for a long time.

However, as it turns out, Air Peace is still selling first class on its route between Lagos (LOS) and London (LGW). When you search on Google Flights, you’ll see a first class product listed, which is described as an angled seat.

Sure enough, when you go to Air Peace’s website, you’ll see that first class is for sale, and costs nearly 40% more than business class.

Then when you go to the seat map, you’ll see that first class has 18 seats, spread across three rows, in a 2-2-2 configuration. Meanwhile business class consists of 32 seats, also in a 2-2-2 configuration.

Does Air Peace first class really count as first class?

What’s really going on here? Pulling up Air Peace’s flight between Lagos and London, you’ll see that it’s typically operated by a Boeing 777-300 with the registration code 5N-BWI. Per Planespotters, this 22-year-old plane used to fly for Singapore Airlines, and is configured with 319 seats, including 50 business class seats and 269 economy seats.

Wait, what about first class? Well, it would appear that what’s happening is that 18 of these seats are being sold as first class, while 32 are being sold as business class, even though the seats are identical. This configuration matches this seat map you’ll find on AeroLOPA (where all 50 seats are marked as being business class).

Below is a video tour of this aircraft, and you can see those three rows of seats in the forward cabin are what the airline is now selling as first class.

The funny thing is that the below Air Peace review from a year ago shows someone in these exact seats (in the first three rows of the cabin), and there it’s clearly marketed as business class.

Seriously, does anyone know what’s going on here? What extra services is the airline offering for first class over business class, to justify the price difference? Can anyone find anything online showing what the first class experience is like, compared to business class?

This actually might be the most ridiculous first class “concept” I’ve seen in my life. I can’t help but wonder if onboard they just pretend that first class is no different than business class?

Two questions:

• I’ve made the rule for myself that I have to review every product that’s marketed as first class, but does this count? Something that’s literally a business class seat but which the airline just decides to charge more for?
• Can anyone find the best fare that includes a segment in Air Peace first class, so that I can review it? If someone can find something a bit better than the above, I’ll absolutely do it, and I guarantee it’ll make for an interesting review

Bottom line

Nigerian airline Air Peace is selling first class on its flights between Lagos and London. The issue is that there isn’t actually a first class cabin. Instead, the airline has 50 business class seats, but just sells 18 of those as first class.

As someone who has decided to fly every first class product, I guess that means I have to fly this? But seriously, does this even count? Has anyone seen anything about this first class experience, or know what differentiates it from business class?

I feel like I’m about to spend a fortune to fly first class on two African airlines, only to be very, very disappointed…

What do you make of this Air Peace first class situation?