Did and search on this forum and didn't find this topic mentioned yet. Apologies if it has already been posted.

On May 27 on the Economist's Gullivery travel blog thereis a posting titled "The Dying Days of the First World".



ARE we witnessing the end of the first-class era? Qantas is stopping selling first-class tickets on some long-haul flights. And British Airways is dropping first-class seating in four new planes.

Willie Walsh, BA's chief executive, insists the move was not linked to the recession, according to the Guardian. But BA's figures for first- and business-class traffic do not make comfortable reading. They slumped 18% in April, year on year, although the fact that Easter was in April (and in March last year) will have had an impact.

Many commentators expect other airlines to follow this lead. But the trend actually started years ago, in the midst of a different recession. After the first Gulf War, as Joe Brancatelli noted, Continental, Delta, Northwest, US Airways, Alitalia, KLM and SAS were among those airlines to scrap their first-class cabins.

The problem is partly of the airlines' own making. By providing business-class seats that allow passengers to sleep comfortably, they have weakened the case for the extra expense of first-class seats. The price differential is not always so large: if you're clever with your dates, you can get a first-class return flight between London and New York with BA for around £2,100 ($3,340). Business-class seats are £1,100. Travel on the wrong days of the week, though and the first-class seat costs almost £11,000 (as opposed to some £4,750 in business class). That's a lot of money to pay for pan-seared rabbit goujons and a bigger film choice.

First-class seats still provide a useful reward for an airline to offer its most frequent flyers, but that may not be reason enough to keep them if the demand from paying passengers tails off. The cost of reconfiguring existing aircraft could stall any major refits for now, although new-builds, viz BA, might look different.

This was followed on May 31 by "Is First-class travel worth it?"



Just a short piece of the blog:

the airlines' widely-reported troubles selling first-class seats (and the subsequent decisions to reduce first-class offerings) are often the airlines' own fault. Why should customers pay twice as much for first class when the beds in business class are nearly as good? Lobster Thermidor and designer pajamas are nice, but such amenities are probably not worth the usual price differential between first and business.

Fortunately for the airlines, the solution to their problem lies in the declining rates of occupancy in first class. If and when first class is eliminated from an airline's offerings, the airline will probably have more room to raise prices on its remaining premium option, business class. Meanwhile, the New York Times reminds readers that things aren't necessarily as bleak for first class as they may seem:

For airlines, at a time of immense financial pressure, the prospect of using bonus points to upgrade to first class may make the difference between a passenger taking your flight, or that of a competitor, [said Bernhard Schöning, a manager for cabin modification for commercial airlines at Lufthansa Technik.]