Originally Posted by
Tchiowa
Comparing domestic First with international Business is a non-starter. Products have no relation to each other.
On flights with 3 classes of service, First is higher than Business.
You seem to be ingrained with the idea that "first" should equal one thing in context A (flights with 2 classes of service) and a different thing in context B (flights with 3 classes of service).
The Chinese train people have figured out that this system confuses (and, possibly lets down) customers, and so has Delta.
In both cases, expectations are crystal clear:
2nd (CRH), economy (DL) = small
1st (CRH), first (DL) = medium
business (CRH), DeltaOne (DL) = large
The fact that Delta doesn't offer all 3 of these service classes on the same planes is not especially important. Neither is the chosen nomenclature of the service classes.