Hi everyone, first time poster here.

I am looking to book a flight from LIS to FCO - 3 hour flight.
My partner prefers to fly business whenever it is available for comfort reasons/joint pains, but I just can’t see the value in this situation because of the seat layout.

This would be an A321neo, and the business class seats appear to be the same as economy seats, but with an empty middle seat.
However, it costs 4x the price. Even if we paid for a checked bag and premium seat selection, it’s still 2x the price.
I have some lounge passes from a credit card so that benefit isn’t huge.
Is premium check in and premium boarding a big difference? Especially for flights within Europe?
I recall having to carry luggage up and down the stairs of the plane and sit in a cramped bus to get to the gate. I assume that experience is the same even with business class? Or was that specific to getting to the immigration area?

I noticed there is an emergency exit row with 2 seats instead of 3. Wouldn’t this be better than the business class seats, other than not being able to recline?

tl;dr

Just wondering why someone would book business class within Europe.

TY!