Travel Feature
Which First Class Is Best?
Forbes.com editors

Last week we ran a story (see "Best In First Class") on our favorite first-class sections and asked readers to vote on which ones they liked most. More than a thousand Forbes.com readers voted--and who better to know about first-class travel than a Forbes.com reader?

The results were not surprising as much as conclusive. It was clear from our polls that a majority of readers favored one first-class section over another. The winner by a long shot was Singapore Airlines, which by press time had bagged an impressive 320 votes, or 54% of all votes cast in its round. Few business travelers who have ever experienced firsthand its charming sarong-clad stewardesses or one of its famous champagne cocktails will disagree. Along with its first class, its Raffles Class business class and even its economy class have won accolades from frequent fliers to and from Asia for years.

Here, in order, are the results of the poll:


1. Singapore Airlines 320 votes
2. British Airways 224 votes
3. Cathay Pacific 210 votes
4. Virgin Atlantic Airways 131 votes
5. American Airlines 124 votes
6. British Airways Concorde 99 votes
7. Emirates 80 votes
8. Lufthansa 67 votes
9. Qantas 50 votes
10. South African Airways 22 votes



I know SH will spill his coffee when he reads this but so what;not everyone reads Forbes.
Interesting there is no votes for AC;in reality they were not on the list put out by Forbes.

Parnel: AC doesn't have a First Class

May that should be "AC doesn't have Class"



SimonC

That's alright. At least the Canadian Embassy in Washington made their best 10 list of the world's ugliest buildings, putting Arthur Ericson in such estemed company as EMPei, Richard Rogers, Frank Gehry et al. As for doing something untoward with my coffee, my only complaint is that you should have posted this at the end of the original thread rather than starting a new one.

As for the ranking itself, it seems in line with the impressions most FTers have posted in their flight reports. All the top carriers have introduced sleeper/bed seats [BA, CX and SQ], and in overall experience BA's First is hard to beat even by Concorde, which is an experience of its own. I am just puzzled by the inclusion of Virgin, which does not offer a true Frist Class product. But since this was a self-selected sample based on advertisers like Virgin paying to get included in the first place, what can one expect. They provide a very good J-product which ranks up there with many carriers' First, though still lacking some of the key items which make for the First Class experience: catering, additional space, privacy...

[Have I passed 300-words yet?]

They do call their international product "EXECUTIVE FIRST" do they not?

Please also see;

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/004640.html

Touch�

And CO calls their BUSINESS FIRST and DL uses a similar term. So what? The point of this survey is that a company had to buy into it. And since the majority of FORBES readers are most unlikely to fly routes served by AC, what's the point of comparing apples with oranges?

When the concept of doing away with true First Class came about, many airlines placed what was then the standard First Class sleeper seat into the front cabin, removed the middle cabin, and rebranded the product. That was over a decade ago, and since then those who retained true First Class, at the price premium, upgraded the seating and service levels to a new threshold which exceeds any BusinessFirst/Upper Class service offered, including Virgins.

But the real point is this was a bought in sample of airlines that paid for access to the FORBES feature. Except in ranking this select group, it is far from a scientific indicator of "the best", which in itself is of little value in these days of hype and commercialism.

No different than AC calling themselves the best of anything;its ALL subjective;because the only real polls are the ones on the bottom line.Do they or do they not make money??Sorry to be so capitalistic!!!