josephstern

There are plenty of other blogs out there that can cover PE, and probably with a better perspective than Business Class Ben. Wouldn't he just complain about how much worse it is than biz?

I'd think a PE-striving reader would want to know how PE is from the vantage point of someone who typically flies economy.

I don't get the thinking that Ben has a lock on this space. Find a blog that publishes what you want to read, people!

davewho??

I get what you're saying, but a while back Ben made the claim that he wanted to be a one-stop-shop. So I think he'll benefit more with adding the PE reviews, even if it isn't him personally that's doing it. Remember when he has Dan doing some economy reviews? that hardly fits with his aspirational claim. Whether or not they add PE remains to be seen, but it seems the readers have spoken! - And I was one of them!

Kagehitokiri

as more airlines offer nicer PE and drop F, they will probably fly some

but kind of hard for ben to choose to downgrade (do many on FT?)

josephstern

Ironic, right?

Business is the new first, with lie-flats.

PE is the new business, with recliners.

Are we anywhere different than where we were 15 years ago, save for the very, very nice F products out there?

German Expat

Yes we are at least for corporate travelers which are probably the bulk of the business class ticket sales. A lot of companies still allow business class on long haul flights and therefore the airlines have a much larger business class section compared to first class before. This might all change in the next recession with corporate cut backs and moving the bulk of the employees back to PE.

84fiero

It appears the blog is having a bit of an identity crisis - or at least mixed messaging. Is it all J/F cabins all the time? also some economy? some economy and some PE? Whatever the case, the reasons given in that post for not reviewing PE made little sense and largely rang hollow to most commenters, it seems.

And he's sort of running out of J/F products that are meaningfully different to review. Kind of getting down to the likes of flying F on a North Elbonia Airways 707 and such. He does some re-visits of previous carriers' J/F. While there is arguably some value in more than just one experience with a given service, at the same time even 2 or 3 trips on the same service isn't all that significant.

Kagehitokiri

products are updated fairly regularly

but clearly hotels are harder to run out of

eponymous_coward

10 across Y on 777s, 9 across on 787s.

Also, J and Y+ >> F and J. In general more people are being stuffed on the plane.

MCIUnitedGuy

So this is funny. In his recent blog post "Ed Bastian's Dishonest Air Italy Op-Ed" he quoted portions of the op-ed and then rebutted them point by point. He said Bastian was outright lying about there being plans to give Air Italy 777s and A350s. I submitted a comment with a link to an article in which Al Baker says:

“We gave them 20 brand new [Boeing] 737 MAX and 30 787s initially. Then we can deploy bigger aircraft like 777s and A350s.”

He has edited the article to take out the part where he called Bastian a liar about the 777s and 350s but my comment never made it out of moderation (it was snarky I suppose).

Kagehitokiri

good old stealth editing

what about rest of rebuttals ?

lhs323

Ben is becoming a real a**hole in my view. He arrogantly complained in his post today (January 10, 2018) that UA didn't invite him to the media event despite having "the largest independently owned blog in this space." I wrote the below comment calling him out for his past unethical behavior with United and he proceeded to delete the comment and ban me from making future comments on his website.

Daniel M says:
January 10, 2019 at 2:05 pm“For the record, I wasn’t invited to the media event, despite having the largest independently owned blog in this space, and having had nothing but positive things to say about Polaris lounges.”

I’m confused what your meaning is here. Are you complaining that you weren’t invited despite having the largest independently owned blog in this space? If so, why should they invite you after the scam you pulled on them which got you kicked out of MileagePlus? Are you saying that they should overlook your past ethical blunders because you’re so successful now? That sounds like a pretty obnoxious power play on your part. Look – I love your blog and there is a reason it’s the best in this space. I’m also convinced that you’ve learned from your past mistakes. But that doesn’t give you the right to call United out given your past issues with the airline. Just my two cents.

84fiero

Whining like that wasn't very professional of him. Not everyone gets invited to things - for whatever reason (or even for no particular reason). Don't pout about it.

char777

I was more aghast at his cooking attempt from the Polaris cookbook on Instagram. He's never cooked before, and almost everything he eats is from an airport or a hotel! Can you imagine? What a huge part of life to miss out on.

JetAway

Despite spending most of his time flying to the far corners of the earth Lucky's world is actually quite small.

fartoomanyusers

this comment was allowed (not me!):

Ryan says:
January 10, 2019 at 8:53 pmUnited may have considered your past negative history with defrauding them, in deciding not to invite you. Actions have consequences.