Difference between Business and First Class?
 

Hi, I have done most of my flying in Business class and have not flown First Class for a long time. My question here for all the experts are "What is the big difference between Business and First Class and is the extra price worth it for International flights?" I know that First Class seats are bigger however I always thought that the Business class seat was just fine. Just looking for other differences. Thanks

PS, I didn't know where to post this question so I posted here.

too vague as it varies dramatically from one airline to the next

Depends
 

It depends on the airline. On LH first is definitly better. AC really doesn't have first so it is hard to tell.

CanuckOnFire

If you really want to experience outstanding International First Class, try Cathay Pacific. Absolutely outstanding seat-suite and service (including pajamas, caviar, top food and wines, etc.).

Whether it's worth it if you're paying cash instead of redeeming miles is a question for your budget, though.

Might be a good idea to look at the sites of the airlines you're interested in, as it probably depends a lot of the airline(s) in question. E.g. on some airlines it might mean the difference between a slippery slope lie-flat and a true flat bed, whereas on some you get the flat bed anyway (and how big a deal that is, probably depends on whether its a redeye or not).

Although, I think most would agree that if paying cash, it is not worth it. I don't consider sitting in J that tough a job that I couldn't do that for about $1000 an hour (e.g. JFK-FRA-JFK LH J about $3300 F about $15500).

Like others have said, it varies airline to airline so its hard to give you a good response. In general, I find the difference between a discount J and a F fare to be too great...but I also never fly paid J.

As has been posted, you'll have to be more specific. It's often a matter of marketing. AA sells exactly the same cabin as First within the U.S. but as Business on its Caribbean routes, totally for marketing reasons.

As a broad generalization with many exceptions, business class on aircraft that also have a separate First Class cabin tends to be a notch below what's sold as Business Class on aircraft that don't. This applies both within an airline (comparing, say, AA's Paris flights on 757s that offer only Business Class with those on wide-body aircraft that have F as well*) and across airlines (those that don't offer F have generally upgraded their J offerings to compete, such as Delta's "BusinessElite").

From what I've seen, most of the folks in F are there on upgrades, award tickets, non-revenue tickets, two-for-one deals, deep corporate discounts and so on. A few pay the full advertised fare, but that's not what fills the cabin.

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*The J seat is the same in both, but the "soft product" isn't.

I agree with this comment about Cathay Pacific (CX)... awesome airline with fantastic service. In Business the food is not (in my opinion) hugely better than say AA Trans Pacific but the CX service is just stunning.

CX also shows how much the question depends on the airline and even the particular class of aircraft that you are flying on.

For example for many airlines to get a true lie flat bed you have to be in F. On CX 777 transpacific service out of LAX, business class (J) seats are all herringbone style true flat beds. I found these seats in lie flat configuration slightly tight for my six foot two inch frame.

cf is really a very good service provider and awesome services provided by this.is ia an excellent service which provide customer satisfaction.

For my trip to asia I definitely want to try cathay first.

Thanks for all the reply. I didn't know that First Class was different from airline to airline.

I will be flying from San Francisco to Hong Kong.

I will be flying on Cathay Pacific most of the time but will also fly on United and China airline. I will be using Mileage for business class but just wondering if the extra mileage is worth it to get First Class instead of Business. The flight will be about 13-14 hours and I hope I will be sleeping most of the time since I usually pick early morning flight around 1am or so. Thanks

For United, the different between business and first isn't all that great. In the new configuration, both business and first class have lie-flat seats, on-demand entertainment, amenity kits and so on. The differences between them are small- First gets a nicer kit and better food selection and the seat is more enclosed and suite-like. On the planes that haven't been updated yet, the differences are a bit greater since the business class seats are cradle-style and not lie-flat.

Thanks so it is probably not worth the extra mileage to go from Business to First on United.

Now if I can get the same kind of feedback on Cathay and China Air it would great.

I'm not very familiar but I think Delta uses all the same seats up front. Regardless if it's first or business.

It's 12,5 extra each way, AA or UA, you also get better lounge privilages. and not sharing a seat with another person, and a little more attention, like waking up and being served what you ask for...that is up there....

And beign first off the plane,

Depends on how many miles you have...