First Class:

I think within the *A airlines, they vary quite a lot. Obviously, SQ has the best first class product with the *A.

Within 1W, I think their first class products are much closer together. CX/BA/QF (and soon AA) have beds in First Class. The beds make a big difference when compared to the old first class. CX and BA provide privacy with their beds, whereas QF has a more open configuration which I don't really like. The difference between the beds is not so much the configuration (i.e. open or private) or the comfort of the seats (IMHO they are all a little hard), but it is the service they provide that makes the difference. I feel that CX has the best quality, followed by BA, then QF and finally AA.

When I buy a RTW ticket, I always choose 1W because they have a closer quality of First Class products when compared to *A. I can get to the places I need to with CX/BA/QF/AA. On *A, if I want the real comfort in First, then I have to rely on SQ most of the time which sometimes means taking a longer route than necessary.

Business Class:

The new BA beds in business win hands-down. After that, UA and VS are pretty comfortable. I don't like the CX, QF, AA, DL (Business Elite) seats for varying reasons. For AA and DL, I find they are too narrow. For CX and QF, the seats are just not comfortable and not enough leg room.

I find that within the *A and 1W, the business class products are closer together. If I was to fly business RTW, it would depend on the routes and which airline status I need to get. So it is not so much the seats since they are pretty similar but more routes and miles.

[This message has been edited by bagold (edited 10-07-2000).]

Randy, having flown Business Elite on DL to Europe several times out of JFK, these are my observations.

The seats are not wide enough, and my neck is always killing me after the flight, It is not a comfortable seat. A CS red jacket at JFK told me that they had screwed up when they ordered the seats for this plane and that she has had many complaints about them. Hopefully they will do better when the 777's go online.

The food was picture perfect and the effort to go high tech with the built-in monitors that play video games as well as movies was fun and helped to break up the flight. The JFK FA's were extremely professional.

Re: TransWorldOne...

It is indeed 2-2-2, and the seats are a bit on the narrow side. But there is plenty of legroom and recline. The seats don't have a lot of the features like lumbar massage, in-seat power, but are quite comfortable. The in-seat video takes small cassettes, of which there is a selection of 10-12 on board.

I understand that the catering and in-flight service is quite good. At the most, only 28 passengers (2 crew rest seats) and 22 on the 767-200s, so lots of attention. I have flown a hybrid TWOne to Hawaii, and will get the try the real thing in a couple of months to CDG.

Have flown C on NW and UA, and wasn't all that impressed. The upperdeck of the earlier 747 series can be nice because of their small size. Also flown JAL in C, and while the service was great, there still wasn't nearly as much space as TW's premium cabin.

I read something in USAToday about the topic of differences on alliance. Was that the media interview?

Here is what oldbag, I mean, bagold, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif was talking about...
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/2...0/2735135s.htm

From the USA Today piece:

"But Air New Zealand...[has] two classes."

True? I've never flown NZ. Seems hard to believe considered that most of their flights are ultra-long hauls.

If you look at the picture in terms of airline marketing strategies it becomes clearer. There are three major options:

1. Offer a product somewhere between traditional business and first classes at a business-class fare, appealing especially to the business traveler and consciously passing up people who want the absolute best for any number of dollars/pounds/miles. Example: Delta BizElite.

2. Have the best first-class service you can provide as a flagship offering, with business class available as well. Example: BA.

3. Leave things pretty much alone but depend on people who want non-stop service to your home country, many of whom may have an ethnic affinity for your airline, for your business. Examples: Alitalia, El Al. This doesn't mean you can get away with anything up front, but you just have to be in an acceptable range rather than competing for industry leadership.

Given that breakdown, it's no wonder that airlines with three-class service to major European hubs have the best first class. Those that fly two-class aircraft with "premier" business class offerings have the best business class. Nobody has mentioned any of the airlines in group 3 as candidates for either, but they don't care - from a business point of view, they don't need it. An Alitalia (or whatever) executive who spent the money to upgrade their first class cabin to BA's level ought to be fired, since it won't get them much additional revenue.