Airlines battle to provide the highest level of luxury for those who can afford it. [ABC News]
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I've long flown AA Biz to Heathrow, now BA is offering a better price and - surprise, surprise - better service. Lie flat seats, overnight "sleeper service" (no noisy meal service every two hours on overnight flights) and free lounge access just because you have a Biz ticket (where AA still requires Biz ticket holders to pay to get into their Admirals Club). What's cool is that the airlines offering better amenities are in many cases charging less money for business / first class than the traditional majors.
I'd pay more for decent seats that weren't quite business class, but no airline offers this. It's either suffer in totally crappy coach or get overcharged for business/first.
Southwest has been good to me, though, as I have enough legroom and the seats aren't bad and they always have been honest about what they do and don't offer, and they haven't taken away anything from their services and charge what seems a fair price to me for what you are getting.
Other airlines charge the same (or more) and give you less than you got before. Oh, and their frequent flier programs are confusing, too.
I'm looking at visiting Australia or the UK or Germany sometime in the next few years and I'm probably not going to be getting to any of those places on a crappy US carrier. Non-US airlines have domestic carriers beat on price/service.
private rooms?! in other news...there is an anticipated spike in millionaires entering the mile-high club.
Awesome! And when this doesn't pan out and they run out of the money can the government bail them out again?!? That would be super!
I had the fortune to fly Sinagpore Airlines recently in their new KrisWorld. Amazing, quite apart from the excellent sleeping space and entertainment facilities, the food was outstanding and the level of personal service several galaxies ahead of anything on AA or UA.
How about this : I got up up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. Returning to my seat/bed, the bed had been made up & my empty water bottle replaced with a full one. Talk about attention to detail......somtimes its the little things.
End result : I'll bend over backwards to fly SIA again !
Those incredibly rich ladies (or pretened rich-lady models) sure look happy in the photos!
Why not resurrest old zeppelin service? The last in service, DELAG's LZ-129 »Hindenburg« featured staterooms and even a grand piano!
I have to say AA has always been one of my faves but BA surely shows that it is leading the way in treating it's customers well. I have some family to see in Cornwall and Germany I will definately take advantage of their great service and treatment.
I flew Silverjet to London on a promo fare for $1050 this past summer. It was divine. And considering Northwest wanted more, it was a good deal. It's so nice to be treated like a valued customer. Heck, when it comes to air travel, I'll settle for being treated better than cattle. In the meantime, it will be worth flying Silverjet for $2000, without the promo.