All business class is NOT created equal when you fly across the US. Check carefully.


Whether through upgrading with miles, money, or just paying extra, everyone loves the idea of flying business (or first) class. But watch out when flying on transcontinental flights.


business travelFor international travelers, food and beverage service has evolved since COVID started. Long-haul business class has generally become flat-bed seats with a great deal of space. There are exceptions, especially with discount airlines like Icelandic Air, where a business class seat is still a recliner, and to some South American cities, but most major carriers have the bed seats at least over the water from the US.

In the US, however, the product can vary widely.  A former client used to refer to “fake first class,” by which he meant transcontinental flights on narrowbody flights.

“Fake first class” flies many narrowbody planes between the West Coast and Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.

Now transcontinental business flights to and from New York or Newark to Los Angeles or San Francisco, one of the most competitive markets in the country, are generally flatbed seats. But transcontinental flights to Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington DC may well be on the narrowbodies with basic recliner seats.

And as airlines move equipment around with travel increasing two years since COVID first hit the country, this can change. United Airlines for example, used to have flatbed seats from San Francisco to Boston, with various equipment. Then they changed the plans to the old-style recliner seats. Now, at the time of writing, they are using some 757s they used to use on SF to JFK flights. Older-style paired flatbed seats, as opposed to the newer Polaris seats, but still a major improvement over the recliners.

Delta canceled many flatbed transcontinental flights. United is more complicated.

Irritated by hotel resort fees?Delta Air Lines, on the other hand, completely canceled their SFO to Boston flat-bed flights. Now Delta flies standard narrow-bodies with recliners on the route. On the Los Angeles-Boston route, they have narrow-bodied 757s with flat beds.

It gets far more complicated and confusing on routes where the same airline has different planes at different times of the day. United Airlines has five daily flights from Los Angeles to Washington Dulles. ONE operated on a 787, the others with 737 Max planes with recliners in business.

And United currently has six flights a day between San Francisco and Dulles. Four are 737s, but two are 777s with flatbed business seats. Increasingly, the best planes are being redeployed to international routes. Until recently, SFO-Dulles flights operated using planes with not only Polaris seats but also a tiny section with economy class seats generally sold as “Premium Plus” seats. These premium economy seats are at least as comfortable as many domestic business-class seats

Some of the flat-bed seat planes show up with other random city pairs too. Last week I saw one on a San Francisco-Denver flight.

Some business class seats are operated on regional jets.

In addition, while it can be more evident because the flights show as names like United Express, American Eagle, and Delta Connection, some business class flights can be on regional jets. Where the seats will still be more comfortable than coach, the planes themselves are smaller and will have limited onboard services.

Since equipment changes are constant, there’s no absolute rule of thumb on finding the most comfortable planes. To be honest, if you book many months in advance it is possible an airline will move a plane you’ve chosen to another route. At which point a change may or may not be negotiable.

Irritated by hotel resort fees?My suggestion? Keep an eye out or let a travel agent, if you use one, know your preference is for a plane with flat beds. Or even if you fly economy, your preference is for a wide-body plane.  But just remember, if you care about and are willing to pay for premium class, not all business class is created equal.


READ ALSO:
Airline customer service commitments — are they worthless?
FAA plane incident data and testimony must be preserved and honest


Previous

Next