Wilkommen! Bienvenue! JetBlue to go Euro-style with a first class cabin?
First time here? Check out the site's "greatest hits" or read a random post from the archives. Feel free to ask a question, and consider subscribing to the latest posts via RSS or e-mail. Thanks for visiting!
JetBlue goes Euro! Not to Europe, but the airline is considering a European-style premium cabin. It’s buried in an article about jetBlue’s pending introduction of refundable fares — another big change for the company. (Though it’s something which most other airlines have had for years, to appeal to business travelers, jetBlue has consciously avoided refundable fares until now.) So what will a jetBlue first class cabin look like?
[CEO] Neeleman today also said JetBlue is “experimenting with the idea” of a “virtual first class,” which would give higher-yielding travelers access to window and aisle seats between empty middle seats, particularly on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays–when business travelers take to the skies and load factors are historically lower.
All that’s missing is the adjustable armrests that you find at the front of intra-European “business class.” (I use quotation marks, because airlines like Lufthansa and Air France really just give you the same damn seat, with a slightly better snack, wider armrests, and an empty middle seat, when you buy business class. Americans may complain about their domestic “first class” travel experience, but the seat is still a heckuvalot nicer than anything you’ll find within Europe.
Transatlantic rift? Pfft. Sounds like the US and Europe are moving closer together after all. Creating a premium cabin is in line with what I predicted for jetBlue a while back. Their de facto premium economy section was a first step.
Creating a sub-cabin like this, in combination with refundable fares, would make jetBlue very appealing for many business travelers. Though the live TV could be distracting…
Related:
- JetBlue increases legroom, creates de facto premium section
- JetBlue introduces premium economy cabin after all
(image)
RSS Feed / Subscribe
Subscribe to Posts by Email
May 23rd, 2007 at 2:31 am |
At least the European seats are relatively new and clean, which you cannot say about the uncomfortable leather sofas in typical American “First” class. The meals are way better in Europe as well.
Another thing is that you don’t fly more than 3-4h within Europe that often, for a 2h flight it doesn’t matter where one sits.
May 23rd, 2007 at 6:17 am |
I agree 100% about the meals, and that the cleanliness of some first class cabins in the U.S. isn’t always the best, but that they’re uncomfortable? Really? Maybe I’ve just been lucky…
I’ll also agree that you can sit pretty much anywhere for a 2 hour flight. But since so many flights in the U.S. are longer than that, the domestic “first” seats in the U.S. are still welcome, in my book, despite their shortcomings.
May 23rd, 2007 at 12:19 pm |
I don’t know about all the US airlines but all the First’s I’ve flown, have had basicly just leather “blocks” that look like a huge, square sofa. Not exactly something that have been designed for comfortable, longhaul flights.
Just compare them to e.g. car seats, where the engineers have actually spent some time to make them comfortable even for long drives. (And I’m not talking about the minivans
March 19th, 2008 at 9:00 pm |
[…] legroom, creates de facto premium section - JetBlue introduces premium economy cabin after all - Wilkommen! Bienvenue! JetBlue to go Euro-style with a first class cabin? - How do you search for premium economy fares? - Demystifying premium […]