What You're Paying For When You Fly Business Class

What You're Paying For When You Fly Business Class

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Wondering what you’re paying for in business class? A big seat, beef tenderloin and lounges with showers.

For the average airline passenger, flying is often unpleasant. Quarters are tight, the food is unsatisfying, the air is dry, we’re herded like cattle and the other passengers always seem to have crept out of the woodwork just for that particular flight. But since we often must fly to see family or for business, the question is not whether to fly. Rather, it's: Is flying a good deal? And would improving our experience by upgrading to business class be worth the extra cost?

The answers are surprising. Consider first that the price of flying is actually a pretty good deal, even accounting for extra baggage fees and the cold you picked up from leafing through a slightly damp copy of enRoute magazine. The average U.S. round-trip fare (adjusted for inflation, in year 2000 dollars), including reservation change fees and baggage fees, fell from $442.88 in 1979 to $285.04 in 2012, according to Airlines for America, the airline industry trade organization in the U.S. At the same time, the price of fuel has gone up. Whereas 10 years ago, fuel accounted for about 10% of the operating cost for airlines, that number is now roughly 35%.

So if flying is a relative bargain, should we consider upgrading to business class?

What You Get in Business Class

People who pay for business class on short domestic flights aren’t getting very much. That’s like ordering a rib-eye at Applebee’s — just get the chicken tenders platter and go about your day. For international flights, the story is altogether different, both in terms of amenities and the return on investment in sleep and comfort, especially for people who have to work the following day.

So what do you get? To find out, we met with Lufthansa executives when they were in New York to reveal improvements to their business class. Lufthansa is one of the largest airlines in the world, the largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers and fleet size, and the largest provider of first and business class between Europe and the United States.

Business class amenities include a separate check-in counter, lounges with work spaces and showers — OK, let’s get to the good stuff — new seats (introduced in 2012 and being implemented through 2014) that lie flat and extend to 6.5 feet in length, a 15-inch entertainment screen paired with Sennheiser headphones, internet and power supply, and multi-course meals that might progress from a beef tenderloin appetizer, to Arctic char with stewed leek and pearl barley risotto, to a buttermilk tartlet with rhubarb-vanilla compote, depending on the flight. Plus Champagne. On top of all this, some of the aircraft actually have noise-reducing materials built into the structure of the plane surrounding business class, as well as in the carpet and in the curtains that separate business from economy.

What It Costs — For You

Business class is not just a better meal. It’s a better life, to steal a line from Jerry Maguire, complete with free-flowing tartlets and Champagne. Just how much will it cost you? Airlines have complicated pricing models, so more than likely no two passengers in business class paid the same fare.

For the sake of example, we checked rates on the airline’s website during May for an August flight from New York to Frankfurt. A round-trip ticket in economy with flexible travel dates would cost $1,250. In business, $2,870. Expensive? Absolutely. Unreasonable? That depends on who’s paying. The reality is that most of the people in business class aren’t paying for their tickets out of pocket, nor are many of them cashing in points or getting upgrades. “The upgrades are hard and expensive to get,” according to business travel writer and publisher of JoeSentMe, Joe Brancatelli. He estimates that almost everyone flying in business class has had the seat paid for by business. “Whether that is corporately, on expense account or an entrepreneur paying his own way, it’s a business expense,” Brancatelli says.