European Business Class with Economy Seating.

[L'aviateur]

I'm not sure whether i'm being pedantic, but I truly hate the fact the airlines in europe offer supposedly business class flights with the economy seating, middle seat blocked and (with the recession as an excuse) very little more. You board and disembark in the same queues, the service isn't particularly different, but the price is 'premium'. I suppose you get a bit of flexibility on the ticketing, but thats about it.
Recently with a few asian airlines on short/medium haul flights i've enjoyed the smaller business class seats (i.e 2 x 2 on 737/A320) and really miss them from some of the European flights.

With the low cost carriers you can select an extra legroom seat at the front and prepurchase a meal and even lounge access for 1/3rd of the price of a business ticket...

[davidjohnson6]

Perhaps a glib answer, but if you think short haul business class in Europe isn't worth the money, then don't pay for it !
As long as there are enough people out there willing to be parted from their money in exchange for what passes for business on these flights, then airlines will continue to offer it.

You just gotta start voting with your (or your company cost code) wallet.

[Final 3 Greens]

L'Aviateur

I agree with you, spending a lot of time in the middle east, where short haul business class is still agood product.

Even the loco Air Arabia has a similar seat pitch to European business class.

I do pay for C in Europe, as I want the space to work, but I am choosy about the airlines I fly with.

It's very rare I book Club Europe any more, since the service cut backs have made this highly unattractive and when things go wrong, having a business ticket does not seem to buy enhanced service, as it does with some other airlines.

[OFSO]

Some - well, quite a few - years ago I flew most weeks from FFaM to Paris CdG, which meant we had a choice of Lufthansa or Air France.

We always had Business Class tickets: Lufthansa put us in with Economy Class but Air France put us in First Class. No prizes for guessing who got our trade !

Being retired such things no longer concern me: when I do fly these days it's always in FR Class as I'm paying..

[BEagle]

Lufthansa dumbed down its UK-Germany Business Class service in April 2004. They took off one flight attendant, so that now they only provide the minimum required under EU-OPS. They stopped providing a 3 course hot meal (which, if you had a long day ahead, was always quite welcome), they stopped offering an aperitif and nuts after take-off and instead they now only provide a cold snack.

Economy Class was dumbed down at the same time; it was so bad that the flight attendants felt insulted. One told me "They expect us to serve bread and water only - prison food!". So for the first few weeks they gave every passenger a 'comment form'; soon afterwards Lufthansa must have signed a contract to dispose of the EC cheese and lettuce mountain, because that's all they offer these days - bland cheese in a small bun. Before Apr 2004, in Economy you had a choice (usually ham or cheese) of half-baguette with a 1/4 bottle of wine, if you wished, which was fine.

Travel 'FR class'? Never in a million years - I'd sooner eat my own excrement.

[WHBM]

There are many people, particularly (though not exclusively) those employed by public sector bodies, who get business/first class travel as part of their employment contracts. They never really see the cost of their tickets, just indent for them and go. The commercial teams of carriers find them to be a significant traffic flow, maybe confined to certain times of the week (hence the convertible seating). They have also found that this high-revenue flow continues despite the dumbing-down of the service standards. In fact if there was nothing at all extra, some of this traffic would continue, just for the prestige back in the office that they "travel business".

[Hunter58]

If you connect through the hub, thrust me, after 12 hours before the last thing you want is to sit in the middle seat of the connector (like in Air France domestic. Trust me, the chances you get this middle seat are around 80%!). Therefore the middle seat of the business section stays empty and you have a tad more space. Those poeple are the real reason why you still have a C-Class in Europe.

[Tim00]

There are many people, particularly (though not exclusively) those employed by public sector bodies, who get business/first class travel as part of their employment contracts.

This is evidently true, although I wonder about those organisations' economics. I work for a FTSE-100 organisation as a senior widget-designer type chap, & if I ever booked a business-class flight, I'd face not having the cost refunded at best, & disciplinary action at worst. Longhaul for us is PE unless Director-level approval can be obtained.