LCC Business Class
 

As competition increases among LCCs in Europe, how long before they introduce some form of Business (or Comfort) Class option? We will then have been full circle!

Yes I know that some cheapo carriers already do it on long and medium haul, and I know that AirTrans do it in the States. My question is based on short to medium-short haul intra-European routes served by the likes of EZY RYR BEE WZZ GWI HLX etc.

Well easyJet are about to introduce a trial whereby for 10 quid you can preboard the aircraft with a view to getting the 'best seats'. What a farce!!

ala "Affordable Business Class" of Debonair? Well it certainly worked for them! (Not!)

They may have been ahead of their time johnwalton . My contention is that now that more and more LCCs compete for the top routes it'll be a matter of time before they have to come up with incentives to capture a significant percentage of the business market. Even the LCCs rely on late bookings (mainly by the business clientele) as their main source of revenue.

This is already being done, to a limited extent.

Flybe has a premium fare, that I believe is fully flexible and refundable.

Meanwhile, Air Berlin has their "Silver Card" which for a small fee, or the requisite number of status miles, allows changes to reservations without fee, dedicated check-in and some other benefits. In Germany only, I believe they also have some sort of further enhanced business product - but don't quote me on that.

I'm inclined to agree that some carriers, probably including these two will go down some sort of business class enhanced service at some stage. Strange how life goes full circle.

Wizz have introduced special fares for their business & corporate customers. Basically they claim low prices & high flexibilty re your ticket purchase. Just about everything can be changed up to three hours prior to departure, with no fees charged whatsover. Ticket prices guaranteed until end of 2005.

The main reason for getting rid of a business class cabin on no-frills airlines is to maintain simplicity, reduce costs from the costly lounges & additional staff required, and to be able to squeeze as many people onboard the aircraft as legally possible. And its worked for Ryanair & EasyJet for nearly a decade, and Southwest for just over three! However, as you mentioned AirTran & Spirit both offer an upgraded cabin onboard their flights, and these are very popular. However, these airlines also offer other traditional airline services like connecting flights & frequent flyer programmes. It works for those two airlines, but I don't know if it would work in Europe, where airlines have to work hard to keep their costs as low as possible.

Maersk Air are offering 3 ticket types. Small, Medium and Large. Depending on which ticket you buy, you will either have a small seat (29" pitch), a medium seat (32" pitch + Tea or Coffee) or a large seat (35" pitch + Tea or Coffee + Food + Daily paper).

Of course the original LCC, Laker Skytrain across the Atlantic, moved on to offer a First Class shortly before their demise. By all accounts it was not well patronised, and this was on key business routes.

It does seem to be quite incompatible with open seating when boarding the aircraft.

The Easyjet experiment sounds a bit difficult too. Those paying the higher business fares (and Easy/Ryan on-the-day fares are often as high as the likes of BA but get used because they have the right route) are often those arriving at the last minute and prepared to pay more for the right service - but that does not include needing to be at the gate first.

Is this going to be across the board or just on selected routes and/or selected base or bases?

Merchant : I know the trial starts at Luton today, I don't think it is happening at other bases just yet.

Are most sectors long enough for people to worry about stuff like leg room? Jet Blue's 32" in the front half, and 34" behind is interesting in this respect.

If people want lounges, they can easily pay separately for them through various programmes - and "PAYG" type access is becoming more commonplace too.

Personally, I think the whole "get on and off as quick as possible" is over-hyped. I'd always rather sit back in the departure lounge, or stay in my seat, and wait until the scrum has died down! But I can see why most people prefer it the other way, and don't think it is in the airline's interest to encourage people to wait behind!

Then again, anything which increases revenue with a minimal downside has to be worth trying for all LCCs.

er . . what if all easy's pax stumped up the £10 - then there'd be a pre-boarding free for all instead of a boarding free for all (!)
:D

Then Easy would be £1,480 better off for no extra service !

The lovely baby is now charging £2.50 per sector for an online pre assigned seat or £5 if booked by phone but no guarentees of course and is also trialing a fqtv programme:hmm: :hmm:

EZY will only sell 10 pre board tickets per flight. Apparently they sold 22 this morning on the first day of the trial.