NEW YORK (AP) — On flights from San Francisco to Hong
Kong, first-class passengers can enjoy a Mesclun salad with king crab or
a grilled USDA prime beef tenderloin, stretch out in a 3-foot-wide seat
that converts to a bed and wash it all down with a pre-slumber Krug
"Grande Cuvee" Brut Champagne.
Yet some of the most cherished new
international first-class perks have nothing to do with meals, drinks or
seats. Global airlines are increasingly rewarding wealthy fliers with
something more intangible: physical distance between them and everyone
else.
The idea is to provide an exclusive experience —
inaccessible, even invisible, to the masses in coach. It’s one way that a
gap between the world’s wealthiest 1 percent and everyone else has
widened.
Many top-paying international passengers, having put down
roughly $15,000 for a ticket, now check-in at secluded facilities and
are driven in luxury cars directly to planes. Others can savor the same
premier privileges by redeeming 125,000 or more frequent flier miles for
a trip of a lifetime.
When Emirates Airline opened a new
concourse at its home airport in Dubai last year, it made sure to keep
coach passengers separate from those in business and first class. The
top floor of the building is a lounge for premium passengers with direct
boarding to the upstairs of Emirates’ fleet of double-decker Airbus
A380s. Those in coach wait one story below and board to the lower level
or the plane.
London’s Heathrow Airport took a private suite area
designed for the royal family and heads of state and in July opened it
to any passenger flying business or first class who’s willing to pay an
extra $2,500.
"First class has become a way for a traveler to have
an almost private jet-like experience," says Henry Harteveldt, an
airline analyst with Hudson Crossing. Airlines "will do everything but
sing a lullaby."
The front of the plane has always been plusher
than the back. But in recent years airlines have put a greater focus on
catering to the most affluent fliers’ desire for new levels of privacy.
There’s
a lot of money on the line. At big carriers like American Airlines,
about 70 percent of revenue comes from the top 20 percent of its
customers.
The special treatment now starts at check-in. American
and United Airlines have both developed private rooms, located in
discrete corners of their terminals in New York, Chicago and elsewhere,
that allow for a speedy check-in. Boarding passes in hand, travelers
exit through hidden doors leading to the front of security lines.
Some foreign airlines have gone further.
Lufthansa
offers first-class passengers a separate terminal in Frankfurt. There’s
a restaurant, cigar lounge and dedicated immigration officers. For
those who choose to shower or take a bath, the private restrooms come
with their own rubber ducky — an exclusive plastic souvenir for the
international jet set. When it’s time to board, passengers are driven
across the tarmac to their plane in a Mercedes-Benz S-Class or Porsche
Cayenne.
"That sort of exclusivity plays to the ego of people who
are in a position to spend that much money on airline flight," says Tim
Winship, publisher of travel advice site FrequentFlier.com.
At
Heathrow’s private suites, designed for up to six people, fliers pass
swiftly and privately through their own immigration and security
screening. While they’re waiting, hors d’oeuvres and Champagne are
provided. Steak, sushi or other meals can be delivered from airport
restaurants. When it comes time to actually fly, passengers are driven
to their plane in a BMW 7 Series sedan and escorted to their seat.
U.S.
airlines have copied a bit of that touch. United started in July and
Delta Air Lines in 2011 driving their top customers who have tight
connections at major airports from one gate to another in luxury cars.
No need to enter the terminal, let alone fight the crowd on the moving
walkway.
Want to board first? No problem. Want to be the last one
seated, moments before the door closes? Sure. Airlines will even save
room for your bags in the overhead bin.
International first class
has long been distinguished by gourmet meals, wide seats and giant TVs
preloaded with hundreds of movies and TV shows. But in recent years,
airlines also upgraded their international business class sections,
ripping apart cabins to install chairs that convert into lay-flat beds.
That left very little to differentiate first class from business class.
So
some airlines scrapped the ultra-premium cabin. Others have cut the
number of first-class seats in half, thereby creating a more intimate
experience that commands the higher price. For instance, a roundtrip
flight in July between New York and Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific costs
$1,600 in coach, $7,600 in business class and $19,000 in first class.
Other airlines charge similar price differences among their passenger
classes.
Besides privacy, that extra cash provides an outsize
seat, attentive service and superior wines and liquors. Austrian
Airlines, Etihad Airways and Gulf Air are among the carriers to staff
planes with their own first-class chefs. Instead of having flight
attendants reheating meals cooked on the ground, these chefs prepare the
meals at 35,000 feet.
Sometimes, that smell wafts back to the rest of the plane.
"You
know they’ve got something good up in front of the curtain, and you
know you don’t have anything close to it," Harteveldt says. "When you
fly coach, you are reminded of the fact that you are unimportant as a
traveler."
In the ultimate show of indulgence, Emirates has
offered an onboard shower for first class passengers on its A380s since
the plane joined the fleet in 2008.
Once back on the ground, that
luxury treatment continues. At airports in Paris, London, Istanbul,
Bangkok, Sydney and elsewhere, airlines offer their top passengers
fast-track cards allowing them to speed past immigration lines.
And
then, while other passengers wait in lines for buses, taxis or
shuttles, chauffeurs in suits meet these fliers ready to — once again —
whisk them out of the chaos.
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Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott .
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