One notable exception to this rule is Turkish Airlines. My wife and I flew Turkish from Prague to Istanbul in December of 2013, and found its business class seats on a 737 to be similar to the domestic first class offered by US carriers.
The seat is just one aspect of the intra-Europe business-class experience. Carriers wouldn’t be able to charge a significant premium for these routes without offering additional benefits like free checked bags (or an additional baggage allowance), lounge access and enhanced food and drink options on board. The links below will lead you to detailed information about what you’ll find on the major European airlines:
Booking Premiums
Daily Newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts
Even though these cabins are essentially glorified economy seats, they still command a relatively high premium (both for paid and award tickets). Here’s a sample of British Airways prices from London-Heathrow to Zurich on a random date this fall:
As you can see, a one-way business class seat on these flights will cost you more than three times the price of economy. If you want to redeem Avios on these flights, the premium isn’t quite as high (though it varies depending on whether you’re looking at peak or off-peak dates under the devalued Executive Club program). A one-way economy flight will set you back 4,000 – 4,500 Avios, while business class on the same flight would cost 7,750 – 9,000 Avios.
British Airways is a bit unique in that it follows a distance-based award chart. Most other carriers charge a fixed number of miles for flights within Europe. Here’s a breakdown of the one-way mileage requirements for some popular mileage programs:
Airline
Economy
Business
Applicable Carriers
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
15,000 miles
25,000 miles
Air France/KLM
American AAdvantage
10,000 miles
20,000 miles
All oneworld and non-alliance partners
Delta SkyMiles
15,000 miles
25,000 miles
All SkyTeam and non-alliance partners
United Mileage Plus
15,000 miles
30,000 miles
All Star Alliance and non-alliance partners
Tagging onto Long-haul Flights
One of the nice things about these flights is that most programs (British Airways is a notable exception) allow you to include these short-haul flights in a larger itinerary without using any additional miles. For example, if you wanted to fly from New York to Europe and wanted to use Delta SkyMiles, your mileage cost would be the same for a nonstop JFK-Paris flight as it would be for a JFK-Paris-Berlin itinerary (assuming you can find availability at the lowest level).
In addition, I’ve typically found that availability on these flights is quite good. Remember that ExpertFlyer can be your best friend to find this award inventory, as you can set alerts to notify you when a seat (or multiple seats) open up. Here are the European carriers that display award inventory for intra-Europe business class (including the corresponding fare class) on ExpertFlyer:
Aer Lingus (U)Aeroflot (O)Air Europa (Z)Air France (O)Alitalia (Z)Brussels (I)CSA Czech (Z)Iberia (U)KLM (O)SWISS (I)*Turkish (I)
* Note that SWISS inventory on ExpertFlyer applies to Miles & More members; partner airlines generally have access to some (but not all) of that space.
Comparison to Elite Status Benefits
One important consideration in booking these awards is the elite benefits you may already be entitled to on these carriers. Each of the airlines linked to above belongs to one of the three major alliances, so if you have status with a partner carrier, you’ll already enjoy a number of perks that might make it pointless to splurge on a higher class of service.
Sticking with the British Airways example above, assume that you hold American Airlines Platinum status, which translates into oneworld Sapphire status when traveling on any oneworld airline in any class of service. Here are the specific perks you’ll enjoy:
Business class check-inPriority boardingAccess to preferred or pre-reserved seating (where offered)Priority standby and waitlisting (where offered)Access to more than 600 airport lounges (with one guest) when traveling internationally, regardless of the class of service flown that dayAdditional baggage allowancePriority baggage handling
If you’re an Executive Platinum member of the AAdvantage program, you’d enjoy oneworld Emerald status, which includes all of the above plus fast track security at select airports.
If you spent the additional Avios (or money) for intra-Europe business class on British Airways from London-Heathrow to Zurich, the only additional benefit you’d receive is upgraded in-flight catering. This flight is less than two hours, so you’re looking at spending a few thousand more Avios for a better meal and a guarantee of a blocked seat next to you.
If you don’t hold elite status with a partner airline, paying the premium for intra-Europe business class might make sense for a couple of reasons (especially when redeeming points or miles). The additional baggage allowance is a big one, especially if you’re hitting the road for multiple weeks and don’t want to worry about a checked bag being overweight. Gaining access to priority check-in and security lines can also be a big time saver. Finally, lounge access can be particularly valuable depending on your flight schedule.
Future of Intra-Europe Business Class
The major legacy carriers in Europe are struggling. Air France/KLM is still hurting after its 2014 pilot strike, while Lufthansa has also been in trouble (and this year’s Germanwings crash only intensified its pain). When you add in the competition from low-cost carriers like easyJet and Ryanair, I don’t see any European carrier investing more money in adding a true business class to its short-haul fleet.
Bottom Line
Flying business class within Europe tends to offer only a marginally more comfortable seating experience, but since both paid and award tickets in this class tend to include a variety of additional benefits, it can make sense to pay a premium to lock in these flights depending on your needs. Just make sure that you aren’t paying for perks you’d already get for free courtesy of your elite status!
What are your experiences flying intra-Europe business class?
Source link : https://thepointsguy.com/2015/08/europe-business-class/
Author :
Publish date : 2015-08-27 07:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.