What makes a really good business class product?

Recently, I returned from a two week trip to Australia and New Zealand and it was amazing. Of course, being in those countries fun in its own right, with all the amazing natural resources they have. But getting there and back in business class is one of the harder award ticket redemptions and I’m proud to say this is my third time doing it. For only 80,000 United miles my wife and I were able to travel to Melbourne in United Polaris business class and for only 75,000 Air Canada miles, we returned via Air New Zealand business class.

This all begs the question: what makes a really great business class product? For me, it comes down to four things that I’ll analyze below.

1) Lounge access

The airport experience can be made so much nicer when you have access to a restricted area that provides free food and drink, a comfortable place to sit and wait, and a shower (if you are an aviation geek like myself – you also want a good view of the tarmac). Chances are, the best lounges you will experience will be the home airport for the airline you are flying – places like the Emirates lounge in Dubai, the Qatar lounge in Doha, the Air New Zealand lounge in Auckland, etc. But, barring that, you want a large space with high quality food and ideally it is not too crowded. This has become harder in recent years with more credit cards offering lounge access. Luckily, when flying international business class you will likely get a pretty good lounge to wait in before your flight.

2) Food and drink on board

Some airlines partner with celebrity chefs; others just rely on good, old fashioned high-quality food, regardless of who designs the menu. The key thing is to do your research – some airlines are known for particular dishes (ex: wagyu beaf on Japanese carriers or the dessert cart on Austrian Airlines); some airlines are known for carrying no alcohol (EgyptAir, I’m looking at you). Generally, carriers that are more established from richer nations will have higher-quality items onboard but that is not always true. Just read up about your carrier.

3) Seat / lie-flat bed

There can be immense variability in the business class seats onboard aircraft, even within an individual carrier. This, again, requires research. For example, the business class on an Emirates A380 is far superior to an Emirates B777, so watch out! But key factors to read up about include the width of the seat, the length of the bed when it’s lying down, if all seats have aisle access, if the seat is completely lie-flat (some are still only ‘angle-flat’, which is really annoying), if there is a door to the seat providing privacy, and if the footwell has enough space for your feet. Some of my favorites include Emirates, Singapore Air, and Qantas.

4) Service quality

Flight attendants can make or break your experience. If they are good, they will introduce themselves to you at the beginning of the flight, take your food and drink orders, respond quickly when they are called, and generally be courteous about their work with you. Their job can be very hard to accomplish so it helps that you are thankful and ensure your are not an annoying or difficult passenger, calling them every 10 minutes or requesting things that you don’t actually need. The best of the best attendants will do something special for you, like provide a small gift on special occasions, be it something to take home or something to take photos of.

There you have it – try to look out for these four characteristics of a business class experience and you’ll know which airlines to seek out. Enjoy flying!