LEARNING IN THE NEWS - XIX (For Beginners Level of Business English Students and Up)

A first-class cabin on an Emirates flight includes a TV, writing table and full bed.
Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

The Best Seat in the Plane
By PERRY GARFINKEL
The New York Times - Published: March 11, 2008




Remember when first-class seats meant the best on the plane? That’s not always the case anymore.
In the last decade, some airlines began eliminating first class, while keeping the amenities that make their highest-paying passengers feel like the most important people on board. They just call it by a different name. Delta Airlines, for example, calls its prime seats BusinessElite class on international flights. Continental Airlines calls them BusinessFirst.
The airlines themselves were in part responsible for the declining number of first-class seats. Once they improved business class — with bigger seats that open into fully flat beds, menus by celebrity chefs, individual entertainment systems and airport lounges where first- and business-class travelers rubbed elbows — “it became more difficult for travelers to justify the additional exorbitant price of first class,” said Peter P. Belobaba, manager of the M.I.T. Global Airline Industry Program. The recent rise of all-business-class airlines has just added to the pressure on first class.
On a trans-Atlantic flight from New York to London or Frankfurt, a typical round-trip business fare would be about $5,500. A so-called true first-class seat would run about $8,500 and up.
“With corporate business travelers demanding the most comfortable ride possible but not willing to pay the price, the demand for first class shrunk,” Joanne Smith, a senior vice president for Delta, said. “So it made no financial sense for us to continue it.”
By stepping down to business class from first class, travelers lose the additional space separating seats, a higher ratio of flight attendants to passengers and that intangible amenity, prestige.
This is not to say that first class is disappearing. A few airlines showcase a new first class that humbles traditional first, in which passengers find privacy in enclosed suites or pods, with ottomans, tables, double beds and designer amenities to satisfy the most affluent traveler.
“In some circles, flying first class remains the status symbol of a person’s success in business,” Mr. Belobaba said.
Edward Sims, a group general manager for Air New Zealand, said first class is “as much a marketing platform that the airlines use to promote their elitism.” Some airlines, he said, “will live with semi-empty first-class seats just so they can show attractive visuals in the brochures.”
Air New Zealand offers a combination business-first class, Business Premier; an in-between class, Pacific Premium Economy; and Pacific Economy — in effect renaming but returning to the three classes of the post-World War II era.
In the early days of commercial aviation, before about 60 years ago, a chief executive, middle manager and department director flew in the same class. They had no choice; there was one cabin, one class. Then came first class, business and coach (also called economy).
Now, the need to stay competitive and profitable has resulted in an industrywide seating shake-up. Depending on the airline, the route and the aircraft, travelers can choose from among six classes. Along with the three traditional classes and premium business, there is also a class between economy and business. British Airways calls that class World Traveler Plus, while Virgin Atlantic has named it Premium Economy.
Then there are the handful of airlines — Emirates, Singapore, Virgin Atlantic, Qantas and Cathay Pacific among them — working on the premise that there are no limits on pampering the prestige class. Singapure Airlines was the first with super-first-class seating, suites it has called the “class beyond first.” A flier who has purchased one of those suites gets a cabin within a cabin, entered through double sliding doors.
In airlines that offer this class, fliers will find leather seats with electronic massage; a full-size bed (some convert into doubles) made up with Givenchy duvets and cushions; 23-inch plasma flat-screen TVs; and on-demand dining.
Singapore’s suites are currently available on its A380 flights from Singapore to Sydney. On March 18, the airline will introduce them on its Singapore-to-London route. Round-trip fares will be $14,179 for the first-class suites, $6,354 for business and $1,482 for economy.
Still, in an indication of the new strength of the business-class seats, Singapore is also moving into all-business-class service on some routes.
Frills and added classes aside, for many business travelers it comes down to the basics: comfort, time and money.
“Flying is valuable office time to me,” said Andrew M. Sacks, 40, president of AgencySacks, an advertising group in Manhattan. “If I get the space I need to work and a good seat, I justify the expense by getting a week’s worth of work done on an eight-hour flight.”
Even so, he said he could not rationalize spending close to $13,000 for a pair of Continental’s BusinessFirst seats for himself and Julie Fisher, a vice president at the agency, to fly to Barcelona in November 2006 for a Leading Hotels of the World convention.
Instead, they bought three coach tickets at $500 each, left the middle seat empty and brought their own veritable smorgasbord from Balducci’s that was, he said, “as savory as anything they were serving up front.”
.
VOCABULARY:
Amenities: Anything that increases physical comfort: comfort, convenience, facility (often used in plural). See comfort/discomfort – In this text it refers to the toiletries offered for its passengers, i.e. comb, perfume, after shave lotion, paper tissue, etc…
rubbed elbows: (easier explained in Portuguese) expressão usada quando os assentos estreitos, fazem com que o passageiro fique todo o tempo tocando o passageiro do lado com o cotovelo
Humbles: marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful
Enclosed suites: Suites surrounded on all sides; close in
Pods: Something resembling a pod, as in compactness
Ottomans: An upholstered low seat or cushioned footstool (o que chamamos de Puffs no Brasil)
Affluent: wealthy, rich, with means
Handful: a small number or amount
Pampering: Treating with indulgence and often overtender care
Double sliding doors: (easier explained in Portuguese) Portas duplas deslizantes
Duvets: a soft quilt usually filled with the down of the eider - Synonyms: eiderdown, continental quilt – (o que chamamos de edredom)
Cushions: (easier explained in Portuguese) almofadas
On Demand: When needed or asked for, as in She's always ready to sing on demand, or Nowadays infants are generally fed on demand. This usage is a broadening of this phrase's meaning in finance, that is, "payable on being requested or presented," as in This note is payable on demand. [Late 1600s]
Frills: Something costly and unnecessary: extravagance, extravagancy, luxury
Veritable: Being truly so called; real or genuine
Smorgasbord: (Scandinavian) an assortment of foods starting with herring or smoked eel or salmon etc with bread and butter; then cheeses and eggs and pickled vegetables and aspics; finally hot foods; served as a buffet meal
Savory: Appetizing to the taste or smell