Gulliver | A pointless perk

There is no good reason to fly business class on short-haul flights

But plenty of benefits on long-haul ones

By J.J.C.

YOUR correspondent received a rare treat last week. On travelling to speak at a conference, it emerged that the client had stumped up for a business-class flight. This in itself is not a surprise. After all, there is a point to travelling at the front of the plane beyond merely quaffing better quality food and drink: being able to stretch out and sleep or work comfortably in transit can be invaluable in helping you arrive sharp and ready for action the moment you reach your destination.

Still—and without wishing to sound churlish—on this occasion, it seemed like a perk too far. The posh tickets were for a flight of barely 90 minutes from London to Norway, the evening before the conference. No chance of jetlag hampering my performance in this instance. Which invited the question of what utility business-class travel brings to short-haul flights.

The answer is very little. Fast-tracking passengers through security is all well and good, but in reality saves precious little time for additional work. Equally, a few inches more legroom and metal cutlery are pleasant, but not essential for a flight that lasts such a short time. And beyond those small things, the benefits become even less apparent. Your correspondent didn’t even have access to a plug socket to charge his laptop. In fact, if anything, having more attentive cabin staff proved to be a distraction from working on the flight, especially when they seemed intent on plying those in front of the curtain with complimentary drinks. Whisper it, but companies may actually prefer their staff to fly coach on short-haul flights if they want to ensure sobriety at the other end.

The real utility of flying business class on such journeys has little to do with the plane at all, but the access it grants to airport business lounges while waiting to board. These comfortable, relatively quiet spaces with fast Wi-Fi are a good place to get things done away from the chaos of the departure lounges—especially if delays or the need to make a connecting flight mean spending hours in limbo. But as any road warrior knows, you don't need to fly premium to gain access to these havens. Various frequent flyer or membership schemes that any seasoned traveller will subscribe to already do that job.

Little surprise, then, that many organisations refuse to sanction business-class travel on short-haul flights. When budgets come under scrutiny, it is difficult to justify paying four times the price of a coach-class ticket, when the benefits are so marginal. When it is a client footing the bill, this correspondent is more than happy to demand encore du Nicolas Feuillatte, of course. But in the end it would be better to see budgets realigned to bestow comfortable journeys to more long-distance travellers at the expense of shorter hops for a few.

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