{"id":372940,"date":"2025-08-25T18:16:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T18:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/372940\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T18:16:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T18:16:17","slug":"intra-europe-business-class-why-arent-the-seats-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/372940\/","title":{"rendered":"Intra-Europe Business Class: Why Aren’t The Seats Different?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a previous post, I compared short haul business class<\/a> in Europe vs. the United States. Within Europe, you\u2019ll typically find that short haul business class simply consists of economy seats with a blocked adjacent seat, plus priority services and improved inflight service.<\/p>\n

Often when people fly business class within Europe for the first time, they\u2019re shocked to find that there are no special business class seats. In this post, I thought it would be interesting to discuss the \u201cwhy\u201d of intra-Europe business class. Why is Europe the most disappointing region when it comes to business class hard product on shot haul flights? Let\u2019s discuss that\u2026<\/p>\n

Why intra-Europe business class is the way it is<\/p>\n

Why does business class on intra-Europe flights typically consist of economy seats with blocked adjacent seats, rather than a dedicated cabin with more spacious seats? It\u2019s an interesting question, and I\u2019ll share my take. I\u2019d say most of the reasons are fairly obvious, but there\u2019s a bit of nuance.<\/p>\n

Competitive dynamics allow for this product<\/p>\n

The most basic reason that European airlines have the intra-Europe business class seats that they have is \u201cbecause they can.\u201d European skies are controlled by the \u201cbig three\u201d European airline groups \u2014 Air France-KLM, IAG, and Lufthansa Group \u2014 and those airlines all use the same \u201ceconomy seats with blocked middles\u201d model.<\/p>\n

So while the airlines aren\u2019t colluding, I think they all know it\u2019s in their best interest to keep things the way they are. The competitive dynamics are the same reason that US airlines don\u2019t typically offer lounge access on domestic flights, and don\u2019t have meal services on flights of under two or so hours.<\/p>\n

\"\"There\u2019s not competitive pressure to change<\/p>\n

These cabins offer incredible flexibility<\/p>\n

As is true around the world, premium demand isn\u2019t equal between markets. A Monday morning London to Zurich flight is going to have much different business class demand than a Saturday night Vienna to Tirana flight.<\/p>\n

The single greatest upside for airlines with simply designating certain seats as being business class is that they can adjust premium capacity with every single flight, simply by moving a cabin divider. The upside there is huge.<\/p>\n

Obviously Europe isn\u2019t alone in having varying premium cabin demand between flights. The difference is that US airlines generally offer unlimited complimentary upgrades to elite members, while that\u2019s not really a thing in Europe.<\/p>\n

In the United States, airlines earn a huge percentage of their profits<\/a> from loyalty programs, so in ways, they don\u2019t mind if there are some empty premium seats, since they can deliver on those benefits that keep people loyal. Keep in mind that European carriers can\u2019t fully copy this success, since interchange fees are much lower in Europe.<\/p>\n

If one of the major European carriers were to innovate and start introducing a real business class product within Europe, they\u2019d likely be putting themselves at a significant disadvantage. Sure, maybe they could command a small revenue premium for the business class seats that they can sell (though so many intra-Europe business class seats are sold as part of long haul itineraries), but there would be all kinds of situations were capacity and demand are completely mismatched.<\/p>\n

The flexible cabin size is also great in terms of being able to maximize revenue with selling upgrades. European airlines increasingly sell reasonably priced upgrades for cash leading up to departure. There\u2019s huge upside when economy isn\u2019t full, where simply seating someone on \u201cthe other side of the curtain\u201d is basically pure profit. Meanwhile on a flight with very high economy demand and good yields, the airline can easily make the business class cabin smaller.<\/p>\n

\"\"Not having dedicated seats offers flexibility<\/p>\n

The average stage length of flights is short<\/p>\n

Another major consideration is that geographically, the most traveled air corridors in Europe are much shorter than in the United States. So in Europe, a large percentage of flights are somewhere around an hour, much more so than in the United States.<\/p>\n

The truth is that the extra space isn\u2019t really needed as much on flights of this length, compared to flights in the United States. Admittedly there are some exceptions in both regions, but broadly speaking, that\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

\"\"Many flights within Europe are very short<\/p>\n

European airlines with proper business class seats<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to note that some European airlines do actually have \u201cproper\u201d seats in business class on short haul flights, rather than just repurposing economy seats. Generally speaking, these are airlines in Eastern Europe, often close to Asia, and this probably reflects the different expectations that consumers have in these regions.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, several airlines come to mind:<\/p>\n