Best Business Class Airline Seats
Best Business Class Airline Seats – Large seats with extra recline and legroom.
In-flight entertainment system with personal TV fitted to each seat.
Complimentary food and drink.
In-flight entertainment with a personal TV.
Best Business Class Airline Seats – Pre-flight VIP Services
The business class experience begins long before the flight ever takes off.
In fact, sometimes it starts before you even get to the airport.
Seven airlines, including Emirates, Qantas, and Virgin Atlantic, offer chauffeur driven cars to/from the airport.
Each airline has its own terms of service, but the convenience of door-to-door service is without question.
You can make last-minute phone calls on the way to the airport and forget about the expense of airport parking.
When you fly business class, you’ll usually enjoy priority check-in and a more liberal baggage allowance – another cost-saving benefit.
At the gate, you’ll enjoy priority boarding, often via a separate jetway on international flights, so you can get onboard and settled in without queuing up in the carry-on shuffle.
Best Business Class Airline Seats – Business Class Onboard Services
When you fly business class, certain perks are standard across most airlines.
Because you boarded so efficiently, your reward is a “welcome” glass of juice or champagne while the economy section continues the hurry-up-and-wait of overhead storage in the back.
If you’re flying business class internationally, you might use that time to peruse your complimentary toiletries kit or change into your in-flight socks.
Business class seats typically have larger entertainment screens – up to 23-inches.
Noise-canceling headsets keep distractions at bay.
If you need to work, you’ll find charging ports and/or outlets to keep you powered up.
Best Business Class Airline Seats – Greater Comfort in Business Class
The most oft-cited reason people choose to fly business class is to be more comfortable.
The seats are wider and there are storage cubbies and pockets for your personal items that you want to keep close at hand.
Most airlines’ business class seats are in their own little pod, affording space and a measure of privacy, although configurations also accommodate two people traveling together.
If you’ve ever flown overnight with a meeting scheduled as soon as you land in the morning, you know that arriving well-rested is invaluable.
Nearly all business class seats convert into a lie-flat bed or at a minimum a full reclining position so that you can sleep comfortably on long flights.
Some airlines even supply cotton or foam ‘mattress’ overlays to pad your nest.
Sleeping comfortably on a long flight just may be worth all the other perks combined.
Best Business Class Airline Seats – Better Food
Upgraded dining experiences are another benefit of business class travel.
Airlines continue to raise the bar with menus designed by award-winning chefs and elevated wine offerings.
Singapore Airlines offers a popular ‘Book the Cook’ experience that allows you to order from a fine dining menu up to 24 hours in advance.
Qantas famously has hundreds of trained ‘Sommeliers in the Sky’ to advise travelers on food and wine pairings and will even provide a personal wine tasting in the galley on long haul flights.
Additional fine dining accoutrements further enhance the experience.
Your tray table is dressed in a linen cloth, a linen napkin, and weighty cutlery, tiny personal salt and pepper shakers, and possibly even a flower.
Meals are served, often in courses, on bone china place settings.
Business class dining is a tremendous improvement in both taste and presentation over the foil-covered plastic containers of tasteless mush served in economy.
Best Business Class Airline Seats – Airport Lounge Access
When you fly business class, your boarding pass allows you the privilege of admission to that airline’s private airport lounge.
Behind that golden gated entry lies comfortable seating to relax in, complimentary snacks and hot food to sustain your energy, and an open bar if your body clock thinks it’s cocktail time.
Business class lounges often have showers, massage services, quiet areas for resting, desks for working and even play areas for children.
The attendants are polite and deferential, creating a calm atmosphere in the midst of the airport chaos outside.
Some, like the Ethiad Club in Washington Dulles, even have boarding access directly from the inner sanctum into the business class cabin of the plane, so once you enter, you never have to set foot back into the airport.
In 2017, Qatar Airways took its Business Class product to a new, unprecedented level of luxury and style, raising the bar for all of its competitors.
The so-called ‘QSuite’ features not only Business Class suites with sliding doors for total privacy but also double beds, allowing passengers in adjoining seats to create their own private room.
Adjustable panels and movable TV monitors on the center four seats also allow colleagues, friends or families traveling together to transform their space into a four person suite, allowing them to work, dine and socialize together.
Each seat is crafted with thoughtful and luxurious details such as hand-stitched Italian leather and satin rose gold finishing.
To further complement the customizable on-board seating experience that passengers will now enjoy, Qatar Airways is also launching a new food and beverage concept, introducing a menu that offers a host of new dining choices.
The QSuite, which makes Business Class look First Class, is only available on selected routes and aircraft (A350-1000s and some retrofitted B777s and A350-900s).
Taiwan based EVA Air calls its international Business Class ‘Royal Laurel Class’, providing passengers with comfortable sleeping space for a sufficient rest that is free from disturbances.
The seats in Royal Laurel Class onboard EVA’s B777s and B787s are configured in a reverse herringbone 1-2-1 layout that maximizes space.
Privacy is assured through fixed panels that help create your own personal area.
At the push of a button, each seat converts into an approximately 82 inches (2 meter) long bed, enabling passengers to lie down, get comfortable and sleep on long-haul flights.
Thoughtful touches include a space to hang your jacket, a shoe cabinet, a retractable armrest, and a cocktail table.
This excellent Business Class product is complemented by exclusive amenity kits, noise-canceling headphones, Fiji water, mouth-watering cuisine from all over the world (ranging from luscious beef steak to delicious lobster), and the warm, friendly service EVA Air is known for.
To top it all, EVA Air is one of the few airlines to offer pajamas in Business Class; loose and comfortable, these garments are perfect for slumbering on long-haul flights.
All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest airline, has collaborated with famed architect Kengo Kuma and leading British designers Acumen to roll out a total of twelve completely redesigned Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, which are mainly deployed on the carrier’s longhaul routes.
At the heart of ANA’s new product investment is a brand new seat design for Business Class called “THE Room”. Inspired by modern, multifunctional Japanese living spaces.
THE Room offers flexible doors for personal privacy that can also be adjusted to share the space with fellow travel companions – from dining together with the family to conducting meetings with colleagues.
With its bold forward and rearward seat layout, THE Room represents one of the largest Business Class seating environments in the world – with a wide sofa which is double the width to previous Business Class seating.
With a design focus on minimization and de-cluttering, the Business Class seat offers a ‘place for everything’ including discreet areas for all personal belongings, with deep blue accent hues precisely placed inside each compartment.
Singapore Airlines has always been synonymous with lavishing luxury in the skies. And the airline does not fail to impress.
With their width of 30 inches or 75 cm, the carrier’s Business Class seats on its A350 and B777 aircraft are the widest in the world (too wide for comfort, according to some).
The unrivaled space between each seat is a hallmark of the four-abreast (1-2-1) configuration that offers all passengers direct access to the aisle.
Designed by JPA and introduced in 2017 on their A380 aircraft, the carrier’s new Business Class seat – albeit more narrow – is even better than the previous incarnation of the seat.
A large back shell on every seat creates a cocoon-like feel for more privacy while the center divider can be fully lowered to form double beds, making the two center seats an ideal choice for customers such as families traveling together.
Singapore Airlines also offers a fine restaurant-style setting and culinary service at 30,000 feet.
Each menu, specially created by a panel of celebrated chefs from around the globe, is sure to appeal to the discerning epicure within you.
In 2017, Delta Air Lines redefined long-haul Business Class travel with the introduction of a Business Class cabin that features a sliding door at each suite.
The suites offer passenger a private space accessed by a sliding door with thoughtfully designed personal stowage areas, an advanced in-flight entertainment system, and premium trim and finishes to create a comfortable, residential feel.
Service in Delta One (which is how Delta calls its international Business Class cabin) includes chef-curated meals, wine pairings by Delta’s Master Sommelier Andrea Robinson, terrific Westin in-flight bedding, TUMI amenity kits featuring Kiehl premium skincare, and in-flight loungewear on select flights.
The Delta One suite is currently only available on Delta’s A350 and A330neo aircraft, which operate selected routes such as Seattle to Tokyo and Detroit to Amsterdam.
Business Class with the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates is not business as usual.
The Business Studios on Etihad’s A380s and 787 Dreamliners can be customized to suit every stage of the journey and are the embodiment of style, simplicity and functionality.
The cabin has a unique dovetail design with forward and rear facing seats that creates a sense of space and freedom, with direct aisle access and convenient storage spaces.
Upholstered by Poltrona Frau, the 22-inch (56 cm) wide seat converts into a comfortable fully flat bed of up to 6 feet and 8 inches (203 cm).
The Business Studio offers a space for everything, including a concealed storage, a meal table and a separate large side table that can be used for laptops and other personal belongings when you are dining.
Located between First and Business Class, there’s also a lounge on the A380 that seats up to six guests and is fitted with seatbelts, power supply and connectivity ports.
Unfortunately, Etihad Airways’ A330, A320 and B777 planes feature a less glamorous (albeit still excellent) Business Class product.
Whether you’re flying for business or pleasure, traveling in Virgin Atlantic’s Business Class (called ‘Upper Class’) makes your journey something to look forward to.
The carrier recently acquired several Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, which feature an entirely new Upper Class product.
Laid out in a 1-2-1 configuration, every suite faces towards the window and offers deployable privacy screens.
All suites transition seamlessly from an upright seat, straight to a bed.
The suite also boasts Virgin Atlantic’s largest ever in-flight entertainment screen, at 18.5”and features intuitive new system, controllable by passengers’ own personal device.
The Virgin Atlantic A350 also features a new bar area known as The Loft.
As the largest social space in the airline’s fleet, it’s designed for customers to gather, chat, enjoy a drink or dine with friends.
Virgin Atlantic has ordered a total of 12 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, all scheduled to join the carrier’s fleet by the end of this year.
Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific offers a consistent and solid Business Class product, featuring a flat-bed that is just over 82 inches or 2 meters long.
A bed extension increases its width by 6.5 inches or 16.5 cm to provide additional hip support, while the side storage compartment offers extra knee space for sleeping on your side.
For sleeping, you may choose to leave your armrest up for more privacy, or down for more space.
In fact, Cathay’s Business Class seat is identical to the one installed on American Airlines, Finnair, and Air France, but Cathay deserves to take the top spot for their difference in customer service, impressive lounges, cabin crew training, and award-winning cuisine, whilst ensuring their price point still remains competitive.
The carrier’s newest Business Class seat is found on its A350 planes, although it is basically a refreshed design of Cathay’s ‘old’ Business Class product onboard its B777 and A330 planes.
Keep in mind that Cathay’s top-notch Business Class product is not available on some B777 planes with a regional configuration, so plan your travels accordingly.
The success of Emirates’ Business Class product is very much based on the comfort and space of its Airbus A380 fleet, and that’s why the mega plane is rolled out on major international routes of the Dubai based carrier.
With a staggered 1–2–1 configuration in Business Class, each passenger is assured of direct aisle access and a significant amount of privacy.
The window Business Class seats are perfect for solo travelers, while the dual and more intimate seats in the center of the cabin are perfect for partners traveling together.
Mammoth amenity kits, a huge inflight entertainment selection, and a roomy and well-appointed bar on the upper deck makes flying Emirates’ A380 quite an event, and in addition, the ground service matches the flying experience (e.g. chauffeur service, a gigantic Dubai lounge).
Unfortunately, the Business Class cabins in most of Emirates’ Boeing 777s are laid out in a 2-3-2 configuration (with no direct aisle access for all passengers), which is significantly inferior to the one offered on the airline’s Airbus A380 fleet.
While British Airways’ Business Class (dubbed Club World) raised the bar worldwide two decades ago with the introduction of the first fully lie-flat seat and an innovative “Ying/Yang” seat plan, the seat concept itself is now dated and outclassed by some of its competitors.
So you would not expect British Airways to end up in a top 10 list like this one, but it remains one of my preferred airlines for longhaul travel, because the product is consistent across its wide-body fleet and the seat is extremely private (as long as you don’t end up along the aisle).
Also, British Airways has dramatically increased its onboard product over the past years, with improved catering (from DO&CO), excellent bedding, and stylish amenity kits, which rivals the best in the skies.
In 2019, the airline also introduced a new suite concept onboard its A350 planes, with direct-aisle access, a suite door for greater privacy, luxurious flat-bed seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, enviable 18.5-inch inflight entertainment screens, and 40 % more storage space per seat (including a vanity unit and mirror).
Oman Air 787-9 Business Class
Originally designed and launched by B/E Aerospace (now Collins Aerospace), the ‘Apex Suite’ is touted as one of the best Business Class seats in the industry.
Oman Air is relatively inaccessible to U.S.-based travelers since it doesn’t offer direct flights to America.
Nevertheless, this boutique airline offers an excellent experience in business class.
This carrier lives up to the collective reputation of luxurious premium products like Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways.
And Oman’s Apex Suites, which can be found on the 787, are fantastic. Super comfortable seats, along with selective privacy capabilities, direct aisle access, and awesome amenities make for a great experience.
Oman Air offers these seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, which is the ideal setup for couples.
The key to this design is a clever staggered arrangement at the window seats, allowing direct aisle access for the window passenger (and no one climbing over the aisle passenger at the window pairs), the primary drawback for older 2-2-2 configurations.
A high quality product, it takes up additional floorspace and so comes at the expense of passenger capacity compared to more dense layouts like the Zodiac Cirrus and Thompson Vantage XL.
It is also rumored to be the most expensive ‘off the shelf’ Business Class seat on the market.
Korean Air 777-300ER Business (Prestige) Class Apex Suite
Business class on a 777 that is arranged 2-2-2 might seem undesirable.
But by using the Apex Suite (Korean Air calls it a Prestige Suite) Korean Air turns that arrangement into a very positive passenger experience.
Originally created for First Class cabin, Apex Suite immediately became one of the most favorite Business Class seating types.
With direct aisle access, large screens and one of the best privacy options – all these are about Apex Suite.
All suites have direct aisle access, 75 inches of pitch, and seats that are 21 inches wide.
The window suites and those in the one-row cabin are the best of the bunch as far as privacy.
They are more private than the Delta One Suites even though Prestige Suites have no door.
The 2 seats at the window are slightly staggered (one in front of the other) giving the window seat a small aisle to access into the main aisle directly.
This also gives an excellent amount of privacy to those at the window seat.
Malaysia Airlines Business Suite
The Malaysia Airlines flagship Airbus A350-900 features four fully enclosed Business Suites and 35 Business Class seats, while the Airbus A330-300 features 27 Business Class seats.
The layout of the Business Class cabin on both aircraft types can appear confusing as rows alternate between a 1-2-1 and a 1-2-2 configuration.
For solo travelers, the prized “throne seats” on the right side of the cabin provide the most space and privacy, while couples may prefer two seats placed together.
The variety of seating options provide a choice for passengers with different preferences, but make sure to check the seat map carefully when selecting a seat
The seat is 22 inches wide, has a pitch of 44 inches and a full-flat bed length of 78 inches.
You can adjust the seat’s firmness, and there’s a retractable armrest for passengers with reduced mobility.
Each seat comes with a work surface, mood lighting, personal stowage with mirror, phone and bottle holder and coat hook.
There is a 115v AC PED power supply and USB 2.0 port.
Best Business Class Airline Seats
Best Business Class Airlines – Overall, there’s a ton of variability in business class products for airlines around the world — even among the top business class products.
This is precisely why travelers should be cognizant of an airline’s business class product before booking.
Traveling should be a relaxing experience; it wouldn’t be pleasant if you spent your hard-earned points on a disappointing product that wasn’t enjoyable for you and your partner.
Best Business Class Airlines – While there is a lot of subjectivity in this ranking, priority was placed on a hard product conducive for couples over smaller things like the quality of headphones.
The Cost to Charter a Yacht >>
