Airlines Shower Travelers With Amenities
Over the past few years, airlines in the United States and elsewhere have focused most of their in-flight investments on premium-class cabins-not a bad strategy, because that's what American corporations are saying they'll pay for.
As such, the new first-class cabins introduced by Air France and British Airways since 1995 remain the cream of the transatlantic in terms of all-out comfort.
Of the few major overhauls in first class that occurred in 1996, the most substantial were on European and Asian carriers.
The biggest change in first class for a domestic airline last year was the October installation of premium-class arrivals lounges by United Airlines in London Heathrow, Miami and Chicago O'Hare airports.
According to United spokesman Joe Hopkins, the lounges are "going over like gangbusters, particularly at Heathrow and Miami, and to a smaller scale in Chicago. People are waiting in line to use the showers."
In addition to a hot shower, laundry services and shoe shines are offered to first- and business-class passengers coming off a five-hour-plus flight in United's lounges. In addition, these facilities are equipped with a variety of office amenities such as telephones, fax machines and a modem connection.
"This is the first of many product innovations United is contemplating to attract, serve and retain the frequent business traveler," said David Coltman, United's senior vice president of marketing.
Over the Pacific, All Nippon Airways last year took a page from the books of Air France and BA by installing fully reclining first-class seats with a pitch of 83 inches.
The seats include a headrest separator for privacy and a personal reading light. The carrier also installed personal video players featuring 12 movies.
ANA's new first class is available on flights from Tokyo to New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Frankfurt and Moscow.
On a smaller scale, Sabena introduced on its first-class fully reclining bed seats along with dividers, individual telephones and personal video screens with 20 movies on its New York-Brussels route.
Lufthansa said it plans this fall to introduce new business and first-class products for its intercontinental services, as well as enhanced lounges in Frankfurt.