Long-Haul Carriers Upgrading Premium Seats, Amenities

Carriers across the globe are in the midst of rolling out new inflight services catering to passengers who pay for roomier seats, enhanced entertainment and superior meal options. LAN Airlines and Korean Air are in the process of upgrading long-haul outbound services from the United States, while U.S.-based majors American Airlines and United Airlines are readying their own business class upgrades.

LAN Airlines beginning this month is receiving new Boeing aircraft orders and beginning to retrofit its current fleet, installing its new premium service on routes between North America and South America. LAN's new Premium Business service showcases its 180-degree, horizontal "full-flat" seat.

"In the market between North and South America, we are the first one actually implementing a full-flat seat," said Carlos Roman, LAN Airlines' director of marketing for North and Central America and Asia. "Other airlines have announced changes to introduce lie-flat seats in business class. They are both 180 degrees, but with the full-flat you're traveling completely horizontal, while with the lie-flat you're at an incline."

Roman said the design for the new seats came from extensive market research and attempts to cater to the wants and needs of passengers—namely, attempting to overturn the elusiveness of a good night's rest while 30,000 miles above sea level.

"We did some studies for developing our new seat," Roman said. "We found out that on long-haul flights, what people value most is the ability to rest. That's their top priority. The other thing that we found that they value is privacy. That's why we have privacy dividers. There are other things that are sort of secondary: the importance of the seat being able to work, storage areas and so on. But the ability to rest is key on long-haul flights and most of our routes are about eight hours, and if you're flying from Los Angeles, it's 11."

Roman said the carrier is still determining which routes will be the first to offer the services, but LAN "expects to have them flying to and from the U.S. in the second half of this year."

Compared with its current business class offering, LAN said it is increasing each passenger's space by 32 percent. In routes from the United States, LAN is doing away with first class, in favor of a premium class blend of first and business. The carriers said its existing 767 fleet has five first class seats, 28 business class seats and 181 economy seats, while the new configurations will have 30 premium business class seats and 191 economy seats.

Other amenities include down comforters and an improved entertainment system, featuring 15.4-inch individual video monitors that offer eight films and 20 short programs, with the ability to pause, fast-forward and rewind. Entertainment systems also give passengers the option to play video games and listen to a music library that holds 100 digital albums. LAN said the upgrades in total represent an investment of more than $100 million.

LAN also is improving the economy experience with similar entertainment options and "increased space for personal carry-on items at each seat."

Meanwhile, Korean Air this month introduced its upgraded premium class for flights from Los Angeles to Asia, following rollouts of the service from other U.S. markets. The upgraded services initially rolled out on the daytime LAX to Seoul-Incheon flight, but Korean will add the service to its nightly flight. Next month, it will add three more flights per week on the route, for a total of 24 weekly flights.

The carrier said first class includes "cocoon-style sleeper seats," from which passengers are served Dom Perignon, caviar and meals on demand. The airline also is upgrading business class—its "Prestige" service—with nearly flat sleeper seats, new audio and video features as well as new dining options.

"We already fly them out of our New York gateway during the day, out of Seattle on all flights, out of Chicago and Washington and now L.A. is basically a daily. We'll be adding that equipment to a second one in June," said John Jackson III, senior manager and controller, sales and business development for Korean's American regional headquarters. By the end of the 2007, all aircraft from the United States will boast the new services, Jackson added.



U.S. Carriers Upgrade

Not to be outdone by their foreign-based counterparts, major U.S.-based carriers also are investing in new amenities for premium class passengers.

American Airlines this month at a travel show in Germany gave a sneak peak of its upcoming business class cabin, set to launch this summer. "American's next-generation business class features new lie-flat seats, a personal in-flight entertainment system with audio and video on demand, state-of-the-art cabin lighting and sleek, ergonomically designed overhead bins," American said in a statement.

American said enhancements to its Boeing 767-300 business class cabin will be completed early next year. That aircraft operates most of the airline's transatlantic service and selected routes within American's network throughout the U.S. and Latin America. American said it plans to officially unveil the new business class cabin at the National Business Travel Association's annual conference in Chicago this summer.

"We know how important it is to our passengers to be comfortable on their international flights, whether they are working, enjoying a meal and a movie, or just relaxing," said Craig Kreeger, vice president of Europe & Pacific for American Airlines in a statement. "Our new business class product will provide a comfortable and highly adjustable lie-flat seat, as well as a generous work space and state-of-the-art inflight entertainment, all of which will create a world-class business class experience."

United Airlines last week announced that it is investing up to $165 million to upgrade international, long-haul first and business class seats. The carrier selected B/E Aerospace Inc. to design and manufacture the new product, which will be rolled out in three phases beginning next year.

"Reconfiguration of United's entire international wide-body fleet will span roughly two to three years," the carrier said in a statement.

"This program supports United's strategic business emphasis on international and premium services," said B/E Aerospace chairman and CEO Amin Khoury in a statement. "United flies one of the largest international fleets in the world, and we look forward to playing a key role in bringing new levels of comfort to their premium customers."