Pushing the Boundaries: Premium Air Travel Amps Up

The entire airline industry is turning up the volume on premium enhancements with the realization that they sell, and not just to business travelers. Low cost and regional carriers—once considered more egalitarian and no-frills—are rearranging their strategies around premium-class cabins and services. At the same time, international carriers that have always had upscale offerings are pushing the in-flight envelope even more. 

Low-cost U.S. carriers Southwest Airlines and JetBlue each have increased segmentation of their cabins. Southwest now has three types of seats since adding a basic fare option as well as its new extra-legroom seats. JetBlue has added EvenMore seats, which is its extra-legroom product, it's expanding its business-class Mint product, and it plans to introduce a first-class cabin later this year.

Alaska Airlines on March 31 unveiled its new business-class cabin for international flights on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, as the carrier expands its offerings beyond the United States. The new cabin is set to debut April 28 on Alaska flights between Seattle and Rome, in April between Seattle and Seoul, and later in the fall between Seattle and Tokyo.

International carriers also have been in on the trend, adding more premium seats, particularly on long-haul routes.

Lufthansa aircraft with its new long-haul premium Allegris cabins began flying about two years ago. The Allegris first-class suites provide privacy, and the business-class cabin alone offers seven seat types. Lufthansa invested €2.5 billion into the product and service.

Finnair between 2022 and 2024 invested €200 million in its long-haul cabin renewal, which included a new business-class seat and a newly added premium-economy cabin. 

"Premium economy is a wildly popular part of the cabin, much more so than we anticipated," Finnair chief revenue officer Christine Rovelli told BTN. It also "has been popular with the corporate segment because some corporates don't necessarily allow their employees to travel in business, even on long-haul, but they often allow premium economy as a travel class," according to the carrier.

TAP Air Portugal announced on Friday it will begin flying June 1 what it calls “Economy Prime” seating on international routes. The cabin will offer 12 seats located immediately behind Business Class in a four-seat-per-row configuration, but the side seat will always be left empty. Economy Prime passengers will have access to premium check-in services at the airport as well as priority baggage handling, fast track security access and premium boarding. Economy Prime seats also will earn bonus TAP Miles&Go loyalty miles and will have more flexible rescheduling and rebooking policies, which particularly appeal to business travelers.

Virgin Atlantic also is upgrading its offerings on Boeing 787-9 aircrafts to be in line with the carrier's Airbus A330neo cabins, and both aircraft types will be getting additional premium seats. The new configurations are expected to begin rolling out in 2028.

Emirates is investing $5 billion to refurbish 219 aircraft, including 110 Airbus A380 and 109 Boeing 777 aircraft, that feature new business-class seats and the debut of a premium-economy cabin. The first retrofitted Boeing 777 launched in August 2024.

Paired with the new business-class cabins often are upgraded amenity kits, softer pajamas, celebrity-chef inspired meals and elevated beverage selections.

Premium Airport Lounge Experiences

Airlines also are upping their lounge game as they add more premium seating and more luxurious business-class cabins. Entry to these upscale clubs is often reserved for members, certain credit card holders or customers with premium tickets.

Delta Air Lines in June 2024 opened at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport its first Delta One lounge, a new premium lounge concept for its Delta One business-class customers. It includes a private The carrier now operates four, having also opened Delta One lounges in Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle.

American Airlines and United Airlines each introduced their premium lounges in 2016— American's Flagship lounge and United's Polaris lounge—but they, too, have been expanding and upgrading the experience in recent years. American opened a new Flagship space in Philadelphia in May 2025 and has one coming to Charlotte, NC. United expanded its Polaris Lounge at Chicago O'Hare International Airport in April 2025, which is one of six Polaris spaces in the U.S.

Connecting with Starlink

BTN in March experienced a United flight that offered Starlink wifi service. The connection was easy to make, it worked just as well on a smartphone as on a laptop and streaming services were uninterrupted. Because it was a test flight, passengers were able to test links to meeting invites as well as make phone and video calls. Normally, those are not allowed on commercial flights.

JetBlue even entered the lounge market in December with its first BlueHouse airport lounge at JFK, available initially to transatlantic Mint customers, Mosaic 4 JetBlue loyalty status members and JetBlue Premier cardmembers. In February, the carrier expanded the lounge's access with a one-time day pass offering. JetBlue's second BlueHouse lounge is slated to open in mid-2026 in Boston. 

Super-Fast Wi-Fi

As part of the premium experience that even economy customers can enjoy and for free—provided they are members of a carrier's loyalty program—is the upgrade several airlines have begun to make by adding new satellite high-speed Wi-Fi services to their aircraft. 

Many carriers have partnered with Starlink and either have begun to roll the service out or will be in the next year or two, including United, Southwest, Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines, Lufthansa Group, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, International Airlines Group and Korean Air, to name a few.

Going in a different direction, Delta on March 31 selected Amazon's Leo satellite Wi-Fi service to add to its aircraft and join its other Wi-Fi partners Viastat and Hughes Network Systems.