What has changed , however , is that air travel ’ s decades-old definition of luxuriousness seems to be slowly dying out – at least in name , anyway .
Over the past 20 years , first-class travel has gradually been disappearing from the longhaul market , with various airlines focusing their attention elsewhere and spending their money more wisely .
British Airways , for example , had more than 550,000 first-class seats across its fleet in 2008 ; by 2018 , that figure had plummeted by about 100,000 . In fact , BA was responsible for a pretty seismic moment in the context of air travel when it completely dropped first class from its A350 aircraft . Instead , the company invested in its long-haul business class cabin , Club World which , to all intents and purposes , could be considered a ‘ first-class ’ offering .
A further significant moment for the industry came in 2022 , when American Airlines announced it was scrapping first-class seats on international flights , becoming the last of the big three US carriers to do so .
112 September 2023