The Best Business Class? We Compared 84 Airlines

Let’s start with the negatives: Not only is Air France’s service usually below average (especially between meals), but their Business Light fare makes things even worse. Only 1 piece of luggage is included, and lounge access costs extra (except on flights to the US). On a positive note, almost all of their planes are equipped with a modern 1-2-1 business class by now.

Even if American Airlines doesn’t enjoy a good reputation for many, its business class is very good. Every seat on wide-body planes has direct access to the aisle and the service, as well as the food and the seat, are at a very high standard. Travel-Dealz founder Johannes tested the Boeing 777 and really enjoyed the flight.

ANA has a new and an older business class. Most planes have the older one, offering ludicrous amounts of space for your personal items. They also always have direct access to the aisle, either being right next to the window (recommended for more privacy) or directly at the aisle. The brand new THE Room class, installed in many Boeing 777 planes, has unbelievably wide seats. Unbeatable for sleeping, sometimes unnecessarily wide for sitting. Additionally, they’ve installed a 24-inch 4K-screen and every other row is facing backward.

British Airways was one of the first airlines to offer lie-flat seats – over 20 years ago. And they still continue to be up to date with the newest trends, each seat offering direct access to the aisle. Their best seats are the Club Suites that offer a lot of privacy – but the older seats are fine as well. A general downside at British Airways: there is no free seat reservation, which is unusual for a business class.

Etihad has a good business class, which offers direct access to the aisle for all seats. Additionally, the food & drinks, as well as the service are hard to beat. The biggest weaknesses are its average entertainment program (which is becoming less important in the age of tablets and notebooks), the overpriced internet service and its own business class lounge in Abu Dhabi.

Finnair, the Oneworld member from Northern Europe, offers a very modern and spacious business class with its new Airlounge seat. Most expectations are met on a good level, except for the sitting comfort as the seats cannot be reclined. Either you’re sitting straight up, or you’re lying fully-flat – there is no in-between. Another remarkable thing about Finnair is that they have a Light fare, which doesn’t include luggage!

Iberia is one of the few airlines that has the same product on (almost) all long-haul planes. Merely a few A350s have a different CL6720 seat, which are basically modern suites. But even with the other seats, you always have direct access to the aisle. The seats which are directly next to the aisle (in every 2nd row), however, only offer limited privacy. In total, it’s a very good product – also thanks to the good food and in-flight entertainment.

Generally, Travel-Dealz writers and readers are not big fans of the Lufthansa business class, even though it is definitely not bad. One reason for that is that the service is too inconsistent: From extremely friendly and quick to unfriendly and slow – everything is possible with Lufthansa, even in business class. Regarding the seats, they are mostly fine, though not really on-par with the competition anymore. That’s why the airline is now slowly installing their new Allegris seats.

At Qantas, a comfortable seat with much privacy awaits you. The seats are great for sleeping, and the crew is also usually very friendly. The entire long-haul fleet is equipped with the same seats, offering direct access to the aisle due to a 1-2-1 alignment.

Qatar Airways has a whole bunch of different business class seats: Diamond (A330), Super Diamond (A350, A380, B777, B787), Qsuites (A350, B777), MiniPods (B777), Cirrus II (B777), and Adient Ascent (B787). While the Diamond and MiniPods seats aren’t exactly world-class, the other seats are undoubtedly among the best business class products. Especially the new Qsuite is almost on a first class level. However, Qatar Airways does have a big downside: Lounge access is no longer included in their cheapest business class fare.

In its wide-body fleet, Scandinavian airline SAS has very big and comfortable seats, each offering direct access to the aisle. There’s a lot of storage room and also a very big desk which is perfect to work. The seats alternate between either being directly next to the window or directly at the aisle. There’s a different business class in their long-haul A321, however, which is less spacious. An upside of flying SAS: Free unlimited Wi-Fi! So it’s not a bad choice for hard-working businessmen.

If you fly in Singapore Airlines’ business class, like Travel-Dealz founder Johannes, you’ll get a very convincing product. Singapore Airlines’ main upside, however, is not the seat, but the service. The so-called Singapore Girls are extremely friendly and attentive. The in-flight entertainment, however, is mediocre.

With SWISS, it very much depends on the specific seat, as SWISS has a throne seat in every row. While the double seats share a platform in the middle, the throne seat has its own platform on each side, which you won’t have to share with anyone. Those seats thus offer privacy and comfort to an extent that the other seats cannot compete with. Therefore, you may be disappointed if you don’t get one of the throne seats, even if the other seats obviously also have a very high standard. In the future, SWISS will have a new business class, called “Swiss Senses”, which is basically Lufthansa’s Allegris cabin, but in red.

Not too long ago, TAP’s Executive Class was infamously subpar. By now, however, all planes have been equipped with new seats that can be converted into fully flat beds and offer quite a high comfort. Especially the Throne seat on the long-range A321 is top-notch, being twice as big as other seats.

United has clearly upgraded its business class in the past years since they’ve equipped their long-haul fleet with the Polaris business class seats, offering direct aisle-access to all seats. Passengers will enjoy high privacy and comfort, to a level which barely any other airline can keep up with.