[imagesource: JetBlue]

The day that I manage to hitch a ride in the sky in a first-class seat, or even a spacious business class seat to be fair, I’ll know I have made it.

For now, I’ll just have to settle for the fact that this “double-bed-in-the-sky experience” is the stuff of dreams.

Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic has retired quite a few older aircrafts with a first-class suite offering, while newer airlines are skipping this offering altogether.

Perhaps that’s because folks are mostly flying for business and those who usually can afford first-class seats are instead opting for private jets to ensure ultimate safety and privacy.

The good news, though, is that seats with more luxury and legroom have not been completely banished.

CNN advises that next time you find yourself in a plane, take special note of the first row of business class seats.

You might just have found the “secret first-class” section – the front-row business-plus – with more room, more hidden features, and more luxury:

So how do you spot these new seats? Well, the airline might be selling them as “Business Plus” or “Business Suite,” or something a little less direct, so keep an eye out even when booking seats at the back of the bus.

When you’re on board, take a look at the front row and see if it has more space than the row behind it, especially next to the seat, or if it has extra pillows and blankets. There might even be a bit of extra privacy divider.

Check out the fabrics and hard surfaces. Does it look like that little bit of extra luxury has been added? Any extra wood-effect paneling, a different look and feel to any part of it compared with row two?

Like this:

The space between the wall and the front row seats, often not used for much, is prime plane real estate, which Anthony Harcup, a senior director at design house Teague, elaborates on:

“Business class seats get their density efficiencies by staggering or nesting passenger enclosures — often the feet of one passenger will nest under the side furniture of the passenger in front,” he says. “The front row seat is free of any forward nesting passenger.”

…All of this extra space, says Harcup, “is especially important now that first class seating is fading away in lieu of more efficient business class seat products. In this sense it’s a ray of light keeping the spirit and differentiation of first class alive.”

Designers have been letting their creativity loose in these spaces, creating nooks that cater to a whole range of client needs.

A side sofa for your kids to curl up next to you as you watch a movie on the larger inflight entertainment screen on the wall, or a mini-wardrobes so that you can slip out of your suit and into your airline-offered pyjamas, for example.

There’s even the option of having a wraparound sofa that also increases the size of the onboard bed on some airlines.

Image: John Walton

Acumen Design Associates’ senior designer Daniel Clucas has more:

If it’s a business-focused airline, it could offer “meeting seating” across an enlarged “business table” with extra power sockets and charging devices.

But for a more leisure-focused carrier, that same seating could be presented as “dining à deux”, with the “business table” turning into an extended romantic mealtime space, perhaps with low lighting options, flowers and even an electronic candle.

Family-oriented airlines, meanwhile, could sell it as a table for board games, extra coloring-in space, with a fitting for a bassinet crib and a spot for Mr Fluffy the stuffed animal too, together with some kid-friendly snacks and drinks.

There are a lot of options if you have the doe to dish out in the skies.

[source:cnn]