There is a proliferation of seating categories on different airlines. Online travel agencies are finding it more and more difficult to capture them all. In the casual travelers mind there is just coach, business, and first class. If you go online and choose the wrong category on a particular airline that may not even offer that category, and the phrase to describe your flying experience may be “rip-off”. Notice the more comprehensive list of airline cabin categories available now.
Basic Economy, Go Light, Deluxe Leather, Standard, Go, Economy, MainCabin, Coach, Economy Plus, Go Preferred, Economy Preferred, MainCabin Preferred, Main Cabin Select, Main Cabin Extra, Big Front,Stretch, Even More Space, Comfort, Extra Comfort, Premium Economy,Economy Skycouch, Business, Business Premier, Mint, Business First,First, Global First, One, Private Suite.
Online travel agencies may not correctly map the “standard industry language (First Class, Business Class, Premium, and Economy)” to the proper sub-niche category listed on the more comprehensive list above. Clearly the category may not fit the product when it comes to the difference between the airline categories and that usde by the online agencies. How do you get the seat you want on your next flight?
To guarantee that you get what you pay for may take more effort on your part than simply selecting a cabin category from a drop-down list on a website. Here are 3 additional things you should do:
1. After being shown a list of airlines on an online agency website, before you buy, go to the desired airline’s site and make sure that the airline offers that cabin category for the particular flight you want to choose.
2. Make sure that the cabin service that the airline offers matches what you are looking for in your expectations for the class of cabin youselected. For instance the airline may consider lounge access, prioritized check-in, and food and drinks onboard as an upgraded experience worthy of the ticket price increase when what you are really looking for is greater seating comfort (wider seats and extra leg room).
3. If you want extensive advice, go to Seat Guru for details about each plane in an airline’s fleet. You can find out things like Spirit’s economy class is called Deluxe Leather, and as nice as that sounds, it has the least legroom of any domestic airline. JetBlue’s economy class is simply called Coach, but it also has leather seats, and 34 inches of legroom, and a great entertainment system.
As you can see from this discussion the phrase you-get-what-you-paid-for will mean different things to airlines, travel agencies, and you. Discrepancies exist in all of the categories. So, do you think you know the difference between coach and first class? In order to truly get what you paid for you will still have to do a little research to get what you want.
For air travel to Hawaii there is one airline that truly gives you the full Hawaii experience. It’s Hawaiian Airlines. Meals are still served in all seating categories, and luau music greets you as you board the plane. It’s as if your vacation begins before the plane ever takes off. It will be worth your while to check out Hawaiian Airlines rates. For comparison you can check here too.
