DENVER -- Premium and corporate travel advisors and buyers can't possibly sample every new upscale product iteration that airlines introduce.
So at the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) convention last week, airlines brought their new front-of-plane international widebody products to the agencies.
"I encourage you to touch those pajamas when you get over there. They are the softest pajamas you've ever felt," United managing director of product Mark Muren said to a gathering of conference attendees during the second morning of the convention, as he looked toward a table populated with bedding, creams, lotions and other amenities United is offering as it makes its latest improvements to business class.
As he spoke, Muren stood in front of models of United's incoming Polaris business-class seats. They feature the airline's first sliding-door suites and also include the Polaris Studio, which will have 25% more space than the standard Polaris pod, including an ottoman that can be used by a visiting companion. First deliveries are expected this year.
A Lufthansa Allegris first-class suite. Photo Credit: Robert Silk
Other airlines offering a similar show-and-tell included Latam, Lufthansa and Qatar Airways, each of which set up on the GBTA floor with mock-ups of their new or incoming premium widebody seats.
In the Qatar Airways booth, show attendees sat down to sample the QSuite Next Gen business-class seat, which will likely debut on Airbus A350 aircraft. It will offer enhancements over the award-winning first-generation QSuite, including a pin-code protected safe, higher privacy walls and the ability for flyers in adjacent front/back suites to share an in-flight entertainment screen.
Nearby, in the Lufthansa booth, show attendees could try out the two-person Allegris Suite-Plus first-class product, which is now flying to five U.S. cities on Airbus A350-900 aircraft. Its introduction was part of a nearly $3 billion product investment by the Lufthansa Group.
And also nearby, South America's Latam was offering a chance for travel advisors to sit in a model of its first sliding-door business-class suite. Now available on five Latam Dreamliner aircraft, with up to seven more retrofits expected to be completed by the end of the year, the new seats also offer bigger entertainment screens, additional width and improved charging capabilities, said Federico Jager, the airline's vice president of global indirect sales and sales development.
Federico Jager, Latam's vice president of global indirect sales and sales development, shows off the airline's newly upgraded business-class offering. Photo Credit: Robert Silk
The expansion in premium seat sales
Premium seat sales have surged at airlines in recent years. At United, for example, premium cabin revenue was up 5.7% year over year in the second quarter compared to an overall increase of just 1.7% in operating revenue, continuing a long-standing trend of premium growth outpacing the main cabin.
It's a primary reason that United not only plans to introduce the updated Polaris and new Polaris Studio seats on approximately 30 new Boeing 787 Dreamliners by 2027, but will also offer 16 additional business-class seats and 14 more premium economy seats on those planes, while removing 59 standard economy seats.
Over in the Latam exhibit, Jager said the airline, which flies 17 routes between South America and the U.S., was here to reinforce its partnerships with agencies and travel managers.
"That's why we have this seat here," he said. "Because they know we are in the process of renewing our cabins, and they want that."