First class passengers need not rely on their air of superiority because they're breathing superior air — at least on German airline Lufthansa.
The airline recently installed humidifiers in the first class of its Airbus A380s, bringing air quality up to par with the luxurious lie-flat seats and other services available in the premium section of the aircraft.
"[The humidifier] gives a totally different experience," Lufthansa chairman and CEO Carsten Spohr told The Times of India last month. "Passengers arrive in a much better shape after a long-haul flight."
Dry cabin air has been blamed for a number of maladies — though scientific studies on these are limited in scope — including for worsening jet lag and even for making airplane food taste bland. (Dry airplane air could be why a Bloody Mary is more appealing on a flight than in a Earth-bound bar.)
The humidifiers will cause food to taste better, passengers to sleep better and afford them a greater sense of well-being," a Lufthansa official told the Times of India. The humidity in the air in first class is approximately 25%, compared to the economy cabin, where it's about 20%.
That 5% is not the biggest deal in the world, but the fact that even the common people's *air* isn't good enough for first class says something.
Better first class, more misery in economy
Watch the evolution of aircraft design, and you'll see a pattern: As first and business class get better — bigger seats, better service and plenty of food and drink — economy is getting worse. Airlines are finding ways to give economy passengers less legroom, and fewer included services like complimentary checked baggage or even a bag of pretzels.
The A380 is Lufthansa's newest aircraft type. The manufacturer, Airbus, is always innovating, and one of its most recent innovations involves fitting 11 seats in each row of coach seating, which had previously maxed out at 10. And that's up from nine, which was standard in Boeing 777s for two decades, until around 2010.
To squeeze in those extra seats, space between seats was decreased and armrests shrunk — and window seats are basically on top of the bottom curve of the cabin. The aircraft manufacturers are the ones doing the design, but it's the wishes of the airline carriers that make for smaller, tighter seats: More seats, more passengers, more money.
Air travel as an analogy to growing wealth inequality in the U.S. is almost too perfect.
Since the 1970s, income gains have increased more quickly for U.S. households in higher income brackets. In contrast to air travel, though, there have at least been increases even for those in the lowest 20%.
Economy seats haven't just improved a small amount in comparison to improvements in first class — they've gotten worse.
Seat width started out small, back in the mid-20th century when initial designs were based on Air Force measurements for pilots, offering 17 inches in width. Over the 70s, 80s and 90s, seat width gradually increased to 18.5 inches — but now the trend has reversed as airlines look for ways to fit more passengers on planes, and many planes are back to 17 inches.
As for seat pitch (the distance between the same point on two seats and an important factor in legroom), a once common measurement of 34-35 inches is now more often 30-32 inches, and budget airlines sometimes offer only 28.
And while recent offers in first and business class on different airlines include lie-flat seats, local and artisan food offerings, entire suites and thousands of included entertainment options, coach has gotten fees for everything that can be separated from the base fare. Even some things you once thought were basic, like seat assignments or a can of soda, now cost extra.
Of course, the first class-ers are paying for the privilege of unlimited soda. But when Airbus is offering carriers the option of an 11-seat-wide coach class and filing patents for standing-room only seats, there's reason to worry that the standards for the cheap seats are getting uncomfortably low.
