Asiana to Remove First Class Seats - United Follows Suit with flights from SF to Australia

Well, the day has come we thought would never come. That is, the day an Airlines (Asiana) decided to pull the cord on their first class seats on all but four of their Boeing 747-400's / Boeing 777-200ER's. This is in an effort to reduce continuous losses. While the airline currently only flys between the following destinations: Los Angeles, New York, Bangkok, and Hong Kong - the downgrade will not go without notice. Asiana CEO Kim Soo-cheon had this to say:

"Considering that our company is at an absolutely inferior position in terms of supply of first-class seats, all other flights will change to a two-class system, while the first class will remain on our four Airbus 380 airliners,"

Understandably, not having enough business class seats or first class seats can be frustrating however it's interesting Asiana would choose to shut down that department of what business they do get. Perhaps the costs simply do not outweigh the gains.

In other news, United plans to do the opposite by adding new first class flights to their Boeing 787-9's. This is an effort to create a 'Business First' experience for their first class seats / service from Sydney to San Francisco and Sydney to Los Angeles. These changes will come into effect after March 28th, 2016. With both flights to/from LA/SF using the Boeing Dreamliners United intends to make Australia an "all Dreamliner" destination. Alison Espley, United's MD had this to say:

“This aircraft has redefined flying for our Melbourne customers and we’re delighted that our Sydney passengers will now also enjoy the superior inflight comfort and amenities that the Dreamliner offers,”

and

“This announcement demonstrates United’s continued strong commitment to the Australian market, which we have been serving for almost 30 years.”

With all that being said, we know that the market dictates what airlines have to do to maintain their share of what % of consumers decide to fly with them. Unfortunately, I can't say that I'm very impressed with United's or Asiana's decisions in this one. To offer less first class seats and only 'partially upgraded' business class seats - it doesn't strike me as a home run like some of the other airlines we've seen in the past.

Regardless of the fact, we want you to remember that whenever you're booking a flight to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Australia, or anywhere else in the world - we can help you find the best deal possible for your business class trip or first class seats. Give us a call today, and let us help you.

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