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I would like to think a few at SQ central may consider removing their heads from the sand ( and wherever else they've been recently) and see that people appreciate quality lounges instead of the way below par SKL's they provide:
Reinhold Alt arrived at the Frankfurt airport two hours early -- because he wanted to. What better place to have a meeting and gourmet dinner with a business associate? "It's quite convenient," he said.
Dr. Alt is hooked on Lufthansa's first-class terminal in Frankfurt, a separate facility where attendants greet you at the door and take you through speedy security and immigration checks. You can enjoy a bubble bath with a rubber ducky or have a smoke in a cigar room. And a few minutes before departure, you are driven to your airplane in your choice of a Mercedes or Porsche for boarding up the staircase used by baggage handlers and pilots, bypassing the herds and hordes completely.
ONLINE TODAY
• Forum: Around the world, international airlines have found that customers will pay first-class prices if they get good value for the added cost. If U.S. carriers invested in a better customer experience, could they earn their money back through ticket sales? What do you think?
• Podcast: Scott McCartney explains the wide difference between what first-class travel means in the U.S. vs. what it means for overseas carriers who treat it as a money-making investment.
• Travel Index: Business fares rose after a series of fare increases among the major airlines.Lufthansa AG says that in the two years since the terminal opened, sales of first-class tickets are up more than 40%.
In April, Air France started its own personalized first-class service, complete with delivery to the airplane in a car, at Paris Charles de Gaulle. First-class ticket prices have already risen, the carrier said.
"What has replaced Concorde? So far nothing. But this comes close. This was an amazing experience," said Sylvain Ercoli, general manager of the luxury Hotel de Crillon in Paris, who recently flew to Osaka, Japan, on Air France.
There's a first-class frenzy going on among international airlines, from Middle Eastern carriers installing lavish closed-door suites in the front of planes to Virgin Atlantic's "Clubhouse" at London's Heathrow Airport, with a beauty salon, cinema and Jacuzzi. British Airways PLC plans to make its own mark by building five lounges for first-class and business-class customers in its giant new Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow Airport, scheduled to open next March.
Virgin
The competition is particularly intense in Asia, where carriers have been longtime leaders in first-class luxury. In May, Qantas Airways opened new first-class lounges in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, with spas, libraries and chair-side waiter service. Cathay Pacific's Hong Kong first-class lounge, called The Wing, was voted the best first-class lounge in the world last year by Skytrax Research of London, based on more than 400,000 surveys of travelers. The lounge includes a noodle bar, library and a bath facility dubbed "the Cabanas."
Demand for luxury travel is strong, propelled by global wealth, robust business travel and growing desire to bypass the hassles of long security lines, cramped seating and greasy airport food. While airplane cabins and in-flight service may be similar, there's more differentiation on the ground -- and more demand from passengers willing to pay for speed, comfort and efficiency.
In addition, with the giant Airbus A380s scheduled to start deliveries soon, several airlines will find themselves with a lot more first-class seats to sell. Getting customers hooked on lounges now will help sales on the super jumbo airplane, so airlines that have purchased the A380 like Lufthansa, Air France and Qantas are among the most aggressive at upgrading premium facilities now.
U.S. airlines lag behind their overseas rivals. Delta Air Lines Inc., Continental Airlines Inc., Northwest Airlines Corp. and US Airways Group Inc. eliminated first-class service internationally and offer only business class and coach, largely because they found few companies would pay for first-class tickets in tough economic times.
Their airport lounges, too, generally lack the posh and perks of many international rivals. One advantage several U.S. airlines do offer is day passes to their lounges for a fee of about $50, a good option for occasional travelers or customers stuck for long hours at airports because of flight disruptions. But U.S. airlines rarely offer the food and free alcohol that international carriers ply their customers with, and they haven't yet bought into the elite enhancements for first-class customers. Good luck finding a cigar lounge or bathtub with a rubber ducky.
That's partly because of a big problem of their own making: U.S. carriers often give away first class through frequent-flier programs or upgrades. Having conditioned travelers to see first-class as a perk obtainable with a coach ticket, especially on domestic flights, they have a harder time actually selling the seats.
But European airlines are finding that people will buy first class -- if the airline provides a product that seems worth the high price.
Lufthansa built a new terminal for first-class customers in Frankfurt that doesn't look like an airport terminal at all. Think hip hotel lobby. With leather seats in the lobby, halogen lighting, cocktail glasses filled with nuts and jazz playing in the background, there's nary a "Lufthansa" sign visible.
Lufthansa drives first-class passengers directly to airplanes in Frankfurt. At London's Heathrow (inset), Virgin Atlantic pampers fliers at its 'Clubhouse.' On arrival, a valet takes your luggage and parks your car. An attendant greets you, walks you through a security check and stays responsible for you throughout your stay, right down to telling you when its time to leave.
"The competition will be decided on the ground," said Oliver Wagner, Lufthansa's vice president for airports. "Everyone can have the same seats, same food, same entertainment. But where you can really do something is to improve the product and the process on the ground."
To make it work financially, the airline makes the private terminal available only to passengers who buy first-class tickets or are at the highest level of Lufthansa's frequent-flier program, which requires flying 600,000 miles on Lufthansa over only two years. (Top-level fliers on Lufthansa's U.S. partner, UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, don't qualify.) About 300 customers per day use the facility, which employs 200 people.
Lufthansa found that the lounge has actually prompted passengers to arrive twice as early for flights than the airline planned -- 90 minutes instead of an anticipated 45 minutes. Some come hours ahead to enjoy the restaurant with white table linens and the bar with 80 kinds of whiskey. (On New Year's Eve, a couple with first-class tickets came to dine, then canceled their tickets for a full refund and left the airport.)
Lufthansa says an expansion is being planned. And a similar first-class lounge is opening in Munich in early August.
Air France, a unit of Air France-KLM SA, doesn't have a separate terminal for its "L'Espace Premiere" service, which began April 1, but it did create a first-class-only door at CDG airport with a brass hotel cart for baggage and personalized greeting by airline attendants who study passenger lists in advance. One attendant escorts a Premiere customer through a special first-class security line and takes the passenger to a Premiere lounge, where a French immigration officer in plain clothes does a passport check. Air France also provides a special telephone number for Premiere passengers to call if they'll be late in order to possibly delay the plane's departure.
With flights spread over five different buildings and two more under construction, creating a single entrance and lounge for first-class passengers and driving customers to airplanes proved to be a significant time-saving benefit. First-class passengers can arrive only 30 minutes before international flights and still make a flight. "It's quite impossible normally, so that's a huge advantage," said Michel Emeriti, who runs Air France's CDG operation.
Like Lufthansa, the swank service is only offered to passengers booked in first class. Air France won't upgrade business-class customers into empty first-class seats, either. "This product has a price. If we give it away, it has no value, and one who did pay for it will say, 'Why did I pay?"' said Carole Peytavin, Air France's director of product development.
Ms. Peytavin said Air France boosted its first-class service because of the intense international competition.
And some travelers clearly appreciate the change. "Luxury today is often time, and it is priceless for certain people," said Mr. Ercoli, the luxury hotel expert. After his trip to Osaka in Premiere class, he was so impressed that he wrote to compliment the airline (and to suggest improvements to the snack buffet). "It was the first time I wrote to Air France not to complain," he chuckled.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1184...N=wsjie/6month
Reinhold Alt arrived at the Frankfurt airport two hours early -- because he wanted to. What better place to have a meeting and gourmet dinner with a business associate? "It's quite convenient," he said.
Dr. Alt is hooked on Lufthansa's first-class terminal in Frankfurt, a separate facility where attendants greet you at the door and take you through speedy security and immigration checks. You can enjoy a bubble bath with a rubber ducky or have a smoke in a cigar room. And a few minutes before departure, you are driven to your airplane in your choice of a Mercedes or Porsche for boarding up the staircase used by baggage handlers and pilots, bypassing the herds and hordes completely.
ONLINE TODAY
• Forum: Around the world, international airlines have found that customers will pay first-class prices if they get good value for the added cost. If U.S. carriers invested in a better customer experience, could they earn their money back through ticket sales? What do you think?
• Podcast: Scott McCartney explains the wide difference between what first-class travel means in the U.S. vs. what it means for overseas carriers who treat it as a money-making investment.
• Travel Index: Business fares rose after a series of fare increases among the major airlines.Lufthansa AG says that in the two years since the terminal opened, sales of first-class tickets are up more than 40%.
In April, Air France started its own personalized first-class service, complete with delivery to the airplane in a car, at Paris Charles de Gaulle. First-class ticket prices have already risen, the carrier said.
"What has replaced Concorde? So far nothing. But this comes close. This was an amazing experience," said Sylvain Ercoli, general manager of the luxury Hotel de Crillon in Paris, who recently flew to Osaka, Japan, on Air France.
There's a first-class frenzy going on among international airlines, from Middle Eastern carriers installing lavish closed-door suites in the front of planes to Virgin Atlantic's "Clubhouse" at London's Heathrow Airport, with a beauty salon, cinema and Jacuzzi. British Airways PLC plans to make its own mark by building five lounges for first-class and business-class customers in its giant new Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow Airport, scheduled to open next March.
Virgin
The competition is particularly intense in Asia, where carriers have been longtime leaders in first-class luxury. In May, Qantas Airways opened new first-class lounges in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, with spas, libraries and chair-side waiter service. Cathay Pacific's Hong Kong first-class lounge, called The Wing, was voted the best first-class lounge in the world last year by Skytrax Research of London, based on more than 400,000 surveys of travelers. The lounge includes a noodle bar, library and a bath facility dubbed "the Cabanas."
Demand for luxury travel is strong, propelled by global wealth, robust business travel and growing desire to bypass the hassles of long security lines, cramped seating and greasy airport food. While airplane cabins and in-flight service may be similar, there's more differentiation on the ground -- and more demand from passengers willing to pay for speed, comfort and efficiency.
In addition, with the giant Airbus A380s scheduled to start deliveries soon, several airlines will find themselves with a lot more first-class seats to sell. Getting customers hooked on lounges now will help sales on the super jumbo airplane, so airlines that have purchased the A380 like Lufthansa, Air France and Qantas are among the most aggressive at upgrading premium facilities now.
U.S. airlines lag behind their overseas rivals. Delta Air Lines Inc., Continental Airlines Inc., Northwest Airlines Corp. and US Airways Group Inc. eliminated first-class service internationally and offer only business class and coach, largely because they found few companies would pay for first-class tickets in tough economic times.
Their airport lounges, too, generally lack the posh and perks of many international rivals. One advantage several U.S. airlines do offer is day passes to their lounges for a fee of about $50, a good option for occasional travelers or customers stuck for long hours at airports because of flight disruptions. But U.S. airlines rarely offer the food and free alcohol that international carriers ply their customers with, and they haven't yet bought into the elite enhancements for first-class customers. Good luck finding a cigar lounge or bathtub with a rubber ducky.
That's partly because of a big problem of their own making: U.S. carriers often give away first class through frequent-flier programs or upgrades. Having conditioned travelers to see first-class as a perk obtainable with a coach ticket, especially on domestic flights, they have a harder time actually selling the seats.
But European airlines are finding that people will buy first class -- if the airline provides a product that seems worth the high price.
Lufthansa built a new terminal for first-class customers in Frankfurt that doesn't look like an airport terminal at all. Think hip hotel lobby. With leather seats in the lobby, halogen lighting, cocktail glasses filled with nuts and jazz playing in the background, there's nary a "Lufthansa" sign visible.
Lufthansa drives first-class passengers directly to airplanes in Frankfurt. At London's Heathrow (inset), Virgin Atlantic pampers fliers at its 'Clubhouse.' On arrival, a valet takes your luggage and parks your car. An attendant greets you, walks you through a security check and stays responsible for you throughout your stay, right down to telling you when its time to leave.
"The competition will be decided on the ground," said Oliver Wagner, Lufthansa's vice president for airports. "Everyone can have the same seats, same food, same entertainment. But where you can really do something is to improve the product and the process on the ground."
To make it work financially, the airline makes the private terminal available only to passengers who buy first-class tickets or are at the highest level of Lufthansa's frequent-flier program, which requires flying 600,000 miles on Lufthansa over only two years. (Top-level fliers on Lufthansa's U.S. partner, UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, don't qualify.) About 300 customers per day use the facility, which employs 200 people.
Lufthansa found that the lounge has actually prompted passengers to arrive twice as early for flights than the airline planned -- 90 minutes instead of an anticipated 45 minutes. Some come hours ahead to enjoy the restaurant with white table linens and the bar with 80 kinds of whiskey. (On New Year's Eve, a couple with first-class tickets came to dine, then canceled their tickets for a full refund and left the airport.)
Lufthansa says an expansion is being planned. And a similar first-class lounge is opening in Munich in early August.
Air France, a unit of Air France-KLM SA, doesn't have a separate terminal for its "L'Espace Premiere" service, which began April 1, but it did create a first-class-only door at CDG airport with a brass hotel cart for baggage and personalized greeting by airline attendants who study passenger lists in advance. One attendant escorts a Premiere customer through a special first-class security line and takes the passenger to a Premiere lounge, where a French immigration officer in plain clothes does a passport check. Air France also provides a special telephone number for Premiere passengers to call if they'll be late in order to possibly delay the plane's departure.
With flights spread over five different buildings and two more under construction, creating a single entrance and lounge for first-class passengers and driving customers to airplanes proved to be a significant time-saving benefit. First-class passengers can arrive only 30 minutes before international flights and still make a flight. "It's quite impossible normally, so that's a huge advantage," said Michel Emeriti, who runs Air France's CDG operation.
Like Lufthansa, the swank service is only offered to passengers booked in first class. Air France won't upgrade business-class customers into empty first-class seats, either. "This product has a price. If we give it away, it has no value, and one who did pay for it will say, 'Why did I pay?"' said Carole Peytavin, Air France's director of product development.
Ms. Peytavin said Air France boosted its first-class service because of the intense international competition.
And some travelers clearly appreciate the change. "Luxury today is often time, and it is priceless for certain people," said Mr. Ercoli, the luxury hotel expert. After his trip to Osaka in Premiere class, he was so impressed that he wrote to compliment the airline (and to suggest improvements to the snack buffet). "It was the first time I wrote to Air France not to complain," he chuckled.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1184...N=wsjie/6month
), waiter service at your table and a good selection of alcoholic drinks (with a few brands thrown in for name dropping value); some shower and sleeping rooms (and not forgetting a branded shower kit for those who like to collect these things 
); and business facilities including free Internet access. Daylight and a decent view is optional (in some lounges!). Finally, include also some gimmicks like free spa/hair treatments (with or without special services), game consoles etc.
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