Review: Business class air service - Sand, software and sound

Ah, life has been busy. I’ve spent a fair amount of time traveling over the last few months. Soon, I’ll be posting code for a major new project that I’ve had in the works.

My post today is somewhat out of character for this site. However, I’d like to take the opportunity to review and compare recent experience on airlines.

In the last few years, my spouse and I have made several long-haul trips (5 or more hours airborne). After spending so many hours in coach on business, we decided that retired life should be easier and more pleasant. Thus, we have been fortunate to fly first- or business-class on long-haul flights.

My comments here compare JetBlue Mint, Virgin Atlantic, Delta and Alaska Airlines.

The Delta and Alaska flights offered what I would call “Mark I first class” which is typical for narrow-body (e.g., Boeing 737) ETOPS and domestic U.S. travel. Seating consists of the usual wide, partially reclining seats with which we are all so familiar. These seats are distinct from the lie-flat seats provided by Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue Mint. In comparison, the Delta and Alaska seats are suitable for daytime travel and are woefully insufficient for red-eye flights when extended sleep is desirable or required. The seat pitch (i.e., row-to-row spacing) is also critical. We have found that it’s easier to navigate in and out of a JetBlue Even More economy plus seat than the Delta first class seat.

The JetBlue Mint and Virgin Atlantic Upper Class seating is at a much higher level. Racking out in Mint or Upper Class reminds me of sleeping in a European semi-private couchette. In both cases, you have a small cubby for your stuff and the lie-flat seat. You can fully recline the Mint seat yourself while the Upper Class seat requires a little assistance from a flight attendant. VA provides a lower pad, pillow and duvet; Mint provides a pillow and duvet. The seats are comfortable enough for sleeping.

Mint seats are arranged facing forward in either pairs or a single “suite.” Upper Class seats (A330-300 and 787) are arranged in a herringbone such that you’re not absolutely facing forward. The herringbone makes it somewhat difficult to look out the window although VA keeps the windows dark during much of its flights (out of respect for those who wish to sleep, presumably).

Privacy in a Mint pair or Upper Class seat is moderate. People walking up and down the aisle(s) can easily look into your cubby. Privacy in the Mint suite is quite good; it even has a sliding door to close you off from the world. Quite frankly, flying in a Mint suite is about as close to the experience of a personal aircraft that you will get in a commercial plane. Kudos.

There are two bugaboos that I have with the lie-flat seats: where to put your stuff and what to do with your feet. All of the seats have (mesh) storage pockets, etc. I like the Mint pockets for stashing eyeglasses and the handy water bottle nook. The Mint suite adds a storage bin with sliding door and the ability to stash a day pack along side the seat although it’s underfoot when entering or leaving the suite. On VA, one can stash a day pack under the ottoman footrest. Otherwise, one is forced to dig into the overhead bin.

Feet. As mentioned in passing, the VA Upper Class seat has an ottoman for your feet (day or night). The ottoman has a safety belt and someone could join you for dining. (I haven’t see anyone do this except in jest.) VA insist on buckling this belt during take-off and landing. Undo the belt! It kept getting in the way while sleeping and is uncomfortable. On both Mint and Upper Class, foot space is kind of small (“cozy” at best). If you’re really tall and/or have big feet, good luck. Expect to wear socks and ditch your shoes for longer rest.

Virgin Atlantic offer sleep suits which are simply PJs. The fabric is a cotton/poly blend and the PJs can get quite warm in combination with the duvet. I recommend ducking into the restroom while on-the-ground boarding is in progress and changing into the sleep suit while the lav is still fresh. I changed into the upper, preferring to sleep in cargo pants with plenty of pockets to hold my stuff (especially tissues). Keep the suit and donate it after the flight.

Both JetBlue and VA give business class customers a small amenities kit which includes eye shade, socks, toothbrush, etc. I’m not ga-ga about amenity kits, so let’s just say that they do the business. The VA pouch is quite reusable for microphones and other electronic kit!

Speaking of electronic kit, if you want to play and record while you’re in the air, fly in a Mint suite. You have the usual fold-out table, but also two very useful side surfaces. The suite is positively loaded with USB and power ports and one could set up quite a large airborne studio.

The JetBlue in-flight entertainment system is pretty decent, supporting Sirius XM radio, DirectTV and a selection of movies. Unlike coach, Mint flyers have a touch screen and hand-held remote for navigation. The only niggle is there are so many DirectTV channels that scrolling from one end to the other takes a long time.

The Virgin Atlantic system looks and feels dated. It needs a major upgrade. The screen folds out into the center of the cubby. Although the screen responds to touches, I found it easier to navigate through the hand-held remote. The remote has a built-in screen which can display the flight map — handy for keeping tabs on flight progress when snoozing. The A330 for the return flight had an even older in-flight set and the remote, in particular, felt and operated like a poorly designed and worn video game controller.

Alaska Airlines have two options: an inflight tablet and GoGo Entertainment. The tablet is pre-loaded with shows and movies. I went with the tablet. Nothing super memorable other than the interface being kind of laggy.

Delta offer TV, movies and music through the touch-screen Delta Studio. Unfortunately, Delta Studio was down on the day we flew. So, I had to resort to Delta’s second option, GoGo Entertainment. GoGo Entertainment is an app that runs on your own device — in my case, an iPad. My only complaint is that the flight crew waited so long to announce the unavailability of Delta Studio that I barely had time to down the GoGo app to my iPad before take-off. Yep, once you’re in the air, you cannot download the app. The progress bar was literally racing the aircraft to the runway hold line!

Let’s get to the food. 🙂

There is nothing remarkable about the food on Delta or Alaska, with one exception. Alaska Airlines featured regional foods: salmon in the Northwest and Hawaiian on the legs to/from the Big Island. Nice. I noticed that Alaska has revamped its first class food service, so they’re trying. Stay tuned.

Wish I could say the same about Delta or any of the other large American carriers, save JetBlue. Domestic U.S. service has declined to the point where food service in South African Airways coach is better than most in the U.S. Very sad compared to the old days (late 60s and 70s) when first class service came on linen with a split of wine. Or, fond memories of the lox and bagels flight from San Francisco to the East Coast. Yes, folks, a self-serve, deli buffet in the galley of a DC-10 — in coach! U.S. coach has gone from economy to total rip-off. Revolt.

JetBlue Mint food impresses. After an opening bite, flyers have a choice of three items from a menu of five mains. Each item is a small plate. Presentation is quite good with each bite arriving in its own ceramic bowl/plate. The mains are followed by a sweet bite. Espresso and cappuccino are available and are prepared fresh (no instant!) in the galley. I tried the low-cal (call ahead) meal and found it to be OK although not as special as the regular menu.

A note to chefs: We need low-sodium meals as well as vegan, gluten-free, low cal, etc. Also, please pay attention to the dietary needs of people taking warfarin (Coumadin). There are a lot of us. Four of the five main entrées offered by JetBlue in May 2018 are high in vitamin K. I ordered the low cal meal in order to pass my monthly PRO-TIME test the day after my return. Vitamin K counters warfarin.

A note to JetBlue Mint customers: If you pre-order a special menu, your request will apply to all flights on the same itinerary. Flexibility here would be welcome.

VA’s Upper Class meal service is also good, but I put Mint above it. The food is good (for the English 🙂 ) although presentation could be improved. One chooses from a menu of options. I like an English-style breakfast and you could request an exceptionally hearty meal including a bacon sarnie. Unfortunately, the sarnie has been off the menu for me since the heart attack. How do the British eat this and survive? 🙂

Where Virgin Atlantic shines, of course, is its international Upper Class lounges. The lounge at London Heathrow is the mothership surrounded by smaller, cozy satellites (Boston and Johannesburg, in our case). The lounges are (almost) reason enough to fly VA. The food is good in all locations, consisting of small plates, salads and deli. I quite enjoyed the (South Asian) Indian food — on par or better than our local restaurants. The plates are cooked to order. The cooking staff at the Boston lounge are especially friendly and helpful. We dined early in Boston, making it possible to skip the in-flight dinner (not dessert!) and go directly to sleep on the relatively short, eastbound trans-Atlantic flight. Frankly, we couldn’t have made the trip to and from South Africa without the help and comfort of VA lounges.

As you can tell, I’m a fan of JetBlue Mint. JetBlue is trying very hard to offer a premium service for long-haul domestic flights. Their service compares quite favorably with business class service on international carriers. Further, they are providing a good experience without letting the ticket price get out of control. I hope that JetBlue puts a spur to the competition. Nice work, JetBlue!