Excuse me maam, would you like a steward with the bed?

by Yeoh Siew Hoon

As I sank into the new business class flat-bed-seats on the Singapore Airlines’ flight from Paris, I couldn’t help but think of Tony Fernandes.

No, no, not that I wanted him to be sitting next to me or even sharing the same seat but what he had said at the Global Brand Forum about SIA’s new business class – “the seats are so big they should give you a stewardess to sleep with, or a steward, whatever your preference”.

It is true. The seats are so big I felt quite lost in it. Not that I am complaining but it did make me wonder, are they too big?

I had heard the question asked before at a gathering of airline folk recently but dismissed it as sour grapes as it had been said by a competing airline executive but having now experienced it, I wonder if there is a grain of truth to that.

Okay, I may not be the Singapore Girl’s target traveller and the seats are made for bodies larger than an Asian woman’s but the question is, how much are you prepared to pay for things that are nice to have but are not really necessary?

Do you really need all that space especially if you have to pay 15-20% more, and especially if other airlines are offering pretty good and adequate products at competitive prices?

Curious to hear what other travellers think about the product, I found this posting on www.airlines.net where a reviewer wrote, “The configuration of SQ’s new Business Class is similar to what other airlines would find in First Class only. I mean – seriously, who else configures their Business Class 1-2-1? The seat is WIDE, in fact WIDE would be an understatement. It is F****** WIDE! It was not very comfortable to sit on because one of your armrests is far away. My solution to this was to use the large pillow provided to prop up one of my arms.”

Personally, I found the table heavy to lift, I needed a stewardess to help me and she agreed they were heavier than normal. You also need help to make up the bed and while it is wonderful to lay flat, they are quite hard to sit on.

I can see the beds coming into their own on a night flight but on a day flight, as this was, I found the flat bed a luxury I didn’t need and, at moments, downright frustrating because here you are on the world’s biggest flat bed and you can’t sleep!

I did not use the screen as a computer; I have my own laptop. Most people, like me, were engaged with the inflight entertainment system which I have to admit, for an insomniac, is a blast – there’s plenty of choice to keep one in a zombie-like state for 12 hours.

I relate this experience because what SIA is doing – going more and more premium – is part of the bigger picture of what’s going on in the airline industry.

Yes, airlines are segmenting and major airlines such as SIA are obviously attempting to pull away from the pack and staking their future on the premium, more discerning traveler who would be prepared to pay more for luxury – ie more space – in the air.

This segmentation is most obvious with the new A380 aircraft coming to an airport near you. SIA’s will be configured with 471 seats and will have Singapore Airline Suites, a class beyond First.

According to CAPA (Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation), SIA’s 471 seats is 21 more than Qantas, but 18 fewer than Emirates’ long-haul configuration. (Emirates will have two-class, 644-seat “high density” and 514-seat medium density layouts). Even India’s Kingfisher Airlines is getting into the luxury act, saying its A380s would be “flying palaces” with a 525-seat configuration.

At the other end are players such as Fernandes who welcomes the fact that “the big airlines are moving away from the commodity side of the business and leaving it to us”.

The music maker turned aviator, in partnership with Richard Branson, is betting on his new low cost longhaul venture, AirAsia X which he says will revolutionise longhaul travel the way AirAsia did regional traffic – “Now you can fly Xtra long for Xtra low fares”.

He says he wants to do new and fun things by flying to uncommon points such as Khartoum, Sudan or Prague. He also wants to mount what he calls the Punjabi Express – Kuala Lumpur to Amritsar.

And watch out, he says, airlines will segment more and more. “Soon we will have Extra Long Tiger or Super Kangaroo,” he quipped.

Whatever names they call them, it’s all good news for us travellers – we get more choice, ergo more power to choose whom we want to fly with and so what if some airlines want to give us seats that are wide enough for two or three, I say bring them on … then at least we can dream about who we want to share them with.

Catch more of Yeoh Siew Hoon every week at The Transit Cafe