Airlines are going flat-out to provide best seats for international business-class travelers

CHICAGO — In the battle among airlines for international business travelers, it's snooze or lose. Literally.

With long flights to China, India and the Middle East becoming more common, airlines are spending millions of dollars to make sure their profit-generating business-class fliers arrive rested and ready to work. The biggest investments: seats that recline for sleeping.

Once a first-class luxury, the lie-flat seat, as it is called, has migrated into the business-class cabins of most major domestic carriers in the last five years.

The few carriers that don't have them are getting them. American Airlines recently announced plans to redesign its business-class cabin with lie-flat seats on international flights, and United Airlines is expected to follow suit. Airlines that have pioneered such seating are looking at upgrades to stay ahead of the pack.

Adding to the creature comforts, airlines also are pouring money into in-flight entertainment delivered at the business-class seat, giving passengers a variety of movies, news, television shows, games, music and Internet service. Upgrades also include touches like down quilts and amenity kits that include eyeshades and earplugs.

In making business class more like first class on international flights, airlines largely are ignoring the back of the plane where most of the passengers sit. Airlines say they can't justify major investments in economy class.

"Corporations are willing to pay higher fares to make sure their employees are comfortable, so that the time spent on the ground is productive," said David Cush, vice president and general manager of sales at American Airlines. "There are a lot of technological advances in interiors to make that happen."

Catching up to British

American and United are a few years behind their international and domestic counterparts. British Airways first introduced lie-flat seats in business class in 2000. It marked a milestone in the evolution of the business-class cabin.

The first business-class cabins introduced in the 1970s offered simple seats with a few inches more legroom than coach seating. Airlines measure legroom as seat pitch — the distance from the front of the seat to the back of the seat in front.

The first business class had a seat pitch of 40 inches, compared with about 31 to 32 inches in coach. While the legroom in coach, with few exceptions, has remained the same, business-class customers are swimming in space. The lie-flat seat requires a minimum of 55 inches to 60 inches of pitch between seats.

Because the seats take up more room, airlines have had to sacrifice real estate in other parts of the plane. For instance, when Continental Airlines installed sleeper seats on international flights, it eliminated the first-class cabin.

Now that the U.S. carriers are catching up, British Airways is not standing still.

The airline is investing more than $150 million to upgrade its business cabin, known as Club World. It hasn't revealed details, but plans include a bigger lie-flat seat, an airline spokesman said.

Its current seat, which reclines into a fully flat 6-foot bed, has drawn complaints for not being long enough. But otherwise, its business-class service wins raves. On some overnight flights to London, British Airways gives passengers the choice of dining in its airport lounge before takeoff. And breakfast is served closer to landing to allow passengers to get as much shut-eye as possible.

On the ground, Club World travelers can shower and have breakfast in the arrivals lounge at Heathrow Airport while their outfits are freshly pressed by a valet service.

British Airways is feeling heat from more than just their American rivals. Two new trans-Atlantic airlines, Maxjet Airways and Eos Airlines, are luring customers on the popular New York-to-London route by offering only a single class of luxury service at competitive prices.