We are excited to add 26 new reviews to Premium Travel Insider’s business class reviews summary. Our September expanded business class reviews include an all new airline in Air Canada, as well as new reviews added to American Airlines and British Airways. This brings our total for business class reviews to 170. Here’s a summary of what’s new with each airline:
As a reminder, Premium Travel Insider aggregates reviews from around the web and scores them on a 1-3 scale. A 3 indicates that a given category exceeded reviewer expectations, a 2 indicates it met expectations, and a 1 failed to meet expectations. We evaluate a variety of categories, the most important of which we call the “Big 5” that are most important to a premium travel experience: seat, food, drink, service, and in flight entertainment. You can learn more about our methodology here.
American Airlines
We added seven new American Airlines reviews, bringing the total to 13 with eight sites contributing. The addition of new reviews reflected a generally more positive opinion of American Airlines than in our initial alpha launch. The overall average crept up from 2.25/3 to 2.35/3. Seat quality jumped up from 1.83/3 to 2.15/3, reflecting more reviews of the modern reverse herringbone product that American has rolled out to more of its fleet. Food dropped quite a bit, from 2.6/3 to 2.08/3. With 13 reviews now in, some reviewers found the food to be sub-par, a few found it yummy, and most found it acceptable.
American Airlines is another airline people love to hate. But when you look at the reviews, most reviewers were satisfied or happy with the flight, with an overall score of 2.35/3. Despite the solid overall rating, the “Big 5” average is a lower 2.18/3. Despite the disparity, most bloggers and reviewers seemed to indicate that American gets the job done, but the trip isn’t special or aspirational.
British Airways
We added eight new British Airways business class reviews, bringing the total to 14 with nine sites contributing. The new ratings resulted in a slight reduction overall for British Airways, from 2.50/3.00 average to 2.32/3.00. Among the specific “Big 5,” food went down from 2.67/3 to 2.50/3, while the in-flight entertainment (IFE) climbed to 2.08/3 from 1.83/3 as a result of more reviews of more modern aircraft with updated IFE. Service and drink program remained about the same, as did the Big 5 overall, coming in at 2.22/3.
British Airways reviews are all over the map. The seats are a strange front/backward facing combination that reviewers generally dislike, but they are comfortable, if narrow. British Airways’ drink program was cut back in recent years, but the food is getting refreshed with new catering that is quite positive. British Airways will also be debuting a new A350 seat product that many people are anticipating.
Air Canada
Air Canada is the biggest news of the September expanded business class reviews, launching with 11 reviews. The airline only flies a business class product, not first, but they do a great job. Air Canada features reverse herringbone seats that are considered quite comfortable by most. However, some reviewers felt the 787 seats could be a bit confined when sleeping. Bloggers and reviewers were near-unanimous in praising the excellent food and service on most flights. With Air Canada flying both to Europe and Australia, they have a great network. One notable issue was that Air Canada does not have WiFi on any flights as of the most recent reviews.
Look Before You Book
Points and dollars are hard to come by for most of us, so make sure you’re getting the best possible travel experience. See what the experts have to say for both Business and First class before making any decisions. It might be the difference between the flight of a lifetime or a disappointment.