High flyers happy in cheap seats

By SIMON HENDERY and ELLEN READ

The business traveller's eight-word obituary to Air New Zealand's domestic business class: Loved the free upgrades, never paid for it.

That is the reaction from frequent flyers to news that the airline is pulling the comfy seats out of its planes.

Many public companies ban business-class booking on internal flights, and likewise, politicians are dependent on an upgrade courtesy of the airline before they can stretch their legs.

And consensus is that the short duration of domestic flights means the service is an unnecessary luxury.

Steve Ford, country manager for Toshiba, says he never flies business class domestically and knows no one who does.

"Most of the guys I meet up with regularly, we just pile into economy. It's only for an hour or so."

A Business Herald search for a business class diehard reveals a degree of reverse snobbery from those confined to the cheap seats.

"[Name withheld] might fly business class," says one informant. "He's rather up himself so he probably does."

"I don't know anybody who does," another regular flyer confesses, "but there are always some fat-looking bastards up there when I walk past."

Ian Taylor, managing director of Dunedin company Animation Research, says he never considers paying for business class because the average $1200 he spends on his frequent flights to Auckland is expensive enough.

He hopes the savings from scrapping the service will be passed on in reduced economy-class fares.

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