Only a matter of months after Qatar Airways’ CEO claimed that first class was totally pointless compared to business class, it now seems that business class is having its own usefulness questioned… and with meals like this one still on offer, it’s not particularly hard to see why.
Put on our radar by good friend Matthew Klint from Live And Let’s Fly — who himself discovered it via the wonderful @airlinecatering Instagram account, linked below — the business class cabin in question belongs to the long-embroiled Air Malta which, after enduring millions in losses last year, is currently in the midst a massive restructure.
Before really going to town on this less-than-ideal offering from Air Malta, Klint is quick to confess that he’s enjoyed pretty excellent catering with the carrier on previous flights, pointing to a particularly delicious looking antipasto that he was served on a Zurich to Valletta flight last year.
However, with pleasantries out the way, Klint makes his feelings about this catering development very clear:
“Nothing says business class quality like frozen lasagna! It doesn’t look quite so bad unwrapped… but I hope that the catering that actually made me pay double for my business class ticket (versus economy class) will not be removed. Otherwise, there really is no point in having business class.”
Matthew Klint
As did a horde of @airlinecatering’s followers:
“Yuck! This looks atrocious! 🤮”
@lax77w
“Looks like something you get at a convenience store!”
@h.wayne713
While we, much like Klint, hope this is nothing more than a catering “snafu”, there’s no denying it’s not a great look for an airline that’s trying hard to turn things around.
But Is It Worse Than ‘Coffin Seats’?
This story reminded us of another baffling business class layout that we featured last year, this time from United Airlines. Once again, it was Klint who spotted this one first:
[Klint] couldn’t help but laugh at the reactions of his appalled fellow passengers who, having expected the industry-standard levels of luxury that most airlines — including United ‚ usually offer, were met with something more closely resembling their college days:
I chuckled as passengers boarded and appeared horrified that the business class cabin felt more like dorm bunks than a true premium cabin.
Matthew Klint
What exactly was so shocking, beyond the dated look and feel? Well, the cabin had eight seats across, with four seats in the centre section and two window seats on each side, leading to a very tightly packed experience all round, especially for those sardines — I mean, passengers – who were wedged in by the windows with no direct aisle access.
Far worse than the layout, however, was the incredibly narrow design of the seats themselves, rightly earning them the unfortunate nickname of “coffin” seats. Adding to all this peculiarity, the odd-numbered rows were rear-facing, while the even-numbered rows faced forward, meaning that a number of passengers had to spend the entire trip staring directly at their seatmates, which is more than enough to put you off your bread roll.
While United do claim to have plans already in motion to replace the “coffin seats” with modern recliners, this may not be enough to appease all passengers, who were also upset at the very limited amount of personal storage space. In a world where almost every passenger travels with a number of devices and outfit changes — the former of which should not be fully charged, by the way — this simply isn’t considered up to scratch by many.
So, would you rather have ‘coffin seats’ or convenience store meals? Or, would you rather airlines that continue to charge pretty sky-high rates for their premium cabins actually lay on a service befitting of their customers’ expenditure? Let us know what you think…