Business class seat guide Europe

In this first part of a series, Business Traveller has compiled a summary of business class seats on airlines flying long-haul out of Europe

- TOM OTLEY

Welcome to our round-up of the long-haul business class seats currently available on European airlines. This is the first part of a series on business class seats – so Asian carriers, Middle East, as well as US, will be forthcoming. Here we are focusing on the seats available rather than service elements, such as food and drink, in flight entertainment, amenity products and whether there is wifi available onboard. In part this is because these elements change frequently, and often depend on the length of the flight sector, and also for reasons of brevity. If you visit businesstraveller.com you will find numerous reviews of most of the airlines here, and those aspects are discussed and assessed.

The good news for travellers is that the majority of airlines offering long-haul flights now have seats that recline fully flat in business class. Most airlines choose from one of several designs, and then, to a greater or lesser extent, add bespoke elements to those seats. This may mean just choosing a distinctive colour scheme to fit in with their brand, or it might mean adding a door to a seat and calling it a suite. The balance for the airline is how to stay price competitive while at the same time differentiating itself from competitors by offering a distinctive experience.

Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus has a mix of long-haul aircraft, both narrow-body (the A321 neos) and wide-body (the A330-200 and A330-300). The airline’s eight A321 neos have 16 Thompson Aero Vantage business class seats in an alternating 2-2, 1-1 configuration in a business class cabin of five rows (2-6), with rows 3 and 5 featuring single seats – often referred to as ‘throne seats’. All seats extend into fully lie-flat 6ft5in (196cm) beds, with a width of 22 inches (56cm).