May 5, 2012

"In order to stay competitive, airlines need to keep pace with the rapidly changing demands of corporate travelers..."

Says Nigel Page, Emirates' vice president of commercial operations.
"That's why we consistently invest in refining and enhancing our first-class product." The Dubai-based carrier delivers on its promise—thus far, it's the only airline to offer showers for first-class passengers aboard its fleet of 21 A380 jets.
Showers. In-flight showers...



What other rapidly changing demands are corporate travelers making? Personally, I'd like to see a bowling alley.

26 comments:

Big Mike said...

Can you imagine being in the shower when the plane runs into turbulence?

Steve Austin said...

Unfortunately these corporate demands only apply to international travel.

Here in America, it continues to get worse and worse for the domestic business traveler. Less flights. All of them oversold and stuffed full. Seats moved more closely together to pack people in. Extra baggage fees which mean that grandma will try to carry on her steamer trunk rather than check it, in order to save $25.

And now the best one, the regional jet model they've gone to the past decade is no longer a viable business model with high fuel prices.

C R Krieger said...

I don't think you qualify as a "corporate" traveller.  You are an academic traveller.  However, with a college degree costing what it does, maybe "corporate" does apply. :-)

Regards  —  Cliff

Joe said...

a bowling alley could work. the business travelers would always bowl a 300 because the proles in coach are blocking the gutters.

mariner said...

I'm not in "the business world", but I suspect most business travelers are expected to "hit the ground running" rather than being given time to adjust to a time zone halfway around the world.

Wanting an opportunity to rinse off and freshen up seems reasonable to me.

edutcher said...

Of course, you have get your bath oil past the TSA.

Hagar said...

Have them stand out on the wings and fly through a raincloud.

Ann Althouse said...

"Have them stand out on the wings and fly through a raincloud."

Make way for Douglings!

John Burgess said...

With 20/24-hour flights common from anywhere but US-EU, a shower isn't a bad idea. Of course it's not needed for a 5-hr hop across the US, but throw in an ocean or two and it gets a bit ripe, even in first class.

David said...

Bowling alley? You're no corporate traveller. Squash court is the big thing for the corporate types these days.

traditionalguy said...

The top 1/100th of the 1% lives like that, so only crony Democrat created billionaires and the old Saudi Oil sheiks get to circle the globe and enjoy their favorite places like that.

But we cannot even get a job building the Keystone Pipeline and infrastructure because, because Warren Buffet needs the railroad tarrifs and there is the EPA's Fantasy Myth that oil is a Dirty Carbon Pollutant, except when Soros and Buffett get wealth from the deals from which they pass a cut back to King Obama.

Meanwhile, we cannot even afford the $5 a gallon gas to drive to the newly closed to humans pristine nature National Parks.

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...

Besides, bowling would disrupt weight & balance ...

chickelit said...

What other rapidly changing demands are corporate travelers making?

How about a Turkish bath or a faux Café Parisien?

kjbe said...

Bart, that's where my mind went - I envisioned all kinds of mayhem with balls and pins colliding...

Hagar said...

And the cost in dollars and fuel of freighting all that water across the Pacific?

Charged to those who take showers or uniformly across the seats?

rhhardin said...

They should just put in a pool.

Wince said...

"You know, our goal should be a society without classes."

dbp said...

How about gambling and prostitutes? These planes are over international airspace for most of the flight. It could be an extra source of revenue as well as break-up the monotony of long flights.

Balfegor said...

Well, obviously with American carriers, there's a lot of low-hanging fruit still. Like business class seats that aren't broken (United, I hate you so much -- some of your business class seats are crappier than economy on a decent airline. And your employees' quality of service is terrible even in business class).

chickelit said...

rhhardin said...
They should just put in a pool.

A slip 'n' slide would use less water which could be filtered and reused.

Michael said...

The first 747s had bowling alleys. They were not a hit. But they had them. Later, the upstairs became lounges (1st class, of course) where one could dash after the meal and take a nap on the couches. Meals began wih a bit of caviar and later roast beef carved at your seat. That was on both United and Pan Am coast to coast flights. I missed the bowling alley days but I rode Pan Am Flight 1 from SFO to JFK on a very regular basis. A first class ticket earned a free helicopter trip to the pad above the 59th street bridge. A heliport with no cabs, i should add.

The seats described in the article cost upwards of ten grand one way from the Emerites to Australia. Business class suits for most.

wyo sis said...

bidets
masseuses
botox
mani pedi's
tanning beds
dry cleaning and pressing
oricles/tea leaf readers
lap dances

James said...

oh wow... talk about "water weight."

Jose_K said...

Can you imagine being in the shower when the plane runs into turbulence?

And they call to fast en your seat belts

Dante said...

The essential problem Airlines have is the new video products are making it much easier to do business without the business travel. Airlines make most of their money on business travel, though it is a smaller percentage of the total.

Add on the TSA, and you can see where this is going. The way of the buffalo. Sure, face to face will still be important, but wait twenty years for the facebook bff crowd becomes the new management. It will die.

Xmas said...

I've had the pleasure of being bumped up to international business class twice (KLM and Delta). The lay flat seats with your own entertainment system is nice. When you're spending 12 to 17 hours on a plane, as I was, a shower is nice at around the 12 hour mark.

When I was flying from Jo'burg to Boston through Amsterdam, I'd always hit the KLM lounge at Schipol and take a shower. The chance to take a shower mid-air sounds very nice.

I've also flown on an A380 once, Jo'burg to Paris. It's a nice plane; very, very quiet once the wheels are up. It's hard to believe that you're flying through the air with more than 500 people in one plane and that the upper deck is just as large as the lower deck.

The Emirates Air flight attendents are all beautiful though. Sure, they have those funny pillbox hats and with vestigal veils, but don't let that distract you.