The changing demographics of business class

[wombatpatties]

We first began flying paid J (points or cash) in 1996. There were couples of our vintage I was 50) then and some older couples certainly not all business travellers. We do notice more couples of our vintage now but definitely more younger folk and families.

However I don't think you can just blame the airlines and their loyalty schemes for this. Same is apparent in fine dining restaurants for example. Definitely in hotels but that may be at least in part be due to their loyalty programs.

The biggest change I have noticed is in individual behaviour. When I was young we followed some rules such as in Sydney walking on the left. But I always gave up my seat on public transport for the elderly and women -even those just a few years older than myself - As well as opening doors for the same demographics.

Now when I hold open a door for a younger woman I am more likely to be abused than thanked. not uncommon is a comment such as I am able to do that myself to which I reply Sorry but i mistook you for a lady.
On trains and busses it is extremely rare for a younger person to offer their seat to us. More likely on entering a train or bus a younger person or child will push past us to get to the empty seat first. This occurs in Asia as well. In fact probably a bit worse there.

So I think the major problem is that more people are likely to put their own interests first and couldn't give a fig for others discomfort. Just an aside My sister flew QF LHR-SYD eaarly last week. She was upgraded to first. She sat across the aisle from VH. She was the second person to use the lavatory. The first was a young woman. When my sister got there the loo had not been flushed and water all around the basin.

So flame away.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. My “time” has come when all civil behaviour has disappeared. Truly, I hate going to a business for help and get short, curt answers, and the computer says no! Shopping is a nightmare, people just don’t care, and like you I cared from a very young age, my parents taught me how to. Flying is the same, seats surging backwards without a care in the world as I’m eating, and they had finished. Sometimes I yearn for Covid again and total peace everywhere!.,

 

[DrGear]

Consider people my age, late 30s. We're unable to enter the property market if we haven't already unless we have help from the bank of mum and dad, or being born into relative privilege. We work incredibly hard and get limited time off. So those who have some disposable income now are spending more of it on nicer experiences because we've seen family members or others who are older and struggling to enjoy their retirement.

May as well make the most of life while we're alive. I go J because of my Amex QFF points, I've got friends who spend more for premium economy or J as they're tired of the steerage class and they're now at a point in their career to be able to spend more on their holiday, or their car, or their hobbies.

 

[clifford]

I wholeheartedly agree with you. My “time” has come when all civil behaviour has disappeared. Truly, I hate going to a business for help and get short, curt answers, and the computer says no! Shopping is a nightmare, people just don’t care, and like you I cared from a very young age, my parents taught me how to. Flying is the same, seats surging backwards without a care in the world as I’m eating, and they had finished. Sometimes I yearn for Covid again and total peace everywhere!.,

Perhaps I might suggest you also don't drive in Australia, as I imigine it would really freak you out.

 

[wombatpatties]

Perhaps I might suggest you also don't drive in Australia, as I imigine it would really freak you out.

Funny fella! Yes I drive quite well, but NO not in Melbourne. Yes to Mornington, Packenham, Bairnsdale, Sale, anywhere but Melbourne.

 

[anat0l]

I can't read due to paywall, but just a few (yeah no, long post) observations of mine...

I have travelled on a major vacation during the last few December-January periods (except for when COVID put the brakes on that), and most of that travel has been in Business Class (some Economy, a little bit of First). Pretty much all funded with points, which were accumulated thanks to credit cards (both standard spend and signup bonuses) and purchasing points (not a spectacularly huge amount due to flying).

I still see lots of men in the premium classes, but it's not completely just "businessmen"; in fact, not everyone travelling in Business Class is doing so for business. Quite a few couples (man and woman), a few families (parents and young kids, in markets like East Asia or Middle East)...... the average age is still trending towards the older and wiser end of the scale (but then again, I'm not young myself). I suppose if we think of somewhere like the USA, premium cabins replete with young spring chickens screams influencer (or OF model maybe).

Often, if I find someone who "breaks the mould", there's a fair chance they are also playing the points game.

To put some perspective on this, when Business Class was introduced to the world (supposedly by Qantas), the experience was very different. Nothing close to the lie flat seats with direct aisle access and privacy doors that we have now (and that's just the start). It was more luxurious than Economy for sure, but it would be an abhorrent Business Class by today's standards. It would definitely be much more expensive than Economy, but then again, air travel (even in Economy) in those days was nowhere near as cheap or financially accessible as it is today, so if you could fly Business Class in those days, you were loaded (or employed in a very good job).

I imagine this also persisted to some degree in the early days of frequent flyer programmes, particularly as there were fairly limited opportunities to earn points except by flying; certainly not thanks to credit cards (including signup bonuses) or directly purchasing points.

These days, Business Class is a very different and fairly attractive experience (yes, many of us in this forum have become jaded), and more visible (thank you Internet and social media) and accessible. Besides, all the people who flew Business Class decades ago have to stop flying some time, so who is going to take their places? Oh, and even before COVID, travel for business purposes was often Economy only for many organisations.

For myself, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I was lucky to travel abroad nearly annually when I was a child, "despite" all of that travel being in Economy. Despite how much Business or First class travel I do now, I still count myself lucky every time I do fly premium, and I'm grateful. I dread the moment in my life when I forget what the "romance" is of flying Business or First for the first time, and "it's just another flight on an ordinary seat".

 

[Quickstatus]

What?
The way AFF people carp about J and above, one could easily think they grew up travelling nothing less than J from birth

 

[drron]

Well we have a surrogate granddaughter who when her mother needed to fly back to the UK when her father died and took her with her when told they were going to fly economy asked her mother “what is economy?”

 

[clifford]

Well we have a surrogate granddaughter who when her mother needed to fly back to the UK when her father died and took her with her when told they were going to fly economy asked her mother “what is economy?”

You sound like an interesting person.

 

[NM]

As a business class passenger, my sample of one indicates that business class passengers are getting older each year