I may have travelled on countless Business Class flights but never did I know that my favourite airline actually “invented” it. Yes, apparently Qantas was the first to coin the term Business Class in 1979 and has since been adopted by almost all airlines in the world today.
Nevertheless, one must acknowledge that it was British Airways that created that space between Economy and First a few years earlier and had it called Club Class. Up until a few years ago, although some still do today, many airlines had a special name for their Business Class product. For example, it was Raffles Class on Singapore Airlines and Golden Club Class on Malaysia Airlines. British Airways still go by the name Club World today and so does Thai Airways with their Royal Silk Class.
The evolution of Business Class over the years have been nothing short of amazing. Thinking back to one of my first Business Class flight on Malaysia Airlines’ Golden Club Class while I was still in grade school – these were the WOW-factor seats then!
Whilst these sort of seats still exist on some airlines, especially on short haul flights, they don’t excite most frequent flyers. In fact, many would dread them.
Then came these seats on wide bodied aircrafts such as the B747, B777 and A330.
Fast forward to today, these are what I call Business Class seats….or “suites”! Just bliss!
