A well-known luxury travel influencer is mad at me for writing that Qatar Airways was first to outfit business class cabins with suites with doors. She had written that JetBlue was first, and one of her readers cited me in response.
This is an interesting question because it underscores the way that foundational definitions – that sometimes go unstated – are often the source of disagreement.
- What counts as business class?
- Does it matter if all seats in the cabin are outfitted this way?
- And is it more important when a product is announced, or when it actually enters service?
Delta’s claim is that they introduced “the world’s first all-suite business class in Delta One when its new flagship aircraft, the Airbus A350, went into service in 2017.”
But they were actually beaten to the punch by Qatar Airways who flew QSuites Doha to London in June 2017, one month before the Delta inaugural in July 2017.
Forthcoming Qatar Airways QSuite Next Gen
The JetBlue claim points to the introduction of Mint three years earlier. Initially flown New York JFK – Los Angeles, expanded to San Francisco in 2015, and ultimately offered on a handful of domestic and Caribbean routes, four of sixteen seats were solo seats with doors.
I was writing about long haul cabins that have doors on all the business seats. She was writing about any premium cabin where a seat had a door.
Of course, first class seats had doors for quite some time. For instance, Singapore Airlines took delivery of the first Airbus A380 and that features suites with sliding doors created by French luxury yacht designer Jean-Jacques Coste. Its inaugural commercial flight took place on October 25, 2007, from Singapore to Sydney.
Original Singapore Airlines Suite
Original Singapore Airlines Suites Cabin
This matters of course because when JetBlue introduced Mint they steered clear of calling it business class. They branded it as “Mint” precisely to distinguish it from what other airlines were offering as a business product. If you asked JetBlue 10 years ago whether they had doors in a business class cabin they’d have said no.
So was Singapore the first with doors in a premium cabin? Actually, no. For instance, United’s Boeing 377 Stratocruiser had a private stateroom with door… 75 years ago!
Emirates had F class suites with doors on the A340-500, which I believe was introduced in 2003, possibly 2004, but definitely ahead of SQ. The EK A380 came 10 months after SQ’s in August 2008.
it is more noteworthy which global carriers do not have at least a business class lie flat product with doors – and, of carriers that love to tout their global size, United stands as the most notable exception.
Polaris took the better part of a decade to roll out and wasn’t class leading by the time the fleet conversion to Polaris.
American has announced its new business class product and it is apparently installed on 787s which are awaiting delivery.
Delta has scores of aircraft with Delta One suites- its entire A330-900 fleet (which grows by another aircraft this week with a new delivery) plus a couple dozen of its A350s.
While plenty of people will pick and choose what product attributes they prefer and many say they don’t care about doors, it is a definable product attribute that can easily be used to distinguish competitor products.
And, Gary, it is fair to say that B6 Mint did not fly in transoceanic flights while other carriers did use their suite equipped widebodies for that purpose.
B6 did introduce the first suite equipped domestic transcon service and still has the most flights with it.
With the introduction of A321NEO transcon service by AA, DL and UA, most people don’t care about who was first but about who offers what as part of a complete product and service package.