When I was first traveling for work, the first class cabin was mostly upgrades. And that meant it was frequent business travelers, who skewed middle aged and male. Younger passengers seemed out of place, and women felt out of place, and since they didn’t seem like the usual type flight attendants would seem to treat them differently, too.
Things are different today. First class fares have come down a lot, there are plenty of upsells to leisure travelers, and as little as 13% of first class seats may be going to upgrades (Delta, but other airlines are catching up to them). The demographics of who is sitting up front have changed, but there are still remnants of the past.
According to a YouGov survey,
- First-class fliers are still more likely to be male and have higher incomes (≥200% of the median income).
- They skew somewhat more likely to be from the West, especially California, than Midwest or Northeast. They’re also more likely to be married with children (correlates with older and higher income, though also higher expense).
- Gay men also have a modest propensity to buy first class (twice as high as heterosexuals), but this does not hold for lesbian or bisexual passengers.
- Somewhat strangely, first class passengers are likely to identify as eco-conscious (which correlates with high income) and also greater than average likelihood of being climate-skeptical (they’re flying on planes! and taking up more space on planes!).
- More frequent travelers are more likely to buy first class, with 22% traveling four or more times per year versus 14% of other fliers. They plan trips somewhat further in advance, but are also more likely to use travel agents (21% vs. 9%) or book by phone (23% vs. 12%), which probably is a function of being an older, higher-income demographic.
First class flyers, defined as those buying a first class ticket at least once in the last year, are more motivated by temperature and activities at their destination than cost – not surprising since they’re less motivated by cost in choice of airfare. They do less sightseeing and outdoor activities then coach passenger (again, older).
They also prefer carriers that have first class, while avoiding ones that don’t. Strictly coach flyers tend to prefer Delta or Southwest. Presumably lack of preference for carriers like Alaska is a function of their limited reach (not an option for most) rather than a view of their relative product. The greatest preference is expressed for airlines who serve the greatest number of passengers.
Also unsurprisingly, first class flyers visit California and Hawaii, while Florida more of a coach destination.
(HT: Flyertalk blog)
Oh, Gary, these comments are surely to go ‘well’–it’s as if you blew a dog whistle.
Let me distill it down for you: higher income people fly first class. That’s the headline. Higher income people tend to be white and male, that checks out. California is highly populated and far away from everything, so that checks out. The airlines are finally realizing that there is a price point that makes 1st class an attractive option for a lot of people, high income white males who live in CA being the largest segment of that market. I know because I’m one of them.
… and Florida proves again its low rent.
@Darin —As Gary said so eloquently, “more of a coach destination.”
basic AF.
And then there are those of us who are high income couples (my wife is as high income as me) in CA who have family in FL, so we do fly there first class. But it’s the CA effect. 🙂
Cheers.
While this tracks with general expectations and anecdotal experience, I am confused by the survey itself. It seems the numbers in the charts are absolute respondents, not percentages. So this seems to be an extremely small sample size to definitively say this represents the entire United States population.
And there are a number of older couples, like us, who have basically outgrown the cramped conditions in coach. We will buy first class if the fare difference is reasonable. Premium economy on an overseas flight is also good as it is basically the same seating as domestic first class. The real goal is avoiding the third person, which is why economy seating on an Airbus A330 also works, with its 2-4-2 configuration.
This is unsurprising for the major cities on the coasts, where a more ‘premium’ experience is offered (aircraft with actual ‘lie-flat’; newer, more luxurious lounges), like MIA-LAX, SFO-JFK, etc. But let’s be honest, if you’re flying out of a smaller regional airport, like JAX, MCI, or BNA, it’s gonna be ‘recliner’ at best, likely on an aging 737, a321, E175, or CRJ9, so it’s not really ‘that’ much better up-front. As for demographics, yeah, that sounds about right, depending on the route, day of week, etc.
So why does there appear to be such a marked preference for AA and DL among first-class fliers? Product, network, price or….? Or is this survey worthless?
When you first started getting complimentary domestic upgrades because of airline elite status, the front cabin on the flights was mostly middle age European-American males.
Women, visible ethnic minorities and young adults were uncommon in the domestic first class cabin. Thanks to the great DEI engine that was America, the country boomed and the passenger mix changed in the front cabin.
@carletonm — I hear you. On the ‘2 seat’ economy configuration: other than Delta, most US carriers have given up on the a330 (American used to have many). As I’m sure you’ve noticed, with the newer aircraft, United and American have opted for more 787 with 3-3-3 in the back, and Delta is going with a350, a similar 3-3-3 configuration, all of which does not help with your ‘third person’ problem. Delta and United still have ample 767 with the 2-3-2 (American retired theirs). UA and AA’s 777 are a mix of 3-3-3 and 3-4-3, which is not great for this concern (other than a few ‘special’ 2-4-2 rows at the bulkhead and in the back). Plenty of European carriers still operate a330, though.
@GUWonder — Wow, a rare positive-use of the ‘DEI’ acronym (unless you were being sarcastic). Yes, diversity, equity, and inclusion is actually good for growth and economic prosperity for most people. Many women, non-white folks have ‘merit’ and are actually the best people for the job, regardless of their demographics. No doubt, those who disagree will ‘speak their minds,’ shortly.
What if airlines had a base charge for first class and various surcharges. Women have no surcharge. Men have a surcharge. If white, a surcharge. Black have no surcharge. Latino/Latina have a small surcharge. Lesbians no surcharge. Gay men have a surcharge.
@derek — How about ‘no.’
jason,
it comes down to network size. AA and DL have large domestic networks with first class cabins. UA is far behind because it spent so much time focusing on international markets and failed to develop its domestic network until the past couple years.
It is also noteworthy that DL is the largest US carrier by mainline seat miles which is related to the fact that DL has the lowest percentage of its network on regional jets – and DL also has all two cabin regional jets except for a few operational spares which carriers are allowed to “sub in”
and then you have the fact that DL has the highest amount of corporate traffic -significantly higher than AA and UA. while many people pay for first class travel out of their own pocket, there is a decent percent that is covered by companies esp. for higher-ups.
Delta curates its in-flight experiences for elite, discerning guests from the West Coast.
As a long time commentor- I think fairly too- and data guy, the sample size of these responses are statistically insignificant. Yes, 50 responses for the larger airlines are better than 10, or 5, but there is likely ridiculous survey bias going on in this survey as well. I.E., the only people who respond are people who read this blog, are frequent flyers, or other wise biased to provide results.
But this can be overcome! Get a higher sample size, and to have a 95% confidence interval, bac of the napkin calculations would suggest just another 500 responses.
As someone that avoids coach like an STD my experience:
1. Older couples. Often they seem to fly infrequently the way they go charging the line when preboards are brought up and seem to get lost in a 16-20 seat cabin
2. Males (and some females) that have well paying Teams/Zoom jobs that can be done from anywhere (like me) that want comfort. Most probably savvy enough to understand the cash upgrade system.
The days of gawking at that app hoping my name clears are over for me.
@Timbits: Delta is the airline by scum, for scum. I would never fly it unless a gun was put to my head or the drive at the end of my flight was more than two hours.
@George N Romey — Please keep your STD experiences to yourself!
(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
What I want to know is how do they know your sexual preference when buying an F ticket? Or your color? Or your income level?
When I board a plane I always hope to see a broad range of ethnicities, and sees. Plus, I like to see kids in First, because I like kids more than adults, and because their presence in First passes off the adults.