FULL SERVICE CARRIER PRODUCT RATING

CRITERIA
A full service airline typically offers passengers in flight entertainment, checked baggage,
meals, beverages and comforts such as blankets and pillows in the ticket price. The seats
generally have more recline than a low cost carrier as well as more leg room. Full service
airlines offer passengers the choice of economy or business class travel and on some
flights premium economy and first class. The airlines in this category will transfer baggage
between flights and to alliance partners of which most full service carriers are a part
(SkyTeam, oneworld, Star Alliance). Full service airlines often have a long history and are
flag carriers for their countries of origin.

Low cost and regional airlines cannot be compared with full service airlines as they offer an
entirely different product on typically far shorter routes where the frills do not matter as
much. Our rating system for full service airlines reflects the current market offering to
passengers and we have adopted what has become a travel industry standard of seven
stars to reflect the very best in full service airline offerings. Low cost and regional airlines
simply cannot offer a seven-star budget product, because seven stars denotes excellence.
Therefore you will notice we have adopted a simple easy to follow five-star system which
reflects the most important features to passengers for regional and low cost carriers.

What are the different classes of service

on a plane?
Airlines traditionally have three travel classes, First Class, Business Class, and Economy Class.
Depending on the cabin configuration will determine how many classes of service are offered. Here’s
a breakdown of the classes of service:

• First Class, generally the most expensive and most comfortable accommodations available.
• Business Class, high quality, traditionally purchased by business travelers (sometimes called
executive class)

• Premium Economy, slightly better Economy Class seating (greater distance between rows of seats;
the seats themselves may or may not be wider than regular economy class)

• Economy Class (also known as coach class or travel class), basic accommodation, commonly
purchased by leisure travelers

Different Airline Classes Explained

First Class
First Class service is typically the priciest of the classes. Passengers seating in the first-class section
have more comfortable seating and are often given extravagant services. These sections are usually
occupied by celebrities and wealthy passengers.

Business Class
Business class (also known as executive class) flight tickets are also expensive, but much more
affordable than first class. The difference between the two is that business class has fewer perks,
but for a passenger that fly’s economy regularly, this is not an issue. Some airlines have abandoned
first class seating for this reason.

Economy Class
Economy Class cabins are broken down into two categories. “Regular Economy” and “Premium
Economy.”

Economy Class seating is the most basic of accommodations. Economy passengers receive
standard service with no real perks. Economy services range from airline to airline, but essentially,
you’re flying Economy (also known as flying coach) to get from point A to point B.

Premium Economy, is slightly better Economy Class seating, but must less extravagant than
Business Class or First Class. The name ranges with each airline, but the biggest difference
between regular and premium is the spacing of the seating and the quantity of menu items available
to you.

QUICK LINKS

From Legacy to Low Cost: How

Different Types of Airlines Work
January 27, 2016
Do you ever wonder why some airlines' tickets cost so much less than others, or why some
charge more for baggage and seat selection? Every business in every industry is a little different
than its competitors and airlines are no exception. Within aviation, airlines are generally grouped
into three categories: legacy (or “network”) airlines, low cost carriers (LCCs), and ultra low cost
carriers (ULCCs). While no two airlines are exactly alike, almost all of them fall into one of
these categories.

Ultra low cost airlines like Allegiant, Spirit and  Frontier have the goal of offering the lowest
ticket price possible. Their tickets can be described as “no frills” and things like bags, seat
selection, and onboard food and drinks generally cost extra. They are extremely cost-responsible
in their operations and management, which allows them to offer the lowest airfares. By not
including the cost of a bag, snacks, drinks, in-flight entertainment, and other amenities in the
ticket price, these airlines can often offer extremely low fares and high value. ULCC’s generally
cater to people going on vacation or enjoying other forms of leisure travel, but each one does so
differently. Frontier and Spirit almost exclusively fly between very large markets, with at least
one roundtrip flight per day, and they don’t mind adding routes that other airlines already fly.
Allegiant’s core model is to fly from small- or mid-sized communities (just like us) to very
popular leisure destinations a few times per week. Many consider this a relatively new airline
business model, but it’s more or less a refining of the low cost carrier model that some airlines
have been using since the 1970s.

When we say “low cost carrier” the first airline that pops into your mind could very well be
Southwest Airlines, as they’ve been flying since 1971 and touting low fares and friendly service
as they’ve grown into the nation’s largest domestic airline in terms of the number of passengers
carried. These days, however, the LCC category has become a bit less defined than it once was.
The term actually has more to do with an airline’s operating costs than with its ticket prices,
which are simply a result of the low operating costs. Frontier and Spirit were once LCCs but
transitioned to become ULCCs. Other airlines in this category like JetBlue and Virgin America
are regarded as low cost carriers by some and not by others. Some would say that the traditional
LCC’s like Southwest and JetBlue have slowly transformed into carriers whose fares aren’t
always “low” but are never “high” and include some amenities in their ticket price. As these
airlines have matured, they’ve grown into having large networks with far more connecting traffic
and have added passenger comforts like in-flight entertainment, which raises the cost to operate.

Last but not least, the network airlines are the mega-brands that have been around in one form
or another since the dawn of commercial aviation. American, Delta, and United are the three
U.S. network airlines. These are the most “evolved” airlines and have global route networks,
huge hubs, huge fleets and multiple types of aircraft. With aircraft ranging from 50 to nearly 400
seats, network airlines can get you from Asheville to Shanghai, often in just one stop. They carry
a wide array of passengers, including leisure and business passengers traveling domestically or
internationally.  They have sophisticated products that cater to business and international
travelers. First-class cabins, club lounges, in-flight entertainment and Wi-Fi have become core
products for this group of airlines. They’ll happily connect you to Florida for vacation, as well as
London or Boston on a last-minute business venture.

As the industry and the consumer both continue to evolve, so do the airlines. Throughout history,
airlines of all types and sizes have come, grown, evolved, changed and gone. Once mighty
legacy airlines like Pan Am have gone under and others like Piedmont have become part of the
lineage of today’s airlines through mergers. The only constant is that regardless of your budget
and destination, there will almost always be an airline built to cater to you.