Sydney - Passengers can travel in the first-class cabin of some Qantas jets for the price of a business-class ticket, Australia's leading airline announced Monday. A 25-per cent reduction in demand for luxury travel has prompted Qantas to suspend the first-class option on routes to London, Buenos Aires and San Francisco.
"We'll sell it as a business-class service so they'll get business-class product and service but some people will be sitting in a first-class seat," a Qantas spokeswoman told The Australian newspaper.
Although fewer than one in 10 passengers travels either business class or first class, the industry standard is that a quarter of revenue accrues from the pointy end of the plane.
Qantas said it had moved to suspend first class on some flights because demand had collapsed despite deep discounting.
