{"id":9961,"date":"2023-12-12T09:52:54","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T16:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=9961"},"modified":"2023-11-13T10:43:36","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T17:43:36","slug":"beyond-first-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=9961","title":{"rendered":"Beyond first class"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cntraveler.com\/gallery\/the-most-over-the-top-first-class-airline-suites\">First class has seen some pretty big improvements the last few years<\/a>, but that&#8217;s small peanuts these days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u-OUUDzjFuQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.singaporeair.com\/en_UK\/us\/flying-withus\/cabins\/suites\/new-a380-suites\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.singaporeair.com\/en_UK\/us\/flying-withus\/cabins\/suites\/new-a380-suites\/\">A380&#8217;s offer suites<\/a> &#8211; but even those with their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=frpgumADWnY&amp;ab_channel=NonstopDan\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=frpgumADWnY&amp;ab_channel=NonstopDan\">full-sized recliners, full bed, in a private room<\/a> doesn&#8217;t really touch what&#8217;s available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Etihad Airways started offering something they&#8217;re calling The Residence on some of their highest end flights. Private airport entrances with concierge service, a private 3 room suite on the plane with living room, double bedroom, and full bathroom with shower. Add private large screen tv&#8217;s, cognac and turndown services along with private high end meals and you have a recipe for luxury. The price? $20,000 per ticket (vs $5000 for first class).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2023 Update:<\/strong> Unfortunately, it seems like The Residence were largely discontinued when Etihad retired most of their A380&#8217;s during covid. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@NonstopDan\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@NonstopDan\">Nonstop Dan<\/a> shows why they ran into problems selling them. Not because there weren&#8217;t customers, but because it turns out people that can afford that kind of luxury usually find it is barely any better deal than just renting a whole private jet. The price for a one-way private jet from Abu Dhabi to London also costs about $40,000 &#8211; or about the same as 2 Residence tickets. So if you&#8217;re flying with at least one other person, the private jet lets you take many more friends\/business partners, have much more flexibility in schedules, and avoid big airports all together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bonus points for mentioning Abu Dhabi is a huge hub because it is located in a spot that makes most of the world&#8217;s population just 6 hours away &#8211; from China to Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q3SzCbHhMYo?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First class has seen some pretty big improvements the last few years, but that&#8217;s small peanuts these days. The new A380&#8217;s offer suites &#8211; but even those with their full-sized recliners, full bed, in a private room doesn&#8217;t really touch what&#8217;s available. Etihad Airways started offering something they&#8217;re calling The Residence on some of their highest end flights. Private airport entrances with concierge service, a private 3 room suite on the plane with living room, double bedroom, and full bathroom&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=9961\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,31,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cool","category-luxury-life","category-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4WECr-2AF","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9961"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9974,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9961\/revisions\/9974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}