Voted the best airline in the world by you, the readers of Global Traveler, I travel today to Asia on Singapore Airlines. I will be flying on their all-business class flight from Newark to Singapore with 100 of the new business class seats that have very interesting designs. The plane is an Airbus 340-500 and I believe the flight is about 18 hours non-stop.

This design will be highlighted in the September issue in our Business and First Class Survey. Its pitch, by normal standards, would indicate this to be a slanted flat seat rather than 180 degrees fully flat. But SQ (2 digit code of Singapore Airlines for those who don’t know) had an ingenious design that has a very wide seat, tapering to a more narrow head and foot so that the head and foot area are shared. Of course, these areas are capsulated so head and foot are not near each other, but this allows SQ to fit in 100 business class seats on this plane. With fuel prices, getting the most passengers on this flight is essential to its success.

On this flight, I plan about six hours of work and about 10 hours of sleep. Flat is the key to sleeping, and on my Asiana Airlines return flight from Seoul last March, I slept 10 of the 12.5 hours to New York. “Like a baby,” said one of the flight attendants.

(Posing with the Asiana flight attendants, voted best in the world by readers)

My trip includes a brief stop and meetings in Singapore and then several days of meetings in Hong Kong. Stay tuned!

-Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

I flew from Tampa to Atlanta the other day and, miracle of miracles, the flight wasn’t full. I had the window seat and a nice young gentleman had the aisle seat.

Early into the flight, he pulled out a copy of a hotel management magazine and we began discussing the hotel industry these days–how was business, etc.

We realized that we felt quite “business class” having the empty middle seat, and how pleasant it was. We also remembered how nice airplanes can be for networking, and we both mentioned that it had been quite a while since we felt that way.

That’s probably why, in part, when I was offered the chance to upgrade to business class for the transatlantic portion of my flight I jumped at it. There was one paid upgrade available on the Atlanta-London leg of my flight, I didn’t particularly like my coach seat, so I handed over my credit card and took it.

My seat neighbor in Club Class on BA mentioned that, two hours before the flight, he’d only seen seven seats booked in Club. The flight was overbooked, so we guess that most of the seats were either upgrades for elite members, or a shuffling about of premium economy passengers into Club so and economy passengers into premium economy so that all those holding economy tickets could be economy. I do know that my upgrade was the last one that had an actual Club meal available.

Paying to fill last-minute seats seems an ultimately sensible way to make a bit more money for the airlines. It was too bad that more meals weren’t available because they stopped selling the upgrades for that reason. Similarly, if the Tampa-Atlanta flight was so lightly booked, most of us probably would have paid a few extra dollars to guarantee that we had that middle seat free. Unfortunately the airlines aren’t set up for so much last-minute flexiblity, but as a suggestion–it’s a good idea!

- Mary Hunt, editor, eFleyr

It was announced this morning that Silverjet will be going out of business. As recently as Friday it seemed they had found another investor to bail them out. I was thinking the other day that it never ceases to amaze me that there is always somebody willing to toss money at a model that has not worked time after time. After all, it is not as if this model has not been tried before - all business class, all first class. The trend seems to cycle in from time to time.

As we see from Silverjet, the model is not working again. A press release posted this weekend announced:

“The administrators of collapsed British business airline Silverjet Plc said a potential rescue deal has fallen through and it has been forced to sack Silverjet’s 420-strong workforce.

Kingplace, an Irish registered company managed by Swiss investment group Heritage, is no longer able to buy Silverjet as a going concern following ‘unusually complex negotiations with third parties’, administrator Begbies Traynor said in a statement.”

And as further confirmation, an email was sent this morning from Lawrence Hunt, Silverjet CEO:

“It is with great sadness that we have decided to draw a line under our efforts to raise additional funding for Silverjet. As you know, we have been battling for months to gain the additional investment we need to reach critical mass. In the end, the investment climate has become too cautious and the economic conditions very difficult for us to gain the scale we needed. …. “

On the other side of this, tried and tested carriers like Lufthansa, Swiss and Singapore Airlines can sustain all business class flights for a very simple reason. They can demand the highest fare for these seats.

I recently chatted with an airline executive that I have known for over 20 years and she agreed. Sitting in board meetings, listening to people about all business class/all premium flights - like this is a new idea and has never been tried. The only difference now is that it is more difficult to make money with fuel at record highs.

EOS left passengers high and dry, they left magazines and media holding never to be paid invoices for advertising. And as we can see from these airlines, shutting down, then reopening, or trying to reopen (similar to one of GT’s magazine competitors) leaves a bad taste in consumer’s mouths.

-Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

I traveled to Zurich Tuesday night to attend a press conference for Swiss International Air Line’s new business class seat. I was able to fly over on the Swiss BBJ (Boeing Business Jet), my first experience on an all business class jet, but more on that in an upcoming review of the flight. With just a small amount of time in the city, I was not able to experience much of what Zurich has to offer, but we were lucky enough to stay at the newly reopened Dolder Grand, a truly magnificent hotel that reopened in April 2008 after a four year remodel! I also got a tour of the Zurich Airport with an extra special glimpse at the workings inside the airport tower!

But, as I said before, the real reason for the trip was the press conference. SWISS unveiled their new seat - which will begin popping up in the A330s and A340s in spring 2009 - and the revolutionary new seat technology they created in conjunction with Lantal, another Swiss company. The seats have replaced the old foam design with air technology, meaning lighter seats (which means lower fuel costs!) and adjustable comfort levels for the customers. As the presentation was going on, I was wowed by the product, but I couldn’t help wonder why airlines had not thought this up before. 

In addition, SWISS recently opened a brand new first, business and Senator lounge in Zurich Airport, which served as the setting of the conference. The press conference really offered a comprehensive look at the new seats and made available representatives from all departments of SWISS and from Lantal. SWISS passengers have a lot to look forward to next spring!

-Kimberly Krol, circulation and public relations executive

Just about every week in eFlyer, we run an item about a new contest for winning a free trip somewhere, and these are always among the most-clicked items. After all, who wouldn’t want a free vacation?

I think it’s the “vacation” part that’s motivating. Even people who travel a lot for business get turned on by the idea of a trip that has nothing to do with business, especially if they don’t have to go alone.

My own favorite “win” was courtesy of Virgin Atlantic. There was a large press lunch, held at–if I remember correctly, it was about 15 years ago–the Peninsula Hotel in New York. We all dropped business cards into a bowl as we entered. (I know that’s not an unusual thing in general, but I don’t recall it ever happening at a press lunch before or since. ) The announcement du jour–the reason for the press event–was that Richard Branson was opening his private Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands to private rentals, I believe.

Anyway, after the lunch and the presentation, the PR chief (I’m pretty sure I remember her name but I’m not going to test my memory any more) said something to the effect of, You’re probably wondering why we were collecting all your business cards–we’re going to give you a chance to experience Virgin and Necker Island for yourself. They picked a card–and no, I don’t remember who won–and announced that the winner was going to Necker Island, with friends.

I wasn’t very disappointed; up til that point, the only thing I had ever won in a raffle was a nun doll in grammar school. But then they said, we have consolation prizes. They drew two more names, each of whom won a pair of Upper Class tickets between New York and London. One of those names was mine.

I remember clearly the woman in charge saying, “This is not a busman’s holiday. We want you to experience Virgin and London the way your readers do. Use these tickets at any time to take a vacation, and we don’t expect you to write about it.”

So, a few months later, I packed my bags and my then-husband and headed for England. I’d lived and worked in London, and taken him with me there before, so we rented a car at Gatwick and headed for Devon and Cornwall. I’d traveled extensively throughout most of England, Scotland, and lots of Wales, but I’d never been to those counties before. It was beautiful, and relaxing, and I think my husband enjoyed being on a level playing field. We stayed in St. Mawes in a hotel overlooking the English Channel, visiting a castle nearby where they demonstrated falconry, ate at pubs, moved to a bed-and-breakfast in the Devon hills and hiked through sheep-filled pastures, moved to St. Ives on the northwest coast and watched the fishing boats come and go in St. George’s Channel.

Anyway, I think that’s why business travelers like contests. Not so much that it’s free, but that it’s a vacation, and you don’t have to go alone.

–Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer