Luxury First Class: The Best Way to Take Flight in a Hotel in the Sky

The best of the best now offers entire apartments for their most exclusive travelers who want real benefits of flying first class, such as a travel concierge to deal with pesky documentation, a full spa experience before the flight and a chauffeured drive to the plane. One of the best ways to travel first class is to arrive feeling refreshed and pampered, even on the most arduous of long-haul routes. Here’s our roundup of the most luxurious first-class compartments in the skies today.

Etihad Airways

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ETIHAD AIRWAYS
Etihad Airways names their immense cabins in the air after their land-based equivalents: The First Apartment, and the extravagant three-room Etihad Residence.

Guests arrive via a complimentary chauffeured car and check in at a seated check-in desk. Bags are handled by the porter and any “waiting” can be done by enjoying fine dining in the lounge or a treatment at the Six Senses Spa in Abu Dhabi. Once onboard, guests can sit at a table like they’re in a train car, enjoy a full vanity, travel bags designed by Christian Lacroix, Omorovicza skincare products, and a minibar. In the residence, they enjoy a private shower, a double bedroom, and à la carte meals served on Bernardaud porcelain by their private butler. The butler is connected to a concierge team, able to satisfy the passengers’ every whim, whether in the air or for onward plans on the ground.

Even the cabin attendant comes dressed in Italian haute couture by designer Ettore Bilotta. It doesn’t get much more luxurious than this. Etihad Airways definitely checks all the boxes when it comes to finding the best benefits of flying first class.

Singapore Airlines

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SINGAPORE AIRLINES
Singapore Airlines holds the honor of having the first double bed in the sky. Their incredibly refined private cabin suites really look like hotel rooms, with interiors designed by French yacht designer Jean-Jacques Costa and leather armchairs hand-stitched by Italian craftsman Poltrona Frau.

After checking in through the exclusive check-in lounge, the cabins can be arranged as a bedroom, dining room, or office. Guests can select from Dom Perignon or Krug Champagne, or get an onboard sommelier to pair their drink to their meal. Entertainment comes via Bose headphones, the amenity kit is from Salvatore Ferragamo, and the blankets, pillows, and slippers are from Givenchy. You also have your own private air steward who can provide guidance on selecting a meal or a movie.

Emirates

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EMIRATES
Emirates’ first-class suite has climate control, lighting control, virtual windows with HD projections from outside, zero-gravity seating, binoculars, remote wireless control, Bulgari toiletries, and Voya organic products. Passengers even enjoy a full shower. Long-haul flights may merit a change of clothes, and for that there are included pajamas that use Hydra Active Microcapsule Technology, which releases nutrient-rich sea kelp as you move.

Advertised by Jeremy Clarkson, Emirates want you to think of their airlines as something akin to a luxury sports car. With the suite’s leather seating and touchscreen control panels created after consulting with Mercedes-Benz designers, it’s an accurate comparison.

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Cathay Pacific

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CATHAY PACIFIC
Cathay Pacific doesn’t offer full cabins, but it does offer some other great benefits of flying first class with them such as a massager in the seat and a 500 thread-count duvet on the bed. Their amenity kits come courtesy of Aesop, and guests receive a Chinese-style sleep suit by PYE shirts.

Cathay welcomes guests with a glass of Krug and caviar, and pays special attention to the culinary wonders of its home city, Hong Kong. The airline has been known to feature Michelin-starred meals on some flights from establishments such as Pino Lavarra’s Tosca, the Italian restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton.

British Airways

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BRITISH AIRWAYS
Much of the first-class experience and benefits of flying first class with British Airways starts before even boarding. BA offers a complimentary 15-minute Elemis Spa experience in their London and New York lounges, private cabanas, a private check-in area called The First Wing in London, and passengers get driven directly to their flights in a Porsche Cayenne.

While the seats in British Airway’s first class aren’t in private cabins, the luxury is in the details. Outfitted in a sleek black color scheme, their first class offers three different types of Champagne and an amenity kit from Liberty London. Passengers get access to a 24-hour concierge offering travel advice and restaurant suggestions, and meals are served on white linen tablecloths and fine bone china.