The Up Front

This is the thing in aviation too. Almost all the useful “AI” in aviation was what was previously called something else before the bubble. Algorithms. Machine learning. Pattern recognition. Specialised, specified language models. Text analysis. Meta-analysis.

They learned a lot about improving turnaround times — which would have taken an enormous amount of human power five years ago, and created some dirty data — but the risk is that once the bubble bursts and betty sixfingers the chatbot goes down the plughole, actually useful tech is AI bathwatered.

This is the thing in aviation too. Almost all the useful “AI” in aviation was what was previously called something else before the bubble. Algorithms. Machine learning. Pattern recognition. Specialised, specified language models. Text analysis. Meta-analysis.

We have a million questions, and a 5000-word article, for Etihad’s new seats, lounges and overall brand redesign. Is “sand” too generic? Does “superstructure” say “Abu Dhabi”? Is deep jade too Cathay? Is Vantage First enough of a first class? Is Opera’s row 1 seat? Is Beyond Borders even new?

Emirates says it has the “world’s first electrically powered Premium Economy seat”. But that’s simply not true — we debunk this demonstrably false claim, with photos to prove it.

Premium economy is a strong leisure market, with lots of couples travelling together. Potential SNL sketches about how couples don’t actually want to spend time with each other aside, is this what premium economy passengers really want?

Emirates says it has the “world’s first electrically powered Premium Economy seat”. But that’s simply not true — we debunk this demonstrably false claim, with photos to prove it.

This summer, our readers told us they wanted more podcasts. So, we’re bringing you more podcasts, including extra in-depth episodes for our subscribers, and the return of The Chain, our special supply chain series. Pull them into your podcast feed today!

Looks like many more European travellers are going to get Discovered. Discover Airlines — which Lufthansa has previously been calling its “leisure airline” — is now flying on key business routes, like Paris, and is expanding more. And that’s bad news for passengers… sometimes.

Passengers just *love* the Discover Airlines experience! *In theory*, Discover should now be under the same Lufthansa roof in FRA and MUC, but we hear a lot of things about getting shunted off to distant parts of the main FRA terminal, full-time busgating, etc etc.

Looks like many more European travellers are going to get Discovered. Discover Airlines — which Lufthansa has previously been calling its “leisure airline” — is now flying on key business routes, like Paris, and is expanding more. And that’s bad news for passengers… sometimes.

Lufthansa used to really push the idea of Discover as its group “leisure airline”. You know, only to places where passengers aren’t intelligent enough to know they’re getting Temu Lufthansa, or not discerning enough to care. Now major European business destinations are getting Discovered.

Looks like many more European travellers are going to get Discovered. Discover Airlines — which Lufthansa has previously been calling its “leisure airline” — is now flying on key business routes, like Paris, and is expanding more. And that’s bad news for passengers… sometimes.

The Temu Lufthansas are one of the big problems airlines are creating for themselves today: it’s basically business class shrinkflation. Or what used to be sold as a chocolate bar now not containing enough, er, chocolate to be legally sold as chocolate, and now being sold as a “crispy wafer”.

Looks like many more European travellers are going to get Discovered. Discover Airlines — which Lufthansa has previously been calling its “leisure airline” — is now flying on key business routes, like Paris, and is expanding more. And that’s bad news for passengers… sometimes.

Does every business class seat need a door? It’s the hottest question in the airline passenger experience design world right now. Short answer: no. But it’s complicated. Fortunately, we at The Up Front *love* complicated.

Remember when this seat was called “coffin class” because of its — for the early 2000s — incredibly high walls? That’s part of the answer to the business class doors question: what does the seat itself and the surrounding cabin, mean for privacy, before even *thinking* about doors?

Okay, we’ll bite, Lufthansa, what’s inside your new economy class amenity kit? For the amount of plastic that’s going to be thrown away, we hope it’s really amazing!

We’re having difficulty coming up with any immediate reaction other than “oh”. A plasticky single-use eye mask, and a pair of ear plugs, in a bag so small that you could fit… maybe a single 1.8m charging cable? Who on earth thought that this was worth spending money and time on?

We need to talk about United’s new A321XLR, the new Elevate Altitude aisle-facing herringbones that it’s launching as its new standard narrowbody Polaris. Fortunately, we have 4200 words for you where we do just that.

Why is there *really* a row of middle-seat-blocked Eurobusiness? (It’s not what you think, or what’s been reported.) What’s underneath the Mount Blankets of pillows and linens, and how is it entirely unprecedented in modern aviation? How does that blue plastic divider make the entire seat work?

The Farnborough Airshow shouldn’t look like this. We shouldn’t be able to capture the entire range of commercial aircraft on show without a wide-angle lens. An A321XLR. An A350-900, the same we saw at last year’s Le Bourget. An E195-E2. And that’s it for the passenger airliner world.

The Farnborough Airshow flight line shouldn’t look like this on day 2 either. The order totals for the day shouldn’t be under 100 aircraft — the majority little Embraers. This is Thursday levels of busy, on the Tuesday. Genuinely, we’re concerned about the future of the summer European airshows.

The Farnborough Airshow shouldn’t look like this. We shouldn’t be able to capture the entire range of commercial aircraft on show without a wide-angle lens. An A321XLR. An A350-900, the same we saw at last year’s Le Bourget. An E195-E2. And that’s it for the passenger airliner world.