Airlines are betting big on premium cabins. Will their investments pay off?
A single-person Allegris first class suite on a Lufthansa Airbus A350.
A rendering of Frontier Airlines' soon-to-be-introduced First Class-style seat.
American Airlines' new business class Flagship Suites.

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Airlines have been doubling down on their premium cabins, with many companies across the industry investing in new seats and amenities to lure customers who are willing to pay higher fares.

It’s hardly a new trend, but as the U.S. economy starts to lag somewhat, I’ve been wondering if all these airlines are betting big on premium at the wrong time.

Premium airfare demand, especially from leisure travelers, has been a bright spot for the industry in the post-pandemic era, but in different economic conditions, are travelers going to start to go for the cheap seats? And are airlines going to be left struggling to see a return on their fancy investments?

Only time will tell, but here’s what the experts think the future could hold.

The rise of premium leisure

Prior to the COVID pandemic, premium cabins were largely the domain of business travelers. There were plenty of exceptions to the rule, but airlines largely viewed, and marketed, their business class seats to people who were traveling on an expense account.

Business travel, of course, tanked with the rest of flying during the lockdown era, and it never fully recovered to its pre-pandemic volume. In its place, however, came leisure passengers who were willing to pay more.

The consulting company Deloitte shared in its 2025 corporate travel report that corporate travel budgets are forecast to grow in 2026, though at a slower pace than they did in the past few years.

In the past five or so years, airlines have seen a surge in passengers flying for pleasure who were willing to buy their way into premium economy or business class cabins on their own dime for a little extra comfort during their travels.

“Demand may not be quite as strong across the board as it once was because of the national economy, because of decrease in travel demand,” Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research, a travel industry analytics firm, previously told me. “Premium leisure demand appears to be more resilient.”

How airlines are expanding premium cabins

Airlines are trying a variety of ways to capture premium demand, from tweaking the legroom in some rows to give some passengers extra space, to adding more business class seats and totally redistributing the real estate in their cabins.

“Everyone has an idea of what premium means. It may be a little better or it may be substantially better,” Robert W. Mann Jr., a former airline executive officer and current president of R.W. Mann and Co., an independent airline consultancy, told me. “All of it says upsell from basic economy, whether it’s a little extra pitch, same three across seating, whether it’s 2-by-2, or full recline flatbed in a separate cabin.”

For example, Southwest Airlines, as part of its corporate transformation, is introducing economy seats with extra legroom for the first time across its fleet.

Meanwhile, ultra low-cost airlines like Frontier are adding first class style recliner seats to their cabins, and legacy carriers like American, Delta and United are all updating their business class seats and, in many cases, expanding the footprint of those premium cabins, especially on their long-haul aircraft.

Pretty much all the airlines are in on the game.

“I’m not aware of any airline that is intending right now to shrink its business class cabins or to reduce the number of seats in premium economy or the number of extra legroom seats,” Harteveldt said.

Will their investments pay off?

According to a Virtuoso survey of travel advisers, 55% predict a modest uptick in spending per trip. “While luxury travelers are willing to spend more, they are also mindful of rising costs and want to ensure their investment enhances their travels,” the luxury travel network said in news release.

But it still raises the question: If the economy continues to soften, what’s going to happen to all these premium seats?

“I think there’s always a differentiation by customer type as to whether they’ll consistently spend in a more difficult financial environment,” Mann said.

Or, to put it more crudely: Even if the economy tanks, rich people are going to keep traveling (half of Virtuoso advisers “anticipate a slight rise in travel demand next year”), so airlines can feel pretty confident that premium seat demand will be among the last to dry up.

“The people who earn above-average incomes, much higher than above-average incomes and who enjoy traveling are willing to spend extra to have flights that are more comfortable,” Harteveldt previously said. “The economy may not be as strong as it was, but it’s still relatively strong and people appear to be prioritizing travel in how they spend their disposable income.”

If things get really bad (in an economic sense), however, Mann pointed out airlines will have plenty of levers available to tweak the value proposition of their premium cabins and still squeeze out a healthy profit margin from the people who are willing to pay.

“If you purchase premium buyer-furnished equipment, cabin furnishings, you always have the opportunity to take out some of the cost of the soft service,” he said. “They have a lot more durability than people think, but that doesn’t mean things won’t change.”

Essentially, that means airlines could theoretically keep their fancy seats but cut back on the perks that come with them, like multicourse meal services or upscale amenity kits, as a way to fix the margins if premium demand slumps in the future.

For now, it’s just a thought exercise anyway. Premium demand remains strong. But airplane cabin retrofits also don’t happen overnight. I’m sure the C-suites at most major carriers are better at reading the tea leaves than I am, and have a plan around their premium-heavy futures, but I’m interested to see how these investments interact with the economics down the road, and how premium cabins and the service that comes with them could evolve as passenger priorities and finances change.

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Are airlines making a mistake with their big push for premium travelers?

Reporting by Zach Wichter, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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