Not as bad as all that

Then in the early 1990s Continental Airlines was among the first to introduce the sleeper seat in business class with its BusinessFirst seats – and US airlines including Continental and Northwest were among the first to move to a “business first” model, dropping first class in favour of business class. Virgin Australia operates under the same system today, as does Qantas on its entire fleet, apart from the Airbus A380. Northwest, with partner KLM, was also at the forefront of international joint ventures that are so widespread today.

US Airways was the first airline to introduce an outward-facing herringbone, in the Zodiac Cirrus seat, which is still the gold standard for premium international business class products. Delta Air Lines has installed fully flat beds with direct aisle access on all widebodies – a mixture of Cirrus, the Thompson Vantage seat that is the basis of Qantas’s new Business Suite, and an older inward-facing herringbone product from Contour (now Zodiac) – which few airlines can or do match. American Airlines has only recently innovated with a new higher density variant of Cirrus, with seats in a yin-yang herringbone where rear-facing passengers’ feet point towards the windows and forward-facing passengers point towards the aisle.

United Airlines introduced the ‘economy plus’ extra-legroom cabins that provide 4-6in more pitch for a reasonable upgrade cost. All major US carriers now sell this type of product, which mitigates a shrinking pitch standard that is coalescing around 30in with newer slimline products, and is a reasonably priced offering between economy seats and the recliners in the pointy ends.

American Airlines struck out on its More Room In Coach offering – where all economy seats gained inches of legroom – in the early 2000s, but it was nothing if not innovative. Competitor jetBlue, with its lower costs and more ideally-sized Airbus A320 aircraft, later adopted this model successfully.

US airlines developed premium transcontinental services and went fully flat on key transcontinental routes long before any Australian airlines even managed to get angled lie-flat seats as a standard. American Airlines currently offers a three-and-a-half-class aircraft (first, business, extralegroom economy, and regular economy) on premium transcontinental flights between JFK and LAX or SFO, which is a class and a half more than either Qantas or Virgin Australia offer or have announced that they will offer. JetBlue’s transcontinental Mint product, too, is one of the most innovative premium cabin products of recent years.

US airlines have maintained their domestic wide first class recliner seats

Whatever the failings of the US aviation market, a lack of innovation isn’t one of them.

long after most domestic markets (save Australia) folded and went to the “middle seat free economy” Eurobusiness product.

In terms of technology, all three US carriers were early adopters of mobile boarding and effective, useful mobile phone apps, prior to their Australian counterparts and many competitors from other regions.

Despite the shackles of legacy IT systems, US airlines have introduced numerous innovative ancillary products that enhance revenue and passenger experience, if rarely both at the same time.

US carriers have been at the vanguard of inflight internet, both with the spread of the Gogo air-to-ground solution, with the current best-in-class ViaSat Exede Ka-band satellite offering that debuted on jetBlue, and with the next generation of Ku-band technology that includes Gogo’s doubledish 2Ku product.

Within the airport, Delta and jetBlue have constructed open-air rooftop areas within several of their lounges within the US. No Australian airline currently offers this on a branded lounge, and the airlines that do so globally are few and far between.

Of course, there are many things wrong with the American aviation market. Over-consolidation means that many passengers get a raw deal in terms of value for money. The perverse incentives of pilot contracts mean that there are too many regional jets flying mainline services. Serious labour problems continue to present significant issues, notably in the cabin, where often disaffected crews can contribute to a less than desirable level of service. Older jets, while refurbished, often mean that maintenance issues cause delays, while some of the benefits of newer aircraft (larger windows, lower cabin altitude, and so on) are not realised. Airline lounges that operate on a buy-your-way-in model while paying first class passengers are not granted access cheapen the first class package. The complimentary upgrade aspect of frequent flyer programs means that the economics of upgrading the domestic first class product don’t work – although all three of the US majors are working to put the value back into domestic first.

But whatever the failings of the US aviation market, a lack of innovation isn’t one of them.