It's possible to have a private shower and bedroom onboard an A380 flight, but you will pay dearly for the privilege.

There's room in the market for both extremes as well as in the middle. I doubt you'll get a buffet service on a round trip ticket that costs <$500 (trans-oceanic, at least) as it likely is not economical to offer that. That being said, there are airlines that are offering improved options even in Economy cabins... they just charge for it. An example is Air New Zealand's "Economy Skycouch" https://www.airnewzealand.com/economy-skycouch

So with the possibility that this design could save on fuel costs, maybe airlines will be able to sell upgraded experiences at prices that are today bare-bones. Time will tell.

Although in my experience, many companies that don't care that much about travel expenses pay most of the economy seats. At least on the transatlantic flights I've been on.

There has got to be more tiers

I do it all the time.

https://gyazo.com/1cfc5e5edb0aa4a9734138fce73c002e

Both American flights I'm taking in the next month. All have increased legroom, it literally says "Up to 6 inches".

Heh, I suppose I should mention these are out of Tulsa... :)

Are you really suggesting that airlines make a loss on economy seats?

I wonder if a paid shower pass system would work. You wait your turn, but you get to take a shower, for, say, something like $100. Just seems like it's kept to an all-or-nothing on purpose.

I can tell you there is a "saloon" on this thing, because at 37000 feet I stood in my Qatar PJ's with two other guys and drank cocktails in the bar.

surreal experience for me...

500 years ago it took Columbus and his crew of 88 men ten weeks to reach America in three 58 foot, 100 ton wooden boats pushed along the ocean by wind. They had no toilets, ate boiled food with cheese and salted meats.

Today, 525 of us can travel on a 230 feet long, 600 ton flying boat lifted above the clouds crossing over the north pole from Los Angeles to Dubai at Mach 0.8 in 17 hours. We can watch movies, special order a kosher or vegetarian meal, drink fine wine while wearing complimentary socks and PJ's. For a few thousand dollars each.

https://www.jbenad.com/news/2015/2/4/flyingv

Simple. (UK resident.)

That's a scene... of a crèche. It's the same terminology.

Put 1000 economy class seats into it and fly NYC-London, or Tokyo-SF till it falls apart. I otherwise have no idea how in the world can it make money.

I seriously believe that second hand A380s will eventually see this fate.

To make it truly profitable, you convert the plane to First class, but then you'll need to fill all those seats.

Wendover Productions had a great video on this a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzB5xtGGsTc

That video is very wrong compared to real life. For the first: it assumes a full plane. My experience is that economy tends to be full, business has a lot of available seats. For the second: it does not account for the cost of running lounges, fast track security and other complimentary services offered to business and first class passengers.

Look at the companies. Filling the plane with economy passengers and offering low service level is what brings profitability.