Companies scoff at airlines' cheapest business class tickets. 'The real value is flexibility'

CHICAGO — No advanced seat selection, lounge access or flight changes included with a C-suite executive's business-class ticket? Absolutely not, some companies say.

Delta Air Lines joined United Airlines last month in launching stripped-down business-class fares for certain flights, taking the same approach they used to carve up coach class to their more expensive cabins as carriers get customers to pay more for perks in the sky.

AerSale — which leases aircraft and engines and offers maintenance and other services — likely won't block basic premium options altogether for its hundreds of traveling employees. But those tickets would be impractical for many of its workers, said Jackie Carlon, the Doral, Florida-based company's senior vice president of marketing and communications.

"The real value is flexibility," Carlon said. "Paying a bit more, it's not necessarily a cost to us — it's insurance."

With the new fares, the cheapest option for long-haul international flights won't come with things like access to an airport lounge or the ability to pick a seat for free in advance. Perhaps most important for business travel, no changes are allowed without paying a fee on top of a difference in fare.

Delta said change fees for basic business class could range from none at all up to $400, depending on the route, and from $99 to as much as $500 for cancellations.

Because work trips can change on a dime, a restrictive ticket in business class can cost a company even more if travelers have to buy a whole new flight. Only a small proportion of a corporation's business travelers usually fly in top-tier cabins, but the higher fares could further drive up travel costs.

The difference in fares, meanwhile, could be several hundred dollars to close to $1,000, if not more.

On United, for example, the least expensive fare in the airlines' lie-flat pod Polaris cabin doesn't come with access to the Polaris business-class airport lounge, which features a bar, sit-down dining, a rest area, showers and other amenities. The traveler also can't pick a seat in advance without paying a fee and no changes are allowed. Travelers can cancel the flight with a fee. United doesn't disclose its fees for the new fares, and a spokeswoman said the amounts vary.

For a flight going from Newark, New Jersey, to London Heathrow on Oct. 1 and returning Oct. 8, the "base" Polaris ticket was going for $4,490, while the standard fare was $4,890, and it was $5,390 for a flexible, refundable ticket.

"We support our corporate travel partners by giving them full control over which fare products are available to their business travelers based on their own policies and business objectives," Delta said in a statement. "We continue to see strong demand for premium travel."

Dane Molter, senior vice president at Navan Group Travel Marketplace, which reported $9.1 billion in gross booking volume in the 12 months ended Jan. 31, said clients who use the platform are seeking more detailed policy controls that could determine which fare an employee books for a trip.