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Which airlines have the longest beds, widest seats and best recline?

Discover what the 1 per cent get right up the front of the plane. Our at-a-glance guide shows which carrier has the longest beds, the best champagne, the widest seats and the greatest recline.

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When it comes to long-haul flights in and out of Australia, the market is dominated by the seven airlines listed here. And Australians bound for Europe, the United Kingdom or the United States are most likely to fly out on any one of four aircraft types – an Airbus A380 or A350; or Boeing’s 777 or Dreamliner 787.

Airline geeks spend hours studying aircraft types and routes with passion. The rest of us tend to just book a flight based on price, available seats, and an airline’s loyalty scheme. Especially given you might do your homework, only for the airline to run an older, unrefurbished aircraft – or to switch out the scheduled aircraft due to operational issues. Nevertheless, researching the smartest ways to get overseas in optimum comfort can only improve your experience at altitude.

Highflyer’s at-a-glance guide shows who has the longest beds and best champagne in business, and the widest seats that recline the furthest in premium economy. Also discover what the 1 per cent get right up the front.

 

 

 

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Notes

This feature appears in the launch issue of Highflyer, inside AFR Magazine, out on February 23. Steve Baccon

Pitch is generally measured as the length between the back of a passenger’s seat to the back of the seat in front, giving a good indication of legroom. Recline is how far back a chair will go – most applicable in premium economy given business and first go fully flat unless stated otherwise.

For entertainment, noise-cancelling headphones are generally a given across all three classes; only specific branded headphones are mentioned in the table.

Amenity kits usually include a toothbrush, comb, eye mask, ear plugs and other basic skincare such as moisturiser.

Many Australian high-flyers shared advice and decades of travel expertise for this guide, including Anna Burgdorf and her team at Travel Associates; Flight Centre Travel Group co-founder and boss Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner, plus Haydn Long and Grant Payne; Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler; Virtuoso’s Fiona Dalton and Baillie Lodges’ James and Hayley Baillie.

The March issue of AFR Magazine – featuring the launch issue of Highflyer magazine – is out on Friday, February 23 inside The Australian Financial Review. Follow AFR Mag on Instagram.

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Fiona Carruthers
Fiona CarruthersTravel editorFiona Carruthers has written and edited travel for the Financial Review for almost a decade. She has held senior roles with ABC Radio National, Deutsche Welle Radio, TIME and The Australian, and was deputy editor of Traveller. Email Fiona at fcarruthers@afr.com
Ciara SeccombeNewsroom AssistantCiara Seccombe is a newsroom assistant at The Australian Financial Review.

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