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Aviation glossary

Cabin classes

Also: travel class, business class, economy class, first class

The aircraft

Service levels into which an airline divides its cabin, such as first, business, premium economy and economy, each with its own seats and service.

What it is

Cabin classes let an airline sell the same flight at very different fares. On long-haul routes, first and business class offer seats that convert into fully flat beds, often with direct aisle access; premium economy gives more space and better service than economy, which accounts for most of the seats.

On short and medium-haul flights the gap is usually narrower: many European airlines use the same seats in business as in economy, with the middle seat left empty, and many low-cost carriers fly a single class. The industry identifies each class by a letter, such as F for first, J or C for business, W for premium economy and Y for economy, and these are combined to describe an aircraft's layout.

On Vuelopedia

An aircraft record on Vuelopedia shows how many seats it has in each class.

Related terms

Cabin configurationInterior layout an operator chooses for its aircraft: seat count, classes, seats per row, seat pitch, galleys and lavatories. Passenger capacityNumber of passengers an aircraft can carry, which varies with the cabin layout chosen by the airline and is capped by a certified maximum. Wide-bodyAirliner with two cabin aisles and usually seven to ten seats per row in economy; the dominant type on long-haul routes. Low-cost carrierAirline built around keeping costs down to sell cheap fares: a single aircraft type, high aircraft utilisation, one cabin class and extras charged separately. Cabin retrofitThe renewal of an in-service aircraft's interior with new seats, entertainment, lighting or a different layout of cabin classes.
Whole glossary

Cite

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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Cabin classes. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-classes

MLA

“Cabin classes.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-classes. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Cabin classes.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-classes.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Cabin classes. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-classes (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_cabin_classes,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Cabin classes}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-classes},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-classes}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-classes |title=Cabin classes |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}

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