Airline History
Business Class© began as...
an idea that amused me – I would host a concept party even though I don’t know that there is such a thing. I would invite people over to 'fly' and we would sit there, never moving. Yet we would experience the same things that seem so ‘valuable’ at cruising altitude - spacious seats, glassware, socks;cramped legroom and plastic bread, tomato juice.
With (un)earned superiority and the concentrated absurdity, we would bring humanity into high relief. In experiencing this on the ground we would collectively simulate all the feelings that often occur in that compressed space in the sky. The ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. Class, value, cost, speed. Important people on important business. The longing to be upgraded. Snapped curtain closures, extreme physical proximity to strangers, queuing, smugness, the overhead compartment dance, the sleep head bob, mild peril. Romantic comedies and quiet tears. All infused with the pregnant guilt of carbon emissions and over-tourism (as we clap foolishly on landing).
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In 2024 I shared the concept with colleagues, friends and a few strangers from all over the world, and they offered more: The in-flight magazine selling you more – more holidays, perfumes, a second home, a better you; public parenting; ABSOLUTE DEATH FEAR; the captain’s authoritative calm; bacteria. The ‘how did those little s**t hipsters get in first-class?’ inner monologue.
Noise. Utter quiet.
People that can’t afford to fly.
People that fly to flee.
And the shared imagination for a better future where we can still tour the world even as it burns.
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I had yearned for a pure communal space, one that promotes safe risk-taking, builds true rapport and ensures art/creativity is for all. Business Class© allows us to explore unspoken fears, power dynamics, and half-baked principles with a solemn levity and through a joyous and absurd embodied experience. We convene with ‘the other’, outside of an echo-chamber, self-selecting conference or ‘democratic’ roundtable - enabling us to admit together that there are implicit and explicit structures in our way. Together we can take the first step - trust building – the critical if oft-rushed (or worse, forgotten) phase in organizational development and systems change.
