Winston Aldworth: Writing about the front of the plane

Whether we admit it or not, most of us are fascinated with luxury travel. Photo / Supplied

I'm often asked by readers why we review so many Business Class services in our Flight Check column.

Here's what I tell them.

We aim for about a 50/50 split on the Flight Checks between outlandish flights (First Class, Business Class or something that's just a bit unusual) and more everyday flights (mainly domestic and transtasman services, low-cost carriers and, of course, longhaul in Economy).

In all likelihood, most of our readers fly Economy most of the time. So, shouldn't we run most of our Flight Checks on Economy services?

Nope. Here's why: There is a fascination with the front of the plane.

When Singapore Airlines brought their new A380 service into Auckland last week, I wrote a small piece that appeared on the Herald's website describing the lofty First-Class suites.

Readers using the Herald's Facebook site forwarded that story to friends or "liked" it more than pretty much any other story we've ever had on the Herald site. Ever. Christchurch quake. Rugby World Cup. Elections. First-Class travel.

A really, really good story might reach 200,000 Facebook users. This one reached 750,000.

Was it my sparkling prose that had the readers hooked? Perhaps it was the photo of me reclining on the luxurious bed, hands behind my head, with Tracy, the charming Singapore girl, at my side and my sweaty armpits showing?

None of the above.

People shared that story because we are fascinated with luxury travel.

Even if we will never travel in luxury ourselves. It's nice to see how the other half lives.

Wherever our writers sit, we hope the Flight Checks tell you something interesting about the airline and the airline industry. Many of our Flight Checkers are hardcore plane nerds. We enjoy writing these things.

Sadly, I didn't get to fly in the First-Class suite. Assembled media and dignitaries just got a quick nosey around the plane. Airport top brass joined journos getting smartphone snaps of themselves in the suites. Then we hopped off.

The Herald's aviation writer Grant Bradley (the doyen of Flight Check writers) stayed on board and flew out to Singapore.

He was in Business Class and his insightful Flight Check review is in this week's issue.

Enjoy.