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That's the question asked by Reuters, which writes the "economic downturn has clipped the wings of luxury air travel." Even the high-yield first- and business-class seats -- seats that are among the airlines' biggest profit centers -- are returning less bang for their buck these days, according to Reuters.

That's because many first-class seats aren't being filled by high-spending customers, but rather by fliers who've paid only for a coach class ticket but moved to the front of the cabin on an upgrade. Peter Yesawich, CEO of travel marketing company Ypartnership, tells Reuters that trend is playing out on all but some long-haul routes, where it's still easier for companies to justify premium fares.

"It's said that real profit in any flight is front of plane. The rest covers the overhead," Yesawich says to Reuters. "But there's been a conscious effort by corporations and individuals to suppress that travel" on the shorter routes. Read article >>

Source : http://travel.usatoday.com