Travel class

A travel class is a quality of accommodation on public transport. The accommodation could be a seat or a cabin for example. Higher travel classes are designed to be more comfortable and are typically more expensive.

While an airline may only have two or three classes of service, they will use approximately ten to fifteen different booking codes in order to control the amount of each fare level sold. The booking code used by airlines and agents is typically (but not always), the first letter of the fare basis shown on the ticket and in industry fare displays.

Historically, airlines only used a few codes, and these were almost identical across the industry. Typical examples were F or P for First Class, J or C for Business, and Y for economy. With the advent of cheaper fares and more frequent travel, airlines increased the number of available fare types and the number of booking codes required to differentiate among them.

There is now no industry standard with regard to airline booking codes, although the Y code is almost always still used for unrestricted economy travel.

Most low-cost carriers have greatly simplified the fare classes they use to only a few codes, unlike full-service airlines, which use many more.

In Mexico, bus services often have designated levels of service, the top of which is de lujo or clase lujo, followed by plus clase, primera clase, and segunda clase.

Before cruise ships dominated the passenger ship trade, ocean liners had classes of service, often categorized as First Class, Second Class, and Steerage. Companies such as Cunard Line continue this tradition, offering Queen's Grill, Princess Grill and Britannia cabins, each of which have their own allocated lounges and restaurants on board.

Trains often have first class (the higher class) and second class (known as standard class in the UK). For trains with sleeping accommodations, there may be more levels of luxury.

Prior to 1949, most railway bureaus (under the direction of the Transport Ministry) had a three-class structure. As with most contemporary cases, few people could afford first class or even second class, so at times there would be no first class or second class service available in some trains. Some went as far as offering a fourth class "service" with goods wagons.

In 1949, the first "Limited Express with Reserved Seating" (特快對號車) appeared with the Railway Bureau of Taiwan, and it offered a three-class service, inherited locally from Japanese colonial rule. This structure was the norm for all trains, normal or express, until 1953.

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