Business Class Methodology

The dialogue room is set up like an airplane with an inherent class system, seats laid out in luxurious rows of business and tighter rows of economy. ‘Passengers’ are randomly assigned seats and participate in 2.5hr of playful exercises and facilitated discussion, drawing on life experience and the painful truths that confront us at 37,000 feet.

 Business Class began as a ludicrous party concept – I’d invite people over to ‘fly’ and we would sit there, never moving. We would experience the same things that seem so ‘valuable’ at cruising altitude – spacious seats, glassware; or cramped legroom and plastic bread. With unearned superiority and the concentrated absurdity, we would bring humanity into high relief. The ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. Class, value, cost, speed. Important people on important business. The longing to be upgraded. Snapped curtain closures, proximity to strangers, queuing, the overhead compartment dance, mild peril. All infused with the pregnant guilt of carbon emissions and over-tourism (as we clap foolishly on landing). 

This year I shared the concept with ~75 colleagues from over 20 countries and they offered more: the magazine selling perfumes, a better you; public parenting; ABSOLUTE 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 

And so, buoyed by the response from my community, I piloted our first flight in London with 18 strangers onboard, and have been flying ever since (without a license).

Passengers report deep connections with previous strangers, newfound trust across difference, and a reworking of their moral compasses, the behaviors and “needs” that may be harming our planet and each other.

“To 'enact' - and reflect on - an experience that entails conviviality (and its opposite), geography (and its denial), identity (and its dissolution) was subtly revealing. Unlike any other plane trip, I wish it was longer... I hope to travel again with your airline in the future.” Marcio Junji Sono Curator, Brazil Embassy, UK

Captain Schutt