Special Report on Long-Haul Air Travel: New routes, new fares, new services, more prawns: What distinguishes one carrier from another? David Richardson looks at how the transatlantic competitors are wooing 'premium' passengers

SEASONED travellers may think they know all about business travel, especially on the busiest long-haul routes to the US. They have been taught by business travel magazines to be super-choosy and to go for the airline with a one-inch longer seat or an extra prawn on the platter. But at the end of the day, airlines are still flying the same aircraft on the same routes with a similar range of services - or are they?

Business travellers prepared to pay extra to travel in business or first class are a dying breed because of the recession. The 'dirty tricks' case in which British Airways tried to poach the passengers of Virgin Atlantic proved how important premium passengers are, and now we are seeing another round of big spending to win their custom.

British Airways passengers are literally squirming in their seats - not because of the Virgin affair but because of a new campaign called 'Well-being in the Air' which tries to take the stress out of long-haul travel. It is all part of a pounds 100m package which includes the 'Blue-Eyed Boy' advertising campaign aimed at identifying BA with the post-yuppie business traveller of the 1990s.

'The champagne still flows and steaks are still served, but alongside is a real alternative - sensible eating, in-flight exercise, alcohol-free drinking, skin care and stress-releasing therapy,' trumpets BA group brand manager, David Charlton. 'Some will accuse us of being cranky, but in the words of Mark Twain, a crank is a man with a new idea - until it catches on.'

Advice comes through your headphones and in a booklet given to Club World and first class travellers, including exercises during the flight. A spokesman confides: 'These are not the sort of exercises to set your heart pumping or annoy your fellow passengers. They include bringing your knees up to your chest, rotating your head and pulling your ears firmly. Taking out the stress is two-thirds of the battle to arrive in good shape.'

The Blue-Eyed Boy - replacing the red-eyed yuppie workaholic - may work hard, but he also wants to relax in-flight. BA's director of marketing, Mike Batt, says: 'It's a time to let your mind wander - and let's face it, that's when we get some of our best ideas.'

While BA has a new focus on the inner man, the outer man gets most of the pounds 100m investment. Seat-back video is introduced in Club World, while in first class a new sleeper service offers sheets, duvets and cups of hot chocolate. 'Fast track' lanes through passport and security are also new.

Virgin Atlantic - operating six US routes compared to BA's 21 - can already claim to have got it right, being voted Airline of the Year by Executive Travel magazine readers for the last three years. Its Upper Class (including lounge and bar) claims to offer first class at business class prices, while Mid Class aims to segregate full economy fare payers from the discount masses further back. Even Virgin's business lounge has a different style, with a model railway and a music room plus the usual services.

It hopes to add San Francisco by 1994, despite the acknowledged overcapacity on US routes. 'We believe our product is superior, so we can win business travellers from other airlines and create more leisure travel on routes like San Francisco,' says Ian Brooks, commercial manager.

Continental hopes to emerge finally from some two years under the jurisdiction of a US bankruptcy court next week. This has not stopped the airline from spending pounds 11.5m on 'BusinessFirst', a new premium cabin combining first and business class but at business rates. Each seat cost pounds 5,000 to instal, and the aisles are claimed to be the widest across the Atlantic.

Continental's UK general manager, Keith Woodward, says: 'Passengers have congratulated us on breaking the first and business class format. If airlines are honest, very few passengers pay a first class fare - they are mostly on upgrades. BA is trying to improve first class with a sleeper service, but you're still paying the first class fare for your duvet and cup of chocolate.'

Virgin and Continental - and Delta and Northwest Airlines - all compete with BA across the Atlantic, but the two US giants pose it far bigger problems. United Airlines (which took over Pan Am's routes) and American Airlines (which took over all TWA's London routes except St Louis) have arrived at BA's front door at Heathrow, each aiming to feed traffic on to their huge US domestic networks. They are angry at BA's acquisition of a stake in USAir (giving better connections beyond BA's own US gateways) and spoiling for a fight.

Heathrow is the main battleground, but there are skirmishes at other airports too. American also operates from Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow (although it will drop Stansted-Chicago in May, a big blow to the Essex airport), and United will start Glasgow-Washington in June. New routes may seem madness at a time of heavy discounting, but airlines are fighting for market share and must fly the new aircraft they ordered in the heady days of the 1980s.

United's general manager, Graham Atkinson, says: 'We have seen a major trading down by business travellers, and cost control is still the most quoted phrase in the corridors of power. But they are now looking more closely at the differences between products, which is good for airlines as we are not just selling a commodity.

'We are confident in our own products, and developments such as our new lounge at Heathrow. There are gimmicky elements about what BA is doing, and dangers in trying to pigeon-hole people who want to be individuals.'

American wants to add Philadelphia, Nashville and Raleigh-Durham to its UK network, as all are points from which it operates its huge domestic network. Chris Gilbert, general sales manager, says: 'There are no signs of the green shoots of recovery translating into more first or business class travel, but we are still investing in lounges and new technology on board. I'm not sure BA will gain market share by what it's doing, but it's another example of how airlines must continue to be innovative.'

Whatever the airlines do, the discount specialists are waiting in the wings with offers on all the UK and US airlines, even in business and first class. European airlines such as the Dutch carrier, KLM, also serve the UK-US market, through a deal with the discount house Travel 4.

Globespan - a tour operator and discount company which announced fare cuts on Glasgow-Washington months before the start - sees nothing but discounts piling on top of discounts on US routes, whatever the products and the fine tuning.