On an 11-hour flight from London to Las Vegas, a creator named Dantic pulled out a ROG Ally X handheld console somewhere over the mountains and started playing The Witcher 3, a game he had loved for years but never actually finished. The seat around him was cramped, a neighbor kept glancing at the screen during an 18-plus cutscene, and the sole USB port was barely keeping his phone alive. That moment, equal parts uncomfortable and oddly absorbing, was the whole experiment in miniature: which airplane class actually lets you game properly, and is it worth the price difference to find out?
Dantic scored each of the four seats on five categories: free amenities, comfort, tech, food, and gaming experience, each worth a maximum of five points.
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Economy to premium economy, the gap that actually matters
The North Atlantic Airways economy leg set the baseline in a way that felt almost designed to be brutal. The seat cost nearly $1,700 for 11 hours, came with zero free amenities, and offered a single underpowered USB port. Gaming lasted two hours and 30 minutes before the ROG Ally X died completely, leaving six and a half hours of flight with nothing to do but try to sleep. The in-seat tablet had movies but zero games. The pasta and chicken, somehow, was the highlight, earning a four out of five while the seat itself scored a one for comfort and a two for tech after some RGB cabin lighting made the economy cabin briefly feel like a bedroom gaming setup. Final tally: 10 out of 25.
British Airways premium economy, a 7-hour London to Dubai flight at $1,255, was where everything shifted. The seat came with a full plug socket, the single detail that changes everything for anyone traveling with a console. Unlimited charge time meant four uninterrupted hours inside The Witcher 3 with the cabin lights dimmed, followed by a stretch on the inflight entertainment system’s built-in game library, which included a racing game with a physical joystick controller Dantic described as genuinely good. The food arrived as what he called ‘an absolute feast of options.’ Premium economy scored 18 out of 25 and held the top position through most of the journey.
Business class delivered a bed and a five-star meal, but also a distraction problem
Virgin Atlantic’s business class, an 11-hour London to Vegas return at $2,061, came with a seat that fully reclined into a flat bed, a full English breakfast served mid-flight, and silverware Dantic described in a way that captured genuine disbelief: ‘Never in my life have I had silverware on a plane before.’ The food scored a five. The gaming experience scored a four, docked one point not because the seat was lacking but because there was simply too much else to do. Final score: 21 out of 25, placing it above premium economy on raw points.
Emirates first class, seven hours from London to Dubai at $7,235, included a chauffeur, a private terminal, lounge access, pajamas, a motorized minibar, a real flower in the bathroom, a duvet, a mattress, and a leaf-blower-strength air vent. It also included so many distractions that Dantic spent approximately 30 minutes actually gaming across the entire flight, earning a one out of five for gaming experience. Five categories, four of them maxed out, and the one that mattered most for the experiment collapsed completely. Total: 21 out of 25, tied with business class.
The ROG Ally X, somewhere over the Atlantic with 6 percent battery
On the first economy flight, the console reached zero charge with more than six hours of flight remaining. Dantic set it down on the tray table and did not pick it up again.
When every score was compared against every price, premium economy was Dantic’s answer: the plug socket that keeps the console alive, enough comfort to disappear into a game for hours, and a price that does not require selling anything. First class, as he put it, ‘was literally so good in every other department that I literally just couldn’t spend any time gaming.’
