There were 324 first-class passengers on the Titanic’s maiden voyage. They formed the smallest passenger group by number, but included many of the voyage’s most prominent and wealthy travelers.
First class occupied much of the ship’s most luxurious accommodation, including suites, private promenades, a dining saloon, a swimming pool, a gymnasium, Turkish baths, and restaurants. Passengers included figures such as John Jacob Astor IV, Benjamin Guggenheim, Isidor and Ida Straus, and White Star Line managing director J. Bruce Ismay. The group was not made up only of millionaires: servants, children, professionals, and other travelers also held first-class tickets.
Titanic carried approximately 1,317 passengers in total: 324 in first class, 284 in second class, and 709 in third class. Those figures describe people actually aboard the maiden voyage, not the ship’s designed capacity. Titanic could accommodate substantially more passengers—833 in first class—but a coal strike and disrupted travel schedules left the ship far below capacity when it sailed from Southampton on April 10, 1912.