Tag: Premium Economy

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Which Airlines Will Be Getting Which Upgrades in 2012

January 24, 2012 at 1:30 PM | by | Comments (2)

It seems that a good number of airlines have decided to use this brand-spanking new year to freshen up their cabins and revamp service offerings. With a few recent announcements from various global carriers such as Cathay Pacific, Brussels Airlines and Virgin Australia, 2012 will be the year to make air travel look snappy and smell fresh...again. Here's who's doing what:

· AirBerlin:
As the second largest German air carrier and a member of Oneworld, Air Berlin will be upgrading the entire long-haul fleet of Airbus 330s. New business class seats that recline to just about flat and thinner, more user friendly economy seats will be aboard their planes. The new interiors will be ready for the summer travel season.

· British Airways:
With all our hoopla from recent BA flights, it seems that the airline is not only upgrading service. Starting at the front of the plane a few years ago, overhauls have finally made it to World Traveler Plus and World Traveler. That's premium economy and economy for the uninitiated.

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British Airways' Premium Economy Food Gets the Upgrade to Business Class

December 16, 2011 at 4:07 PM | by | Comments (0)

Premium Economy gets a little less gross than this recent meal

It was only Wednesday that we were bemoaning our recent ride in British Airways’ premium economy product. One of the many things we objected to in the whole pay-double-the-price, get-nearly-nothing-extra saga was the food. Over the course of our 10.5hr flight to San Diego, we were fed:

· snack cracker things with a gin and tonic

· roast beef dinner (we may not have been able to establish what this was had there not been a label on it telling us it was a beef dinner)

· rubbery pasta salad

· pot of sugar, fat and additives called “cherry creamy delight” that was neither creamy, nor delightful, nor particularly reminiscent of cherries

· inedible sandwich

· p*ss-poor blueberry muffin

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The Only Plus to British Airways' Premium Economy? Being Up Front

December 14, 2011 at 4:06 PM | by | Comments (0)


Flying coach: not good. Flying business: very good but rarely affordable. Flying premium economy: fast becoming our preferred method of transport, when we have a little extra cash. Over a crazy six-week period a couple of months back we made eight transatlantic flights (mainly West Coast-London). Most were in economy, buying seats with extra legroom. So when we saw a deal to fly British Airways’ premium economy product, or World Traveller Plus as they call it, for the same amount of miles as an economy ticket, we cashed right in, and bought a Heathrow to San Diego ticket.

After all, BA's WTP seats usually sell for around double the amount of their economy seats; plus we’d flown premium ec on both Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand, and found them both the shiz. Tough acts to beat, but we were sure BA would measure up in some respects. Wouldn’t it?

Sadly, no it didn’t. At all. In fact—flying premium economy was one of the biggest wastes of money we’ve ever experienced. And yes, we say that having technically paid no extra. Here’s why.

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New Seats for Everybody! Cathay Pacific Announces Premium Economy and More

December 12, 2011 at 7:30 AM | by | Comments (0)


The current Economy Class seatbacks are fixed, with remote controlled entertainment

OMG. Fun news! We knew is was coming, but not the scope: Cathay Pacific has announced that not only will they be introducing a Premium Economy class on long-haul flights in early 2012, but that Economy will be revamped as well.

As veterans of the 18-hour direct flights from New York-Hong Kong, we can tell you that this is a huge deal. Already Cathay is known as one of the leaders as far as passenger service and in-flight amenities and it was only one year ago that they showed off their new business class seats.

Sadly there aren't any renderings of the new Premium Economy or Economy seats yet, but there are specifics. Let's break it down:

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Is Delta Economy Comfort Worth It? Depends on the Plane

November 16, 2011 at 4:57 PM | by | Comments (0)

It’s just recently that Delta announced the rollout of its Economy Comfort seats to its internal flights, and if you were wondering what it’d bring to the skies, we can tell you – because we flew Economy Comfort from London to Atlanta a little while back.

The verdict? Well, from our experience, it totally depends on the plane you get.

Our LGW-ATL flight was perfection. Smooth, friendly check in, delightful gate staff (one of them found a tiny stylus we’d dropped from our antiquated phone at the gate and brought it to us at our seat, telling us to stop stressing), nice FAs and a formidable Economy Comfort section.

Legroom was ample. Aaample. It felt like way more than the four extra inches we had been led to believe by Delta (we are 6’1 and take legroom very seriously). We asked a FA whether Economy Comfort was like this across the network she said it depended on the plane – some planes had more legroom, others less.

Food was really pretty decent, the IFE was on demand and seats were also very comfortable. Spirits were free, although we didn't imbibe. It was, without a doubt, the best longhaul flight we’ve ever taken in economy. It was our first transatlantic flight with Delta, and we fell in instant love. All that for $80 extra. Awesome.

Until our journey back (see the gallery below).

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Delta Hopes You'll Pay to Stretch Out with Domestic 'Economy Comfort' Seating

October 21, 2011 at 9:50 AM | by | Comments (0)

Last summer Delta introduced a new option to help you stretch out on those long-haul international flights, and now it looks like they’re bringing the option to domestic flights as well. Clearly they must like the extra revenue that the seats bring in, so they’re expanding their Economy Comfort options to pretty much all their planes. If it’s not the money they’re interested in it must be the fact that the competition already does something similar—cough—United Airlines and Economy Plus.

In total Delta will be updating like 800 of their planes, which includes pretty much all of their mainline planes as well as all of their regional jets configured with a two-class seating plan. If you snag one of these new seats you’ll be enjoying priority boarding, but more importantly it’ll give you a few more inches of legroom and a little more than 34” inches of seat pitch.

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Premium Economy is So Hot Right Now, and Cathay Pacific Thinks So Too

August 30, 2011 at 9:08 AM | by | Comments (0)


Seatback TVs (and outlets) in economy on Cathay

Premium Economy. It's so hot right now. Actually, the idea of "better" economy seats for a little extra cash—something for travelers who can't afford Business Class but aren't totally happy in Economy—has been hot for a couple years now, and we've finally reached a point where increased Economy comfort can be found on enough airlines to have a variety of choices.

In fact, we've got a huge Premium Economy long-haul trip coming up later this week and the fact that we paid only $69 for 7 hours of massively increased legroom (following an 11-hour flight) is quite nice. We'll be sure to fill you in on all that later, but for now do note that not only has Delta just added Economy Comfort to select flights, but now Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific is throwing their hat into the ring. It's an announcement we've been waiting for since last December, when they hinted "it's coming" during the unveiling of Cathay's refreshed Business Class seat.

Now here's the kicker for Cathay Premium Economy: they're designing a whole new seat.

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More Speed and More Space on JetBlue Make for Happy Travelers, at a Price

June 14, 2011 at 9:52 AM | by | Comments (0)

It's a universal complaint of air travel that there's just not enough space. We're actually typing this from seat 11A, while being squashed in by a sleeping, burly man to our right and an all-the-way reclined passenger in front. Right now, we'd gladly pay extra cash for some more space, and thanks to the proliferation of Premium Economy options across airlines, this option is getting easier.

The latest airline to spiffy up their basic economy is JetBlue, who've done away with the "Even More Legroom" option to expand it into "Even More Space." And...wait for it..."Even More Speed." Let's investigate.

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Free Drinks and Longer Legroom: Delta Introduces 'Economy Comfort' Class

May 9, 2011 at 8:35 AM | by | Comments (0)

Happy Monday and happy awesome airline news days! After many months since their initial announcement to expect it, Delta has opened up booking for their version of Premium Economy, called "Economy Comfort." These are seats which, with a little more money, provide a traveler with a few extra advantages over the basic coach seat and service. Let's break it down:

· The seats: Here's what puts the "economy" in "economy comfort." The seats themselves are the same you'll find throughout the rest of the econ cabin, but Delta has added legroom and extra recline to distract you from that. To be exact, there's four more inches of legroom and 50% more recline than those in the basic economy seats. Both are immediate positives for tall people, families, those more comfortable crossing their legs, travelers with medical conditions, and people like you and I who just appreciate the little upgrades on big flights.

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'Even More Legroom' on JetBlue Will Also Mean Even Faster Through Airport Security

April 25, 2011 at 10:57 AM | by | Comments (0)

Have you ever flown JetBlue out of T5 at JFK on a Friday or Sunday morning? As spacious and new as that terminal is, all of the passengers departing to vacation destination points unknown quickly clog up the security lanes, dumping their floral-print beach bags on the X-ray scanners and forgetting to take off their flip-flops. It can be so frustrating, especially if you're a business travelers or used to sailing through security here.

Blessedly, JetBlue is about to resolve this problem by using fast track security lanes. According to USA Today, passengers who buy the "Even More Legroom" seats—which can range from $20 to $50 extra each way—will be able to either switch lanes to the fast-track one (at airports that have them) or jump to the front of the line (at airports that don't have the fast track lanes). Here's hoping T5 opens a fast lane of its very own.

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Flying Air France's Premium Voyageur Class

Where: France
March 24, 2011 at 2:07 PM | by | Comments (0)

Launching the service with a tagline that it’s “more comfortable than Economy, more affordable than Business,” Air France began outfitting some of its Boeing 777-300’s with its new Premium Voyageur product back in 2009. On a recent trip to France, we weathered the long-haul 11-hour Air France direct flight from LAX to CDG in Premium Voyageur instead of regular economy, and here are les résultats.

· Les Spécifications
Depending on the aircraft, there are between 21-38 seats in this new class. We were on the 28-seat variety since it was a 777 (we think the 38 will be in the airline’s A380’s). It is configured in a 2-4-2 pattern, with the rows slightly staggered, so you’re not quite flush with the people across the aisle.

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Get Ready to Stretch Your Legs Aboard Continental in 2012

February 24, 2011 at 1:01 PM | by | Comments (0)

Your knees and legs have nothing to fear about the United and Continental merger. There was some worry that United’s Economy Plus seating options would go the way of the dinosaurs, but it looks like both sides of the airline marriage have agreed to keep some of their stretched out seats.

Economy Plus gives you about five inches extra of legroom—for a fee of course—and Continental is now planning to add the extended seating options to its share of the new United fleet. There’s a lot of other work to be done in the interim, so don’t expect Continental planes to offer the extra legroom option until 2012. Hopefully there’ll be a couple planes sneaking out of the hangar a little early so we can stretch our legs before then.

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