Buckle up! Today we’re taking a ride in “premium economy”
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Coming up today: the latest stage in the continuing evolution of the airplane cabin is a class of service called “premium economy.” I flew premium economy just to test it out, and on today’s episode I share my thoughts about this new class of service. Our expression of the day is “to come in handy.” And we have a song of the week.
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Premium economy: more ‘economy’ than ‘premium’
Here’s one thing about airplane rides that’s pretty black and white: at the front of the plane, you have lots of room, luxury amenities, and premium food; in the back, you’re packed in like sardines. But in between the black and white of these two extremes, airlines have been experimenting with different shades of gray. Business class, for example, includes many of the same amenities as first class, but it’s cheaper and it isn’t quite as exclusive. And then in economy class, you can pay a little extra if you want some extra legroom.
The newest shade of gray is something called “premium economy,” and it was designed to fill the gap between the best economy seat and business class. That is typically a big gap. A typical economy class seat from Chicago, where I live, to London is about $700 if you time it right. Business class is much more comfortable, but it can cost $3,500 or more.
Premium economy is designed to split the difference. Airlines discovered that there are people who are willing to pay extra for a little more space, but can’t afford $3,000 or more for six hours of comfort. Premium economy generally includes a wider seat, more legroom, and some of the business-class perks like a nicer blanket and better food.
I went to Dublin in the fall on a brief vacation. The flight was about six hours, direct, from Chicago and cost about the same as a trip to London. When I got to the airport, I decided to upgrade just the outbound leg of the trip to premium economy. My thinking was, I wanted to test out this new seat and I’d like to get some good sleep on the way over there to avoid jet lag. The upgrade one-way cost $150. I went for it, and here’s what I thought.
Let’s start with the real reason people pay for this upgrade: the seat. The seat space is wider and there is some extra leg room. I’m emphasizing some extra legroom. It’s nowhere near as much space as business class. But there are a few extra inches between you and the seat in front. The big difference is in the width. In economy class, you’re fighting over a tiny armrest. In premium economy, you have much more space left and right, and the arm rests are more substantial. You can both rest your arms on them. On my plane, there were seven seats across in premium economy, compared to nine in regular economy. There’s a footrest on the seat in front of you. I thought that was a gimmick at first, but it came in handy. I used it and it was comfortable.
I mentioned that premium economy also includes some perks. The blanket is nicer; it was from a popular mattress maker in the United States and was definitely an upgrade from the blanket in economy. There was a small bottle of water when I arrived at my seat, a nice touch. And the meal was better: there’s no denying that. But it was still not as good as a restaurant meal on the ground. On my flight, I also had access to premium noise cancelling headphones, though I always bring my own pair, so I that didn’t make a difference to me.
A few other things stood out. The seats are bigger, so the fold-down trays were sturdier. They were definitely flat, unlike the trays in economy, which are sometimes flimsy and tilt one way or another. The meals were served with real silverware, rather than plastic, which was nice. The wine was better, but the dinner roll was still hard as a rock.
Overall, the experience was better than in economy, but it wasn’t worth $150 each way for a six-hour flight. I was surprised that there wasn’t more legroom. For paying the extra money, I would have wanted a few extra inches of legroom and the ability to recline back a little more than a normal seat. I won’t lie though: the extra width makes a difference.
The extra money for this better seat is $300 round trip, or about half the cost of the flight overall. To me, I’d rather save that money and be halfway to my next trip.
Ah, the quest for the comfortable airplane seat. It has been a while since I’ve flown to Europe for vacation. I remember I used to get really bad jet lag and I remember being really uncomfortable on those long flights. But maybe I’m used to it by now, and the long flight back in economy class didn’t bother me as much as I feared.
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