Originally Posted by
JetAway
New-style Premium Economy is beginning to look suspiciously like old-style Business Class (or better). This little ruse should work for awhile until road warriors' accounting departments catch up.
I agree. I recently read a blog post where the author was analyzing each seat in the CX fleet and when I saw him sitting in their Premium Economy section I thought it seemed nearly identical to the Barcalounger, which used to be our J/F ten years ago - except with less recline.
I think that E+ as it stands today cannot justify more than a tiny price premium but a true Premium Economy (which certain carriers do have) makes sense.
The overall trend for a lot of airlines seems to be getting rid of the "luxurious" experience in F, and pushing that down to a fairly utilitarian but comfortable J experience. It makes perfect sense, to me, to offer something between the comfort of J and the hell of Y (especially E- style).
There's got to be a market for people willing to spend more than Y fare but can't spend J fare.
I think the value of this is a direct function of flight distance. Who cares about a 1-2 hour flight. But, if you're flying 6 hours for work, then Premium Economy will let you be more productive than being crushed into an unbearable position. And, if you're flying 20 hours, then there's a tangible reduction in pain and suffering, which has value.