Originally Posted by
hughw
Looks good but had you tried on any hard shell seats on other airlines like CX or NH ?
The drawback for hard shell seats are you don't really get any recline, your seats only slide forward "looks" like you are reclining. And when you slide your seats forward, you basically lose at least 2 inches of legroom.
It is the worst kind of seat to install as premium economy seats !
Originally Posted by
1KPath
It is a good product but pales in comparison to NZ's new product...
http://www.airnewzealand.com.au/new-premium-economy
It has become my new favorite from LAX-LHR without any of the upgrade drama on UA...often for less than an upgradeable fare on UA!!...and don't forget the New Zealand wines and beer!
+1
NZ, VS, and TK (soon will be gone) are the only ones that have a distinct premium economy product, any other airlines basically a different seat, everything the same.
Originally Posted by
username
I followed this closely over the years with EVA which started offering premium economy (called Economy Deluxe (ED) then renamed to Evergreen Deluxe then renamed to Elite) since 1992.
They were initially very ambitious. The original plan was the 2/3 of the lower deck of the 744 had ED (F/C upstairs). They quickly realized it was not getting enough people and changed it to 1/3 of the 744 cabin.
Over the years, they tinkered with it - like having dedicated check-in counter and bag tag. ED classes also awarded more miles and required more miles to redeem.
When they went to the current generation on the 77W, they renamed it to Eltie and drastically shrank the cabin. The fare differential also went up over the years - initially, it was about US$200 more for LAX-TPE R/T but I heard now it is in the $400+ range. So, a lot of people are getting priced out/don't think it is worth the difference anymore. It also shows there is the demand for them to keep increasing the fare differential.
The interesting is when they join *A in 2.5 weeks, the "Y" booking code books into regular economy. The cabin also does not appear accessible for *A award redemption.
The difference is with BR, the old ED class was actually BR's old C seat, the new elite class is not C seats, it is essentially JL's domestic Class J.
Most other airlines like NH and NZ cannot pay a Y fare or use miles as *A award to book into economy either, so no surprise here.