Originally Posted by
Beolab
Again: double the price, compared to Economy. Does the slightly extra seat space justify this price tag? The "fluff" does appear to materialize more at some other Airlines, resulting in less complaints about their PE product.
Maybe in order to save there Business Class from being cannibalized by PE, they differentiated their PE product more towards Economy then to Business a little too much. Most airlines developed PE as a way to entice Economy travelers upwards in cabin class, unaffraid of the impact on Business Class, which worked out well. SIA appears to have been scared of this, leaving their PE product too expensive and not different enough for Economy travelers and too basic for Business Class travelers. Result:a new cabin class in limbo with many empty PE seats and complaints.
Today's reality is that many business travelers have to cut back on costs and are requested to book PE. They look for the best product, which SIA does not seem to offer. This leading to longtime loyal SIA customers looking elsewhere for their flights.
I quite agree with this post. Having flown P/E on SQ once I thought it was okay but definitely wouldn't pay so much for it. Even sale prices aren't competitive with other airlines.
It's easy to say that passengers shouldn't expect this or that, but this is
SQ we are talking about and even in Economy, the expectation is already higher than the competition, let alone Premium Economy. And there is always a correlation between price and expectation.
I was thinking about which soft products could be improved and I thought that perhaps one of the easiest would be to serve passengers a 1-tray Business class meal similar to short-haul regional Business class flights. Since P/E exists only mainly on long-haul flights where J passengers already get elaborate meal services (tables are laid individually (no trays), and each course is brought out separately), P/E could then be the watered-down one-tray service that
looks like a regional Business Class meal. A lot of things come down to presentation and as of now, the meal still looks more like an Economy class meal. It wouldn't hurt or cost much to plate the mains on a round plate, for example, instead of a rectangular bowl resembling an Economy main.
Also on a long-haul, most travelers value business class for its flat-bed seat, so I doubt that many J-flyers will be enticed to downgrade to a P/E seat, even if the food/service resembled a regional J service. On the other hand, those looking for an upgrade from Y will be wow-ed by the extra space and fantastic-looking meal.
Look at this for example:
Premium Economy meal SIN-LHR
Economy-looking main dish
Regional Business Class one-tray meal
Seriously all they gotta do is put the macaroni and cake into bowls (i mean even J I've also received macaroni starters and don't both cakes look rather interchangeable?
), plate the rice onto a circular plate, and tada! It'll look so much better. Not to mention actually pour the orange juice into the glass cup instead of putting it in a plastic cup
then placing said plastic cup into glass cup...
I also can't imagine it'll cost them that much more to provide the J napkins/utensils instead of the Y utensils and serviette... I mean, even BA gives napkins!!!