Originally Posted by
pinniped
In theory, they'd do it by buying so many E+/MCE/EC seats that airlines felt pressure to expand those products, build out a true 38-40" premium economy on their long-haul aircraft, and shrink E- across the board. If the demand is there, it wouldn't be all that hard to do. (Well, Step 1 - basic E+ expansion - wouldn't be that hard to do.)
It's an encouraging sign that since UA rolled out E+ ten years ago or so, it's performed well enough that the other two US legacies also do it. Also nice to see a little bit of Premium Economy coming to the US fleets. Some people are willing to pay, and others want the bare-bones basic economy...
IMO, that's the best of all worlds. People who want more space and more amenities have an option between steerage and F/J, people who want the cheapest possible ticket can sacrifice comfort and fly Y-.