Originally Posted by
evergrn
For TPAC flights, in general the Y:PE:J ratios would be 1 : 2 : 6 for price, 1 : 1.5 : 6 for the seat footprint.
At least that's been my observation.
Based on this, PE offers the worst value. Airlines are ripping people off with PE revenues, and airlines know it.
Considering that J pax get very enhanced catering and amenities, lounge access, more miles, etc, one could argue that biz class is good value for the money. For award travel, J is an exceptional value.
However, there are so many people (like me sometimes) who can't tolerate the Y torture but could never afford to pay for J. Hence the demand for PE, and airlines take advantage of that demand.
I'm sure the maths is correct, but this analysis misses the value propositions.
Each class gets you there in one piece at pretty well the same time. So they all offer identical essential characteristics. The equation is all about the marginal improvements which PE and J offer over Y. The first six inches of extra legroom and 2" of extra width are very important to a large number of people. Leaving aside the flat bed, the extra legroom and width in J, the better (but still not great) meals, the lounge access (which many FFs have anyway), the earlier boarding etc. simply don't hold nearly enough value for anything approaching the price difference. The bed is the key and arguably is essential for a serious business trip, but not for a two week holiday.
The correct analogy is choice of car. A Dacia is perhaps Ryanair, but a bottom of the range Kia will get you safely to the shops, the office or the other end of the country. So will a Golf, but the Golf is twice the price, yet (in the UK, at least) massively outsells the Kia. And then you can buy huge Mercedes for six times the price which will do all sorts of things which the others can't but yet a small number of people buy them. It's all about the marginal value.