Originally Posted by Land-of-Miles

I disagree I think that fixed 2-2 business seating or at the very least adopting the same seating as LH or LX is essential for a real premium shorthaul product. There just is not enough difference in almost all respects between Y and C on shorthaul flights. I do not think that CE is a good product, IMHO it is very poor value for money which offers few real benefits for a Silver or Gold. The only tangible benefit is often the meal, and I have had so many awful meals in CE I no longer count that as a real benefit. I now choose CE to get off the aircraft a bit quicker and for the extra TP's, hardly a compelling value proposition.

The race to the bottom "to compete with the LCCs" is really quite depressing and surely almost completely counter productive. How does a full service carrier distinguish itself from LCC competition by copying the LCC approach slavishly? The sad thing is that this leaves little real Full Service choice on many routes.