FlyerJ

I've seen conflicting info on this:

On a domestic (i.e. YYC-YYZ) 787-9 flight, is the PE cabin kept separate from the main economy cabin (i.e. with a curtain)?

Or do Economy passengers go in/out of the PE cabin to access the lavatories, effectively making Premium Economy nothing more than the front of a big Economy cabin?

I'll be flying through the summer and - in this time of COVID - I'm looking for my best option that will allow distancing from other pax and not have people walking by or queuing up for lavs near my seat. (Business is out of my budget, but PE is worth it -- provided that it's actually more than just a big seat at the front of the econo cabin. WS treats their three 787 cabins as three, distinct, separate cabins -- but they're only flying the 787 on certain days.)

YXUFlyboy

AC is running one 788 (sometimes 789) most days on this route. It is a mini-cabin but not separated by curtains. There are two lavs (one each aisle) that are not (or did not appear to be) for PE only, as there were only 3 of us in the cabin. However, you are very likely to be isolated in this cabin.

I've not had a chance to fly WS 789s yet, but it's not a separate cabin. It's a mini-cabin in front of economy. However, if you are trying to get some physical distance, then that will definitely do it. Last time I flew this route on a 788/789 a couple weeks ago, loads were low (30-40%) so even in economy it was not hard to distance.

FlyerJ

Thanks -- good to know.

When you say it's "a mini-cabin but not separated by curtains" ... what is it that separates that PE mini-cabin from Economy? (If there aren't curtains, what exactly makes it it's own 'mini cabin'?)

It is a separate cabin on WS. I've flown PE on those a few times. At the front of WestJet's PE cabin, there are bulkheads and curtains separating it from Business. At the rear of the PE cabin, there's a galley and a bank of lavatories (and curtains) separating it from Economy. (The main entrance door for the aircraft is here as well - behind PE - so there's quite a bit of separation from Economy.) Y passengers use those same lavatories, but they never go in/through the PE cabin.

EdmFlyBoi

AC's 787's have a PE lav at 2L between J and PE. The curtain set up essentially has the 2L lav for PE and the 2R lav for J. The flight attendants tend to enforce the lav for J but I am not sure about PE. Generally Y passengers are told to use the mid cabin or rear cabin lavs on long haul but I am not sure what has been happening since COVID.

eigenvector

There's a bulkhead.