JonNYC

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....ional-flights/

dw

Wow, I too am surprised this announcement has come so quickly. Must have been in development for some time and kept pretty well under wraps.

True international style PEY product with 38" pitch, 2-3-2 on the 789 (and in turn presumably the same on the A330s, and 2-4-2 on the 772s and 773s), amenity kits and upgraded dining that looks similar to domestic F.

Considering all the rumors of DL introducing a true international PEY with their recent fare class changes to Comfort+, I'm surprised AA has beaten them to it.

lowfareair

I doubt it, if only because 1) They are retiring a decent number of them 2) It is not mentioned in the press release and 3) The space they would have to take up (it would have to be 2-2 rather than 2-3) reduces seat count per row by 33%. Compare that to 787s (22%), 777s (20%), and the A330s (12.5%, estimate), and you can see that 33% is really high to justify pulling seats.

I'm just looking forward to (hopefully) being able to redeem for PE on CX/JL in the future, coupled with slightly better J availability on partners (as more AA FFers choose to redeem for PE).

ashill

Indeed, it's great to have the option. That said, the one time I paid to sit in W instead of Y (on BA), I wasn't particularly happy; the comfort difference is not all that significant. But that's good from the airline's point of view; I can't imagine anyone who is thinking about paying for J saying "but there's premium economy; that's a good enough substitute for J".

I hope that there's some less-than-SWU option for upgrading into W. I think making 500 mile upgrades usable to upgrade into W would make a lot of sense, and I don't think it's completely unrealistic. But I'm probably too optimistic.

For mileage upgrades, I'd expect the participating airline awards to be a good model for the expected mileage to upgrade from premium economy to business (ie 12,500 miles with no copay North America to Europe). They may not be a model for discount economy to premium economy or for the effect on discount economy to business upgrades, though, since AA miles can't currently be used for upgrades like that on BA or any other airline with premium economy.

stewlevine

And the word from AA
http://www.aa.com/i18n/urls/premiume...premiumeconomy
Already seeing it promoted in their twitter feed

sinanju

Is it safe to assume that MCE would be plowed under to make room for this?

swy

Probably won't happen, but it would be cool if we can use stickers to upgrade from Y to PEY (even for international).

Longhornmaniac8

The release mentions PE and MCE, so I don't think so.

Phoenixtinct

Another question comes up - since this is an international only product, what cabin will the domestic segments book - Economy? International Business and First tickets have the domestic segments in First but I doubt a Premium Economy ticket will also book in First domestically. Can anyone shed some light on this?

KBMIFlyer

It appears MCE is staying:

http://hub.aa.com/en/nr/american-air...remium-economy

dw

They say it's staying, but no details on whether the size of the MCE cabin on the widebodies will be reduced.

I wouldn't be surprised, however, if as part of the PEY reconfiguration, MCE on all 777s is switched to 3-4-3.

lowfareair

The Press Release indicates that the 789 will have J/W(Prem Eco fare class)/MCE/Y.

If so, is there any other airline/aircraft combo that has 5 distinct classes (F/J/W/Y+/Y)? Unless AA removes F from the 77Ws during the conversion, they will have 5 classes. (I consider MCE separate from Y as it is a class with purposeful extra legroom in places extra legroom isn't required, such as an emergency exit row)

ashill

Economy is what W tickets with connections book into on other airlines, including AA when connecting to BA and QF, so I'd definitely expect economy (perhaps with complimentary domestic MCE).

dw

Probably Economy... though perhaps they'll let people reserve seats in domestic MCE with an international W ticket. If you fly BA over the pond in WT+ and connect onto an intra-Euro flight, you sit in coach.

sinanju

Well, if MCE is staying, my guess is that it will become synonymous with "Exit Row/Bulkhead".