Carfield

Hi all,

Just to start a thread discussing your experiences with Cathay Pacific premium economy service! I am curious on your thoughts and maybe we can all share our thoughts and hopefully CX can improve on it in the long run! I flew both the long haul and regional PE, and long haul ones definitely have works cut out for CX, but the regional ones seem to need more help!

I flew TPE to HKG on CX 469 yesterday! It was on B-HOP, a four-class Boeing 747-400. The premium economy seats were pretty good especially Row 30. 30A has huge legroom and additional legrest that can be extended. However it won't be too useful if you are taller than 5' 10"! I can report that "in-arm" PTV works. There was priority boarding before regular economy passengers. The luggage allowance is 25kg.

However, the on board experiences were no different from regular economy. As sxc the moderator pointed out, Cathay Pacific has already pointed out that these new regional products will only mean better ground service, slightly better luggage allowance and a better seat. Of course, noise-canceling headsets were still provided because of the plug issues... But catering is the same as Y.

I knew about it before boarding, but after flying it, I felt that CX needs to either drop the price a bit (not only random promos) or just give it a little enhancement. Something that tells people that it is an upgraded economy experience.

Start from something easy:
1. Have a dedicated premium economy F/A! Just have him or her greeting passengers and hanging coats!
2. Curtain has to be closed between PE and EY during flight! It is a different product and CX has decided to sell it this way, so the curtain should be closed after takeoff! Someone should make sure PE passengers deplaning first!
3. The mentality of the F/As need to be changed - that applies to long haul flights! I don't care how the F/As feel about it personally, but this is a premium economy product. So they need to see it that way. People are paying extra $$$ so you need to be more proactive in working that cabin. Not having a dedicated PE F/A continues to be an issue. Maybe CX can give a little incentive for F/A to step up to this position! Give them little extra $$$ or benefit! CX is never going to add one additional F/A to do the PE service, so give a little $$$ or benefit. As of this point, most F/As don't see PE as an additional revenue stream for CX and it might be the future for business flying. They see it as a nuisance and additional workload. They don't feel proud about this product.
4. Catering - for a flight between HKG and TPE, it is cheap to not even offer a tea and coffee service for the whole Y cabin. A pack of oolong tea is just cheap and it is such difficulty to offer maybe an option of offering mini bottled waters.
For PE, I think it will be nice to offer a full beverage service, or at least offer some choices of juices, soft drinks, and water. Or offer a hot tea and coffee service! Also add a biscuit/a piece of chocolate to the meal! (26 biscuits or mini kit kat bars will not take up too much space or add too much weight!) Something that is cheap and easy! For intra-Asian flight, I think offering a business class style entree is not too much to ask, especially CX J catering is not really particularly fancy. Steamed chicken with mushrooms is not fancy to begin with. Even if they don't want to do a J entree, just offer a little additional something - maybe bottled waters and/or some ice cream service after meals! It does not need to be Haagen-Dazs but a small tub of Movenpick ice cream or even a Dairy Farm ice cream cone will be nice! You have to remind passengers that you are flying PE! I just feel that if I am paying $4000-5000HKD oneway PE from HKG to Tokyo, I don't think I am asking too much for a bottle of Watson distilled water or an ice cream bar!

I have two more flights coming up and will report back!

Anyway, Cathay Pacific still has some touch-ups to do regarding its premium economy product especially in the regional sectors! It is clear that the lack of a "clear" PE dedicated F/A makes all those marketing silly!

Hopefully this thread can help future potential CX PE passengers to make their decisions in future travel, and to share our thoughts in how to make it a bit better!

Carfield

Kachjc

points 1,2, 3 I found to not have been a problem on the A340 cabin

I do not know about the 777 or the 747 although form other TR's they appear to be worse.

well at least the A340 is better for 1 of CX's 4 cabins

correctioncx

I actually think CX might be the only airline that offers PEY on regional routes.

Whilst some of your suggestions r nice - don't think they will bother with it as it will create more costs and honestly who will pay for the regional sectors on its own. I feel that they r designed for pax who have a mid-longhaul connection

hau cheng

I'm not sure CX"s prem econ is worth the money on short haul routes .

KACommuter

Well at least one firm I know has downgraded its regional J class travel ex-HK to PEY because of availability, and another well known bank I know of is considering the same. So even if it was designed as a longhaul connection product, the market may choose to use it differently.

Kachjc

the market will also have to deal with lesser frequency of flights if they choose only PE ...

ANZ787900

First of all, I don't think it really matters between long haul and short haul Y+, regardless of how much you want to focus on it. There should be little variance between the products in the first place. And comparing it to long haul Y+ gives it some sort of basis to work from.

I think CX could learn a lot from NZ in the way their Y+ product is presented. The slight difference is that NZ doesn't have F, although there are many CX planes without F. NZ does put the premium into Y+.

1 and 3 can possibly be linked together - there should be a dedicated FA.. And I think they should serve them from the Business side rather than from the Economy side. It felt as though little attention was paid to the Y+ passengers once the curtains were closed off on my JFK-HKG flight - they were only really seen during meal times, water/snack runs or when someone pressed the call button (and maybe that was for noodles, which set off a chain reaction and plenty more started ordering them too). The FAs serving the NZ Y+ cabin also serve the J cabin. So that could cover number 3.

2. The curtains have been closed for both Y+ sectors I've been on (HKG-SYD, JFK-HKG). Maybe it's just a short route type thing - seeing that Y+ is a new concept to the bulk of the regional routes, maybe FAs just forget about closing them; not that they should or anything.

4. It seems to be ok for long haul flights. J meals mightn't cost too much more vs Y meals.. But the cost factor shouldn't be an excuse. People will pay J for the seat more so than the meal they will receive. It isn't exactly diluting the J product. I think they could be more consistent with the rest of their long haul Y+ service. And that's what the connecting passengers want - a consistent product right from their origin, through HKG and onto their destination.

tboons

HKG-SIN, find the PEY experience not value for money, especially with the pricing point. Good seat comfort, but really, the catering is the same as economy, and service disappointing. not worth the money.

*I was upgraded* but still, nothing worth to desire. i can sleep pretty well on QR economy class for medium haul, so why pay the extra bucks for the legroom with an average service and food?

CanucksHKG

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought there is 1 FA dedicated to PEY?
And then the rest are all from Y. Or is that for LH flights only....?

Surely, they are not that obvious...or there to hang your coats and stuff, but I'm pretty sure there is one...

AussieCR

As a J flyer now (both long haul and inter-asia under both Corporate and Private), there is nothing they could do to alter the Y+ product that would have me fly it because as you say the seat is key but also front of plane ambience and comfort when flying so much.

In general it seems more of a upwards step from Y then a backwards step from J (unless as someone stated there company forces it upon them - time to update the CV!)

nsolitude

I absolutely agree with all your points, Carfield. Flew PEY from HKG to JNB, and it was ghastly for the amount of money I have spent. The lacking of PEY-specialized lavatory and cabin crew were two sore points. Strangely, no elite recognition for anyone (met a DM+! next to me) in the PEY and Y cabins as well.

edit: I just noticed that the thread asks for regional flights...sorry!

Kachjc

NZ also has way fewer business class seats on its 777's - a much smaller cabin.

CX has no intention of diverting passengers away from business to premium, and the air NZ config is only sustainable on certain routes - HKG is a different world to NZ

ALSO NZ seems to also know the Asian markets are different- look at what they are doing to their 787's

correctioncx

Also I think CX is quite smart in the product differentiation. If they make PEY so good, no one will buy J Class, especially on regionals.

CX828

The reason why CX even offer PEY on regional routes is down to 2 factors:

1) CX is an all wide body operation and CX use long haul configured aircraft on all routes incl. regional. As a result of this it is possible for CX to sell PEY on certain regional routes - they might as well because otherwise these seats will be empty/and or be used for upgrades/oversold flight.

2) As all long haul routes now have PEY from a selling point it will be more attractive to customers connecting to or from a long haul flight to have the PEY seat for their regional connection.

This is why on regional flights, the product is only hard product, and there are no service differentiation's to Y. The PEY on regional flights is mainly marketed to those buying PEY tickets right the way through to long haul destinations. It is not really meant to be a product for people just booking e.g. HKG-TPE-HKG.

sxc

I also think that on regional flights, CX treats Y + PE inventory as one class, but if there are people willing to pay extra to secure a seat in PE, then CX will take the money. It's kind of like paying extra for an exit row seat - if people want to pay for it, CX won't leave the money on the table, and CX incurs no extra cost as the service is the same. If there are not enough PE seats sold, then they will just "overbook" Y and seat people there for free.