dchen2

The PE seat, both dimensions wise and sitting in them first hand, feel like sitting in a USA domestic first class seat. The pitch, and especially the extra shoulder room is much appreciated.

One of my biggest pet peeves is the USA carrier economy plus/main cabin extra has extra legroom but the same shoulder bumping, armrest fighting narrow width as regular Y. But then, on the other hand, the USA carriers offer those Econ plus free to their elites and only $50-160/flight more buy up for non-elites vs CX/BA/QA charging 50-90% more than regular Y.

BearX220

I fear visitors to the US opt for "premium economy" on US carriers expecting something akin to what they're used to on CX, AF, BA, etc. and then are pretty nonplussed by the actual product (branded Economy Plus on UA, Main Cabin Extra on AA, and Economy Comfort on DL). It's just another three (or so) inches of legroom, and generosity will vary depending on aircraft and seatmap. It's pretty lame in comparison.

For the reasons you cite I would rather be in a regular coach aisle seat than an "Economy Comfort" middle seat squashed between two big guys. Then again I was on a Delta transatlantic service a few months ago in a half-empty "Economy Comfort" cabin, had a middle row to myself, and it was 75% as comfortable as business class.

zorn

I am in the middle of a YYZ-PER-YYZ trip just now, and for various reasons including cost, product quality and comfort, schedule, and declining FF benefits with *A given my travel patterns, it became obvious when booking the trip that YYZ-HKG-PER return in Premium Economy was the best choice. Here my impressions.

Economy class was available for ~2000CAD and PE was available for ~3600CAD. I decided that 400 per long haul flight for extra space was a reasonable premium to pay.

I was booked on CX825/CX137 on an E fare but decided I want to delay my departure, and the 50CAD change fee was quite reasonable, and the fare was actually a little lower, so the change was less than 30CAD.

CX829 is the only flight leaving YYZ T3 after midnight, so check-in and security were never going to be an issue. But a dedicated PE queue was available that I suppose would have been useful if required. I only had a laptop bag as carry-on, but having read about limited bin space on the 777 I had my ears peeled for the pre-boarding announcement, which included status pax and the J and PE cabins. Space was tight so I was glad to board first. There were many families on this flight as this week is a school holiday, and I suspect many of the PE pax were unaware that priority boarding was available to them.

I wanted a back row seat so that I would not be asked to un-recline during meals, so I was in 33E. I was offered water, OJ, or freely available champagne on boarding, so naturally I chose the latter. Aside from that, the extra space, some sice headphones, and the fact we ate what was merely airplane food before all the others, everything was as expected. This particular 77G had a few loose parts here and there. A metal or plastic plate was hanging from the bottom of a seat in front of me, and my headrest was partly detached from my seat which was unfortunate. But I slept for at least 7 hours, so I definitely got my money's worth on this flight.

I had 8 hours at HKG which I spent in the Plaza Premium lounge, which I do not regret. I had a shower, lots of food, and a comfortable place to sit.

The next flight was CX171. I was on a 33G, and also in seat 33G, with two empty seats beside me this time. A glass of champagne, some airplane food, some sleep, and some IFE followed for 7-odd hours. Everything was fine.

I don't anticipate much to be different on the way back at the end of the week.

Overall, given an ultra-long-haul followed by a long-haul flight, I felt that the cost difference was worth in. In principle I could be working right now if I weren't on FT telling you about my flights. I don't think I'd be in as good shape had I been down the back in Y. And I'm not sure I would feel substantially better had I been in J part or all of the way, apart from the feeling of superiority I would have had over everyone else on the plane and not just almost everyone else on the plane.

Some have mentioned how it would be nice to have a dedicated FA for the cabin, but I don't see how that would realistically work. The cabin is so small, and there is no way to gracefully get from one side to another. I had no difficulty getting their attention for a cup of tea after I woke up.

What could be improved? The food was OK, but might have been better. I'm not sure how that would would work, again given the size of this cabin. I would have been nice to have priority baggage handling, since the benefit of getting off the plane first was negated by having my bag come out randomly with those of the hordes from the back, and there ended up being quite a line to get out of the airport.

sl0uch

So what happens if you paid for premium economy on a regional flight, and there was a last-minute swap to equipment with no premium economy?

Can one expect any form of compensation at all? I wouldn't expect compensation on TPE-HKG, but what about other intra-asia flights? :P

Apologies if this has been discussed -- searched several times over weeks and came up empty.

TalkFlyer

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cathay-pacific-asia-miles/1544754-change-aircraft-prem-eco-down-eco.html

sl0uch

Many Thanks! Clearly living up to my screenname here.
Looks like it's time to bail on CX then.

kaka

what status do you have? they seem to have upgraded me more often than the other way round when i am not seated in PE

mitwg

Could you confirm whether this is just for the pre-departure drink or whether it is available all flight?

I've never flown on CX PE but I was always under the impression that it was just 1 drink so I'm a bit curious on this.

kaka

for my LHR flight in jun13, i had the impression it was for the flight (you can request it)

percysmith

For my Syd flight in sep 13, welcome drink only. Wasn't offered in the drinks round (I had a whiskey and soda).

zorn

It was not listed on the PE menu.

I don't know what would happen if you asked for it anyway.

Carfield

Yes long haul premium economy class will feature champagne as one of the pre-takeoff beverages. Sometimes if the plane has a short turnaround time and F/As don't have time to finish the beverage service before takeoff, they will bring out the champagne during the first round of beverage service.

But regional premium economy does not feature champagne or any of the "upgraded" meal services publicized on the website!

Carfield

sxc

Upgraded meal services are only mentioned for long haul flights. They have subtly altered the wording, the implication being that none of the below is offered on regional flights.

percysmith

Further reinforces my belief that short haul PE is just an overpriced Y bucket.

Perhaps they should rename it Premier Economy, in line with Turbojet http://www.turbojet.com.hk/en/premie...r-jetfoil.aspx . It's closer to that than Premium Economy as other airlines implement it.

mitwg

So from what we have so far, it seems like the champagne service is technically supposed to be an welcome drink only, however with the the crew having some discretion of serving that later in the flight.

I hope I don't sound like a DYKWIA here, but I think champagne has sort of become an integral part of flying for me and many others here (especially if it is their fantastic Billecart) that the lack of the bubbly was one of the biggest downsides of Y for me. This is more the case when considering many of us have lounge access pre and post flights which means that block of flight time is the only time without access to this goodie.

On a daytime flight, I think a PE seat would be comfortable enough for me to happily sit in for a medium to a long haul so if CX is able to make this a more official thing, I reckon it'll be a fantastic development and personally, something that would have me consider flying PE more often.

But I guess there's also the effort to not dilute their J/F products so much so maybe that is a bigger decision than just cost alone.