I LOVE IT!!

We are over 120 posts on a topic that came about because a guy sat next to a guy who told him E+ was coming!

I hope it is true but I'll believe it when I see it.

Economy Plus
 

Whether or not E+ is coming to CO, I have no idea.

But here are a few points to make about E+:

1. In 2007, Glenn Tilton announced that E+ had generated over $100 million in incremental revenue for UAUA in 2006 (http://www.united.com/speech/detail/...,58617,00.html). This is before UA attempted to generate revenue from this product in a serious fashion.

By 2007, UAUA announced that its "options" program, which includes E+ (and other buy-up products) was generating $220 million in incremental revenue (http://www.united.com/speech/detail/...,59128,00.html).

In 2008, that figure had increased to over $300 million, but I am unable currently to find the url for this release

2. B6 has a similar product, which is calls Even More Legroom (EML). This consists of 4 rows of seats with 38" of seat pitch (comparable to the seat pitch on most domestic FC in the U.S.). This is a buy-up only program. B6 reports it earns $40 million from this product:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...ssengers_N.htm

3. These type of E+ products consist of ordinary economy products with additional legroom as the only extra amenity.

For those of us who have flown E+ or EML, one of the issues is "seat jumpers" who sneak into one of these seats from an adjacent E- row when the f/a is not looking .

4. This is different from Premium Economy, which is available on a number of international carriers. Premium Economy is basically a type of business class lite. It's a separate product, usually with its own cabin, better catering, etc.

PE varies in terms of comfort an amenities, but it's often quite a bit more costly than even the full Y fare.

Premium Economy is currently available on:

AF, NZ, NH, BA, BR, JL, KL, QF, SK, TG, VA, and VS. Some of these carriers feature PE on only one a/c type, on others it's available on their entire longhaul fleet.

5. Were CAL to add E+, they would almost certainly not take out any FC. It would not only be much easier and cheaper to remove rows of Y, but keeping the full inventory of FC, allows the carrier to keep the high-yield FC inventory and/or F inventory for FC. Since CAL already flies with FC virtually always full, there would not appear to be any reason to remove FC rows.

When B6 modified its A-320's to include its EML section, the changeover was made in about 2 days per a/c, during standard maintenance.

6. Knowing how desirous CAL is of not losing seats, E+ could be added on its domestic fleet by increasing E+ pitch to 34" and reducing E- pitch to 29" (which already exists on a number of other U.S. carriers). This would be a mixed blessing, obviously.

UA 1K's would be able to book the 29" seats, right?

You should also look at the numbers from VX's special seating program. It's actually built into the fare - and with the difference in service, I'm not sure how they control seat poaching.

I don't think CO should just do E+. What they should do is set aside a few rows with extra legroom and additional perks and build a premium fare add-on package around it during the booking process....

1) extra legroom
2) larger complimentary meal including one beer, wine or mixer
3) free DirecTV/WiFi (on equipped flights)
4) pillow/blanket
5) guaranteed overhead storage space
6) EliteAccess privileges

VX charges as much as 5x their regular base fare for their 'Elite package', which is roughly half their F fare.

Of course, but they would be behind CO's PPE, plats, golds, silvers, UA's GS, 1k, etc...;)

If CO is really considering E+ they should just remove 1-2 Y rows per domestic a/c...I certainly hope they wouldn't go for the 29" seat pitch.

But knowing them, I certainly wouldn't rule it out...

Agreed. VX's premium Y product is a lot more like int'l PE...but I have a very hard time seeing CO going for something like this given the corporate mantra of simplicity and commonality of product...

The VX premium seat is the exact same seat as every other on the plane - no product difference except legroom. They selected the exit rows and bulkhead row to sell at a difference fare and include a package of add-ons to make it more appealing.

I don't know how many of these seats they sell at the going rate, but it would be interesting to know - and might offer a hint to CO.

Yes, these VX "select" seats are the bulkhead and exit rows, so in that sense they're not at all like PE. But the fact that there is all that additional soft product makes it closer to PE.

I cannot see CO adding all that extra soft product for a Y sub-class, even if there is a potential for incremental revenue.

Except for the upgraded meal (VX just makes its onboard menu choices free), the soft product I've listed out already exists - it's just a matter of packaging the items into a price level that would trigger buying while maintaining a decent cost margin. No different than offering free checked bags to PPlus card holders.

Personally, I think there is a huge, unmet demand for an E+ on CO. The more amenities you can bundle into this E+ the more you can charge for it, similar to what VX does.

As long as you keep the price point reasonable, this would be an excellent revenue generator for CAL.

E+ On A 787
 

With the 787 coming at 9 across in coach, it would be nice to see E+ with 8 across and a 34 inch pitch.

Maybe it's the 787 (and only the 787) that the original rumour was about. At least only the 787 initially.

E+ and row renumbering?
 

Is it possible that the renumbering of the seats on 757-200s and 737-800s shown on seat maps from June on is in preparation for E+? I realize that increasing the numbers at the back doesn't jibe with reducing the number of rows in the front of economy but maybe they are trying to make a clear numeric separation about where regular coach starts on each plane.

Just speculation . . .

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...rows-june.html

Nothing is so "great" about it, other than it's better than regular coach. 3" more leg room is a lot, it's the difference between your knees being in the seat back in front of you and not.