MSPeconomist

ethernal

True, but at a $300 buy-up for 28 hours in the air, I'd probably pull the trigger out of pocket. That's $11/hour. I know that a lot of folks wouldn't, but the point remains that when you're selling seats at a firesale price, they'll get filled.

MSPeconomist

dcadwell

Agree. I would absolutely come out of pocket in this scenario.

ethernal

Agree, but you're bringing in some pretty strong edge cases here. There's only ​​​​​​48 Premium Select seats to fill here.

vincentharris

I will say in comparison to others (both sky team and not) the premium economy experience misses the mark on DL.

Eva is probably the best I have ever flown in and Virgin Atlantic is certainly a close second.

koreanair720

The China Airlines product on the 773 is stellar as well.
And if you are Skyteam elite plus you get all sorts of special attention you don't even get in DL F...

ethernal

Does anyone know if Delta's 777 Premium Select product uses the extra horizontal width of the 777, or are they using the same seat as the A350 with extra wide aisles? 8 wide on a A350 is pretty tight (each seat only has 1.75 inches more horizontal space than a 9-abreast 777).

You can have a good Premium Economy experience on an 8-abreast 777 - I don't know if you can say the same about an A350.

KevinDTW

One problem for now with PS is that an equipment change can mean losing the entire PS cabin. When this happens close to your travel dates, as it recently did to me, rebooking options can be limited or nonexistent, and you can end up with a different travel experience than what you wanted.

koreanair720

That's a really good point. Did they refund you the price diff if you got thrown into Y?

KevinDTW

This is on a CDG-ATL leg, so I believe EU 261's provision on downgrades will apply. If I understand correctly the refund for downgrade on a flight of this length should be 75% of the fare for that segment.

ethernal

That's actually a pretty good deal if that's the case. Wouldn't be as great for J, but if that applies to W->Y, you're at least getting a pretty cheap travel experience, if not the one you expected.

KevinDTW

This is a G to W downgrade from Premium Select to C+. As I understand the rule it's automatic: if you are involuntarily downgraded on a flight over a certain length the airline must refund 75% of the cost of the downgraded segment within 7 days of the flight. If anyone knows anything to the contrary or has any other thoughts on how this will play out I would greatly appreciate hearing about it.

24left

I don't fly DL as much as you all do but I'll share this bit.

DL and friends have added the Premium Economy cabin (or Premium Select as DL calls them) much later than many other airlines. It has been an interesting 5 years at least for others, including AC. They took delivery of their new 788s in 2014 and then 789s in 2015, which all came from Boeing with PE cabins. They then refurbished their entire 777 fleet to match these cabins..(I flew Premium Economy on the 788s in 2014).

BR, SQ, CX and LH, for eg., also have these cabins on their new aircraft and in some cases added them to existing.

I can tell you that for a major part of 2014 and 2015 and even into 2016, AC was often flying empty or with just a few pax in these cabins, especially on TPAC routes. Part of the challenge for each airline who has them is determining price point. For some, they might like to view PE/PS as the "new J" and a midway point to Y. But if the seats are priced too high, no one will buy. If the airlines don't differentiate this cabin enough with coach, then no one will buy. It's a bit of a magic formula that will need fine tuning.

There have been quite the number of complaints on the CX and SQ forums regarding this cabin and the seats and offerings.

Also, in terms of the DL and friends in the U.S. market, too many years have been spent selling seats called Economy Comfort and so on, which had some benefits like extra legroom. But marketing now needs to explain to every consumer who doesn't fly as much as FFs and FTers, what are the benefits of Premium Select and what exactly is offered, and why they might want to pay the price. It takes time.

I'm sure DL will figure out how to market and price this cabin and will eventually fill it and do well. It will be a combination pricing and communication. FTers don't represent everyone who flies, despite how much we may know or have experienced.

And yes, as discussed in this thread, time of departure may matter as well in terms of filling seats and overall expectations.

DL has made some very smart decisions over the years and things will evolve.

I would also add that given what I see on the airlines I fly the most, even if this cabin does well on one route, it may not fill as easily on another.

And yes, many employers do not allow anything over coach or even the lowest fare types like Basic. AC offers upsell/upfare (not upgrade) opportunities where many buy up to Premium or even Business and pay the difference between the lowest Y fare their employer allows. This makes life a little nicer on 15 hour TPACs.

CDKing

Even with the solo seat on SQ A350 XLR, i think I enjoyed the bulkhead on AA-789 much more with its real footrest. I have not flown the DL version yet but its the same seat as AA (and now UA)