Rykoshet

I'll be spending about 30-40 hours on EVA and I'm wondering if the upgrade to Premium Economy (Elite) is worth it over regular Economy? It's only a few hundred more so I'm considering it. Is there anything more to it than extra legroom?

hayzel7773

There is improved legroom, wider seats(2-4-2), Elite pax only restrooms, Zone 2 boarding, Elite tagged baggage(comes after priority, before economy), bigger meal trays, and improved food offerings. It's basically premium economy.

djjaguar64

We are flying to SIN with EVA and will book premium as its only CAD $161 more than M fare. We will book P fare. And we are both Star Gold, not that it makes a difference.

Rykoshet

Are you flying out of YVR? I'm looking at YYZ-BKK and it's a good $500+ more for P fare. Could not find YYZ-SIN for that cheap an upgrade either.

djjaguar64

We are leaving from YYZ to SIN o/w and it depends on your departure dates as well.

fone

I quite liked the Elite class, that said, I've only traveled on exactly 1 leg on elite. Travelling SIN - SFO - SIN, SIN - SFO was severely delayed due to typhoon and I was put on UA to SFO. Only took SFO - TPE in elite, which was so much more comfortable than UA. I was op-up for TPE - SIN (either due to *G or the fare class I bought or both). Have not taken BR in normal economy class yet.

As my seat mate puts it, it is like the very old kind of international business class or domestic business class seats for few hundred dollars more from economy class.

username

In the 90s, it was a no brainer when the difference between NYC and TPE was around US$200. Then it went up and now it is really a lot more (like $600+ even from the west coast). So, it comes down to how you value the extra amount you have to pay.

hayzel7773

Is it really that much now? Haven't flown Elite/Economy in years. I remember when I was a kid and we took Elite, it was about $300-400 difference from SFO.

melampus83

Really depends when you are booking the ticket and what fare class you are comparing to. If you can book into their cheapest fare class for economy compared to elite then yes you could see that big of a difference.

Generally speaking though if you're comparing the higher economy fare classes it's much closer like 300-400 in most cases I see, sometimes could be less for long distance.

sibelius

I'd say it is all about the seat. Not tried regular Y yet (catching BR315 later tonight) but I don't think the additional dish you get in Elite is worth any serious money. But I did sleep for a couple of hours on AMS-TPE, which I almost never do in Y on any airline, even if I'm in an exit row. Looking forward to going back in PL/RL though . So never really compared the fare to regular Y.

On this routing a P fare seems to be only EUR 90 more expensive though (one way). I'd say that is a no brainer. It's a somewhat unfavourable routing though, with a forced stopover on the way back, and on the way there too on most days. But there are some half-decent hikes and you can finish the day in a hot spring before heading back to the airport!

royng

While Elite class is certainly more comfortable than economy for long-haul, it depends on how much it costs relative to other products. I haven't checked Elite price lately, but last time I checked in Oct 2016, HKG-NA route it was HKD$17,000-ish, even higher than AA business class fare (~HKD$16,000) when on sale (hints: check premium fare deals thread often).

Even when it was around HKD$10,000 I still considered that bit expensive with respect to eco fare at ~HKD$6,000.

billlwr30

I'm 6ft 3in, 250lbs and have back problems. The small amount of difference, between cattle and Elite, in legroom, seat width, and guaranteed armrest makes a world of difference to me.

I won't even consider cattle class for long hauls. I'm not wealthy but the $300-500 difference(RT) is, to me, well worth it to avoid the torture of being cramped in an Economy seat for 16+ hours at a time. That would be even more physically, and mentally, exhausting than 16 hours in Elite.

The food? The amenities? I'm not sure what the difference is between Elite and Economy and, frankly, I couldn't care less about them. The slippers? Walmart has the same ones for $1. The food? I've never heard anyone rave about the food on ANY airline, in ANY class. It's a non-issue for me.

For a few hundred extra? Try it. You can always fly economy next time. You won't want to but you can. And, of course, when you do, you'll be thinking about how nice it would be for that extra couple/few inches when you first sit down in cattle class and look forward to the next 16 hours.

ORDnHKG

If you are willing to pay up to $500, you should really be looking at buy up for airlines like AA and UA, as for those the buy up cost for US-Asia are constantly at $660, which is the cost to business not premium economy.

I had never seen any US-Asia routes on BR's elite class cost only $300-$500 more than the lowest Y fares roundtrip, if so I would have tried it already, it is always at around $800-$1000 more, basically around $1500+ range while the cheapest Y ticket is about $800 or less.

TennisNoob

Hmm I will ask next time what the buy up is from Y to YQ on BR from IAH-TPE. 16.5 hr flight the buy up from Y to J was 1k even.

username

Here is the UA thread for buy-ups: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...rture-tod.html

The 777 3-3-3 Y is not terrible if you are not too wide and get an exit seat. 3-4-3 might be a different story. The original spirit of Evergreen Deluxe was that "pay a little extra for a lot more" but now it is a whole different approach.