Hi,

I was actually upgraded to PEY last night on SQ335. My guess is that they upgraded everyone with status but even tough only 10 seats were taken.

I had booked my usual 31K seat and only realized once on the plane that I was upgraded :-). During OLCI the seat map was showing as the usual Y 3-4-3 setup. I guess they got the plane and simply used it. (it was empty by the way even in Y).

Now just as a quick review taking into consideration that we only got the hard product. Everything else but the seat was the usual economy experience:

Would I pay to upgrade from Y to PEY based on my experience ? : No

I'm 1.93m tall and while the extra space leg is enjoyable, I get the same in Y just by asking at no additional cost with a success rate exceeding 90%. Due to my size it's not comfortable for me to sleep in the reclined position. The onboard video system is a little faster than the one usually found in Y and the size and screen equivalent with the one in J. I do not drink on that route (nor do I on SQ336) and get every other of the premium perks as part as my KF status ...

I'll most probably enjoy the experience when I get a free upgrade but will otherwise save my miles to enjoy upgrades to J instead.

M

I wonder what the PY redemption rates will be. We all know that if J is 2x of Y, and F is 3x of Y. So PY? 1.5x :confused:

given the limited number of seats onboard PEY, I don't think they will even open up SCL for redemption..

I just completed my first PE trip on SQ and I wanted to report with my impressions, also compared to NZ since I flew SQ327 and NZ281 back-to-back.

Overall the PE product affords a superior level of comfort at a reasonable price point for SQ standards. Food, service, and hard product are a step up from Y. The IFE (which BTW is a touch screen, others reported otherwise) was the worst part of the experience, with continuous reboots which made it impossible to actually watch a movie from start to finish.

However, I found NZ's PE product to be superior to SQ's in every aspect.

So is it worth it? As others have said, it all boils down to price. A 50% premium over an economy fare is IMHO justified, but for more than that one should take a hard look at the competitors or at cheap J fares.

Finally a remark: upon arrival our priority tags had been removed from our luggage, and I can only imagine this happened in SIN: has anyone experienced a similar occurrence?

Couldn't agree more. SQ took forever to offer PY and it is a pretty weak product in comparison to what other airlines are already offering.

I think the main problem with SQ's Premium Economy offering is that they focus on useless gimmicks (such as unlimited Champagne) to justify the 2x price difference whereas a carrier like BA gives something more more meaningful (100% increase in baggage allowance).

I flew in the cabin late last year and I can't say I was impressed (Review and pictures here on my blog if you're interested!) and I'd rather save the money by flying normal economy or just save a little more and fly business!

To me I think I'm the opposite tbh.

I travel very light so the extra baggage limit means little, especially when you also have *G status that gives you even more allowance.

For work flights & leisure travel on overnight flights, I wouldn't want to fly in PEY however given the better food & booze on the PEY product, I think I could perfectly fly a daytime medium to long haul on this and enjoy the flight, much more so than I would have if I was flying plain Y.

I understand what you're getting at but for a medium/long haul daytime flight, PEY makes even less sense. I think it's easier to bear with just going for normal economy, especially as SQ's economy is rather good for what it is.

Referring to my previous post I just got off another SQ flight in PE, this time on an A380. The IFE is indeed not a touchscreen on this aircraft. The screen is matte, as opposed to the glossy screen of the B777 which also functions as touch interface.

Catering ex-AKL absolutely appalling.

So, my wife and I need to do CDG-SIN-SYD in April for business.

I've never flown Singapore in my life and have always wanted to... this seems like the time to do it, particularly since my company will pay for PEY.

That being said, the reviews here aren't great... generally speaking, most folks don't seem excited about the product.

I tend to fly UA in either E+ or C (if I can snag an upgrade). My memories of Asian airline from 2008 are very positive: I loved flying Thai, Malaysian, even Cathay in economy back then.

I'm interested to know what folks think: should I look for other PEY options, or will SQ PEY be enjoyable?

It's much more enjoyable than Y, and since you are flying with your wife you will very much appreciate the privacy that comes with not having to share your row with a stranger. It does not compare to a lie-flat bed in C (even on UA), but IMHO it's worth a premium over Y. The question is how much, but since you are not paying for it you don't really have to worry about that (btw my answer is 25% over the cheapest full-earning economy fare).

The food is Y food, so don't expect anything amazing, but since you can use the Book the Cook you can choose in advance what to have.

If you want to stay within *A I think your other options in PE are to fly NH or CA. I think CA's product is PE in name only, as it's more similar to UA's E+, and NH's product looks nice.

A quick search on the matrix reveals that AI offers CDG-DEL-SYD for the price of CDG-HND-SYD on NH - if you don't need to stop in SIN you might want to look into that.

If you are used to UA E+ than SQ PEY will be a significantly more pleasant experience from a hard product and soft product side. No comparison in my book, but tastes differ. I would even go so far and say that aside from seat width it is even better than regular domestic F in the States (outside of Virgin America F or JetBlue Mint or the AA/UA Transcon products).

Cheers ...

these are both very helpful replies. Thanks, Malmostoso and demue. If we are going to do CDG-SIN-SYD, then SQ PEY seems like the way to do it.

There is now a good chance that we will need to go via the east coast of the US, likely though SF. May drop the Singapore segment.

If we go from US, the best PE would seem to be Air New Zealand. JAL and ANA are both well reviewed, as well.

Appreciate all your help. I need to find some reason to fly SQ soon and moving to Sydney makes it all the more likely.