Premium Economy categories in airlines

There is a new class of service emerging in the aircraft cabin. It fits between economy and business class, both in amenities and price. It offers a better seat, more legroom, priority boarding and fancier meal service than coach.

The only catch is, you cannot find anything comparable on any American airline.

Although “premium economy” fares have been available on some foreign carriers for more than a decade, a handful have raised the ante recently by carving out a separate cabin in their aircraft for business travelers on a budget and leisure travelers willing to pay extra for a more comfortable flight. Demand for premium economy seats may actually be helped by the slowing economy as companies tighten their spending and restrict business-class travel.
Virgin Atlantic overhauled its premium economy service last year, the new British Airways airline OpenSkies started its prem-plus cabin in mid-June, and Qantas Airways and Japan Airlines plan to introduce their premium economy services on routes to the United States later this year.
“It’s a smart business move because there’s been what I call class creep on an airplane,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst with Forrester Research. “What’s now called business class is almost what first class used to be. So premium economy is more like what business class used to be back in the 1980s, akin in many ways to U.S. domestic first class in terms of legroom.”
In fact, the economy cabin has fallen so far in travelers’ esteem that OpenSkies is calling its middle cabin prem-plus — avoiding the word “economy.”
“It’s not premium economy,” said Dale Moss, managing director for OpenSkies, just after the carrier’s inaugural flight landed at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York two weeks ago.
Describing the airline’s prem-plus cabin, which has 28 seats with a roomy 52-inch pitch (the distance between the back of the seat and the seat in front of it), Mr. Moss emphasized, “It’s a business-class seat as opposed to a business-class bed.”
The leather seat is 20 inches wide and reclines to a 140-degree angle (flat would be 180 degrees) with an adjustable leg rest and lumbar support.
OpenSkies currently flies one Boeing 757 aircraft between Paris Orly airport and Kennedy and plans to add five planes on routes from New York to Europe by the end of 2009. Prem-plus fares start at $1,650 round trip, including taxes and fees, through July 4 and then will rise to $2,256.
Although a 757 typically carries 200 or more passengers, OpenSkies has 82 seats, with 24 in business class and 30 in economy. But that breakdown may shift depending on customer response to each cabin, Mr. Moss said.
Given the economy and the response to the premium economy concept on other carriers, this new middle class may have found its moment. Virgin Atlantic, which introduced its original premium economy product in 1992 when companies were downsizing after the Persian Gulf war, redesigned and expanded that part of the cabin last year.
Chris Rossi, the airline’s senior vice president for North America, said the airline has seen less corporate “trading down” lately, yet premium economy bookings have increased 20 percent over the last 10 months.
Virgin Atlantic’s premium economy seat is 21 inches wide with a 38-inch seat pitch and includes priority check-in, priority boarding and baggage claim, a preflight drink, an amenity kit and enhanced meal service.
British Airways also offers a separate premium economy cabin, called World Traveller Plus, which was introduced in 2000 and recently got a makeover with new fabric cushion and headrest covers and upgrades like noise-reducing headsets. Its seats are 18.5 inches wide with a 38-inch pitch. On both British Airways and Virgin, premium economy fares from New York to London start at $1,891, including taxes and fees.
Across the Pacific, Japan Airlines and Qantas Airways both introduced premium economy cabins last fall, and plan to extend them to flights to the United States later this year.
Japan Airline’s premium economy service will make its debut on its Tokyo to New York route on Aug. 1, featuring a “sky shell seat” that reclines within a stationary hard shell to avoid encroaching on the traveler seated behind.
In November, Qantas Airways will introduce its premium economy service to flights between Australia and Los Angeles. The new cabin is priced at about twice the economy fare and half of the business-class fare, said Lesley Grant, a Qantas group general manager.
Frank Schnur, vice president for advisory services with American Express Business Travel, said the company has seen more interest in premium economy among its corporate clients, particularly since the beginning of the year.
But carriers in the United States do not seem to be embracing the concept. While United Airlines has Economy Plus seating, it offers a few more inches of legroom than economy, but not the upgraded seat.
While acknowledging the financial challenges that American carriers face, Mr. Harteveldt attributed their absence in this arena to lack of interest in passengers outside the expensive cabins.
“People will pay an above-average price for something that’s tangibly better, so kudos to the airlines that recognize this,” he said. “The ones that don’t are going to wonder, ‘Where did my profitable customers go? ”

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