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Economy Plus


rinshin

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We fly between SFO and NRT at least 1-2 times a year. The frequency might increase after 3-4 years. We have decided that we are done flying regular economy for longer than 4 hour flights and really love JAL's economy plus.

 

Any other airlines with something similar in leg room? From SFO to any location in Europe or other parts of Asia?

 

We are willing to pay 3 times the cost of economy or thereabouts.

 

Thank you!

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I think you are talking about premium economy on JAL. This is not the same as Economy Plus on UA. E+ on UA offers you up to five extra inches of pitch, but no other additional services. If you have no status with UA, you can purchase an annual pass for two people for $349; it certainly will not cost you three times the cost of regular economy.

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We fly between SFO and NRT at least 1-2 times a year. The frequency might increase after 3-4 years. We have decided that we are done flying regular economy for longer than 4 hour flights and really love JAL's economy plus.

 

Any other airlines with something similar in leg room? From SFO to any location in Europe or other parts of Asia?

 

We are willing to pay 3 times the cost of economy or thereabouts.

 

Thank you!

British Airways "World Traveller Plus" is a premium economy section on all their longhaul flights. Virgin Atlantic has a similar premium economy product (both SFO-LHR and beyond.)

 

Thai Airlines has a premium economy service on their flights from LAX to Bangkok.

 

EVA (Evergreen) flies with premium seats on all their flights to Taipei (from SFO, LAX, SEA) and on other long-haul routes beyond TPE.

 

SAS has premium economy service to Copenhagen.

 

All Nippon Airlines has it to Tokyo.

 

Both Qantas and Air New Zealand have premium economy to Oz and NZ.

 

I may be missing some but that's the bulk that I'm aware of. If others know more, post it here.

 

If you're willing to spend 3x the coach fare for a premium economy seat, you're well inside the range for business class fares in many cases. For example, if you're willing to connect in Vancouver, next month a business class trip can be had from YVR to Madrid, Paris, or Frankfurt for $2250 - $2400 RT, using British Airways, Air Canada or Lufthansa respectively. By comparison, for the same dates a BA premium economy fare from SFO to those cities will be around $2300-$2400, which in my mind is not especially competitive.

 

Also from Vancouver, RT business class fares in the $2600 - $2800 range can be had on AC JAL or UA to Tokyo or Hong Kong.

 

So don't limit yourselves in thinking premium economy when a minor route variation (or a couple hundred bucks to fly to Vancouver) might let you ride in business class for the same money or less.

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I think you are talking about premium economy on JAL. This is not the same as Economy Plus on UA. E+ on UA offers you up to five extra inches of pitch, but no other additional services. If you have no status with UA, you can purchase an annual pass for two people for $349; it certainly will not cost you three times the cost of regular economy.

 

 

Yes, premium economy with more leg room and better service in general. Don't want to spend 5+ or so for business, but willing to spend more for a little more room for us.

 

United economy plus does not seem like they are that roomy, but I haven't really checked.

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British Airways "World Traveller Plus" is a premium economy section on all their longhaul flights. Virgin Atlantic has a similar premium economy product (both SFO-LHR and beyond.)

 

Thai Airlines has a premium economy service on their flights from LAX to Bangkok.

 

EVA (Evergreen) flies with premium seats on all their flights to Taipei (from SFO, LAX, SEA) and on other long-haul routes beyond TPE.

 

SAS has premium economy service to Copenhagen.

 

All Nippon Airlines has it to Tokyo.

 

Both Qantas and Air New Zealand have premium economy to Oz and NZ.

 

I may be missing some but that's the bulk that I'm aware of. If others know more, post it here.

 

If you're willing to spend 3x the coach fare for a premium economy seat, you're well inside the range for business class fares in many cases. For example, if you're willing to connect in Vancouver, next month a business class trip can be had from YVR to Madrid, Paris, or Frankfurt for $2250 - $2400 RT, using British Airways, Air Canada or Lufthansa respectively. By comparison, for the same dates a BA premium economy fare from SFO to those cities will be around $2300-$2400, which in my mind is not especially competitive.

 

Also from Vancouver, RT business class fares in the $2600 - $2800 range can be had on AC JAL or UA to Tokyo or Hong Kong.

 

So don't limit yourselves in thinking premium economy when a minor route variation (or a couple hundred bucks to fly to Vancouver) might let you ride in business class for the same money or less.

 

Thank you very much for this information. I was not aware that ANA offered premium economy class from SFO to NRT. I must have missed the information on ANA site.

 

Great to know that you can fly from Vancouver to European cities and to Japan, Hong Kong for those prices. We would not mind flying out of Vancouver.

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ANA's premium economy seating between SFO-NRT on the B777 is in a dedicated section with wider seat width & pitch (distance AWAY from the seatback in front of you) in a 2-4-2 configuration.

 

It's a Star Alliance partner so your mileage/status will be available on United, US Air, Singarpore Air & others - which meant that if you fly twice a year or more, you can easily rack up 25,000 miles needed annually with bonuses & promo to earn Premier Status on UA with priority boarding.

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ANA's premium economy seating between SFO-NRT on the B777 is in a dedicated section with wider seat width & pitch (distance AWAY from the seatback in front of you) in a 2-4-2 configuration.

 

It's a Star Alliance partner so your mileage/status will be available on United, US Air, Singarpore Air & others - which meant that if you fly twice a year or more, you can easily rack up 25,000 miles needed annually with bonuses & promo to earn Premier Status on UA with priority boarding.

 

What does this mean? Lots of promotions and bonuses are only applicable if you are actually flying on UA metal, and you will not receive them for mileage credited to Mileage Plus, that you actually flew on ANA.

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I may be missing some but that's the bulk that I'm aware of. If others know more, post it here.
I think that bmi (formerly British Midland) operates a premium economy cabin too.

 

In constrast, United's "Economy Plus" is most definitely not a premium economy cabin.

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You are? That is way above the "value" of economy plus.
That's a very sweeping statement, which surely can't be true in every situation.

 

For example, World Traveller Plus can usually be had for about £200 per sector if bought in the UK.

 

There have been times when a round-trip ticket to New York has been as low as £150.

 

If you get WT+ for £450 round-trip (which has also been seen), then you are paying 3 times the cost of economy to get WT+.

 

Yet that is only £150 extra per sector, which is a pretty good value premium to pay to get into that cabin. And standing back, most people here would reckon that £450 round-trip for WT+ is good value, however you slice it.

 

So to suggest that 3 x economy is "way above the value" of a true premium economy is just too sweeping a generalisation.

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http://www.seatguru.com/charts/premium_economy.php will give you some idea of what the various Premium Economy sections provide. The are not all listed (United's isn't listed, but imho, neither does it deserve to be). However, if you look under the specific airplane for each carrier, you can see most of them.

 

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/United_Airlines/United_Airlines_Boeing_747-400_B.php for example, gives the configuration for United's 747.

 

The blanket stated made by another poster than this middlish section is not worth X, is way too simplistic. Some of these Premium Economy seats are worth considerably more than others. They should NOT all be compared to United's and the other low end options.

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Quite right, as Economy Plus is not premium economy.

 

I agree. I was asked to upgrade to UA's Economy plus and didn't think it was worth it. When I got on the plane, I was upgraded anyway. It was VERY uncomfortable. Lots of legroom (because you're in the front row of economy) but the same sized seats as regular economy. The armrests don't move and are solid all the way down to the seat and so there is no wriggle room on a long flight.

 

Not worth the money and actually they should pay passengers to sit in those rows.

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I agree. I was asked to upgrade to UA's Economy plus and didn't think it was worth it. When I got on the plane, I was upgraded anyway. It was VERY uncomfortable. Lots of legroom (because you're in the front row of economy) but the same sized seats as regular economy. The armrests don't move and are solid all the way down to the seat and so there is no wriggle room on a long flight.

 

Not worth the money and actually they should pay passengers to sit in those rows.

 

I would have to add to your post. E+ consists of the front section of seats in Y; not just the first row. If you were in the first row, you were sitting in the bulkhead seats, and all airlines that I am aware of have fixed armrests for these seats. Again, it's not considered an upgrade; if you didn't pay for this, your flight was full in regular Y and you were moved up. Lots of people pay willingly to have these seats.

 

One of my favorite seats on an A320 are in row 6. Tons of legroom, better than F and no one reclining into your face. You are also one of the first off the plane, which is always a plus for me. I find these seats very comfortable. But, true, they are not wider than regular seats, and if one was a larger person, perhaps they would miss being able to raise the armrest.

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No, what was correctly said is armrests in the front (bulkhead) rows do no fold up. Since there are no seats in front, the table trays have to fold into the armrest. So the armrests are a storage bin for the table trays and cannot fold up. This is often the case in exit rows, too.

 

Check www.seatguru.com All UA aircraft are on the site.

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No, what was correctly said is armrests in the front (bulkhead) rows do no fold up. Since there are no seats in front, the table trays have to fold into the armrest. So the armrests are a storage bin for the table trays and cannot fold up. This is often the case in exit rows, too.

 

Check www.seatguru.com All UA aircraft are on the site.

 

 

However, all of the rest of the Economy Plus seats do have armrests that fold up because they don't have the tray table hidden in them. :rolleyes:

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I agree. I was asked to upgrade to UA's Economy plus and didn't think it was worth it. When I got on the plane, I was upgraded anyway. It was VERY uncomfortable. Lots of legroom (because you're in the front row of economy) but the same sized seats as regular economy. The armrests don't move and are solid all the way down to the seat and so there is no wriggle room on a long flight.

 

Not worth the money and actually they should pay passengers to sit in those rows.

 

Thank you for the very detailed description, including that the armrests (in the front row) don't move.

I like to sit sort of sideways sometimes, really don't like to sit in the exact same position for the entire flight.

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Thank you for the very detailed description, including that the armrests (in the front row) don't move.

I like to sit sort of sideways sometimes, really don't like to sit in the exact same position for the entire flight.

 

I think it's that way with the front row (bulkhead seats) on almost all airlines, not just United.

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