shirlw

Can anyone tell me what differences there is versus bog standard economy......Is it worth the extra bucks and is it available on all long haul flights/airlines ?

Kingseat

Never flown it but it seems that on the Qantas and BA flights (with tht exception of the A380) there are only approximately 12 seats in your cabin so it should be lovely and quiet. I think you get a bigger seat, better sized TV and different food adn drinks. Never flown it though.

Bossfishy1

Dont bother luv go economy!

billymacker

[QUOTE=shirlw;8427635]Can anyone tell me what differences there is versus bog standard economy......Is it worth the extra bucks and is it available on all long haul flights/airlines ?[/QUOTE

Its crap just go business

bcworld

No it's not available on all airlines.

Between the UK and Aus I think it's available on BA, Qantas & Virgin. It's also on Air NZ if you fancy the long way around.

The pick of these I reckon is Qantas...never tried it but it looks like a really nice product. The worst of these I would say is BA...you do get a wider seat and more legroom but that is the only difference...the rest of the service, food etc is as per economy.

You can expect to pay about twice as much as economy though...worth shopping around for a cheap business fare which might not be much more.

Qantasflyer

Really depends on the airline. On some airlines such as BA and JAL, you get a wider seat but everything else is the same as Economy. On others like Qantas, Air NZ and Virgin Atlantic, it's more like Business minus; aside from the larger seat, you get enhanced food, business class beverages and snacks, nicer amenity kits, and dedicated cabin crew. Of course, fares are also a lot more expensive on the latter products. Personally, I reckon BA is more than adequate for shorter regional flights (such as MEL-SIN and back), and on longer flights I'd rather pay for Business on some of the cheaper airlines such as Finnair (which in many instances isn't much more than what Qantas is charging for PE). The other reason why I would consider paying for PE is the relatively low level of frequent flyer miles required to upgrade from PE to Business, on sale fares this can work out really well.

Cathay Pacific has also announced their PE product, providing another PE option for travels between the UK and Australia. As they're also a member of oneworld, you can also collect miles with them if holding Qantas or BA FF memberships.

shirlw

Thanks for all the replies,we will ultimately be flying out of South Africa so would have to do a bit more local research on which airlines have this service.What shocks me is the minute difference between a one-way ticket and a return, litterly a few pennies.

Bermudashorts

I am not too bothered about the food and entertainment, the thing that I really care about is leg room and not feeling so squashed in, so for me the 6 or 7 inches of extra seat pitch are worth paying extra for. I think there is slightly better service due to being in a separate section, but nothing to get excited about.

One thing to consider though is that the arm rests are solid in PE, so if you are fortuante enough to have an empty seat behind you, you can't just raise the arm rest and lie over two seats, you are confined to your one seat even if the whole row is empty! My husband, prefers to take his chances with economy for that reason. We have only used British Airways PE, maybe the others have different seats.

Pollyana

I've travelled Premium Economy on Qantas a couple of times longhaul - well worth it. Its virtually as good as Business as far as seat pitch goes, plus you get the Business style seats with decent armrests etc. Menu also is almost the same as Business Class.
I do it by upgrading using FF points so don't know how the price compares, but I'd say its worth a go, much more comfortable than economy.

shirlw

oh bugger I hate not being able to move that arm rest outa the way !

shirlw

Thanks Polly not much of a FF and usually use whatever airline is cheapest at the time so not much chance to build up FF miles with a particular airline.In S.Africa the airmiles earned on credit cards for the ordinary citizen is negligible too.Ah but I do have some vouchers from Virgin by way of an apology for a dreadful experience flying to UK in December hmmm.

Alfresco

Yeah you always get ripped in S.A.

London to Brisbane for four of us (Adults) in September:-

Return : £3655

Oneway:£2246

Diff of: £1400 = R15 540

shirlw

That sounds expensive,it cost me just a tad more than that to fly to Brisbane from Durban last year for 3 adults and 2 kidsreturn.........

It will just be soooooooo worth buying that one-way ticket one day tho' so I never have to return.