Upgrades

[Beriltheperil]

Does a move from BA's economy class to their World Traveller Plus equate to an upgrade. In my view the difference is only the seat pitch. The service is the same as economy.

So, what is the difference between the move from Economy to am emergency exit seat, than Economy to World Traveller Plus? :confused:

The change in fare is fairly substantial, but you aren't gettting anything more than if you sat in economy at the door?

Beril.

[Cluster One]

Slightly wider seats and more recline than WT.

[Pax Agent]

If you sit at the door you get the hordes of pax queueing for the loos!
In WT+ you get a wider seat.
Added recline. Footrest. Tray table is in armrest not on seat back so you dont end up wearing you food when they recline their seat! :}
The cabin is smaller and very quiet...CC get to you first with the drinks service and the meal service so you get your choice of meal and more time to sleep...you get games on the IFE system and also in seat power for your laptop and a built in skyphone.
Not worth alot but a little nice touch is the wine in WT+ is in proper glass glasses. Like I said nothing more there than a nice touch tho.
SO quite a few things and yes is deff counted as an upgrade!

[teleport]

Pax Agent got it spot on.

If falling asleep in econ. is a no-no, then WT+ offers hope. In my case primarily down to pitch & width.

Is it worth paying for? Hm, very subjective.
But say an employer will fund WT+ and not biz class, then I'd definitely go for it.

[PAXboy]

I choose the WT+/Premium Econo upgrade whenever I travel on my own account. Once in awhile, I can afford Biz/Upper but not that often. The WT+/PE might seem like little on paper but wait until you try it.

I recall a trip to JNB a couple of years ago in PE. During the night I felt a bit cramped and got out to stretch my legs. I thought, "Why did I pay the extra money?" I then walked down the length of the aisle and through the Y cabin. My eyes nearly popped out when I realised that I had all too easily forgotten how little space there was in Y as I saw folks scrunched into awkward spaces!!! :eek:

I stepped smartly back into PE (on VS) with a renewed sense of appreciation for the money spent and the service it produced!! :ok:

[BOFH]

So, what is the difference between the move from Economy to am emergency exit seat, than Economy to World Traveller Plus?

Emergency rows are often shared with babies in the central row of the cabin. Industrial hearing protection should be carried. Moreover, all your gear must go overhead.

Having said that, it's vastly preferable to being squeezed further down the cabin, and nice to chat with the CC when they are in their crew seats.

BOFH

[Beriltheperil]

Thanks All, take it must be the same for most longhaul carriers?

[Final 3 Greens]

No, most don't have premium economy.

You either pay for J or suffer Y.

[PAXboy]

As I understand it, SAS were the first to introduce the Half-Way-House and they call it Economy Extra.

It was realised that Biz had moved a long way form where it started and in many cases, First no longer existed, as Biz was now better than First used to be.

So they created a cabin that was almost the same as 'Club' was when it was devised to sit between Economy and First. The seat size and pitch are very similar to early Club.

I think that Virgin Atlantic were next with Premium Economy and then BA with World Traveller Plus. Other long haul carriers doing this are: NZ, ANA, BD, Eva, Singapore, Thai and there may be more but those were listed on a well know seat comparison website. Bear in mind the cost of developing and promoting a new cabin across the fleet is enormous. BA now have four cabins in many of their long haul a/c.

As with all things, improvements are made and VS have just expanded their PE cabin with seats been made slightly wider, new upholstery, crockery and so forth. Seat recline has been increased slightly but not seat pitch. I hope to have that on the machine that will take me to JNB in April. (No, I don't work for them, I had to pay some actual cash!)

I gather that, when VS were planning PE they called it Middle Class, to match with Upper Class, and that this was the name until only a few weeks before hand when they thought that it would be divisive and went for PE. Anyone know if that is true?

[Cyrano]

Paxboy:

I remember VS's product as "Mid class" - but they did later rebrand it as Premium Economy.

Here's a blast from the past in the form of a 1992 International Herald Tribune article (http://www.iht.com/articles/1992/11/13/freq.php) talking about the "recent" launch of Mid Class by Virgin Atlantic. Interesting that the article describes both Virgin and Emirates as "niche airlines". :cool:

[Tolsti]

I flew with Orient Avia from Moscow to Vladivostok in 1995. They had 3 classes... Business, Standard and Economy. In Biz you got a big seat, Full size bottles of champagne (Russian) wine (Georgian) and liqueurs. In Business Class you boarded first and exited first... even when the Boney M troupe were in Standard Class... They had to do a rerun of the official welcoming ceremony when I appeared first!!!!

[RealFish]

In addition, the other WT+ benefit are the miles that you'll earn compared with the cheapest Y fare.
e.g: my recent upgrade to 'down under' and back earned me 26,000 BA miles compared with 5200 I would have got in econ. This means a 'free' return trip anywhere in Europe (or to most US cities during the duration of the BA half-price rewards sale that ended last week).

[pacer142]

No, most don't have premium economy.

You either pay for J or suffer Y.

Or think of it this way - any carrier that has premium economy has a motivation to make their normal economy worse. Two of the main culprits are Virgin and BA, which both have horribly tight economy seat pitch and decidedly patchy service. OTOH, Malaysia, who don't have PE, have the best normal economy I have ever used on their 777. Good pitch and width and great food.

I'd say the same thing about business class - it's more likely to be better if the airline doesn't have a first class, as they won't then design first and make business slightly worse.

[Conor.P.M]

As I understand it, SAS were the first to introduce the Half-Way-House and they call it Economy Extra.
I've been flying between Heathrow and Copenhagen every week for almost 4 years now so I'm very familiar with SAS. The class you're referring to is 'Economy Flex'. The level of comfort on SAS's short haul fleet has as much to do with the aircraft as the class of travel.
On the MD-80 series there is no difference in pitch or seat width in any class. In Business class the middle seat is reserved, but as the seat layout is 2x3 this is only an advantage if you sit on the right hand side of the aircraft.
On the A320 Series (319 & 321) there is no difference in pitch in any class. In business however, the seats are wider (width adjustable seats) as they are configured for 2x3 rather then 3x3. The Economy and Economy Flex seat are identical.
The only real difference between SAS's two different Economy class is that a cold meal and drinks are provide in Flex whereas food and drink are available for purchase in Economy. Additionally, Flex tickets are fully flexible and you can use the fast track queues in Scandinavia. You also collect more frequent flyer miles/points. (I suppose it also guarantees that you won't have a screaming P&W JT8 in you ear if you're on one of there MD-80)
From my perspective, there is no real reason to fly to Economy Flex within Europe. The seat is the same, the food is not great (in fact on most ocassions I would rather purchase the food from the economy section then have the free food in flex). When availability is tight, or I need a flexible ticket then the Route deal negotiated by my employer makes Flex worth while, but it is possible to get fully flexible economy ticket for less then an 'Economy Flex' ticket.

[eastern wiseguy]

Anyone flown with ANZ in their economy class?.Mrs EW and I are off to HKG from LHR in June. I was pondering an upgrade if it wasn't madly expensive but was told that they have the best economy pitch in the business....so should I bother ....or buy a couple of suits instead:p?

[Crowe]

ANZ economy is one of the better ones, 34" pitch like Thai, whereas BA/VS etc are a knee crushing 31".

Their premium econ on the 747 is great though, it's upper deck and gets improved catering as well as the larger seat. There again for the money you could probably get biz class on Etihad or Qatar which is much superior.