Opinions on Premium Economy....

[boeing737-700]

Hello all,

I have this question about the best (perceived) Premium Economy class when travelling from London to Sydney.

I have the choice between Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Qantas. It should be added that prices are near identical.

Are there significant difference between the VS Airbus 340-600 and the QF/BA B747-400 (Airbus 380 on selected flights)

I see that the seats on QF are 19,5" wide as opposed to 21" on VS.
On the 747 the seating is 2-4-2 and on the Airbus 340 it´s 2-3-2

How about service, intertainment, noise etc.

Thank you very much for any input.

Best regards,

[PAXboy]

I do not know the Sydney route but have used BA + VS on the Johannesburg and Cape Town routes for over ten years. Last trip to JNB was with BA in August.

If seat width is important than that gives you the answer. For a choice, I would say that VS just takes it ahead of BA but only slightly. The advantage is to do with the new cabin décor, wider seat and general 'refreshing' of the PE cabin.

Service and food are almost identical with service depending (as ever) on the particular crew and circumstances of the sector. I will happily travel with both of these carriers in PE/WT+ again.

[keltic]

I used VS Premium Economy to Hong Kong, and I did over BA because I could choose the seat in the reservation process, and the meals and service are a little bit improved compared to Economy. On the other hand VS offers something BA doesn´t: decicated check in the airport.

However the leg rest at VS is quite unfortable. Doesn´t give full leg support.

[wub]

Flown BA World Traveller Plus to Singapore many times. Good value. No dedicated check-in, food the same as economy but you get served before them. Seat is pretty good but note that the seats are individual, in that there is no moveable armrest, so you are stuck with the space available, even if you are lucky enough to have an empty seat next to you.

[intortola]

Have used both VS and BA in Premium Economy a number of times and i prefer VS, the last flight i did with VS was superb, was actually better than BA in club world which i have also done recently, the seats dont compare to club world but service and crew attitude certainly did.

[Doors to Automatic]

Do you get a better meal with VS compared to the Y Cabin?

I also hear good things about the QF product. Food is like Business Class and seats are excellent.

[redsnail]

I would spend some time looking at Seat Guru. We used Prem Econ on Virgin Atlantic to HKG and SYD. (We paid for an upgrade to Upper for the return trip)

If you can get row 18 on Prem econ with Virgin then it's great. Row 19 has a missing window.
It is better than economy though.

[sea oxen]

I flew WTP to Sydney and back six weeks ago.

Outbound it was QF. First rate. Comfortable, enough leg room for me and the crew were very accommodating. My FF card gets me my own checkin but there was one there for PE anyway.

The return leg was BA, and a different story. The legroom was constrained, the seat uncomfortable and the cabin stuffy. Contrary to my experiences in the past with BA, the service was rather poor. This may have been due to a prolonged period (> 2 hours) having engineering work done in BKK before departing.

At the time I booked, it was 50% more than economy, worth it for the QF leg alone.

Baggage allowance was 46kg. Fantastic, I was able to repatriate quite a bit of gear from here.

SO

[mmurray]

Recently did premium on QF A380 Syd-Lon and return. Very pleasant. Drinks on seating. Nice food. No sitting around for hours waiting for your tray to be collected. Lots of room. Reasonably access to toilets. Sitting in the seat I could only just reach the back of the seat in front and could only just get my feet under the seat to the back of the front of the next one. I'm 180cm / 85 kg. Laptop power not working on the trip out. Not quite as comfy as Business but a lot, lot, lot better than economy. I just have to think of an excuse for the next work trip ...

Michael

EDIT: Forgot the only downer. Your screen is in your arm rest so has to be stowed on landing so you can't watch the landing from the camera in the tail which you can in economy. I did that a few months back into Heathrow and it was really amazing. But not amazing enough to make up for the other 24 hours of claustrophobia.

[sea oxen]

mmurray

Yes, I forgot to mention: these were 747s.
QF:
* very welcome pre-takeoff drinks.
* I'm 190cm and the legroom worked although I'd avoid the bulkhead (I moved there for the leg from Singapore to accommodate a couple). Seatguru also shows you where the IFE boxen live
* laptop power wanted a European plug - which I had - always take an adapter
* Justification: you can offer to pay the differential yourself if your boss is a Scrooge. Even after a direct flight you should be capable of working for a few hours - I was, anyway
* quieter than BA. Bad for QF, great for us.
* IFE was great - usually not that interesting to me, but there was a rich selection, including Borat :ok:

BA:
* I believe that the BA config seemed to have an extra lavatory - this eases the crush in the crucial final 20 minutes of cruise.
* was offered an upgrade to Club at checkin heading out from SYD to BKK; at £375 it seemed a bit steep. If Mrs SO had been along, or were it SYD-LHR I'd have probably been talked into it

I cannot comment on VS as it's only ever been business class to the 'States.

SO

[Dairyground]

I don't fly in longhaul premium cabins very often, so my limited experience may not be too relevant.

However, on a BA B767 from TLV to LHR today, the WT+ seats were very comfortable and appeared to be fairly new. Service and food were both very good and seemed rather better than in WT. This was an improvement in all respects other than service from my experience a year ago on a 747 or 777 (or possibly one of each) on a trip from from LHR to NRT and back. The seats then appeared to be the same as in Club World in the early 1990s, and matched the rather tired look of the cabin.

If the 767 setup is now common across the BA fleet, then I will be quite happy with the BA product on a trip to SIN in a few weeks time.

[backseatjock]

737-700 - my vote goes to VS for Premium Economy as the seat width and standard of in flight service has the edge over BA, for me.

[CornishFlyer]

Just so you know, the food in WTP is the same as WT for BA. You just get served first so should be guaranteed your preferred choice and have your wine in glasses instead of plastic beakers :ok:

[smith]

It is better than economy though

The mere fact that it is called Premium Economy would infer this.

[TightSlot]

Actually, it would imply it - but please don't infer anything from that (sorry - couldn't resist)

[Runway 31]

On our return from Sydney in February of this year, my wife and myself opted for premium economy on QF on an A380. We really enjoyed the experience and both slept really well for the first time on a flight. Even at £641 each to be upgraded, we felt it was reasonable value even if just for the extra leg room given that it was such a long flight.

[BA 77]

Having flown on both VS and BA, I would say that BA is the better of the two premium economy products. Both are good and for such a long flight the extra-legroom is great. As for my advice, if timing is not an issue then go with BA but if VS offers better convenience and timing is an issue, then go with them. (I think BA has about 4 flights a day to Sydney, not sure about VS)

BA 77.