Premium Economy

[Ex Cathedra]

Seems like we're charging into the premium eco bandwagon as well.

Cathay warms to premium economy - Business Traveller (http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/cathay-warms-to-premium-economy)

Weren't they saying recently that the way people travel had been profoundly and durably changed during the crisis blablah and that they wanted to increase the number of coach seats because no one would pay for premium seats ever again in this lifetime...?

[Humber10]

we already have premium economy, only difference is we call it regional business class. :}
In fact i've sat in competition premium ey and it is far superior!

[geh065]

Rumour is that when the new longhaul business is introduced, the current coffin seats may be fitted into the regional fleets. There is also a new longhaul economy seat in the works (without the fixed shell back) and the current longhaul economy seats will be fitted to the regional fleet. The only thing not changing is first class.

[A. Le Rhone]

Coffin class is great if not a bit narrow, way better than the previous seats. No complaints as long as a truly horizontal seat is available.

As for the economy seat it's a disgrace. It doesn't recline and is as hard as a rock. Whoever dreamed that disaster up should be made to endure it for 24 hours non-stop. If ever there was a product to drive away passengers that disgraceful seat is it.

[Captain Dart]

Coffin class is dreadful, unless you are of short stature and can sleep on a picket fence. Hard points ('circulation stoppers') in the seats that guarantee a wakeup every half hour, 'bed' not long enough (cabin crew etc in aisle ratchetting against your feet as they walk up and down), not to mention matey next door slamming his TV screen into the partition centimetres from your head. Duvets are too short so you'll get cold feet.

No way to see out the window, sickening in turbulence due to the angle (inner ear tubes not at ninety degrees to the aircraft axis), and try reading a newspaper in the narrow confines of your 'coffin'.

If you've seen all the movies and killed all the space invaders, it's sensory deprivation that as a business class passenger, you've paid good money for!

[cathaychap]

I actually don't mind the Coffin Class seats - they are an improvement on what was there before and I'm not the tallest - but unfortunately they're light years behind what the likes of SQ, EK, QR offer. I never thought I'd say it but EK J is magnificent. Their F Suite is more than a little hideous however. Even the VS seat, which CX J is based on, is miles better, which is odd given the CX version is supposed "new and improved". I heard it's supposed to be six inches wider than it actually is. Anyway...

Sad to say it but a significant percentage of premium passengers have gone elsewhere as a result. It's not the economy, stupid. It's the goddam seats. The new Y seats are OK in small doses, but God help you if you're in a longhaul 744 with two other people in your row.

I hope the rumours are true and that they'll be new longhaul products online soon. "I'm flying Business Class with Cathay Pacific" should be something people want to say. At the moment it's: "I'm flying Business Class with Cathay Pacific because I couldn't get availability on SQ or EK."

[AAIGUY]

That's what has me dying laughing since the new seats coinciding with the poor economy. All my banking friends still travel, they simply choose other carriers. Uniteds new flat beds are all the rage among them. They are happy to give up our Mongkok girl service for a better seat.. they're sleeping anyway for most of it. The J class wines are a joke. I serve much better stuff as table wine, the J class meal got horrible, but I will my last LH flight they were improved. (that may have been the destination catering though..)

CX /KA lose business based on the crap we offer. We have the schedules and routes. Our seats and service are now below par.

[christn]

So is your grammar!

[ManfredvonRichthofen]

I travel to HK from London a lot. Usually Y, sometimes J.
This was always with CX. Now it is never with CX, the main reason being the seats.

The arabs are wiping the floor with CX in this regard. I'd even rather go on VS

[The Wraith]

Doesn't matter, in this case, what the grammar is like. The fact is that we have an attrocious product which is trying to compete with the likes of Singapore, Emirates etc.......and we are losing hands down. Our management are so busy being the small men they are and trying to screw our staff every which way they can, because our management derive from the darkest corners of the most reprehensible underground areas of Hong Kong, that they have lost the ability to manage and provide the service which we profess to sell. And of course, they are too arrogant and stupid to make a proper decision in the first place, or to admit when they have made a mistake. The accountants think that cocking it all up and installing a cheaper product and then having to change it all and install something better second time round is good economics.... In Noddy Land maybe. Let's strip the paint off the Freighters, despite Boeing saying it won't work, because we are Cathay and we know more than the aircraft manufacturer. Of course, Boeing was right and we stopped stripping the rest....but any admission of being wrong? Any repainting of stripped freighters? Of course not....because the "little" managers would never admit fault....even though the entire workforce holds them in utter contempt.
Of course, this could all be conjecture!:ugh:

[BusyB]

Flights are always full to and from LHR so seat quality doesn't seem to matter there anyway:confused: