Air France is introducing Premium Economy seats on flights between New York and Paris. It plans to roll out premium economy on other long-haul flights between the US and Europe. It’s about time. People who used to fly business class are not willing to pay business class prices anymore, but they are willing to pay an amount between economy and business in order to get more legroom and roomier seats.
EVA Air, a Taiwanese airline, does Premium Economy very well. I flew EVA Air to Bali from San Francisco this month. The flight from San Francisco to Taipei took almost 12 hours so having more legroom and a seat that reclines enough to allow me to sleep made all the difference in the world. I arrived in Taipei refreshed and took the connecting flight to Bali (5 hours).
I don’t know what’s taken the airlines so long to do what EVA Air has had for a long time. But according to the New York Times, the new economic reality is forcing airlines to rethink the entire model of charging massive amounts of money for business class.
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