In late 2015 American announced that they planned on adding a premium economy cabin to much of their longhaul fleet. While the airline has long offered an extra legroom economy section, this is the first time they’re offering an actual premium economy cabin. American has been retrofitting their longhaul planes at a surprisingly fast pace,…
Continue reading: American Reveals 777-300ER Premium Economy Plans
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Are those actually MCE or just seats available for elite members? Did they take out a row behind the PE section to increase the leg room starting at row 20? I don't get how that would be possible given they have the same number of seats before and after the reconfig.
even if econ can continue upgrading to biz, those upgrading from PE will be far ahead in terms of priority, so it would become that much harder.
Regular Econ upgrading to J for non-EXP ? pretty much forget it unless you're flying on 12/25.
I actually like MCE on the 777-300 when SWUs don't clear. This is a big loss for those of us rolling the dice on waitlisted SWUs. The question will be how AA prices PE once they formally add it as a fare class.
The other question is how badly do they devalue the award chart to fit PE in as well?
Why are rows 20 and 21 2x4x2 while the rest of the economy is 3x4x3? Your calculations suggest that rows 20 and 21 are NOT prem economy. Maybe they're MCE? Am I missing something?
i think it’s pretty much written on the wall that SWUs will be a one class upgrade. Goodbye to Y to J upgrades unless it’s a 763.
As far as a devaluation, would love your take. Worst case scenario, they follow DL in which some airlines will be placed in a T1 earning category and airlines such as QR being in a T4 category.
Im going to miss the 3-3-3 MCE mini section on the 77W, I think its one of the best Y seats in the world. I actually dont mind sitting in this seat for 9+ hours.
Hey Ben,
Not related to PE, but have you seen AA’s new holiday video? You should write a post about it since you share holiday videos across the industry:
100% upgrades from Y will only go to Premium Economy. Customers can pay the fare difference to Prem Econ without a change fee then wait-list the upg to J.
Employees have already been trained and AA is waiting until enough aircraft have been reconfigured before making implementing the change.
Great observation on the one cabin upgrade option for systemwide upgrades. Time will tell.