Revealed: Emirates Premium Economy, Refreshed A380 Cabins

Underwhelming in comparison to what was suspected to be their new PE seat. EK seems to think colours and finishes in an ad campaign will lure a customer but this is most certainly style over substance. I cannot imagine this is more comfortable than CX or JAL etc.

I don't care what the "faux wood, too gaudy" crowd is going to say. These interiors are gorgeous!

I actually like their new premium economy seats, and they are definitely an alternative to business class on shorter flights

Urgh, another premium economy seat with a "leg rest" that doesn't work for taller people...

The finishings are really beautiful and oh so elegant. No need to repeat that the seat in itself is just average. I wonder if Qatar is the customer for the HAECO seat. That would put it in line with their Qsuite.

I'm surprised though, that the number of First class seats remained the same. After going with fewer suites on their latest 777s (and other airlines like SQ too reducing the total number of F Seats) i expected fewer F Suites.

Disappointing that the 'new' cabins will feature on only a tiny number of aircraft.

@TLS

Most carriers don't have leg rest except in the front seat. So this is not a usual practice as far as I have seen. However, how about not lifting the leg rest? Wouldn't that work for taller passengers?

No info on the PY soft product? What will the meal service be like? Amenity kit? Etc.

@Nicola - Quite common with airlines in APAC. I have yet to find one that lifts up high enough to be of any help with my comfort in any way. Not using it is indeed an option, but then what's the point? I have a sofa at home that works better than all premium economy seats I've flown with regards to the leg rest.

faux wood, too gaudy

At least they toned down the cheap wood motif that they had on their older A380s which look extremely tacky

@TLS

If lifting your legs will make you comfortable (as a tall person) means that they should increase the distance between rows which means goodbye to value for money as it would cost closer to Business than to Economy. So this is a good compromise in my view. If retracted the leg rest will become same as BA or AA. If extended some of us will enjoy, but couldn't be possible worse than BA and AA without leg rests.

I wonder who choose the HAECO seats, the only middle Eastern carriers I can think of who would consider it would be Qatar Airways, Oman Air and Etihad.

Still looking for a premium seat more comfortable than Virgin Atlantic’s old upper deck 21 inch width deep leather in a 2-2 configuration. That was in many ways better than their business, but sadly as business cabins have improved premium seats are getting firmer and narrower. However it means I now book business, probably the airlines intention and why I am not surprised that Emirates did not want too competitive a PE product in relation to their ageing business product.

Will Turkish bring back its awesome Comfort Class?

As much as I am sad it wasn't Haeco this product still looks pretty decent and I assume the soft product will be top notch (when released - do we know when yet?) also Qatar could be Haeco launch product @Sam it does match the Qsuite but surely we would have heard something I wonder if the Haeco thing was just a rumour or didn't end up materialising.

I kept commenting that the HAECO seat wasn't it and that Emirates had chosen the Recaro seat months back. I'm a bit surprised you still sound upbeat about this new product as it is a complete let down from the HAECO seat. But good news, flyDubai will be getting the HAECO seat on their MAXs later in 2020 if their financial improve. Maybe I'll give the new premium economy seat a go on Jan 4 from London. I need a vacation after all this Tier 4 mess and I have some miles to burn. Hopefully my Platinum status will get me that seat instead of the usual upgrade to business.

@Nicola - I guess you don't do a lot of 12-14h+ plus flights? The leg room isn't the issue here, it's the fact that the leg rest is useless the way they've designed it, as it doesn't lift my legs off the floor. But seemingly you think I don't deserve having a functional leg rest so...

@Lucky, "While Emirates is great with fleet inconsistency in terms of the types of planes it has..." You do mean consistency here.

I'm sure a lot if not all of you would agree that it's an oversold, underdelivered seat. While it's not the seat itself that's the problem, it's how it was described initially. It was said to be a sleeperette, something revolutionary, yada yada. But on a personal note, while the faux wood finishes might be over the top much especially on the windows, I do like the seat covers. Reminds me of a Mercedes (then again, that's where they got their inspiration from). They could've chose a brown or tan colour for the seats to prevent stains from showing.

Nice work, Emirates!

However, quite sad that their business class has sweaty plastic seats (OK, plastics-impregnated stain-free leather, which is functionally the same thing) instead of nice breathable cloth. A cut below the best.

While I am not a fan of their interior design choices, I will admit that PE seat looks very comfy and looks like a seat I can doze off with minimal problems. 40" pitch, 19.5" width and 8" recline is above average, IIRC. Of course, this is only half the story - will the soft product be the same as Economy, or would it be like business-class-lite?

I think the cabins would look far nicer if they replaced the burled walnut finishes with the grey laminates they use in the upper deck lounge. Otherwise a subtle but much-needed improvement aesthetically. The new PE seats look generic but okay but I’m not a fan of their business seats at all.

Not as good as Air NZ which is yonkers old now.

It all depends on the pricing, which I think EK will do a good job off. AF, LH and BA all price PE too high and often doesn’t seem like a good middle ground between economy and business.

Who tests these seats ? No one - the leg rest and calf rest look useless unless you’re 4 feet tall - nice finishes but is that enough ? - let’s hope the 3 abreast seat on the 777 will be gone forever - I’m a bit disappointed

@TLS

in 2019 I flew three times to Dallas from Dubai. One direct and the other two via LHR, half with BA and the other half with AA. With EK in Business Class (plenty of comfort but 16 hours flight is tough though). The other two flight were 8+10 hours approx. Twice I had the chance to get the first raw seat with leg rest which makes a huge difference to me. Then I was also in the back seats without leg rest and it wasn't as comfortable honestly. So to answer your statement I did make 8, 10, 14 and 16 hours flights in all classes, including Economy.

This premium economy has a 40 in pitch . I think Cathay is only 32 in ?

@Experienced Traveller

Cathay's Premium Economy is 40" on their A350s as well as on their 773ERs. Maybe you were thinking of Economy?

@Steve-O:

You mention that Flydubai might get the HAECO seats on the 737MAX’s later in the year?
I am slightly confused as don’t they already have their 737MAX kitted out with the fully flat business class seats, similar to JETBLUE?

Damn this is all so underwhelming. Are we sure first got updated door height/suit width?

@Terence Marcelo

Hear! Hear! Gorgeous was absolutely the word that sprang to mind.

And glam too.

Well done, Emirates. Retrofit the fleet and you'll steal the show, against all those dreary black, blue, and dull grey offerings out there.

Can't wait to buy a ticket

I agree with @Frog, the product looks quite nice, the question will be the pricing. The price needs to be clearly closer to economy than to business. Otherwise I would rather alternate between flying economy and business class, if money is an issue.

@Claus

Tim Clark has been very clear on this. PE price will be closer to economy. These were his exact words. Honestly if I can get a ticket in PE from Dubai to Europe for 1400/1500$ in PE which means 6 to max 8 hours flight I think it's a good value. For sure better than Economy and better than Business. In terms of value for money of course. And for DXB / US I think price should not exceed 1600$ which is the average I have been paying on my last two return trips DXB-DFW via BA and AA.

@Nicola: It depends, for example I just looked up prices for FRA-ICN in October, which is a route I often fly. Prices for non-stop in Euro are:
Economy: 650 (Asiana)
PE: 1300 (LH)
Business: 2100 (Asiana and LH)

Looking at that, I don‘t find PE a good offer. I would either go for the 650 and simply endure the 10 hours, or I would pay the 2100 and get a really nice flight with a bed.

Not to ditch first class in this horrible period for airline-business, is quite remarkable and a clear statement towards the competition. The A380 shows, once more, a perfect diversification of EK's on board product.

@Claus

Prices are always variable and sometimes make no sense at all. So of course it depends from demand. If a specific carrier has the economy class full, then will increase drastically prices while other classes may remain unchanged or even lowered and of course vice versa. We are talking about an average situation.