Thai Airways is taking an interesting approach to how it’s selling the premium cabins on some of its newly acquired planes. It might just make for the world’s best premium economy product, or something, as flagged by Live and Let’s Fly.
In this post:
Thai Airways now offers flat bed premium economy
On its Facebook page, Thai Airways is promoting how it’s introducing “Premium Economy Plus.” As the airline describes it, “upgrade your senses for smoother journeys,” and enjoy “spacious seats, generous legroom, and exclusive services throughout your journey.”
This new product will be available as of October 26, 2025, on select flights from Bangkok (BKK) to Chennai (MAA), Dhaka (DAC), Hyderabad (HYD), Jakarta (CGK), and Kathmandu (KTM).
Interestingly, it doesn’t appear that “Premium Economy Plus” is actually for sale on flights to any of the above destinations yet, and I don’t see any other press release about this. However, this was posted on the carrier’s real Facebook page a couple of days ago, so I imagine this will be loaded into the schedule shortly.
So, what is Thai Airways’ Premium Economy Plus?
I sort of understand what’s gong on here, but I can’t necessarily make sense of the logic. Thai Airways recently acquired three Airbus A330-300s that previously flew for Virgin Atlantic, and the airline maintained those interiors.
Those former Virgin Atlantic A330s are equipped with 264 seats, including 31 business class seats, 48 premium economy seats, and 185 economy class seats. The business class seats are indeed in a herringbone configuration, like you’ll find above.
What’s interesting is that historically Thai Airways hasn’t offered any sort of a premium economy product, so that was only introduced with these leased planes (the airline does now plan to roll it out on a widespread basis, following the industry trend).
So on flights on the above routes, I currently see the airline selling just premium economy, and not business class. But when you go through the process of booking a premium economy seat, you’ll see the actual premium economy cabin, with seats in a 2-3-2 configuration.
So, why does Thai Airways plan on selling its business class seats as a premium economy “plus” product of sorts? Broadly speaking, I suppose there are two possible explanations.
One is that the airline doesn’t think this product is up to business class standards. While I’m not a huge fan of this herringbone configuration, I don’t think that’s what’s going on here, because this is a better hard product than on some of Thai Airways’ other planes.
I think the other possible explanation is that these are routes on which there just isn’t much business class demand, so the airline figures it’s better to save on soft product costs, and instead brand all the premium seats as premium economy instead. I suspect that’s what’s going on here, especially with markets like Dhaka getting this.
When I flew to Dhaka on Kuwait Airways several years back on a three-cabin A330, I was booked in business class. However, the airline seated business class passengers in first class, and used business class as “overflow seating” for economy class, given how little premium demand there was. So I suspect that’s going on here.
So I sort of get what the airline is going for, but I can’t imagine the airline will generate much incremental revenue by branding this as a premium version of premium economy. After all, markets with limited business class demand also typically have limited premium economy demand, let alone demand for a product that’s an upcharge above the standard premium economy. For that matter, having 79 premium seats sure is a lot of premium capacity in markets without much premium demand.
We’ll mark this as “developing” for now, but it sure is interesting…
Bottom line
Thai Airways is introducing Premium Economy Plus, which essentially seems to a rebranding of the carrier’s A330 business class on ex-Virgin Atlantic planes. The airline has both business class and premium economy on these planes, and is selling business class as a premium version of premium economy instead.
This is an interesting approach for the airline to take. I’m guessing this is in markets where the airline doesn’t think there would be much demand for business class, because otherwise it’s hard to make sense of this. At the same time, if there’s not much demand for business class, there’s also probably not much demand for a product that’s an upsell over premium economy.
What do you make of Thai Airways’ Premium Economy Plus?
It's a shocking business class seat and cabin layout. I suspect too many complaints.
Bangkok to Jakarta business class is nearly always full so demand is there but I for one will never choose to fly Business class and pay the premium in this configuration again.
Omg. Was that business class ?? No space at all....
I’m pretty sure there’s demand from Jakarta. Singapore Airlines flies 9 flights daily from Singapore and they are flying either the 777-300ER or the 350-900LH, both featuring premium-heavy configurations for this 1.5hour flight with over 40 J seats on each and the 777 even having F.
SQ isn’t even deploying their regional 350s on this route, let alone the 737.
There was a huge complaint from the passengers about this Business class product. So they relegated it into the so called premium economy plus. So it’s your first reason that is actually the case.
Finally, an airline delivering actual Premium Economy! This product was an absolute lie as "business class" and to the extent is coded and priced as PE, will get a LOT of customers. I am very worried about the a321xxx's that are being touted with these and similar seats as business class, because they absolutely are not. Notice to airlines: Start coding these seats as PE or people won't fly them (unless they absolutely need to).
I actually thought of lie-flat seats for Premium Economy, but unfortunately that will cannibalize Business Class. The best thing you can do is increase the pitch and deepen the recline akin to what you would get with a La-Z-Boy recliner.
With CXs Regional Business Class, can you really call the seat itself Business Class? The only thing you would get for such a short flight would be the extra miles along with lounge access.
Some markets charge significantly more in taxes and government fees on business class seats. I suspect that by selling these as economy plus seats, Thai maybe able to avoid those high fees.
These are all short to medium haul routes. It might be hard to sell business class on these routes and if they call it premium economy they might still generate some additional revenue without reconfiguring the aircraft (which also flies longer routes).
Maybe they'll just upgrade actual premium economy passengers to this cabin and use premium economy as overflow seating. Just a thought
So just to be clear, the ex-VS A330s will be utilized on the 5 aforementioned routes and business class will be sold as premium economy? Does that include F&B where everybody gets the same meal and drink? And I'm pretty sure that the ex-VS A330s will be used on other routes as well with business being sold as usual?
Did I get that right?
And what if an original TG A330 gets used in...
So just to be clear, the ex-VS A330s will be utilized on the 5 aforementioned routes and business class will be sold as premium economy? Does that include F&B where everybody gets the same meal and drink? And I'm pretty sure that the ex-VS A330s will be used on other routes as well with business being sold as usual?
Did I get that right?
And what if an original TG A330 gets used in lieu of an ex-VS A330 on said routes in case the latter goes tech, how would that play out?
Thai used offer premium economy on bkk-lax/jfk routes
Yes, as indicated in my initial post below, 2-3-2 with 42" of pitch.
@Lucky the reason is that there were so many complaints regarding the business class from customers that they had to make this a premium economy. Was confirmed in a press interview
But the good news is that upgrades will be cheap at check in to a lie flat seat so there’s that.
TG needs planes extremely badly and are taking anything they can at the moment with the Dreamliner leases set to expire...
@Lucky the reason is that there were so many complaints regarding the business class from customers that they had to make this a premium economy. Was confirmed in a press interview
But the good news is that upgrades will be cheap at check in to a lie flat seat so there’s that.
TG needs planes extremely badly and are taking anything they can at the moment with the Dreamliner leases set to expire (not all) next year. Heck, they are negotiating a deal right now to fly EX-AA A330s (7)
Additionally, going forward TG is going fully private which will be interesting. Gonna take some time though
From what I gather, they are not going fully private as the government will still have have a 40% stake; while not a majority, it's still significant.
And just an FYI, Philippine Airlines would be the only fully private airline in the region with everybody else being majority owned by their respective governments if not completely state-owned.
Yes, the govt still has a 40% share but the current management seem to be doing everything they can in trying to convince the govt to give up this share to allow the airline to thrive.
They mention it in almost every interview that they've recently done. So hopefully the government actually listens to them.
I got this configuration with Thai last week from Cgk to Bkk and sold as business class that time with full cabin, just one seat left, my first time and quite strange seat but have to admit in sleeping configuration was really comfortable, but zero storage and still neck pain on trying figure out window.
AirNZ persevered with this sardine can seat for way too long, until they realized it was hated by nearly everyone, who would avoid those aircraft as much as humanly possible.
I guess they amortized the cost structure and decided to get into the 21st century with more mainstream seats, which, even if they're a bit hum-ho are a vast improvement on the sardine can ones.
I guess, subject to pricing, they will have a bit of novelty value to TG diehards.
I'll just say, I flew TG intra-Asia a few weeks ago, and was extremely impressed by their soft product especially. Outstanding service and probably the best short haul meal I've ever had in both directions. They really seem to be investing and leveling up their game.
If you say "what's going on here" one more time im going to puke. my goodness. use some different phrases!
What's a' happening in this locale?
What's abrewin' in this instance?
What occurrence is goin down here?
What do be transpiring in this moment of the cosmic ballet in which we exist?
"What's going on here" is a pretty normal thing to say. I don't understand why you'd get so worked up about it. It's not like it's an offensive or political phrase or anything of the sort. If you don't like it, don't read it.
And Air New Zealand has it - it’s awful - dormitory class
Totally incorrect about low demand on the Dhaka route. If you did some research you'd know that TG business class from Dhaka to Bangkok is almost always fully booked. Comparing it to the Kuwait route is nonsensical and ignorant of the customer base that's served in the two wildly different routes. Where Kuwait and other small ME carriers solely serve migrant worker transport, Bangkok is a holiday and health tourism destination from middle class to...
Totally incorrect about low demand on the Dhaka route. If you did some research you'd know that TG business class from Dhaka to Bangkok is almost always fully booked. Comparing it to the Kuwait route is nonsensical and ignorant of the customer base that's served in the two wildly different routes. Where Kuwait and other small ME carriers solely serve migrant worker transport, Bangkok is a holiday and health tourism destination from middle class to very wealthy Bangladeshis. Your statement reeks of elitism based on stereotypes.
This could have been said in a nice way, without personal attacks. And it’s usually a welcome thing to include a citation for your statistics when calling out an author for not doing his or her research.
Yeah they are what Air NZ sell as Business Premier. Was definitely not a fan, but sold as PE would make acceptable
Didn't TG used to offer a premium economy product on their A340s to Copenhagen many years ago?
Nordic companies will not pay for business class tickets, so half the business class seats were sold as "premium economy" with meals to match economy but using business class seats. ARN-BKK also had the same.
Correct. TG has offered Premium economy in the past on their A340-500. TG had a couple of these for some time, which were meant to fly Ultra Long Haul but ended up on Nordic routes part of the schedule. I flew it once in 2011 between OSL-BKK. Premium eco was empty. TG eventually got rid of these planes.
Flew Virgin several times with this set up and I HATED it. It was by far the most bizzarre business class product I have flown in and never desire to again.
Yea the coffin class isn't that great. Cathay Pacific used to have it as well before reverse herringbone was a thing.
Thai are a scam airline with the customer service of some fly by night, Mumbai call center
That seat looks identical to those in Air NZ current business class which are bing retired. Is Thai refurbing them?
Those Thai A330s are secondhand aircraft from Virgin Atlantic and have retained the VA cabin which features the same seat as the ANZ business seats (Safran UCS3).
Thai actually used to sell Business class seats on some Scandinavian routes as Premium Economy.
From my POV it's exactly like you guess:
I flew just this ex-Virgin plane from Chennai to BKK. Booked as C - still this config really doesn't feel like a proper Business Class anymore, and there is little premium demand on this route.
So this makes sense to me.
"What’s interesting is that historically Thai Airways hasn’t offered any sort of a premium economy product"
Just a correction there, but they have many years ago in the mid '00s on their A345s. 2-3-2 along with 42" of pitch!
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Thai-Airways-International/Airbus-A340-541/986707/L
They also used to sell Bussiness Class as Premium Economy on routes to Scandinavia.
On top of that, prior to the 747 retrofits. They used to sell First as Business and J as Premium on routes to ARN & CPH. This was on the 747 config with the older recliner seats in Business, until they were retrofitted in 2012.