Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Is flying Premium Economy worth it?

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Since joining HfP four years ago, I’ve managed to try a number of different premium economy products on a variety of airlines – most recently United Airlines to San Francisco.

First introduced in 1992, premium economy has become one of the most profitable cabins for airlines, generating more profit per square metre than even First or Business Class. But is it value for money?

Is Premium Economy worth it?
United Airlines Premium Plus

A brief history of premium economy

Before we start, I want to take a quick look at the history of premium economy – aviation’s newest cabin.

The first premium economy cabins were introduced in 1992. Both Virgin Atlantic and Taiwanese carrier EVA Air launched these hybrid cabins to bridge the comfort-canyon between economy and business class.

(This was before the era of lie-flat seats in business class, of course, so the gap between economy and business was smaller. British Airways first introduced lie-flat seats in First in 1995, followed by its first generation Club World seat in 2000. Other airlines slowly followed.)

‘Premium Economy’ wasn’t called that at the time. Virgin Atlantic called it ‘Mid Class’ whilst EVA called it ‘Economy Deluxe’. When it launched, Virgin Atlantic explained its reasons for launching the new product for businesses that could no longer justify business class:

“Over the past year or so many businesses have reviewed their travel policies and some have found it necessary to downgrade from business class to economy. Following an extensive and in-depth research project carried out by Virgin Atlantic and IATA it has been shown that the main requirements for business travellers are improved comfort, segregation, priority check-in and service.”

Premium economy is now more economy-plus than business-minus

At the time, premium economy was a true hybrid product, using upright seats very similar to those in business class but with less leg room and a smaller recline.

Since its introduction, premium economy has remained relatively unchanged whilst business class cabins have evolved substantially. Innovations such as lie-flat seats and all-aisle access in business mean that premium economy now feels decidedly economy-plus than business-minus.

Economy seats have grown ever tighter as airlines densify cabins to compete in a price war on flight comparison websites. This differentiates premium economy even further and makes it a natural upgrade for anyone who wants a little more space but cannot justify the price tag of business class.

Virgin Atlantic Premium venison stew
Virgin Atlantic Premium

The majority of airlines now offer premium economy cabins, although some stragglers still remain. This includes Qatar Airways, which argues that its economy product is competitive with premium economy at other airlines.

It should take a note from a Middle Eastern competitor. Emirates was one of the last remaining holdouts until it introduced the cabin in 2021, with CEO Tim Clarke saying they were shocked with the demand for the seat. (He shouldn’t have been, of course. Airlines have been crowing about the success of premium economy cabins for years.)

What is premium economy?

Premium economy is as popular with passengers as it is with airline accountants. It comes with a number of benefits and depending on the airline you’ll get:

  • Priority check-in and boarding (behind business class, ahead of economy)
  • Checked luggage
  • A larger seat, with a few extra inches of width and substantially more legroom and recline
  • A larger in-flight entertainment screen
  • An upgraded meal and drinks service – often a business class main course with economy starter and desert – with a welcome drink on boarding (but no champagne)
  • Better pillows, blankets and an amenity kit
  • Additional miles and tier points
British Airways World Traveller Plus A380 amenity kit
British Airways World Traveller Plus

How much more expensive is premium economy?

Using the British Airways Low Fare Finder tool, I compared the lowest economy and premium economy fares to some popular destinations from London. I’ve also included some price comparisons with Virgin Atlantic and Singapore Airlines.

New York

  • British Airways economy: £333 (hand baggage only)
  • British Airways premium economy: £637
  • Virgin Atlantic economy: £355 (hand baggage only)
  • Virgin Atlantic premium economy: £585

Los Angeles

  • British Airways economy: £412 (hand baggage only)
  • British Airways premium economy: £933
  • Virgin Atlantic economy: £405 (hand baggage only)
  • Virgin Atlantic premium economy: £870

Singapore

  • British Airways economy: £601
  • British Airways premium economy £1,508
  • Singapore Airlines economy: £713
  • Singapore airlines premium economy: £1,857

As you can see, premium economy is generally twice as expensive as a basic economy ticket, although Premium on Virgin Atlantic to New York can be under £300 extra at times. This is arguably a bargain when you factor in the luggage allowance, increased mileage and tier points and the better experience overall.

The price gap can be smaller on individual flights, making the upgrade to premium economy cheaper than it may first appear.

Virgin Atlantic Premium seat
Virgin Atlantic Premium

Is premium economy worth it?

As always, it comes down to what you are comfortable with.

Taking baggage?

It’s worth remembering that the economy fare comparisons above are hand baggage only fares. If you plan to take a checked bag, you can add between £110 and £130 (round trip) to your costs, depending on the airline:

  • British Airways charges £55 one-way
  • Virgin Atlantic charges £65 one-way

Extra air miles

It’s also worth factoring in the increased air miles and tier points you’ll earn on each airline if you fly premium economy. The difference between the cheapest economy and premium economy tickets can be substantial.

Let’s take a look at Virgin Atlantic, for example, between London and New York (return). You earn:

  • 1,728 Virgin Points in Economy Light
  • 6,914 Virgin Points in Premium

That’s a difference of 400%. If you value a Virgin Point at 1p (which we do, if used for premium cabin redemptions) then you’ll earn an extra £50+ of rewards.

We can’t do the same comparison for British Airways because of the switch to revenue based Avios earning next month.

Extra tier points towards status

In terms of tier points, you’ll earn double on Virgin Atlantic: between 25 and 50 in economy and 50 and 100 in Premium, each way. On BA you’ll earn even more – heavily discounted World Traveller earns 20 tier points on most routes vs 90 in World Traveller Plus, each way.

Two Premium returns in a year on Virgin Atlantic would get you Silver status, whilst two World Traveller Plus returns in a year on British Airways would get you Bronze status. Three World Traveller Plus returns on BA on routes such as New York would get you very close to Silver status which triggers free seat selection and lounge access.

Seat selection

Virgin Atlantic gives you free seat selection in Premium (not for all seats, but for some rows) at the time of booking. You now need to pay for seat selection in economy unless you have status.

British Airways charges for seat selection in World Traveller Plus and World Traveller so there is no difference here.

Other amenities

How much you value the additional space, amenities and service in premium is down to you. As a tall person with broad shoulders, the extra legroom and width of premium economy seats are a life saver and the difference between a getting some sleep and none at all. But someone shorter might not be so impressed!

If you are travelling as a couple, the ability to have a row of two seats to yourself (the typical layout is 2-4-2 vs 3-4-3 in economy) may have value.

Conclusion

At the right price – especially if checking bags – it would be silly not to think about upgrading to premium economy. In our example to New York, the price to upgrade to Premium from economy on Virgin Atlantic was occasionally only £200 – well worth it, in my opinion. You can offset part of this cost purely with the extra Virgin Points.

On the other hand, you’d be stretched to see the value on a Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore, where the difference is more than £1,100. You should be able to get an indirect flight to Singapore in business class for close to that price.

There are other options for upgrading, including the Barclaycard Upgrade Voucher which let you upgrade reward flights using Avios, or the Virgin Atlantic credit card voucher. On some flights, you’ll find airlines make attractive upgrade offers at check-in – it’s always worth asking.

If you want to compare premium economy between airlines, we’ve written a number of reviews:

We’ve also written an in-depth comparison of premium economy on British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Norse Atlantic. Norse, perhaps surprisingly, is the clear winner in terms of seat size.

Category

British Airways and Avios, United Airlines and MileagePlus, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (96)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Jonathan says:
    27 Sep27 September 06:58

    What’s weird is that VS Economy Delight (that’s still fairly new, definitely by Premium Economy standards) earns more points than a similar fare type (lowest) in their Premium cabin does…

  • ianM says:
    27 Sep27 September 07:07

    The downside with more recline is that if you have a jerk in front of you and he decides to fully recline after takeoff, you have an LCD screen in your stomach for the whole flight

  • Jimbo says:
    27 Sep27 September 07:22

    I will never fly in any seat that has a touch screen on my headrest for use by the passenger directly behind me. Several flights with idiots constantly pressing and banging on their screen / my headrest overnight made the decision for me. Flat bed or no fly.

    • Rhys says:
      27 Sep27 September 07:24

      You must be particularly unlucky!

      This is less of a problem on new screens anyway which are far more sensitive than the old pressure-touch screens….

      • simon says:
        27 Sep27 September 07:28

        Or grumpy!

      • Gordon says:
        27 Sep27 September 07:28

        I think jimbo has touched (Excuse the pun) on this before, re children/ Teenagers playing games on them?

      • flyforfun says:
        27 Sep27 September 12:29

        I was on a 14 hr flight and there was a baby next to me, strapped into a car seat. It was swiping and hitting the screen for at least a third of the flight! The guy in front turned around a few times, but the mother just shrugged and said sorry. I thought I was unlucky for getting that seat but it gave me extra shoulder room. Y on a 787 is hell. Too narrow so avoid them and the densified 777s

    • Harry T says:
      27 Sep27 September 07:27

      Amen!

    • riku says:
      27 Sep27 September 08:29

      I avoid seats like this for the same reason. at least some airlines like JAL have shell seats where the seat in front doesn’t recline into the lap of the person behind either.

  • Richie says:
    27 Sep27 September 07:33

    I prefer the Recaro PL5330 seat with calf/leg rests.

  • SamG says:
    27 Sep27 September 07:45

    Worth mentioning for BA that this can still be good value as an Avios upgrade on the inbound of an economy ticket – for example on a recent JFK-LHR ticket it was 13000 Avios and only £20 YQ difference. Outbound the enhanced APD kicks in so not such a bargain.

    Otherwise I think around the £200-300 mark is reasonable for the upgrade and it is always worth checking the fare difference when booking – on a couple of recent business trips it was only an extra £100 on the return leg and another to the US it was only £400 more than economy return which although my travel policy is officially Y only under 8hrs they’re receptive to exceptions on those kinds of figures !

    I’ve never really understood who is paying the Singapore Airlines prices, I think they must be more competitive down to Aus etc. Cabin is always full though so must work for them !

  • Dev says:
    27 Sep27 September 07:51

    It’s a complete waste of money when work policies pushes you into a ridiculously expensive PE seat (£3k+) but J is selling for less than that.

    Any employer who thinks their staff will be “well rested” after travelling in PE is deluded. And the argument that it’s a “day flight” is also nonsense as if you fly far enough, you’ll hit night time somewhere on your journey and definitely jet lag.

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
      27 Sep27 September 08:24

      Spot on! By the time I’m a few hours into a US east coast flight, I’m likely up nearly 12 hrs having caught a connecting flight that morning. Likely after a very late finish at work the night before in advance of a holiday. So day flights are sleeping flights for me.

      I did US domestic F ORD-LAS return last month on American and United. 4hrs there; 3.5hrs back. Very much reached the limit of my comfort and capacity to not stretch out flat. For this reason I find MUC a useful connecting point to avoid Eastern Med flights of excessive length.

    • G says:
      27 Sep27 September 08:44

      Try explaining reason to the finance department.

      • Dev says:
        27 Sep27 September 09:50

        I’ve come to the conclusion that if they don’t care about the cost than neither do I! If I am needed to go somewhere, I now choose the flights that work for me irrespective of cost!

        On a personal trip, as a family of 4 with 2 young kids, I would never pay for PE. The extra cost will happily cover the difference between a junior suite and a full suite in most locations.

      • Lady London says:
        27 Sep27 September 10:14

        Sometimes you can work it so your flight timing can force an extra night’s hotel if the silly finance rules put you in a rubbish airline seat for too long a flight.

        Contractually the point can also be made by a group of you that you’re flying on your own time/weekends so for particularly horrible journeys there should be some leeway.

        There are very few airlines where the hard PY product is worth much extra money. I think SQ works because at Y and PY levels their product is half a class better than their competitors on many of their longhaul planes and I suspect EK Y is the same.

        • Dev says:
          27 Sep27 September 10:43

          Here is a new one that some employers are starting to push … say your rules only allow J for flights over 8hrs so some places are saying that a London to Bangkok via Doha is economy only as both sectors are less than 8hrs in duration.

          Or alternatively, London to Perth via anywhere in South East Asia is Business on the first sector and economy on the second!

          The whole thing is a joke and it’s not the rules that are the problems but the idiots (usually HR people who never get to travel or “benefit” from the perks of any job that are “interpreting” to get back at the group of people who they think (in their eyes) are overpaid, and not worthy of business class travel or staying in cookie cutter brands (I use international brands as I know what I am going to get – a room service margarita pizza as a minimum at any time).

          Thankfully, I am fully aware of the intricacies of the working time regulations so am able to push back with ease at stupid decisions (normally involving breaching my statutory rest periods).

          • The Savage Squirrel says:
            27 Sep27 September 21:34

            “Or alternatively, London to Perth via anywhere in South East Asia is Business on the first sector and economy on the second!” Nonstop at twice the cost it is then!

    • Henk says:
      27 Sep27 September 09:13

      Our automated system to book work travel used to do that, but since several years ago, it booked you into business if that was cheaper on the same flight. The first time that happened to me I got a shock, as flying business is very much a no-no in our company, and requires CEO signoff. Unfortunately, this only works on the same flight, and not when business on another airline is cheaper than PY.

    • BMR says:
      27 Sep27 September 13:05

      Totally my thought too – W is ok for US day flights at a push, but night flight home (or same from India) just isn’t comfortable to sleep well enough to work etc. Price diff to J can be eye watering for work, but depends on the travel spend power of company too.

  • Chris W says:
    27 Sep27 September 08:12

    When PE is under £600 return in the depths of winter, sure, its a great price. When its twice that price in summer, its a waste of money.

    I agree it can be a very savvy way to upgrade to J on an overnight flight using miles.

  • Mu says:
    27 Sep27 September 08:20

    Is there anyway of checking the price of a holiday with PE seats vs economy with BA retrospectively? (Jan 2023 booking)

    • Gordon says:
      27 Sep27 September 09:14

      Do you mean Jan 2024 booking! I just do a dummy booking for WT and PE on the website. Maybe someone knows a better way!

    • jjoohhnn says:
      27 Sep27 September 12:02

      No. Price of seat varies depending on when you book so you would also want to know the date you want to know the price of the booking for on the particular date. I don’t think anyone tracks this and publishes this amount of data.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 50,000 bonus points (worth 50,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 20,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!