Who has the best premium economy – Virgin Atlantic, British Airways or Norse Atlantic?

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• Jonathan says:

  21 Apr21 April 05:29

  I haven’t read this article yet, and although not as competitive on price definitely compared to Norse, Virgin Atlantic’s Premium offering is definitely top notch, I can’t vouch for other airlines not featured in this article, but definitely a very good seat (I was in one of their older 789 aircraft), if you don’t need or want a lie flat seat (and or UC is already fully booked) and you’re say VS Gold so you’d get CH access anyway, then go with VS Premium.
  Although having said that, flight times are also generally quite a heavy factor in which flight you’ll choose to book…

  • Jonathan says:

    21 Apr21 April 05:40

    Although other lounge access (notably via the most common HfP reader route; Amex Gold / Platinum) isn’t nowhere near the level of T3 CH, sometimes the fare difference between Premium and UC is hardly justified, especially if CH is your main draw towards UC, and like I said in the main comment, you don’t really want and or need a lie flat seat, or they’ve already been booked

• riku says:

  21 Apr21 April 06:10

  >>Premium Economy is not a half-way house between Economy and a Business Class bed, irrespective of what the marketing may tell you. It is simply a higher quality Economy product
  Well it is better than economy and not as good as business. What does it take to be “half-way”? The legroom would need to be halfway between economy and business?

  • executiveclubber says:

    21 Apr21 April 06:27

    😂

  • Doug M says:

    21 Apr21 April 10:04

    Silly response, and the whole thing is very subjective. The point is that if Economy is 1 and Business is 10, then Premium Economy is more 3 than 5, it’s not halfway, just a little above the lower product and nowhere near the one above.
    Premium Economy is Economy of 25 years ago.

    • lumma says:

      21 Apr21 April 10:29

      Premium economy is nothing like the economy of 1999. Economy never had that much legroom or recline. PE is more like USA domestic first class

      • Doug M says:

        21 Apr21 April 12:08

        PE is typically same number of seats across as 1999 economy. Seating now has been changed to move the window seats more into the fuselage, reducing actual and perceived space. There’s more to amount of space you have than legroom alone. I believe Rob has previously said they use the measurements the airlines claim, how you measure a seat varies considerably.

        • Chabuddy Geezy says:

          21 Apr21 April 15:09

          777 economy has typically gone from 9 seats across to 10 seats across, but PE on that plane would 8 seats across. An A330 was 8 seats across in 1999 and the same now.

        • Alex G says:

          21 Apr21 April 19:30

          Rubbish. 1999 was 9 across on a 777. PE is 8 across. Pitch was typically 34“, it’s 38″ on PE.

      • Expat in SJC says:

        21 Apr21 April 16:24

        This. Hence American use their new Oasis domestic first class seat as the PE seat on long hauls.

• TimM says:

  21 Apr21 April 06:28

  A front row premium economy seat with your own inflatable pouffe can be better than business class lie-flat with your feet stuck in a tiny hole.

  • Richie says:

    21 Apr21 April 07:43

    Some airlines will not allow inflatable pouffes.

    • TimM says:

      21 Apr21 April 08:10

      Which? And why?

      • Richie says:

        21 Apr21 April 08:30

        https://www.britishairways.com/content/information/family-travel/seating

• Gordon says:

  21 Apr21 April 07:11

  Below from Rob, Guardian 2019.

  Don’t kid yourself you’re getting business class seats on the cheap. Rob Burgess, of frequent flyer website headforpoints.com said: “Premium economy is not a half-way house between economy and business class. Passengers need to understand this. You are simply getting a higher quality economy product, often for a substantially higher price. It is not surprising that both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have said that, per square foot, premium economy is the most profitable part of the plane.
  “If you book premium economy, you will get a slightly wider seat, a greater angle of recline, a footrest and better quality food, often served on china. You will usually get an upgraded main course but a starter and dessert from the economy menu. At the end of the day, it is still an upright seat which will be challenging to sit and sleep in for an overnight flight.”

  As a side note- with the Tui PE product, you get lounge access.

  The PE product is not for everyone, you will be a liker or a loather, I can imagine the business spend on the PE product will be cost effective as oppose to J.

• Nicola Walton says:

  21 Apr21 April 07:17

  In the past 12 months we have flown premium economy 3 times with Virgin Atlantic and once with BA. Virgin is by far the better of the 2. In my mind the only part we’re BA is better is with the blanket.

  • TimM says:

    21 Apr21 April 08:24

    I always take my own fleece blanket when travelling with a UK airline. They are notoriously cold.

    • Andrew. says:

      21 Apr21 April 09:46

      Cocoon Silk&Merino mix travel blanket. They are amazingly light but warm.

      Sadly mine was accidentally destroyed (massive holes) when it was washed at 40C with biological powder. 🙁

    • Andy says:

      21 Apr21 April 10:08

      A blanket AND an inflatable pouffe? Your own pillows too?! Sounds like a lot of effort. I generally travel HBO, so make do with whatever’s left on the seat – although I’m rarely cold on any flight, usually the opposite so blankets/duvets/onesies/quilts/throws/spreads/thermal undies go straight in the (overhead) bin.

      • Doug M says:

        21 Apr21 April 12:10

        Agreed. I’ll sometimes choose AA over BA to get a lower cabin temp.

• Roberto says:

  21 Apr21 April 07:30

  The biggest problem with Norse is that they keep cancelling so many flights.

  That announce a route, test the water with sales and have no quarms in pulling it and announcing another route instead if the numbers don’t stack up.

• Ian says:

  21 Apr21 April 07:32

  One other big difference between the three airlines is cabin baggage with Norse having a 10kg maximum according to the recent article. I dislike this as my bag(a) would always fail.

  However one advantage of Norse is the ability to fly one way at a decent price, whereas the other two it is a high percentage of the return cost.

• John says:

  21 Apr21 April 07:49

  I recently flew Virgin Atlantic in Premium Economy on the A350-1000 and felt it was a subpar PE seat.

  Seat width was average at best and the armrests felt extremely small. As a VS Gold via the status match, I got an aisle seat with the neighboring seat blocked both on the outbound and inbound, but I wouldn’t want to fly this product with somebody sitting next to you.

  • Sam says:

    21 Apr21 April 09:10

    The way you’ve phrased this is that you’re normally a Business Class Traveller who had downgraded to PE rather than normally a Y class traveller upgrading? Would that be fair? In which case surely the airline wants you to have a subpar experience so you don’t do it again!

    As a 6ft5 predominantly longhaul Y class traveller (leisure & work) I’ve always assumed that PE targeted people like me instead where the extra space is a priority. They certainly don’t want PE to be good enough that people are happy to downgrade…

    • Gordon says:

      21 Apr21 April 09:37

      @Sam- You are correct in your assumption, me and my wife were upgraded on a return leg from JFK to LHR from Y To PE, several years ago, and not long after that, we have only flown in PE at minimum, J where possible with a redemption booking. So in our case, BA’s strategy paid off!

      I am sure this happens more than people think, as it would not cost an airline much to do this to gain future revenue in people booking a higher fare….

    • pigeon says:

      21 Apr21 April 09:53

      A350 PE seat width is indeed narrow, whereas the 787 is nice and wide.

      Note both the A350 and 787 are 9 abreast in economy. But in premium it’s 8 or 7 abreast.

      Tends to be reflected in the fares, with 787 PE more expensive. But there are still some very expensive PE fares…

      • Sam says:

        21 Apr21 April 10:15

        Just to add some context though – the A350 is wider than the 787 so significantly more comfortable if you’re in Y (yet to fly BA 787 but will not fly QR Y). For sure in PE I’m sure you’re right, I only ever tend to fly it in 777’s.

    • John says:

      21 Apr21 April 11:31

      The point is was hitting at was more about the one made in the other replies.

      When flying PE, be very much aware of which aircraft type you fly. In the A350-1000 with VS having 2-4-2, the seat feels very much cramped. Ultimately, I somewhat disagree with HfP’s review approach since the thing is very equipment-dependent.

      I haven’t flown VS’ PE product on the A330-900 or B787-9, but I bet subjective feel of seat width is a bit better as the fuselage width is not that much smaller than on the A350 but the config is 2-3-2.

      I also agree with another poster that B777’s seem to be good PE-configuration wise.

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