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Can you all help to settle a current – er – discussion point in our household? Are premium economy (long haul) seats a good use of Amex companion vouchers? My husband is keen to squeeze as many trips as possible out of our Avios total and so thinks we should always use them to book premium economy, whereas I’d probably rather have one or two fewer trips and maximise the value of our companion vouchers in business.
I’m more than happy to fly premium economy, but is it a bit of a waste of 2-4-1 potential?
A lot of people use PE one way and J the other, especially going to the US, so you get the lie flat seat for overnight. That’s a good compromise. You’re almost certainly going to get a decent amount of value out of using PE for 241 bookings just not as much value as if you used it for J bookings but it depends how much value you place on business class. I wouldn’t use one on PE unless I absolutely had to, but it’s a personal choice.
A lot of people use PE one way and J the other, especially going to the US, so you get the lie flat seat for overnight. That’s a good compromise. You’re almost certainly going to get a decent amount of value out of using PE for 241 bookings just not as much value as if you used it for J bookings but it depends how much value you place on business class. I wouldn’t use one on PE unless I absolutely had to, but it’s a personal choice.
I’m agreeing with this, for me I want to maximise the value gained from the voucher and not maximising the number of trips – again personal preference to each person.
From a practical POV I’d rather “save” the Avios differential from PE to Business, knowing that’s much more than Econ to PE
PE can be a no-brainer on shorter routes, especially if you have status which gets you lounge access regardless of cabin.
We tend to do our 12-hour GCM trips outbound in CW to make the most of it but return in PE as it’s overnight and we don’t sleep well in any cabin!Also, it’s bonkers but sometimes PE cash prices are higher than CW!
I value the extra space that you get in CW over PE so I’d do fewer trips in comfort versus more in PE.
For me depends where you’re going – e.g. NYC-UK with status I’m really minded these days to just do WT+ – sub 6hrs is impossible for a decent sleep and I can nap well in those seats. Especially OK if there are two of you and you get a window pair. Asia or West coast USA etc though there is only one place I’ll be found ha
Value wise you do need to check carefully – WT+ fares can be very reasonable and you may be better off paying cash. WT-WT+ Avios upgrades are often good value too (especially headed towards the UK where there isn’t usually a govt tax uplift) so that needs investigating too. I usually run a little spreadsheet with all the options and decide what is best.
I’m team husband, but also because we have to factor in sometimes paying in cash for person 3!
Also, it’s bonkers but sometimes PE cash prices are higher than CW!
Fewer seats in PE means the cheapo non flexible seats sell out leaving only the expensive flexible ones available which can sometimes be more expensive than the lowerst non flexible CW fare.
Also, it’s bonkers but sometimes PE cash prices are higher than CW!
Especially East Coast US, I’ve found.
Our BOS-LHR in April was cheaper in PE than Y!Thanks, all. The discussion continues!
I can understand your husband’s POV of “lets save and hoarde” but also yours of trying to get more bang for your buck so I see your POV and side with yours. I see PE like a mental upgrade from Economy of 30-40%. And a mental upgrade of 90% from PE to J. All the best.
Surely the critical point will be that availability in J is likely to be better especially with the voucher than you would find in PE, so if you’re smart/deceitful (delete as appropriate) you can find the flights that have the cabin you want.
Another good line is devaluation. You don’t know when it’ll happen, just that it will at some point. So better to get those miles spent…
I’m happy with lounge and free seat selection so going forward would look to use PE more and make the avios go further. However, we are mainly retired so not so so much in need of the respite of CW! If I was still working in my old job I would probably appreciate being able to shut myself away in a Club Suite a lot more. Also my strategy is to stick with day flights as much as possible in future as night flights (in whichever cabin) are just debilitating.
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