Do You Need a Premium Economy Upgrade?

What is Premium Economy Class on an Airline?

Premium economy seats were first introduced more than 30 years ago by airlines interested in scoring a few extra dollars from economy class patrons who wanted just a little more room for their journey.

These airlines (initially just EVA out of Asia and Virgin Atlantic out of Europe) offered these seats on their transpacific and transatlantic flights. However, in the past decade or so, just about every major airline operating around the world has introduced some sort of premium economy class into their commercial jets.

Now, instead of the classic economy class and first class options, you now have economy, premium economy (or economy plus), business, and first class. There are even multiple types within these classes (like lay flat seats in business class versus regular seats).

So many classes on modern airline flghts! But all we’re really concerned with here are the economy options.

You can find premium economy seats whether you’re flying from Houston to Miami, which takes less than three hours, or you’re flying from San Francisco to Taipei, which can take more than fourteen hours.

Business class and first class fares are often out of reach for the average traveler, unless you score a ticket with points or some sort of travel hack. That’s where premium economy comes in, where you usually get a slightly wider seat, more room for your legs, and (sometimes) a wider arm rest, which eliminates the stress of sharing with a stranger.

Sometimes, premium economy also comes with perks like accelerated check-ins, preferred baggage handling, and extra food options on the flight. Occasionally, these cool extras will increase the cost by a few hundred. Sometimes the price goes up by more than a thousand. Are these premium features really worth it? Or should you just squeeze yourself into a traditional economy seat with a grin and bear it?

(note: some of the links here are to websites with which I am an affiliate, and your purchases help fund my website)

Should You Pay More for Premium Economy or Economy Plus Airfare?

As a traveler who’s boarded flights lasting less than an hour, as well as flights crossing half the planet and lasting about 14 hours, I can tell you that it really depends whether premium economy is worth it. And the important thing to remember is that it’s not always the length of the flight that determines whether you should opt for a bump up to premium economy.

In fact, the biggest factor whether premium economy is worth it is whether you’re flying overnight or during the day. Since a transpacific flight in a premium economy seat can easily cost double that of a basic economy seat, you really need to look at your schedule to see whether premium economy is something you should pursue.

Let me share an example. When I flew to Vietnam with my partner, we took a fight from Los Angeles (where we live) to Taipei, and then we got on a second flight that took us into Ho Chi Min City (Saigon). The first leg across the Pacific Ocean was a grueling 14 hours, and we opted for premium economy for that leg.

We paid over double for the premium tickets versus regular for our flight over, but we weren’t able to get premium economy seats on the return and had to stuff ourselves into regular economy for the (sightly faster) flights back.

Both flights were long enough that we needed to sleep for at least half of the travel time, and I can tell you that on a flight where you need to sleep, premium economy is INCREDIBLY worth it. You wouldn’t think that little bit of extra space would make a big difference, but when you’re trying to sleep while sitting up, the premium economy seats just blow the regular economy seats completely out of the water. Or, out of the sky, perhaps.

Our departing flights weren’t a walk in the park, but we both slept reasonably well, even though we were in the middle of the plane (my partner had a person on his left and I had the aisle to my right because I couldn’t get a window/aisle seat for us).

Take a look at an economy fare for a flight from Los Angeles to Taipei:

Interestingly, the flights today (as I write this) have an even greater divide than the difference when we originally traveled (the fare doubled from economy to premium economy, but now the premium economy fare is even more than double the price).

Now, on the way back from Asia, like I mentioned, we couldn’t get the premium economy seats. All that remained were regular economy seats, AND IT WAS TERRIBLE. I can’t blame the airline for this, however. We flew on China Airlines (a pleasant experience, though the meals are a little unusual for westerners), and their regular economy seats for the Taipei to Los Angeles flight back were just too small to relax.

I felt like my partner’s elbow was in my face the entire time, and I just couldn’t get comfortable. Having experienced premium economy on a transpacific flight, as well as regular economy, I can tell you that when you add the length of the trip alongside the fact that we needed to sleep for at least part of the journey, the extra room of premium economy was absolutely worth the 100 percent jump in price for our international vacation.

I’ve also flown loads of flights domestically here in the United States, and a redeye flight from Los Angeles to Logan (Boston) is much easier in premium economy than regular economy. However, if I’m flying during the day and will probably just read a book or watch something the whole way, my rear end certainly doesn’t need the luxury of extra room in premium economy.

The two biggest questions to ask yourself about premium economy are:

• Do you need to sleep or rest peacefully on the flight?
• Is the flight more than six hours?

If you answer yes to both of these questions, you should consider premium economy. At least consider it on the departing flight. Don’t arrive at your destination feeling like a used tissue, ready to collapse in a heap. Even if you have to think twice about the amount of money you’ll spend, you may find it worth the cost if you’re traveling to the other side of the world for a non-stop adventure.

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