[AlanOrton1]

I’ve always found different airlines premium economy to be very, very similar. (Seat width, pitch, size of video screen, type of main meal etc). To be fair I’ve only flown PE on BA, VS, AA & CX, though regularly over the last dozen years. None has stuck out as better or worse.

My main observation is your airline status likely enhances the experience. I can only speak from a OW perspective but lounge access prior to the flight and being able to sit in the front row (particularly the latter), make my journey more comfortable and are more important (to me) than the soft product side of things.

Something else I’ve spotted is I rarely see an empty seat in the PE cabin, which isn’t necessarily replicated in economy.
With more airlines launching PE and others (BA) increasing the size of this cabin it appears it’s a good revenue source and here for the long run.

[cwoodward]

Hi Alan

Your experience differs from my own mentioned in my post above.

Certainly the BA product is not on a par with Cathay and the SIA product has been criticised on-line. I suspect that it may have been a few years since you last travelled in PE with Cathay if you are of the view that the BA offering is on a par even if comparing only the seat and the space re the aircraft revved.

[AlanOrton1]

Absolutely no difference to me being seated in the front row of PE on CX, BA or AA. Very similar seat comfort, width and space in front. The latter naturally depending on the aircraft configuration etc.
Foot rests in the front row, I find being 6ft, to not be particularly great.
Honestly the only difference I can remember (last CX flight was pre Covid but several segments both intra Asia and from Europe), was AA had the widest choice of movies etc.

I don’t believe these or previous comments are an indication of any favouritism to a particular airline, as without wishing to sound glib, PE in my opinion is what it is – a bigger seat, more legroom and some other perks, which to me, but not others, aren’t so important.
I fly it these days predominately to the east coast of the US as I value the extra space and for a 7 hour flight the increase in cost for J isn’t something I always feel the need to spend.

If I were to ‘praise’ BA, I can regularly use miles to upgrade PE to J on the NY route, but suspect this is no different to what other airline programmes offer their pax on high frequency routes etc.

I fear I’ve now dragged this thread way off topic!

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ASK1945

[cwoodward]

BA premium seat width 18.5″ Cathay = 19.3″ in seat width terms that is a significant difference.
Cathay has foot rests on all PE seats and has had for some years.
The CX seat is superior in several other ways – but perhaps my point is made.

[Author]

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