AFF Review: Emirates 777-300ER Premium Economy (MEL-DXB)

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/emirates-777-premium-economy-review/

Emirates 777-300ER Premium Economy Review (Melbourne-Dubai) is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Emirates 777-300ER Premium Economy Review (Melbourne-Dubai)

Is the new Emirates Premium Economy worth the money? We review the full Premium Economy experience flying from Melbourne to Dubai on Emirates' newly refurbished Boeing 777-300ER.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[LoaderTosh]

“… And for many airlines, Premium Economy is now the most profitable “real estate” on the plane! …”

That’s because … if you take a good ‘to scale’ seat map source such as Aero Lopa and carefully measure a ‘cabin section’ length (assumes we are in the parallel fuselage section and not the tapering noise/tail sections), multiply it by the cabin width and divide that number by the number of seats in the measured section, you’ll almost invariably find that PremEcon ‘IS’ the most expensive seating per unit of cabin space purchased.

Note: I say “almost invariably” simply because I haven’t and don’t intend, measured every seat map for every airline on the planet. I did ‘do’ all the main airlines operating our corner of the globe; Qantas, Singapore, Cathay, Emirates, Air NZ, and PremEcon was the most expensive ‘real estate’ (least value) without exception.

Note2: Includes Econ, PremEcon, Business and First (where offered). Aisles have not been extracted. Toilets, food preparation areas, entry/exit areas have been extracted … i.e. Is seat value per unit of total ‘passenger occupied’ cabin area.

 

[SYD]

“… And for many airlines, Premium Economy is now the most profitable “real estate” on the plane! …”

That’s because … if you take a good ‘to scale’ seat map source such as Aero Lopa and carefully measure a ‘cabin section’ length (assumes we are in the parallel fuselage section and not the tapering noise/tail sections), multiply it by the cabin width and divide that number by the number of seats in the measured section, you’ll almost invariably find that PremEcon ‘IS’ the most expensive seating per unit of cabin space purchased.

Note: I say “almost invariably” simply because I haven’t and don’t intend, measured every seat map for every airline on the planet. I did ‘do’ all the main airlines operating our corner of the globe; Qantas, Singapore, Cathay, Emirates, Air NZ, and PremEcon was the most expensive ‘real estate’ (least value) without exception.

Note2: Includes Econ, PremEcon, Business and First (where offered). Aisles have not been extracted. Toilets, food preparation areas, entry/exit areas have been extracted … i.e. Is seat value per unit of total ‘passenger occupied’ cabin area.

“Value” to the flyer is always going to be very subjective.

Also depends hugely on whether you score a good Sale fare or paying the back rate (which invariably are disproportionately higher - but that’s probably also a function of supply and demand). Or can hack a cheaper fare as per the article.

The EK option looks quite decent.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

“… And for many airlines, Premium Economy is now the most profitable “real estate” on the plane! …”

That’s because … if you take a good ‘to scale’ seat map source such as Aero Lopa and carefully measure a ‘cabin section’ length (assumes we are in the parallel fuselage section and not the tapering noise/tail sections), multiply it by the cabin width and divide that number by the number of seats in the measured section, you’ll almost invariably find that PremEcon ‘IS’ the most expensive seating per unit of cabin space purchased.

Note: I say “almost invariably” simply because I haven’t and don’t intend, measured every seat map for every airline on the planet. I did ‘do’ all the main airlines operating our corner of the globe; Qantas, Singapore, Cathay, Emirates, Air NZ, and PremEcon was the most expensive ‘real estate’ (least value) without exception.

Note2: Includes Econ, PremEcon, Business and First (where offered). Aisles have not been extracted. Toilets, food preparation areas, entry/exit areas have been extracted … i.e. Is seat value per unit of total ‘passenger occupied’ cabin area.

You can just take the seat dimensions.

Economy is 31 x 17 = 527 square inches of floor space

PEY is almost always a 38 inch pitch, and width around 19 inches = 722 square inches.

Business is 78 x 22 = 1716 square inches.

If you take some average fares to Europe, $1500 economy, $4000 premium and $8000 business, the figures work out to:

$2.84 per sq inch for economy
$5.54 for premium economy
$4.66 for business

And with business you’re getting a raft of additional benefits such as lounges and upgraded food and beverage, which have to come out of the profit.

 

[lovestotravel]

PE is overpriced rubbish - Why bother

 

[MEL_Traveller]

PE is overpriced rubbish - Why bother

It’s better than economy! That’s for sure.

But the question is more likely… why pay premium economy when you could get business class on a second or third tier airline?

 

[lovestotravel]

It’s better than economy! That’s for sure.

But the question is more likely… why pay premium economy when you could get business class on a second or third tier airline?

Agree - I did PE once on Air NZ many years ago, and never again, back to J!

The prices people pay for PE is crazy !

 

[jrfsp]

PE is overpriced rubbish - Why bother

Especially as its usually a significant premium over Y, it was 10-20% I could be tempted but when its often 50% I'm not interested. Rather find a good business deal or just suffer in Y.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Especially as it’s usually a significant premium over Y, it was 10-20% I could be tempted but when it’s often 50% I'm not interested. Rather find a good business deal or just suffer in Y.

On a legacy carrier you’d be lucky to find a PEY fare for just 50% more. It’s at least double, and often triple the fare.

You can probably get value for money on some of the LCCs such as jetstar or scoot, if you buy in sale. JQ’s current MEL-SIN fare of $589 in premium (‘jetstar business’) is competitively priced.

 

[Pushka]

When I price PE and compare it with J, if I'm in a benevolent financial mindset I just think of the difference between the two, compare the 'value ' (cost and amenity) and book J.

 

[SYD]

It’s better than economy! That’s for sure.

Definately!

But the question is more likely… why pay premium economy when you could get business class on a second or third tier airline?

Because they’re a 2nd or 3rd tier airline!

If you don’t eat or drink and just want a flat bed, then they’re potentially a ok options but many are just “Chicken or Beef” and “we have A red and A white wine” (sometimes just the one bottle of each)….

If you have the option to upgrade with points (or better still high status for a comp!), then they’re pretty good value - again on Sale.

I’d be happy with PE for day flights up to/back from Asia but not o/n. Recently scored a cracker deal on QF to HNL. Upgraded on the o/n SYD-HNL but didn’t bother for the return “day flight”.

 

[lovestotravel]

Had to price out fares again as I only book J for long-haul

MEL-FRA-MEL on SQ for July 26
Economy $2,551
Prem EC $3,521
Business $9,731

So OK, PE is not that bad compared to J on SQ

Although you can get deals on SQ J for about $7,500 in J.

 

[SYD]

Had to price out fares again as I only book J for long-haul

MEL-FRA-MEL on SQ for July 26
Economy $2,551
Prem EC $3,521
Business $9,731

So OK, PE is not that bad compared to J on SQ

Although you can get deals on SQ J for about $7,500 in J.

That’s actually quite decent if you can’t stump up for J! Quite compelling to indulge an extra $1k.

 

[Pushka]

That’s actually quite decent if you can’t stump up for J! Quite compelling to indulge an extra $1k.

SQ doesn't offer PE on Adelaide flights.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Had to price out fares again as I only book J for long-haul

MEL-FRA-MEL on SQ for July 26
Economy $2,551
Prem EC $3,521
Business $9,731

So OK, PE is not that bad compared to J on SQ

Although you can get deals on SQ J for about $7,500 in J.

Source for the PE fare? The cheapest I can find is $4221 on the SQ website for PEY on all sectors

 

[WilsonM]

EK PE is probably one of the better hard products out there, but while onboard I remember thinking it's not really worth it. I'd much rather have a spare seat next to me in Y than a seat in a full PE cabin, tbh.

Another thing to note is that PE is often priced at ~100% more points than Y, while J is maybe 150% more (depending on program ofc, it's sometimes less, sometimes more). As such, I find it even more difficult to justify PE reward bookings - even over Economy points bookings, as I'd much rather save the points and still get to where I'm going.