I wouldnt be surprised to see PE become the new economy for the slightly well-er to do while backpacker class shrinks as a proportion. For people like myself who don't fly very regularly, I'm happy to fork out the extra $$ for a nicer experience on my twice a year sojourns. The joys of saving a few hundred wear off about 4hrs into the flight.
Yeah PE is definately a growing segment in the market, I'm not cashed up or don't work for a company which let me fly business, so PE is the go the get. Dedicated check-in, cabin, lavatory, extra leg room, for 25%-50% extra on an economy airfare. But I would never buy PE fares when they are 100%-150% extra on an economy fare.
Which happened on my Virgin Atlantic LHR-JFK flight, it was $749 return economy or $1700 in PE, so I booked economy and when I got to the airport, VS was asked me if i wanted to move up to PE for 120 pounds, and I took the offer for an 8 hour flight, that works to be around AU$30 an hour.
On the way back Newark-LHR, was offered it again, US$270, so I took it up again -- ended up costing $1,289 -- and the VS PE sale fare is normally around $1100.
On the days that people generally don't like or can't travel, you can score VA's PE/Economy combo ticket to Europe for $2,700 but it is normally $3700-$4200, compared to Qantas PE all the way to Europe for $4600-$5,000. and if you manage to book early on Japan Airline's PE all the way, its around $3,000 from Syd-Narita-European city.
PE will just keep growing since Cathay Pacific and Malaysia Airlines are getting into the market soon.
