Ultra Long haul Premium Economy - tolerable?

[drcam]

In wonderful style my work has advised me to change my vacation time from June to late September and the only available redemptions could find for my revised trip was in PE from Australia to New York on SQ.

PE seems to cost a fair proportion of J points and there is no flat bed and only Y level catering. I have flown medium haul once and yes it still is better than basic economy. Have any of you tried flying 15+ hrs on it in one go? Any way of making it more tolerable?

I could try to redeem a J flight from Bali or KL to Singapore and on to New York as there is better availabilty but obviously I'd need a repositioning flight.

At least I have lounge access.

Any suggestions?

 

[sietes]

I did PY on JL MEL-NRT-LHR once. It was ok I guess. As you say better than Y but not J by a long way. I'd certainly reposition for J if the option existed.

 

[Matt_01]

I have only ever flown SQ Y+ once MEL-SIN and won't do it again. Some airlines seem to treat Y+ is a downgraded J product, my experience with SQ was a Y upgrade and the only thing different was the pitch around 2". We flew EWR-SIN last year in J and it was tough going, have you considered SIN-FRA-JFK (SQ), AU-HND-JFK (JL) or AU-HKG-JFK (CX).

 

[antycbr]

In wonderful style my work has advised me to change my vacation time from June to late September and the only available redemptions could find for my revised trip was in PE from Australia to New York on SQ.

PE seems to cost a fair proportion of J points and there is no flat bed and only Y level catering. I have flown medium haul once and yes it still is better than basic economy. Have any of you tried flying 15+ hrs on it in one go? Any way of making it more tolerable?

I could try to redeem a J flight from Bali or KL to Singapore and on to New York as there is better availabilty but obviously I'd need a repositioning flight.

At least I have lounge access.

Any suggestions?

Are you doing SIN-EWR or SIN-JFK? Would not recommend unless in J. Even then it’s a LONG way and after 18h in PE you’ll be thoroughly sick of it.

 

[dajop]

Have done SIN-LAX and back in Y+ no dramas, quite comfortable. But as PPS, we were able to secure exit row seats. We paid $$$ not points, and was substantially less in Y+ on the non-stop service than Y on the SIN-NRT-LAX service, and would do it again at those price levels. But I wouldn't pay a significant premium to do so, and would never redeem points for PE, unless desperate.

I could try to redeem a J flight from Bali or KL to Singapore and on to New York as there is better availabilty but obviously I'd need a repositioning flight.

Much, much better experience to do this, strongly advisable even with the cost of the positioning flight.

 

[drcam]

I won't fly via NRT or HKG due to mask rules, sorry.

Preferably SIN-EWR.

 

[Forg]

PY SYD-LHR & return in 2012 here, it was a billionty times better than Y but also not a patch on J.

Hong Kong had been typhooned which shut the airport down for a few days, I’d bought CX tickets so ended-up re-booked on BA. It may be different now, then it was very much about the extra room & not much else; CX claimed that the meals were the same as J but you had fewer choices, admittedly they did have proper cutlery (who cares?) but while the meals had the same names as J they were just slightly larger Y TV-dinners. BA meals were also larger than Y, but again, just more of the same not-so-great thing. I think the wines/booze may have been J for both.
But for that much time, the extra space is worth it.

The BA layout was better in terms of the small PY cabin having it’s own toilet, a lot less need than usual Y to keep an eye out for a quiet time if you wanted to go potty. Having been B744’s and 11 years ago, that won’t still be true. CX with both A330 & B744 the toilets at the rear of the PY cabin were shared with the front of the Y cabin.

In 2018 I was going to book our London flights in PY again except CI had a special which made J 3/4 the cost of the CX or (I think) SQ PY … since I’d already psyched myself to spend ~$3.8k/ea (QF was $4.5k), I jumped on $3k with enthusiasm, and hence can’t even recall how much the discounted CI PY was.
J is most definitely better, but even if PY is double the cost of Y I’d choose to pay that double. Especially if it’s only points & you’re not directly paying anything.

 

[jase05]

I just don’t really see the attraction with PY especially with the price they command. If I was on a budget I’d look at a cheap flight to Asia in Y and then try to pick up a cheap J fare from there.

 

[Forg]

I just don’t really see the attraction with PY especially with the price they command. If I was on a budget I’d look at a cheap flight to Asia in Y and then try to pick up a cheap J fare from there.

I’ve tried that for both the 2012 and the 2018 trips (both northern summer) to the UK, and didn’t find the cheap J fares.

 

[jase05]

I’ve tried that for both the 2012 and the 2018 trips (both northern summer) to the UK, and didn’t find the cheap J fares.

That would be very strange as I’ve always found there is some port in Asia offering cheap J fares even if it might require a route that isn’t necessarily the best or quickest.
Just as an example from Australia to Europe in June or July this year you are probably going to pay $4-5k for PY unless you go with VN who often have PY fares around $2500.
You could pay under $1k to Asia return in Y and then EY in J for $2500-3000.
TR have SYD-SIN-MNL for around $600 or SQ has the same route for $900 so lounge access for VA status folk and then EY are doing MNL-AUH-MAD for just under $2500 in J

 

[Forg]

I tried a few airports, the front-of-mind home-cities for the front-of-mind carriers (eg. SQ, CX, MH, KE, JL at least maybe a few others) but admittedly didn’t want to stoop to mainland CCP-land. My better-half still had QF status in 2018, so I was kinda/sorta planning on a OneWorld Y flight (hopefully daytime) to Asia, although daytime flights back were harder to find IIRC.

 

[wandering_fred]

Once upon a time JNB-HKG-LAX was a good status run in PE.
I can sleep in PE and appreciate the absence of "dueling elbows" at meal times.
Well a J upgrade on 2 of the 4 segments "helped" with the wandering

Fred

 

[drcam]

Final result was I had to change my redemption to an Advantage award to SFO for which I paid the points difference.

Could not stomach that long in PE. The fact that there is no Y on the SIN-EWR section also means PE is the lowest class. Will fly to Chicago for a few days and then head to New York from there.