I'm most familiar with United. Economy Plus (which is mostly about a bit more legroom) does have a modest premium absent sufficient status that gets you it for free. But Premium Economy that gives you somewhat wider seats as well as legroom gets into the hundreds of dollars. International business has lots of benefits including legroom and lie flat seating but that usually gets into the thousands.

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matwood 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

EP is just economy with slightly more leg room. PE is closer to business than EP. The food is upgraded along with the service. The seats are more recliner like and you generally have more room. Additionally, the PE seats are often the quickest to deplane if that's important. I can also work in PE seat, whereas EP not so much.

The problem with PE is that it's often not that great of a deal. Unless it's a super busy route, you can usually keep shopping for an upgrade and just go all the way to lay flat business. Side note, when going business class, understand that not all plane layouts and seats are the same. Check seat guru.

Source - I fly back and forth to the EU quite a bit.

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chrisbolt 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Seatguru hasn't been updated in ages, use https://www.aerolopa.com instead

	▲	bsimpson 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		SG has failed me a lot lately. Thanks for the tip!

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ghaff 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I agree with all that. The food still isn't great. And the seat still isn't great for a red-eye relative to business. I wouldn't generally work on a plane anyway. I've been in PE--don't remember the circumstances--but as I recall didn't think it was anything special for the cost.

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matwood 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Your final point is exactly it. PE is better, but the cost difference is generally too high above EP. At that point I tend to just go BC.

To your other points, at the end of the day, it's an airplane. And since I'm usually flying US airlines, even business class isn't that special outside of laying flat. I do fly back and forth to the EU enough though, that being able to work for 4ish hours is pretty useful.

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thfuran 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> At that point I tend to just go BC

It sounds to me like their pricing is working as intended and getting an even bigger upcharge.

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ghaff 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>it's an airplane

Yeah. For me, $5K or whatever is still a decent amount and, even if you just put it in the vacation pile, that's a decent amount for meals and other experiences vs. being a bit more comfortable over a 10 hour (or whatever) flight.

	▲	matwood 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		My trick is that I always just buy the base economy ticket that can still be upgraded. Then I check for upgrades every couple days. What I found is that prices to move classes will vary wildly as they try to sell all the seats. It also makes it easier to upgrade a single leg - an overnight flight is more important to be lay flat than a daytime flight for example. The other part of my equation is that I put a 'dollar figure x flight time' that I'm willing to pay to be more comfortable. If I see a price that hits my threshold I upgrade, otherwise not.

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makeitdouble 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Nothing should be allowed to be called "Premium Economy"

	▲	whatshisface 7 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Premium doesn't have to mean "elite," it might also refer to a risk premium or any situation where a buyer has to pay extra. ;)
	▲	ghaff 7 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Eh, they already had economy plus. Premium economy is basically traditional domestic business class on widebody international flights that have lie-flat business (Polaris) seating as well. Honestly, putting it in the economy bucket in contrast to Polaris seems pretty honest in the scheme of things.