best airlines for premium economy seats

Did you check out Condor? They fly from Seattle to Frankfurt.

Those cozy pod thingies are called Business Class seats. They're great if you have an extra $5000 lying around. Generally, Premium Economy seats have about 5" more leg room and a bit more recline. Some actually have wider seats, but the adder is a lot more than just increasing the seat pitch. You can investigate by looking at www.seatguru.com or www.seatexpert.com for the lowdown on airlines you are considering.

The worst economy plus upgrade was Air France a couple years ago. The seats were so small and I am not that big, I would hate to see the regular seats. In May we upgraded to economy plus San Francisco to London on a new United 777, we were very impressed at how comfortable (for a plane) those seats were.

Sam, even if I had an extra $5K lying around, I don't think I would use that much just for a comfortable flight. I don't want to suffer, but I don't want to pay what to me is a fortune not to, I guess. And I didn't realize business class seats, even "pods," were stuck back in the economy section. I should have realized it, though; they were pretty neat looking. I eyed the one beside me with envy the entire trip!

Judy, I looked at the United "Economy Plus" seats, and they look okay. Your recommendation helps me a lot.

Dmae, I read reviews on Condor, and they didn't look too good to me. I don't think I want to take a chance on an unknown airline. Thanks for the suggestion, anyway.

Has anyone used the Delta premium economy seat? Any review of it? I think from what I've heard so far, I'm narrowing my search down to between United and Delta.

We flew on Delta from Seattle to Amsterdam on lMay 23 and returned on June 14. We paid an extra $89 each way for Economy Comfort seats and with me being 6'3" it was a great deal. Those seats were in rows 10 thru 14 on our 330-300 and we were given early boarding privileges at both ends. It was our first flight on Delta as we prefer to fly on European airlines so that we are assured of non-stop flights from Seattle to Europe. However, when I booked this trip on KLM, I ended up on Delta -code sharing as they called it.

I would fly Delta again in a minute. Clean airplane, good service, too much food that was above average for airline food, free alcohol,
and great seats.

We flew Delta economy comfort roundtrip to Paris last August. Paid between $69 and $130 pp each way. There is a bit more legroom -- 4" --and more recline. Cabin area less crowded than economy, but the seats were not upgraded. Priority boarding. If you have the money, I would pay for the slight decrease in discomfort -- the seats were not very comfortable, though with the help of a prescription med I was able to dose lightly (flying terrifies me). The flight attendants were very courteous and came around frequently with drinks (water, sodas, alcohol) and an edible meal (hey, it's airline food, and you won't be upgraded on that end). I like Delta, and economy comfort makes flying economy a little more bearable. This year we're going to London from EWR. Delta does not fly that route, and BA and Virgin cost hundreds more for a more premium, premium economy. United offers a similar product to Delta, but decided to go with Virgin. Can't afford almost doubling my airfare, so it's economy for us. Oh well, can do almost anything for 7 hours... Since you can check out available seats on Delta before you buy, see what's open and check Seat Guru to see what works for you. Enjoy Paris!

Ook at Virgin Alantic ,their PE sears have foot rests,more like a recliner.

We flew Delta premium economy to Amsterdam and back from Paris last fall. The seats on the flight over had a little more legroom and recline, which may have helped me "sleep" a little more than usual, but I don't sleep well on planes (never tried those $5K pods though). Returning, we lucked into bulkhead seats that were so far back from the bulkhead we had to stretch forward to work the little screens in front of us. We must have had three feet of legroom, it was kind of embarrassing, but most welcome on a 10-hour flight.

I thought the premium seats were worth the investment. Use seatguru.com to figure out which specific seats would be best for you, if you book early enough to have a choice. The downside of bulkhead is that's where they put the little kids, but we didn't have any on that flight. (I like kids, but not so much on long flights.)

I went with Delta. Will report how it went after the trip for others' use. Thanks to all who replied.

A couple of notes: watch the codeshare! Delta codeshares with Air France and only the Delta code flights have economy comfort seats. I, too, was not impressed by the Air France seats and I do think the Delta economy comfort seats are worth the extra money (if only to board early to be sure to get the always valuable overhead compartment space). Also, when I last flew from Atlanta to Zurich a couple of years ago, believe it or not, I was bumped out of my economy comfort seat at the Delta boarding gate (presumably for a Delta medallion member who had a higher status than me). The gate agent offered to refund the extra cost or put me on a later flight (which meant the next morning) but that totally disrupts travel plans and vacation time is short. I ended up being moved to a regular seat but a flight attendant on board, when I explained my story, allowed me to sit in an unoccupied exit row that had a broken monitor on the back of one of its seats (the one in front of me worked fine!). Lesson: always check with the on-board flight attendants if you ever have an issue; they seem more willing to resolve problems than the employees on the ground.