Living the premium life

Color me Team Premium, as well. Two overseas flights in Aer Lingus economy were too many for me.

I always travel Comfort+ on Delta, but the price differential to move to Premium is too high for not much in my opinion. You get a slight bigger seat and recline, but food is the same as Comfort+.

But I am flying KLM later this year for the first time and my options were Economy or Premium so I paid up for Premium with a fantastic deal, which I still think was a temporary glitch in the system. The price went up $900 the next day.

We flew KLM Premium last year and it was quite nice. I don't know if the food was different from economy but it was also very good, whatever it was (I never remember airline food afterward, other than good/not good).

Edit: We flew Delta Premium Select to and from Spain and there was a huge difference between specific aircraft. Going over on an obviously older A330 felt cramped and disappointing. Coming home on a 767-400 was night and day difference. Felt much more spacious and comfortable.

You get a slight bigger seat and recline, but food is the same as Comfort+. [my emphasis]

I think this might have been the case during parts of the pandemic, but it's not the case now.

You can actually check Delta's menus ahead of time and can see that for transatlantic flights, the Premium menu and the Comfort menu are not the same.

For example, on tonight's DL 262 (JFK-CDG), the Comfort menu has a main course choice of chicken korma or lasagna, whereas the Premium menu has a main course choice of red curry chicken or buffalo pasta.

(Of course, just because it's different doesn't mean it's necessarily better, though anecdotally I will say I've had the red curry chicken and was very pleasantly surprised.)

Its all about the ideal mix of cabin types to earn the highest return on the investment of the flight.

I thank gwad for basic economy, so do my goats.

I am glad to hear Delta has differentiated the meal between Comfort+ and Premium Select.
I only flew on it once a couple of years ago, and it was an older plane model as well. Maybe I'll use some miles to upgrade on my trip later this summer.

Most of my long haul flights involved a connection before. If I have enough time, I would stop at the lounge to get some food and skip the plane one. But most often than not I am cutting short on time so need to eat what they serve. Though they have definitely improved the economy food offerings.

SFO is not the best base for flying Delta (where all my miles are at).

Stoutfella,

Do you know if you were on an A-330 900 Neo, per chance?

-- Mike Beebe

Mike: It was an A330-300. I actually posted about it awhile back.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/premium-select-a-tale-of-two-planes

It would be nice to be among the elites in front of the air(bus), but my paycheck doesn't allow it. So I stick to seat 37D, 'chicken or pasta', and cross my fingers I get there in one piece. An empty seat next to me is the 'upgrade' I hope to score, but seldom do.

Mike Beebe : "Do you know if you were on an A-330 900 Neo, per chance?"

I was actually on that plane on AirFrance last year. Delta messed up my itinerary and I ended up on Air France Premium cabin. It was really nice, and food was delicious. First time I saw a plane without window shades. It was touch screen to make it darker. I was also lucky to be on first row of Premium so extra space. But the other rows felt quite tight for the person at the window to get out from seat. It's how the seat reclines, it is different than other planes as I remember.

Ages ago moved from Economy to Premium Economy and never looked back. Overnight Virgin Airlines LAX to LHR.

alomaker, we share a travel style. The secret is eait till check in time online and at that time check the seat map. Look for an empty aisle and move. We'll that works when I travel alone. Half the time I get 3 seats and can stretch out and sleep.

After a trip to India in what I like to call "chicken class" since you feel like you're on a factory farm, I've decreed that I'm not flying over an ocean if it doesn't involve premium economy! I'm short but wide so while I don't really care about the leg room, that extra inch of seat width is a huge help, and isn't part of Comfort+ and similar products.

Mr. E, I hear you. One reason I seek out a center section aisle seat in the back of the bus is to score an empty seat next to me. Unfortunately, I have not been lucky in the last five years. Planes, especially on long-distance international flights, always seem packed to the gills. On a short-haul flight, my scheme still works some of the time. Ah! Business and premium, I only look at enviously - on my to and from the door.

I just flew Air France booked through Delta round trip Boston to Nice France. Everyone has the option of Champagne with meals on the over water leg. They fly the A350. Very good meals too especially on the return leg.

I really enjoy PE too. I am in a Delta hub so usually Delta PE is pretty expensive, but I've flown United PE a number of times and it's just as nice and usually several hundred dollars cheaper. At my age I have decided I can't fly economy internationally anymore, except maybe in an exit row seat.

I feel like almost every flight I've taken since 2022 has been completely full, so you just can't count on an empty row these days.

I flew a United codeshare on Lufthansa, in PE, and found it pretty disappointing; it was comparable to C+ on Delta with harder seats.

After your first trip above Economy it’s SO hard to go back.
Even that few inches more space in a seat is worth it to me.
I worked very hard for years and am now retired, so I’ve earned the comfort and don’t mind paying more.
I love flying, so to me, part of my vacation includes pleasant comfy flights.
I just flew Saga Class to Paris and back on Iceland Air, on a 737 Max 8.
It’s Premium Economy and was really good.
The food was outstanding!
Because you always change planes in Reykjavik, both flights were not too long to get to the “get me out of here” feeling.
For amenity kits: you get a list and can just ask for the item you want, rather than get a whole kit full of stuff that gets wasted.
IE: if lip balm is all you want, just ask and the crew will bring it to you.

It would be nice to be among the elites in front of the air(bus), but my paycheck doesn't allow it. So I stick to seat 37D, 'chicken or pasta', and cross my fingers I get there in one piece. An empty seat next to me is the 'upgrade' I hope to score, but seldom do.

Same, alomaker, same.

Although without eating the airline meal.

And yes, I do like Mr E and keep checking the seat map as close to takeoff as I can in case a move helps my case.

Kim, most of my flights of late have been Lufthansa Economy Light. For instance BUD to IAD in June Economy Light is $978 + $52 for two extra leg room seats (row 13) one each way; while Premium Economy was over $3700. With the savings I use the EuroNet ATM to get cash for service tips when the EuroNet is the closest to where I am. Sometimes I use the savings on private transfers instead of busses. Sometimes really good wine. The goats appreciate this.

AND when Lufthansa sells you that 6 euro 100ml bottle of wine they give you one of these to drink it in. I have a very nice collection now: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/CiAAAOSwoBRkrjVO/s-l400.jpg The Lufthansa cuttlery is also very nice.

At 5'2 and 5'6, lean and fit, we're both comfortable in economy. That said, thus far we've only encountered those moulded plastic non-reclining seats on domestic flights, and have not done any >12-hour nonstops recently. Our practise is to economise, with the intent to make the truly meanigful upgrade to business-class in case of dire need...as was the case on a transatlantic return flight not long ago where we'd caught nasty colds on a river cruise and appreciated being able to lay our exhausted selves flat-out.

Last year I had my first experience flying business class on United to Australia. It was the first time I got any actual sleep on a long haul flight. I was fortunate and did not have to pay for that flight. My husband and I fly economy. Once we sprung for economy plus and since we are vertically challenged and not heavy we decided it wasn’t worth the extra price, or miles which we usually use. We take long trips and we would rather spend the money on our time there as opposed to the transportation to get to and from there. This year we will be going to New Zealand and Australia and flying economy. Will I get as munch sleep as I did last year? Highly unlikely. Still, we will get over our jet lag and have a good time with more money in our pockets.