BA Premium Economy

[PineapplePrincess]

Considering booking PE with BA in a few weeks time. Cost of the flight is almost double the economy price, but given it’s a 10hr+ journey with a four year old, we’re figuring the extra room would be worth it.

Only problem is that price doesn’t include the option to pick seats, BA want an extra £400+ (four flights in total). WTH?

Weighing up leaving BA to pick our seats, as I’m assuming they won’t let DS sit alone, but possibly DH or I may need to sit apart (altho how far apart in a PE cabin can you really be?)

Anyone any thoughts or experiences?

I looked at booking PE but didn't in the end and wasn't wildly impressed by the difference between that and economy.
I'm pretty sure that they'd have one parent beside your DC, but not necessarily the other and then you'd lose the benefit of having three seats to spread over and being able to split parenting duties. I'd probably stick to economy given the circumstances, but then I'm always keen to save on flight costs for more spending money on holiday.

We've flown PE on a night flight home and tbh I didn't think it was significantly better than economy. It has rigid seat dividers between each seat, so you and your DC won't have the option of putting the arm rests up to spread out (my DC have slept with their heads on our laps in economy), and while the seats are slightly larger unless you or your DH are big/tall then I'm not sure it's worth the extra money. On our next long haul flight we haven't upgraded!

Not worth the price at all imo and have flown long haul with BA for the last 4 years (ex was staff)

And we never pay to pick seats - ever - and it's never been an issue. I think the computer automatically allocates families in adjacent seats, as long as adjacent seats exist at the time of booking. The only time I think you'd have a problem is if the flight is really busy and you're late booking your tickets - then you'd be allocated what's left.

PE is barely different from economy I think for BA? Just a tiny bit more legroom? I'd definitely not say it's worth double the price.
Can you afford business? That way you get a bed each so kids can sleep and generally have loads more space.

We flew premium economy back from Vancouver last year for an extra 100 and that was only worth it for us because of the extra luggage allowance.

Premium economy cabin on that route was tiny so no seats for two people together when we booked. We managed to get moved at check in. The extra room was nice but not worth paying megabucks for.

I don’t rate PE, I just don’t think it is worth the extra money and the rigid armrests were a pain when I was flying with an 18month old who wanted to lean on me.

Watching with interest as I am considering the same but looking at Virgin Premium . Ba are so much more expensice than anyone else and i always near poor things about them.

If you do fly BA, make sure you pre book your DS a child’s meal! They have to be ordered in advance.

Thanks guys, this is good food for thought....

We are travelling to Dubai. We could get direct flights out of a local airport with Emirates, but the home coming flight is daytime and we prefer an night flight so DS sleeps and doesn’t terrorise the rest of the passengers for the entire 7hrs (he’s not one for sitting still unless he’s asleep!)

We flew Emirates last year and took an indirect flight home through Heathrow to get a night flight. Worked out okay, but the economy seats wrecked havoc on my DH back and he was in pain for a good few weeks afterwards. Hence considering PE.

Would love to upgrade to BC @JuniperDrops ; flew Emirates BC a couple of years back (following an inheritance windfall and a BC sale). It was amazing. It’s been awful to go back to economy now that know what we’re missing. But prices are just ridiculous; £1k for economy, £2k for PE and £7k for BC for all three of us. Will have to put the lotto numbers of again tonight!?!

I would probably save your money. It used to be pretty decent but they’ve cut so much from the service that it’s now economy with a smidge more legroom. You’d be better off going economy but paying for the exit row/bulkhead seats instead if that’s an option. The only real upside with WT+ is that you sometimes get discounted upgrades to Club if the flight isn’t busy, occasionally it pops up online when you check in or you can ask at the airport.

"Considering booking PE with BA in a few weeks time. Cost of the flight is almost double the economy price, but given it’s a 10hr+ journey with a four year old, we’re figuring the extra room would be worth it. Only problem is that price doesn’t include the option to pick seats, BA want an extra £400+ (four flights in total). WTH?"

Unfortunately choosing to seat reserve is and has become another revenue stream for them. That is what this is all about. Choosing seats at additional cost (and its per sector too) has been around for a while now and they are not the only ones who have such a policy. VA do the same.

The armrest in PE (WT plus in BA speak) as well does not move and I think I am also correct in thinking that this section does not have its own toilets either. The ones in WT have to be used.

Never rely on the airline to fully provide re meals either. Take what your child likes in terms of foodstuffs for the flight.

I’m going to buck the trend here and say book Premium Economy. We go to the US with BA every year (11 hour flight) and probably wouldn’t go as often if we didn’t go PE. The seats are much bigger, more legroom and it’s just a lot quieter as the cabin has much fewer seats than economy. It’s a lovely relaxing experience and I look forward to the flight each year. We’ve never had a problem sitting together-I think families automatically get put together but my DH always organises it so I can’t say that for sure. I didn’t realise the armrests are fixed but my DS always just puts his seat back and sleeps on his back.

Oh and it has two toilets!

BA always allocate an under 12 next to another member of your group booking... every time we've flown with them we have all been sat together. Youngest DD is 12 now so that wont happen anymore!

The toilets will depend on your aircraft and route
The A380s you use the economy toilets and if you get sat at the back of premium they'll be right next to your head

Loos depends on the configuration of the plane. On some very old planes (haven’t seen one for a while so maybe they’ve all been refitted) WT+ is sandwiched between F and CW so you get shared loos with CW, a really quiet cabin and priority disembarking. More commonly these days WT+ is behind CW and the loos are behind and shared with economy. If the OP is that bothered by loo access then I’d suggest they check the seat map and/or use seat guru.

I forgot about the arm rests not moving though, we book 1YO DD a seat when flying transatlantic and she usually stretches out across us to sleep so next trip will definitely be main cabin extra with AA instead! Thank you to posters that have mentioned that.

We did PE last year to the USA, for a couple of hundred extra -eg £900 instead of £700.

It was better than Economy, but not sure if £200 better- slightly bigger seats, nicer meal service, help yourself drinks. You could take two 23kg bags, although we didn’t.

You can’t use the Club Lounge, but do get priority boarding.

I wouldn’t worry too much about paying for seats together. You can check in online 24 hours beforehand and select your own seats. We have never had inappropriate seat allocation on any airline (and that’s 2 adults and 5 kids), and have never paid extra.

Ask the airlines on the day how much to upgrade (try business first) as occasionally it’s reasonably priced. Unless you’re over 5ft 8” then it may not be worth paying for Premium Economy.

Fly Etihad to Abu Dhabi and it's an hour to Dubai by car and you get the Airbus on the way out and the seats in economy are just brilliant! It might even be cheaper as not quite as much of a destination??

Emirates over BA any time! My last flight with BA was dreadful - they cancelled our flight out, downgraded us on the reroute and only refunded a small fraction of the fare difference, didn’t seat us together (admittedly we hadn’t paid to choose seats but I thought our party would be together, just in seats of their choice not mine), and the plane was tired and shabby. But if you must go BA I wouldn’t do PE (I certainly won’t again) - it’s really not much better than economy.

HoleyCoMoley Virgin are much better than BA and their premium is worth the money in my opinion so the answer does very much depend on the airline!

We live in Australia and fly back at least once a year. Always with BA, because our final destination is a tiny city and the shortest route is with them.

At some point, we booked PE because the flight is really long. After boing it twice so for 4 journey, I went back to economy . The seat doesn't recline more, the seat is wider, but I am slim so not important to me, the feet rest is nice, but the big no for me is the fixed armrest. The only way I can sleep is by leaning on my son's lap or his table. The same for my sons, they sleep on me or my table and you can't do that in PR.
I don't care if they put a napkin on my table before putting my lunch tray. The food they serve is crap anyway.

This summer, I used all my points to fly back in business and OMG , the difference it is.
Don't waste your money in PE.