Direct economy or indirect premium economy

[sentinelese]

Looking at flying to Asia. 12hours direct economy or 17 hours indirect premium economy. Both for £800.

What do you think?

For me definitely direct economy.

Direct for me

direct whenever possible. Less risk of flight disruptions and delays, and lost luggage of course.

Direct

Direct for me too.

Direct 100%

I’d go indirect premium economy, no brainer.

Direct!

After a disastrous indirect flight which meant our journey took 36 hours to travel what would have been 9 hours direct- direct every single time. No question.

Depends where to and how far. I live in SE Asia but often fly home via Dubai with Emirates. We like the stop off half way for a leg stretch and change of scene, and sometimes get premium economy to make it even nicer. I'd rather do that than a direct BA flight in economy for example. If its somewhere like Iran which I guess is about 5 hours, definitely direct rather than changing.

Direct, premium economy is just a bit of extra leg room?

Business class I might consider indirect but definitely not premium economy

I would value the speed of the journey with less disruptions, and stress of a transfer above a premium economy seat. If you are going premium economy for more comfort/rest/sleep... then you are counter acting any benefit by going via another airport. Only you know how these things effect you and your travelling party.

Make sure you look up what you actually get. When I was travelling Singapore Air I looked into premium economy and found the only differences were - marginally bigger seat, tiny bit more leg room, early boarding on plane, and you could pre-order your meal. For me these things would do very little to actually make my flight significantly better. As PP I might consider indirect for business, but very few airlines have a desirable enough premium economy for me to inconvenience myself.

Finally is it the same airline, as they are not all made equal? I would add weighting to the superior airline - for example BA economy might be better than South African Airline premium economy.

What extra does Premium Economy actually give you? Extra luggage allowance (that you’ll use) maybe, just a bit of extra leg room, then no.

If it was business class and I knew I could sleep on a flat bed and wait out any delays in a lounge maybe I’d consider it but you’d be absolutely mad to consider doing it for premium economy. It will still be an upright economy style seat, just a little bit wider with a bit more legroom and connections always mean more chance of things going wrong.

I would go for the direct flight. Indirect flights (and in this case another 5 hours at an airport) just makes an already long day even longer.

Which airline, and which connecting airport?

Is there a massive difference between economy and premium economy?

If the only difference is a bit of extra legroom and real cutlery, it's not worth it. If you were getting a flat bed and lounge access then yes, go indirect.

Unless you're planning on upgrading from PE to business, which you may not be able to do on the direct flight, if there is a class between economy and business on that particular airline.

Direct. I'd always always pick a direct flight over an indirect one. So much more scope for things to go wrong on indirect, plus the additional time taken is just a waste of time.

Direct, get the bastard done!

@Mushrooms0up

Direct, premium economy is just a bit of extra leg room?

Business class I might consider indirect but definitely not premium economy

Virgin premium economy is more than extra legroom, wider seats, the seats recline more and if you're upstairs then you get space window side to stretch out into, better food/drink, priority boarding and checkin and a larger luggage allowance

I'd go non direct premium every time, also you might be able to upgrade to business for cheaper

Which airlines? Where is the stop off and how long?

I find more than 8 hours in economy and my knees pack up for a few days afterwards (and I'm only 5/4)

Sorry for the late reply! Forgot to check mumsnet, thanks for the advice.

It’s direct Thai Airways or indirect Air France or Austrian.

Thai from those choices.
Direct (as my answer above).
Isnt it lucky both are the same flight!