British Airways Premium Economy? Worth it?

[Narutaki]

We are flying to Cancun this summer with BA. It's from Gatwick.
We got an offer to upgrade from economy to premium economy for £90 each.

Is that worth the money? We are on a bit of a budget having splurged for the hotel with a lay-z pool. Advice appreciated !

Club Europe is similar to PE on long haul. Club Europe only ever worth it if you want to hammer the champagne

@HaggisBurger Club champagne is crap but it is well worth it for those of us who take the kitchen sink and when DS was younger a lot of his diving stuff.

It isn't at all similar
CE is the exactly same seat as economy on some routes (ex LCY) and on others it is the same seat with the centre of the group of 3 blocked. The legroom is the same as economy. The seat is the same seat as economy.

WTP (premium economy) is a different seat from economy , it reclines significantly more. It has greater legroom. The seats at each side are in pairs- so perfect for 2 people. The food is the CW food but served on 1 tray.

The only thing the same is the CE and WTP drinks- which are almost identical.

Definitely for that price and that length of flight. 2 checked bags instead of one too.

Just to flag, on the newer BA aircraft, my experience is that the PE seats have been really weirdly designed so that they recline very suddenly - on a flight to Boston recently I saw three people covered in wine because the reclining of the seat in front sent everything flying into the air. This could have just been an odd coincidence of course!

In essence OP, go for it ignore all the pedants, what ever the upgrade is it will be worth it.

I don’t think they’re remotely comparable actually. Club Europe is a far worse seat than
premium economy/WT+ because it’s the same economy seat as the rest of the plane but with a tray stuck in the middle. But CE gets stuff like lounge access, security fast track etc that you don’t get with premium economy. I think it’s the same wines though?

(This is excluding City airport which is a different beast)

I think you can more accurately compare long haul premium economy with US domestic First, if anyone has any experience of that, because the recliner style seats are very similar. Or current PE with 1990s business class before the flatbeds came in!

Absolutely for that price!

Last time I flew PE with BA, the arm rests didn’t lift up - not sure if that is standard - but it means if you are travelling with a child you might not be able to lift the arm rest and have space for them to stretch out. I ended up with a row of 3 to myself and was v irritated that I couldn’t take advantage of it.

£90 is a good deal BUT I suggest checking what seats are available in PE before committing. Lots of people on this thread saying to get a pair of seats by the windows but unless the OP has OW status, she will have to pay extra to book those seats so her total will be more than £90 each.

Of course for £90, sitting anywhere (including apart from her companion) in PE is still a good deal. But if the OP has decent seats together in economy, she might prefer to stay there rather than pay the £90 + seat reservation fee.

Just something to consider before deciding.

WTP is the sweet spot for upgrades so I wouldn't worry too much about seat availability at this point. Plus only those who have paid or have status will have booked seats in advance- increased and 7 days before when bronze free seat booking kicks in

You can do a dummy booking to see what seats are available

Definitely worth it for that price!

For that price yes. It's not nearly as good as Virgin Premium so I wouldn't pay loads, but £90 sounds like a bargain.

Agree with others, for that price go for it! But yes be careful of getting stuck with middle seats.

If the PE upgrade was significantly more, I’d say it depends on the plane. The BA 777s that do a lot of the Caribbean routes and A380 have pairs of seats in economy and found these helped with the feeling of space not sitting next to a stranger. Obviously doesn’t recline as much but still felt less squished!

Nope

Unless you are traveling back PE it's no good being excited about the extra luggage allowance, unless you are planning on leaving stuff there.

BA generally make less of a fuss about PE than other airlines IME buy the extra space is still welcome so for that price I'd pay it.

Have they now upgraded all of their Caribbean fleet? We flew PE in 2017 (poss a 777) and the screen was like something from a 1990 gameboy. Later took an A380 to the far east and it was remarkably different.

Not so, if you have one leg premium economy you get the luggage allowance both ways. We booked PE for a flight home once when we had camping equipment as it was worth it just for the luggage allowance

I did notice the difference, for £90 I would upgrade, we got a little bag with toiletries, a dinner with metal cutlery and much more comfy seats, which makes all the difference when you are trying not to waste a day or two recovering from the jet lag.

That's good to know, thank you for correcting me.