More than a decade ago Delta Air Lines launched Comfort+, positioned as a premium offering and countering the trend of economy class densification. It offered extra legroom on board, occasionally a curtain separating it from regular economy, and some food & drink improvements. It also quickly became the carrier’s “Premium Economy” cabin for domestic routes, a marketing and distribution choice none of its competitors chose to follow.
Now, as one competitor finally matches that approach it appears Delta is bailing on it.
Delta’s Switch to “Real” Premium Economy
Going forward the only seats Delta is selling as Premium Economy appear to be its Premium Select cabin. This has been the case for a while now on long-haul routes, but within the US the (recently renamed) Comfort Classic product was touted similarly via third party distribution channels.
Delta will still sell premium economy fares on domestic routes where Premium Select seats exist. This includes connecting itineraries where the PremY seat is only offered on one segment. Alas, on those routes it appears passengers will only be allocated a regular Main Cabin seat, not even Preferred much less C+, when booking.
The abrupt and unannounced shift from Delta also comes as it prepares to bring the A321neo premium config into service. That plane includes a proper premium economy layout (and nicer business class), similar to the wide-body fleet operating transcons today.
This is arguably a better representation of how premium economy should be represented to travelers, which makes JetBlue‘s recent move all the more bizarre.
JetBlue Pitches Even More as Premium Economy
JetBlue’s Even More product is now being marketed as Premium Economy in some markets, just like Delta used to do with Comfort+.
When searching for economy fares the Even More option is presented, but it is not flagged as premium economy, at least not in Google Flights.
Perhaps the carrier is setting the stage to sell three classes of service when its planned First Class offering joins the fleet. Or maybe it simply wants to cash in on the growing demand for more premium services and believes there’s a strong market of passengers searching for those premium seats via OTAs or Google Flights.
JetBlue’s efforts are limited initially; a select collection of markets is included. JFK-Los Angeles is not, for example, except when connecting via Boston. Given that American Airlines (on the A321XLR) and Delta both now sell a much different premium economy product in that market JetBlue’s choice makes some sense. But it also seems likely the carrier will try to expand the program if the revenue boost shows up.
United, Too
United Airlines also pitches some Economy Plus fares as premium economy, but it shows differently than the JetBlue approach. Which is to say it shows up on some OTAs (e.g. Expedia, Travelocity) but not on Google Flights.
Presumably that distinction is enabled through an NDC API direct link rather than public distribution feeds.
Yet Another Option
Not every OTA subscribes to the airlines’ declarations of their product categories. Hopper does not have a Premium Economy designation for fares. Instead it offers an “Enhanced” category in its display matrix.
That gets awkward on some international routes where “Enhanced” simply becomes a flexible fare rather than increased legroom on board. At least the Premium option in those cases is typically a real premium economy seat, with business class or first class showing under the Luxury heading.
It does fall apart in some cases with codeshares, and fails to display first class in some markets.
All of which is to say comparison shopping sucks as a consumer. And it is getting worse, not better.
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