British Airways - Premium Economy worth it?

[Dtw002]

Hello -

My family of 5 is doing the London/France ABD this summer. I keep holding off buying the tickets but feel I should real soon.

BA is definately the carrier we are flying. How bad is economy vs premium economy? Is it worth the $500/person/way premium? Ends up being an extra $5k. And then you still have to pay to pick your seat!?

Any insight on when to buy tickets would be appreciated too. Any chance they will get cheaper between now and mid summer?

thanks!!

 

[abdgeek]

Hello -

My family of 5 is doing the London/France ABD this summer. I keep holding off buying the tickets but feel I should real soon.

BA is definately the carrier we are flying. How bad is economy vs premium economy? Is it worth the $500/person/way premium? Ends up being an extra $5k. And then you still have to pay to pick your seat!?

Any insight on when to buy tickets would be appreciated too. Any chance they will get cheaper between now and mid summer?

thanks!!

While I haven’t flown premium economy on BA, I have flown it on Delta (comfort +) and decided it wasn’t worth the additional cost. On Delta, you get slightly more leg room, unlimited alcohol, and an earlier boarding position. Unfortunately, the unlimited alcohol never happened as the only time you get drinks is when they bring the regular drink trolley out. Economy is just a regular seat. Check the BA website for information on what the seat configuration, pitch, etc. is for the plane you’ll be on. If you’re coming from the US, the bigger question is whether you would rather be in economy or premium economy for the roughly 8 hour flight. Pre-pandemic, I booked international flights every year at 11 months prior to my trip. Rarely have I seen the prices decrease; they normally increase the closer you get to your travel dates.

 

[Woodview]

Hello -

My family of 5 is doing the London/France ABD this summer. I keep holding off buying the tickets but feel I should real soon.

BA is definately the carrier we are flying. How bad is economy vs premium economy? Is it worth the $500/person/way premium? Ends up being an extra $5k. And then you still have to pay to pick your seat!?

Any insight on when to buy tickets would be appreciated too. Any chance they will get cheaper between now and mid summer?

thanks!!

Simple Answer is No

At $ 500 per person X 5 is a lot of Spending money & you will need

£ pounds for England & € euros for France

Make sure you have Chip & Pin Bank cards & " Tip & Tap " facility for small buys


Your USA cards with chip & Pin will work in ATM,s

...................

ALSO NOTE Charging Plugs are Different in UK ( 3 PIN ) & France 2 pin round )

 

[Lewisc]

The seats are slightly wider, 8 across instead of 9, more leg room and they recline. Slight recline.

Use Searguru to look up your exact flight.
Some BA flights are code share with DL.

Is it worth it? Depends on your finances and size. It may be worth it if your taller and bigger then average. Maybe not if you're petite

 

[Dtw002]

Thank you, this is helpful. It’s almost $1k more per person so thinking it might not be worth it.
Appreciate the help on currency and cards too!!

 

[Dtw002]

With 2 adults and 3 kids, think we also need to pay to choose our seats now if we want to sit next to one another? Not little kids, so they don’t have to be right next to us. Again, more $$$. I’m fine to pay if worth it (for this and economy+) but don’t want to if not needed. Thanks again!!

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

For Germany this summer by the time we bought extra legroom (my husband gets claustrophobic so he needs it, even on short flights), assigned seats, and a refundable ticket just in case the price of our tickets doubled. I was *this close* to paying up for business class but then you still have to pay to pick seats etc. insane!

I will say though that coming back from Africa (without DH) we were in non-extra legroom coach and the jerks in front of us reclined they whole way. I’m short and I couldn’t even bend down to get something from my bag without hitting their seat. I swore never again. The extra inches aren’t many but I sure missed them that day.

 

[quoo]

I think it really depends on your budget. I believe BA's premium economy product is a true premium economy vs Delta's economy+ which is mostly extra legroom + unlimited drinks (note you do have to ask for these outside of the cart coming by) although - aside, I prefer not to drink much on flights, it's extra dehydrating in the air and alcohol actually impacts your ability to sleep well.

My family flew SAS premium economy CPH -> SAS via their upgrade bidding program and this was 100% worth it for us, would absolutely consider spending the money again. It meant we were all seated together with no strangers next to us as the configuration is 2 x 3 x 2. You may want to check the seat maps and see what this means for your family of 5.

But then, if you don't have the extra budget, or your flight isn't a long one (I wasn't really clear where you are flying from/to), it may not be worth it.

Also, if you do not have a chip & pin card, just a chip and signature which are more common in the US - you should be fine, you'll just need to let the cashier know you need to sign - some cashiers may be unfamiliar with this which can cause confusion.

 

[blabadie]

Our family regularly flies premium economy on international flights. It is not the same as regular economy+. The premium economy seats are more in line with domestic business class. If you can get seats in the front row of premium economy the leg room is huge and the wider seats and foot rests do make it more comfortable. I can sleep in long haul international premium economy whereas I'm pretty certain I couldn't in regular economy/economy+.

It's been a couple years since I've flown BA. (I usually fly United which has a fantastic international premium economy IMO.) At least back then, certain model planes had older seats vs. newer, updated ones. The older ones were definitely inferior to other premium economy seats.

 

[sayhello]

Hello -

My family of 5 is doing the London/France ABD this summer. I keep holding off buying the tickets but feel I should real soon.

BA is definately the carrier we are flying. How bad is economy vs premium economy? Is it worth the $500/person/way premium? Ends up being an extra $5k. And then you still have to pay to pick your seat!?

Any insight on when to buy tickets would be appreciated too. Any chance they will get cheaper between now and mid summer?

thanks!!

I really would suggest checking out seatguru.com and looking up the flights you are considering. This site will show you the seat map for the plane assigned to your flight, and ratings for the seats. It will also show you the width and the pitch (the measurement between one seatback and the same spot on the next seatback) for all the seats. That way, you can determine if you are getting a decent amount of extra legroom and if your seat will be wider (more comfortable) than regular economy or the same seat just spread further apart. That way you can judge if it's worth it or not. If it's true premium economy (extra legroom, usually each row is one seat fewer across than economy, often leg rests) then it's definitely worth it to me for a cross-Atlantic flight. If it's just extra legroom, I think that's a bit much to pay for not true premium economy.

Sayhello

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

While I think Premium Economy is much nicer than regular economy...I don't think it's worth $1k per person. I would pay $2k per person to upgrade to Business class before I paid $1k to upgrade to PE.

Do you have any British Airways miles (either outright or via a transferable partner like Amex or Chase)? If so you might be able to use those to upgrade.

 

[quoo]

I would also search for British Airways premium economy reviews - might help you make your decision. Look for the most recent ones.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

BA premium economy is fine. It's much better than economy, but whether it's worth that much for an entire family ... I'm not sure. For one person, I'd do it, but not sure about 5 Have you looked into Virgin at all? IMO Virgin has by far the best international premium economy. I prefer BA business to Virgin Upper, but for PE, Virgin is much stronger.

 

[Dtw002]

Thanks everyone for the help. I booked the outbound (direct) flight with the upgrade but kept the return basic. Figure it would be best to be rested on the way there.

As mentioned, I was looking at the exit rows of the economy for the extra leg room. Not being able to put a bag under the chair in front is a petty big downside. Likewise being next to the galley/restrooms.

Thanks again!

 

[Sarahslay]

I know you already booked your seats, but if you (or anyone) ever has questions about the seat sections on the BA flights, there is a certain you tube channel where they all picked a seat section out of a hat and had to fly on a long flight and then rate their experience. We watched it when trying to figure out which section to pick for our big Scotland trip we booked for next year. We have been saving for this for a while, it's my husbands big 40th bday trip, so we went with 1st class out and business back because the fairs dropped significantly (by thousands!) for a few days so I jumped on it, but I considered premium economy because it does look nicer on BA than on other airlines like Delta (which is 100% not worth it). I always watch those videos, when I've especially not flown with an airline before or are considering a different seat class than I usually fly, super helpful.

 

[sayhello]

I know you already booked your seats, but if you (or anyone) ever has questions about the seat sections on the BA flights, there is a certain you tube channel where they all picked a seat section out of a hat and had to fly on a long flight and then rate their experience. We watched it when trying to figure out which section to pick for our big Scotland trip we booked for next year. We have been saving for this for a while, it's my husbands big 40th bday trip, so we went with 1st class out and business back because the fairs dropped significantly (by thousands!) for a few days so I jumped on it, but I considered premium economy because it does look nicer on BA than on other airlines like Delta (which is 100% not worth it). I always watch those videos, when I've especially not flown with an airline before or are considering a different seat class than I usually fly, super helpful.

Can you tell us what the youtube channel is? Do they rate all airlines, or was it just BA?

Sayhello

 

[Sarahslay]

Can you tell us what the youtube channel is? Do they rate all airlines, or was it just BA?

Sayhello

I don't know if the forums will star it out, so just be forwarned if I post this and it's all stars lol, but they rate all kinds of airlines. It's The Points Guy Uk and The Points Guy (I like the UK one better, but that's because I generally like knowing more about the international flights they do)

 

[sayhello]

I don't know if the forums will star it out, so just be forwarned if I post this and it's all stars lol, but they rate all kinds of airlines. It's The Points Guy Uk and The Points Guy (I like the UK one better, but that's because I generally like knowing more about the international flights they do)

Thanks! I follow them on fb, but I didn't know they had a YouTube channel!

Sayhello

 

[Mathmagicland]

Thanks! I follow them on fb, but I didn't know they had a YouTube channel!

Sayhello

They also have informative articles on their website.

 

[Mike100]

fwiw, I just got back a NYC<->London and paid for the premium economy upgrade at the airport at around $250 each way. It was a 737 so one of the smaller long haul planes, but seats reclined quite far which was nice (not flat, but further than 45 degrees) and the blankets and pillows were nice and thick. I was allergic to the food offering so they gave me a business class dinner which was surprisingly good. As someone who is 6'1" I had a ton of space in the seat (but the seat next to me had the electronics underneath so would not have had as much).

That said, I was just by myself and there wasn't 5 empty premium economy seats so its a lot harder I to plan for a family. For me I don't think it would have been worth $500, but was at half that, and probably not for a family of four since I usually just help myself to my kids' personal space on a flight