Tweet
It has been almost two years since Singapore Airlines launched Premium Economy in August 2015. Since that time, PEY has been rolled out across quite a number of SQ aircraft and destinations, including all A350's, all A380's and a good number of 77W's.
Among the different cabin classes, PEY offers airlines a lot of scope to be creative and innovative. While Economy, Business and, to some extent, First, have become quite homogeneous among airlines, the service concept for Premium Economy still varies quite widely among the different carriers, and has given airlines a rare opportunity to target a new passenger segment, and grow revenues and/or market share, at least for for those airlines which can make PEY work.
The early pioneers of PEY included Qantas and BA, with the Kangaroo Route, i.e. SYD-SIN-LHR, and now also SYD-DXB-LHR, being obvious candidates for a product in between luxurious F/J and tolerable Y, for those passengers willing to pay a little more for comfort on this mother-of-all-long haul routing. Another early adopter was Eva Air, whose Evergreen Deluxe product in 1991 was one of the first, if not the first, dedicated PEY cabin products, available on flights to North America via Taipei.
Now most major airlines have launched PEY. The last holdouts include Emirates, who in December 2016 announced the intention to launch PEY, and United, who are currently exploring/investigating the launch of a PEY product (A true PEY, unlike UA's Economy Plus, which is just Y with a little more legroom).
But what has the take-up of PEY been on SQ? Have passengers been willing to pay the premium over regular economy? Is there really a case for PEY for medium haul travel, vs the obvious benefits of PEY on long haul?
How have e-services like SQ's mySQupgrade enhanced the passenger experience? mySQupgrade enables passengers to bid online for an upgrade from Y to PEY. mySQupgrade gives SQ some limited ability to optimize revenue and passenger load, while offering passengers the opportunity to choose the price they are willing to pay for comfort. How well does mySQupgrade work in practice?
Earlier this week, I flew Singapore Airlines to Beijing for a short business trip, and flew SQ's PEY on SQ807, an A380 service from Beijing to Singapore. This was a good opportunity to revisit SQ's PEY product, and offer an opinion on what this cabin class has to offer on a medium haul sector like PEK-SIN.
I was originally booked in SQ's excellent economy class both ways, but a few days before my trip began, an email from SQ arrived in my inbox. The subject of the email: "Get Upgraded on your Singapore Airlines flight".
My outbound flight, SQ806 SIN-PEK was operated by a 77W with no PEY, so no upgrade was possible. However, my return flight, SQ807 PEK-SIN was an A380 service with a Premium Economy cabin...I had the opportunity to bid for an upgrade to PEY.
On this non-redeye 6 hour sector, I did not have a compelling reason to upgrade. I had pre-selected aisle seats for both flights, and SQ A380 Y is very comfortable. I find the PEY value proposition strongest on long sectors like SIN-LHR, at 13 hours. But then, I thought, it had been a while since I checked out SQ's PEY, why not pamper myself a little, especially if the price was right. I clicked on a personalized link in the email to access the bidding system, which was a very user-friendly web page with a slider that allowed you to pick your bid amount. In this case, the upgrade bid range allowable was $100 to $240 (Priced in SGD). There was a graphical meter to show the relative "strength" of the bid, from poor ($100) to excellent ($240).
I bid $105, despite the graphical meter giving it poor odds. I didn't want it that badly (I would have bid more aggressively if I were flying a longer sector to Europe or the US...). If I got it, great. If not, I would enjoy the A380 upper deck Y mini-cabin. I placed my bid just before the cut-off time for submitting an upgrade bid, 50 hours prior to departure. Results of the bidding would be out at 48 hours prior. I would know very soon if my bid succeeded.
About 2 hours later, an email arrived in my inbox: "Upgrade Successful for SQ807". Yes!
I felt a moment of elation. I suspect part of the elation was due to the fact that my bid was quite a low one. SGD 105 for a one-way upgrade to PEY? That represented decent value.
Among the different cabin classes, PEY offers airlines a lot of scope to be creative and innovative. While Economy, Business and, to some extent, First, have become quite homogeneous among airlines, the service concept for Premium Economy still varies quite widely among the different carriers, and has given airlines a rare opportunity to target a new passenger segment, and grow revenues and/or market share, at least for for those airlines which can make PEY work.
The early pioneers of PEY included Qantas and BA, with the Kangaroo Route, i.e. SYD-SIN-LHR, and now also SYD-DXB-LHR, being obvious candidates for a product in between luxurious F/J and tolerable Y, for those passengers willing to pay a little more for comfort on this mother-of-all-long haul routing. Another early adopter was Eva Air, whose Evergreen Deluxe product in 1991 was one of the first, if not the first, dedicated PEY cabin products, available on flights to North America via Taipei.
Now most major airlines have launched PEY. The last holdouts include Emirates, who in December 2016 announced the intention to launch PEY, and United, who are currently exploring/investigating the launch of a PEY product (A true PEY, unlike UA's Economy Plus, which is just Y with a little more legroom).
But what has the take-up of PEY been on SQ? Have passengers been willing to pay the premium over regular economy? Is there really a case for PEY for medium haul travel, vs the obvious benefits of PEY on long haul?
How have e-services like SQ's mySQupgrade enhanced the passenger experience? mySQupgrade enables passengers to bid online for an upgrade from Y to PEY. mySQupgrade gives SQ some limited ability to optimize revenue and passenger load, while offering passengers the opportunity to choose the price they are willing to pay for comfort. How well does mySQupgrade work in practice?
Earlier this week, I flew Singapore Airlines to Beijing for a short business trip, and flew SQ's PEY on SQ807, an A380 service from Beijing to Singapore. This was a good opportunity to revisit SQ's PEY product, and offer an opinion on what this cabin class has to offer on a medium haul sector like PEK-SIN.
I was originally booked in SQ's excellent economy class both ways, but a few days before my trip began, an email from SQ arrived in my inbox. The subject of the email: "Get Upgraded on your Singapore Airlines flight".
My outbound flight, SQ806 SIN-PEK was operated by a 77W with no PEY, so no upgrade was possible. However, my return flight, SQ807 PEK-SIN was an A380 service with a Premium Economy cabin...I had the opportunity to bid for an upgrade to PEY.
On this non-redeye 6 hour sector, I did not have a compelling reason to upgrade. I had pre-selected aisle seats for both flights, and SQ A380 Y is very comfortable. I find the PEY value proposition strongest on long sectors like SIN-LHR, at 13 hours. But then, I thought, it had been a while since I checked out SQ's PEY, why not pamper myself a little, especially if the price was right. I clicked on a personalized link in the email to access the bidding system, which was a very user-friendly web page with a slider that allowed you to pick your bid amount. In this case, the upgrade bid range allowable was $100 to $240 (Priced in SGD). There was a graphical meter to show the relative "strength" of the bid, from poor ($100) to excellent ($240).
I bid $105, despite the graphical meter giving it poor odds. I didn't want it that badly (I would have bid more aggressively if I were flying a longer sector to Europe or the US...). If I got it, great. If not, I would enjoy the A380 upper deck Y mini-cabin. I placed my bid just before the cut-off time for submitting an upgrade bid, 50 hours prior to departure. Results of the bidding would be out at 48 hours prior. I would know very soon if my bid succeeded.
About 2 hours later, an email arrived in my inbox: "Upgrade Successful for SQ807". Yes!
I felt a moment of elation. I suspect part of the elation was due to the fact that my bid was quite a low one. SGD 105 for a one-way upgrade to PEY? That represented decent value.
Comment