This week, we’ll be doing our first review of true premium economy class travel to Hawaii. Two editors will be flying on United’s still relatively new “Premium Plus,” which came to fruition just before Covid. This new cabin is positioned directly between lie flat business/first class and their economy seats, including Economy plus extended legroom.
Premium economy: the airlines’ revolutionary new product to Hawaii
Premium economy is the airline industry’s foray into an entirely new and fascinating class of service that’s already being offered by American, Delta and United Airlines on their long-haul, widebody flights to Hawaii (and elsewhere). You won’t find this yet on narrow-body flights, although that is also coming to the United Airbus A321 fleet.
In the new world of premium leisure Hawaii travel, this new airline class, which is not simply an extra legroom product by another name, is emerging as a transformational product due to a savvy combination of price, comfort, and other amenities.
Premium economy started with Eva Air decades ago.
That was in the early 1990’s. But it didn’t become popular in the US until quite recently. Even to this day, while your authors have flown both economy and business/first on all the airlines flying to and from Hawaii countless times, this will be the first time flying a true premium economy product, on a flight this week to Hawaii.
What distinguishes premium economy?
It starts with significant hard product differences, including a physically different seat than economy, which is wider, more comfortable, and features legroom beyond what’s offered other than in business/first class. So again, this is a new and separate cabin between the other two classes.
Why didn’t Hawaiian Airlines add premium economy to its Dreamliners?
Great question and one that we don’t know the answer to ourselves. The Hawaii leisure market is fast joining this premium economy revolution, while its bellwether carrier Hawaiian, opted out. On the other hand, strangely, Hawaiian doubled down on a more refined lie-flat business class Dreamliner product. The perfect opportunity existed for Hawaiian to also add premium economy to the new Dreamliner aircraft, which is due to arrive any day, with scheduled flights commencing in April 2024.
What would premium economy look like on Hawaiian Airlines?
By way of comparison, on the same 787 aircraft at United (pictured above), premium economy is comprised of three rows configured 2-3-2, with a partition separating the section from economy. The seats have a width of 19″ and a pitch is 38″. That makes the seats nearly 2 inches wider than economy/EconomyPlus. Seat pitch (distance between seats) is about seven inches more than economy and three inches more than EconomyPlus. We have a tape measure in hand to confirm those details this week.
Will Alaska overturn Hawaiian’s no premium economy plans?
We suggest that, ultimately, they will. With the acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines will come Alaska’s first experience with widebody planes. It’s hard to imagine such a forward-thinking airline like Alaska agreeing to take delivery of the twelve Dreamliners without including this game-changing product as part of those plans.
Premium economy class poised to grow massively across US airlines.
This product is considered a close-to-ideal solution for medium-range flights such as those to and from Hawaii. The allure of premium economy to Hawaii lies in its multiple unique offerings, including wider seats with leg rests, additional legroom, a two-across configuration for increased privacy, enhanced service including chef-inspired meals, amenity kits, priority security and boarding, checked bags included, and more.
Perfect for occasional travelers who don’t otherwise receive airline premium amenities.
If you’re a frequent flyer with any of the airlines that offer premium economy to Hawaii, you already receive at least some of the premium economy amenities at no charge. On United, for example, you may receive two free checked bags of up to 70 pounds, premium security and boarding, and free access to EconomyPlus, at no additional charge. But for those who don’t fly frequently and aren’t among the airline’s premium customers, these features come as expensive options. With premium economy, they are included.
American, Delta, and United already have over 400 planes featuring premium economy.
As a testament to the importance and acceptance of this new class of service, American, Delta, and United collectively outfitted more than 400 of their widebody planes with premium economy. Positioned between economy and business, its newfound popularity exemplifies the tempting comfort and value proposition offered by this entirely new class. While premium economy is seen predominantly on international flights, Hawaii and trans-continental flights are the airlines’ other focus areas.
The value proposition of premium economy to Hawaii.
On the flight that your editors will try premium economy this week, the fares went like this. Do keep in mind that this is the lead-up to Christmas week, so prices are very elevated by about double in all classes of service. Nonetheless, the relative cost compared to the other offerings, while variable, points to the approximate price positioning of the products.
- Economy cost $890 per person.
- Premium economy cost $1,213 per person.
- Lie-flat business cost $3,394 per person.
Stand by for our review of premium economy to Hawaii this week.
We won’t mention the details of the route and date yet, but you’ll be reading about this in the next few days. We also have plans to try both American and Delta Air Lines’ versions of premium economy in the very near future and report back to you on those as well.
If you’ve already tried flying premium economy to Hawaii, we’d love to hear about your experiences.
My wife and I are flying to Maui at the end of January and have booked United’s non stop from O’Hare. Premium Economy was not offered, will that change?
Hi Dan.
We just checked and it (Premium Plus) is available on all of those nonstops from ORD to OGG. They’re using the Dreamliner 787-10. If you’re not seeing it check with them.
Aloha.