> > Faced with a choice between discomfort and higher fares, most travelers choose discomfort"
If that's the article's premise, then it's correct. Even though there are many more economy seats on each plane than their are business or first, the economy sections are still full. What does this tell us? That most people choose to pay less for an economy seat, rather than pay more for a comfy seat.
This pretty much describes it for me. If i had the choice between two tickets, one with a few inches extra space d one $100 less, I would opt for the extra space, and in fact whenever premium economy was in that ballpark I did so. But, most airlines ask big upgrade fees for extra legroom, and there's no way to know the legroom situation until you're boarding. The market is incapable of resolving this since airlines don't give you the information you need to make an informed choice.
Let's say coach is $1600, premium economy is $1800, and business is $4000. I'm definitely going to buy premium economy, totally worth $200 because on transatlantic flights it's a lot better than coach. (I've done this before)
But $4000 for business? I might do it for $2000.
Law of diminishing returns and all that. I'll pay 20% more for something that's 50% better, but I won't pay 200% for something that's 60% better.
Now let's look at some real prices. Say you wanted to fly from SFO to CDG in September on a nonstop flight. Economy: $710. Premium Economy: $2222. Business: $8600. First: $9427.
I promise you Premium is not 3x better than normal economy. I've tried it, it's 1.5x better at most. And business for 12x the price? Yeah, fuck that.
PS: The calculation changes when you work for a Fortune 500 and they mandate/allow business tickets for flights longer than 6 hours. I imagine this is the real market for those tickets because those customers aren't paying with their own money and don't care.
> But $4000 for business? I might do it for $2000.
Interesting point. I've noticed that when I fly Qantas economy, before I fly they give me the option to bid for a Business class seat. Their economy seating & service has deteriorated so badly that I was tempted to just buy two economy seats, so I could have enough elbow room to use my laptop & get some work done... and sure enough, the minimum bid for Business is just a bit higher than buying a second economy seat.
I'm sure the business class seats sell for higher than that, but they definitely aren't filling the seats at rack rate if they're sending out seat auctions.
I've also noticed this large price difference between Economy and Premium Economy and don't understand it. If I could buy two Economy seats, not next to each other, but one in front of the other, and get rid of the front seat, then I'd be paying twice the price for almost the comfort of First Class. So why is Premium Economy so much more expensive for a fairly minor increase in space?
A more apt comparison would be premium economy vs economy. From my limited experience - premium economy was always full even when there were places in economy.
That's not been my experience. Even on United (which gives Premium Economy upgrades every time if you have a certain status), there are often empty Premium Economy seats on busy flights.
> > Faced with a choice between discomfort and higher fares, most travelers choose discomfort"
If that's the article's premise, then it's correct. Even though there are many more economy seats on each plane than their are business or first, the economy sections are still full. What does this tell us? That most people choose to pay less for an economy seat, rather than pay more for a comfy seat.