American Airlines Expands Premium Economy Service To New York-Los Angeles Route

For travelers looking for extra comfort when traveling between New York and Los Angeles, American Airlines will begin offering Premium Economy service on the transcontinental route in October.

“We are excited to provide customers the opportunity to experience our Premium Economy service on our premier domestic route,” said Heather Garboden, American’s Chief Customer Officer. “With the domestic debut of Premium Economy, customers will enjoy a more comfortable seat, enhanced amenities and elevated dining with hot entree choices when traveling coast-to-coast.”

Customers who choose Premium Economy on American’s transcontinental route receive Priority check-in, security and boarding. Once on board, customers will find a personal amenity kit with premium skincare products and travel essentials. During the flight, customers can relax in wider seats with more legroom and comfortably rest with an Ostrichpillow® lumbar pillow and crepe weave blanket.

As part of the inflight service, customers can indulge in complimentary drinks while savoring a hot meal with salad and dessert served on chinaware. Customers can easily charge electronic devices with in-seat power and watch on-demand entertainment on larger monitors with noise-reducing headphones.

Premium Economy service will be available on select flights between New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) starting Oct. 5. Tickets will go on sale July 28 on aa.com and American’s mobile app.

About American Airlines Group

As a leading global airline, American Airlines offers thousands of flights per day to more than 350 destinations in more than 60 countries. The airline is a founding member of the oneworld alliance, whose members serve more than 900 destinations around the globe. Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol AAL. Learn more about what’s happening at American by visiting news.aa.com and connect with American @AmericanAir and at Facebook.com/AmericanAirlines. To Care for People on Life’s Journey®.

Delta’s Launching Premium Economy With The A350

Late last year, American Airlines announced that it would be rolling out a dedicated premium economy product on its wide-body planes, starting with the 787-900 Dreamliner later this year. The airline’s premium economy is expected to feature wider seats with leg rests, improved meal service and amenity kits on long-haul flights. Frequent flyers were immediately concerned that this could mean the end of upgrades to business from coach, but that’s unlikely to happen until premium economy is available fleet-wide, if at all.
Well, now another US-based airline is following suit: Delta’s new CEO Ed Bastian shared the news that the airline plans to add a premium economy cabin of its own, beginning with the Airbus A350 — the first of which is expected to be delivered in mid-2017:
Unfortunately we don’t have any details beyond that at this point, so there are many more questions than answers, but it is clear that Delta’s Airbus A350 will offer a three-cabin configuration, with Delta One business, premium economy and coach. We don’t know if that’ll mean Delta’s upgrade certificates will only move you up to premium economy on that plane, but that’s unlikely to be the case until the new cabin is available on all (or most) of the airline’s long-haul fleet.

American’s premium economy offering isn’t tremendously innovative.

As for what the new seats will look like? We haven’t the faintest idea, but we can probably expect something fairly similar to what American Airlines plans to introduce, giving passengers a “domestic first class” experience (with wider seats and more legroom) on long international flights.
Delta already has a “premium economy” fare class and earning structure listed on its chart — for now, that only applies to flights operated by Air France, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia, but Delta could choose to use the W fare class (which is just now rolling out for Comfort+) for its new product, too. So, IT-wise, the infrastructure is more or less already in place.
What do you think of Delta’s plan to offer premium economy?
H/T: @AirlineFlyer

Read more: http://thepointsguy.com/2016/04/delta-launching-premium-economy-cabin/#ixzz47EXRQSzF