We cover premium economy quite extensively here at The Alviator, and it’s one of the cabin classes I travel in most often, especially on longhaul flights. We’ve spoken about whether premium economy as a cabin class is generally worth it, as well as covered the best premium economy class products currently flying.
In this post I wanted to talk mainly about premium economy on mainland Chinese carriers. Premium economy on Chinese carriers sometimes can just mean economy with some extra legroom and a slightly upgraded soft product. To make things even more confusing, some airlines do offer a “real” premium economy product that we’re more accustomed to outside of China, and some airlines even offer both!
Premium economy on Chinese airlines – sometimes just extra legroom economy
Mainland China takes a very interesting approach to premium economy. What airlines will market as premium economy sometimes will be quite different from what you see on non-Chinese carriers – it’ll just be extra legroom economy, with maybe a slightly differentiated soft product.
While I’ve never been on a Chinese carrier on a longhaul flight (yet – I have plans), I got to see this firsthand when I flew China Southern’s A320 from Kunming to Lijiang in 2017. Here’s what economy class looked like – a standard 3-3-3 configuration, with around 30″ of pitch.
China Southern A320 Economy Class
Meanwhile, here’s what premium economy looked like – the exact same seat, just with different upholstery and headrests, and probably a few more inches of pitch.
China Southern A320 (previous) Premium Economy Class
Funnily enough China Southern doesn’t actually do this anymore – they just sell all seats as regular economy now. However, this industry practice is still very common among Chinese airlines.
This isn’t just something that airlines do shorthaul – carriers offer extra legroom economy class seats sold as “premium economy” on longhaul flights as well. Google Flights will even tell you that it’s a premium economy configuration. Just look at Air China’s flights from London and Madrid to Beijing.
The London to Beijing flight is marked as premium economy on Google Flights. It’s a bit more expensive one-way, though that’s probably just because of the APD tacked on top of the fare.
The Madrid to Beijing flight on paper looks similar on paper, except for the fact that it’s operated by a 787.
While I won’t attach the screenshots, both products are marketed exactly the same way on Air China’s website as well.
However, if you look closely at the above screenshots, you’ll see that the London to Beijing flight is operated by a “extra reclining seat”, whereas the Madrid to Beijing flight is noted as “average legroom (36 inches)”. On AeroLOPA, you’ll see that the A350 has a proper premium economy configuration in a 2-4-2 layout (compared to 3-3-3 in economy), whereas the 787 has a 3-3-3 configuration in both cabins.
Air China’s “normal” A350 premium economy seat layout
Hmm, not a ton of width in premium economy here
Just be aware of this when you’re booking a Chinese carrier in premium economy, as both seats are sold in the same cabin class, with the same fare bucket. Make sure you check the seat layout, or at the very least the Google Flights note, when you’re booking your flight.
Why do Chinese carriers sell extra legroom economy as premium economy?
Are Chinese carriers trying to deceive the world and charge more for their extra legroom economy seats, by booking them into the premium economy fare bucket? No, not really.
“Economy plus” has been marketed amongst Chinese carriers as “luxury economy”, which roughly translates to premium economy in English. As a result, when Chinese airlines started selling extra legroom economy to the Western world, this was simply sold as “premium economy”. It’s a bit of a regional industry standard – think intra-European business class, though obviously worse, since these seats fly longhaul. China Southern was the first airline to offer premium economy onboard their domestic flights in 2010, and there was a bit of a snowball effect when they started selling their extra legroom seats into the premium economy fare bucket on the GDS.
Offering extra legroom economy sold as premium economy is an accidental quirk for Chinese airlines
As China’s aviation market tries to globalise, carriers are trying to invest in “real” premium economy products. Right now, airlines are in a limbo phase where some airlines have transitioned over to offering a “real” premium economy product, and others haven’t.
China Southern started this confusing trend, yet is the only airline out of the above where you’re guaranteed to get a “real” premium economy seat when booking in the cabin
Which Chinese carriers offer real premium economy on which aircraft?
Here are the mainland Chinese carriers that offer a “real” premium economy class product onboard their aircraft:
- Air China’s A350s feature a real premium economy product
- China Southern’s A350s, 787s and 777s all have a real premium economy product – they don’t feature any aircraft with “fake” premium economy anymore
- China Eastern/Shanghai Airlines have A350s and 787s with real premium economy products
- Hainan Airlines has real premium economy seats on their 787s
Here are the mainland Chinese carriers that offer extra legroom economy seats sold as premium economy:
- Shenzhen Airlines premium economy is just extra legroom economy on all planes
- Air China’s A330s, 747s and 787s have extra legroom economy sold as premium economy
- China Eastern’s A330s have extra legroom economy sold as premium economy
There are other Chinese carriers that fly longhaul flights (such as Xiamen Air, Juneyao Air, etc.) though those planes don’t feature premium economy cabins.
Air China features extra legroom economy sold as premium economy on some of their fleet
Conclusion
Be aware that when you’re booking premium economy on a Chinese carrier, you could just be booking extra legroom economy. You’ll be able to see whether you’re doing so either by checking Google Flights, or by checking the seatmap of the aircraft you’re flying.
I’ve been looking at ways to economically get myself on Shenzhen Airlines’ A330 premium economy between Shenzhen and London. I’m intrigued to know whether the soft product is different, given that the hard product is very similar to what you’d get in economy.
Have you ever boarded a Chinese carrier in premium economy, only to find yourself in an extra legroom economy seat?