Will United follow American and Delta into premium economy?

 Delta Air Lines’ announcement that it will launch a  premium economy cabin in fall 2017 has posed an obvious question: will remaining “big three’’ member United Airlines follow suit?

American Airlines will formally launch premium economy (PE) next year. And although you can’t yet buy a premium economy seat on AA, the carrier says  passengers may be able to experience it before then if they fly between Dallas/Fort Worth and select cities such as Sao Paulo and Madrid.

United did not immediately respond to AirlineRatings’ query on whether it will get on board the PE bandwagon but a story in Bloomberg quoted a UA spokesman as saying: “We continually evaluate the products and services offer our customers throughout their journey.”

United’s vast,  far-reaching Pacific network out of San Francisco means 12-hour-plus nonstops to places such as Chengdu, China.

 Routes like that put a premium on space.
While price might stop many travelers from considering a business class berth in the pointy end of the aircraft,  a seat in premium economy may be still doable.

Passengers pay a premium to fly PE and Delta Premium get:

- Seats with up to 38 inches of pitch and seven inches of recline. No flat bed awaits you in this part of the aircraft;
- Westin Heavenly® In-light blanket and pillow designed to help you sleep semi-reclined;
- Pre-departure beverage service;
- A high-resolution personal 13.3” screen on for the IFE (in-flight entertainment) system;
- In-seat power ports;
- Priority boarding, expedited baggage service and accelerated security.

While the Boeing 787 is the launch vehicle for the American Airlines premium economy offering, the Airbus A350 is Deltas’ aircraft of choice and will sport 48 Delta Premium seats.  Look for PE to be fitted on DL’s Boeing 777s in 2018, with the possibility of additional fleets in the future.

Just what that future holds for non-premium flyers remains to be seen.

There’s only a finite amount of room on jet aircraft, and determining just how its’ apportioned is critical—not just to passenger comfort but airline profitability. 

The mix must be just right and question are being asked about whether pure economy passengers  will feel the seat pitch pinch as premium territory migrates further aft, straining flyers’ ability to eek out some semblance of comfort as well as a place to stow their hand luggage.

As more and more carriers adopt premium economy we should know soon.