Virgin has become the first Australian airline to launch a local version of America’s popular “economy comfort” class, which allows travellers to trade up to a seat with more room without the premium economy price tag.
It’s part of the overhaul of Virgin Australia’s daily trans-Pacific services from Brisbane and Sydney to Los Angeles on its Boeing 777-300ERs, which was announced on Monday.
The revamp also affects VA’s three weekly services from Sydney to Abu Dhabi which it runs in conjunction with its part-owner Etihad Airways.
At the front of the plane, VA business class has been totally redesigned into a “reverse herringbone” 1-2-1 seating arrangement that offers greater privacy, more legroom and aisle access for every seat, replacing the old seven-abreast forward-facing business class layout.
Virgin says each seat now converts into a bed 80 inches (203 centimetres) long, compared with the old flat-bed seats of 77 inches (195 cms) per seat row.
And the total number of business class seats has been increased from 33 to 37.
Further down the cabin, the Virgin revamp reveals major changes in consumer preferences. Premium economy changes its name to simply Premium, pitching itself as a budget business class rather than a trade-up from cattle class.
That reflects the steep price premium over economy, typically $A1600 one-way from Sydney to Los Angeles compared with the best economy discount of $A600 or less. Business class is usually around $A2500 one-way.
It turns out what Virgin’s economy passengers were clamouring for – like those in America – was not a business class experience, but a relatively inexpensive upgrade to a seat with a little extra legroom.
So, while Premium gets an upgrade from 38 inches (96 cms) to 41 inches (104 cms) per seat row, the number of seats has been slashed from 40 to 24.
The big news is that the airline has created a whole new class called Economy Space+ with a total of 67 seats – 47 of them in the one cabin, the rest further down the main cabin. The “pitch” per seat row is 34 inches (86 cms) compared with 32 inches (81 cms) in economy.
Instead of paying double or triple the economy rate, the upgrade costs between $A135 and $165 per seat one-way between Australia and the USA, with perks thrown in such as check-in via a dedicated Premium check-in counter; pre-boarding; preferred overhead locker; dedicated crew members throughout the flight; guaranteed first meal choice; and Premium noise-cancelling headset.
It’s similar to Virgin code-share partner Delta Airlines’ Comfort+, although Virgin insists that it developed its product independently in Australia.
“We felt – and certainly the conversations we’d had with customers were indicating – this was something that people would really want and value,” Australia Chief Customer Officer Mark Hassell told AirlineRatings.com.
“It’s for people who don’t want to spend the money on premium economy, but are prepared to spend a little more money on greater exclusiveness and it’s a quieter cabin of just five rows. The reaction is very, very positive.”
Meanwhile, the way the airline is pitching premium economy has changed. “It’s smaller, it’s more exclusive, it’s taken seat comfort to a new level and really the positioning is around business light rather than economy plus,” Hassell said.
“That’s why we’ve flicked the ‘economy’ word from it – it’s ‘Premium’.”
The Virgin Australia revamp means that there’ll be fewer seats on its 777-300ERs – until now one of the industry’s densest configurations with 361 seats. The new total number of seats per flights is 339.
The new Virgin Australia 777-300ER seat maps are available here.
