If you haven’t booked an Air Canada international flight in a while, you’ll notice a new category when you make your reservation. It’s called premium economy and it’s positioned as a comfort level between business class and regular old economy.
Is Air Canada’s Premium Economy Worth It?
The cost difference between economy and premium is listed on the Air Canada site as about $1,000 – $1,500 on an overseas round trip booked a couple of weeks in advance.
We flew our first premium economy flight on our recent trip from Canada to Southeast Asia on the Vancouver to Hong Kong leg. We used Air Canada eUpgrade credits to book the flight, which are available to Altitude members. Knowing we were facing a 21-hour travel day, being able to fall asleep during the flight for a few hours was a priority. Despite my best efforts, I’ve never been able to sleep in economy. The seats don’t recline enough, I feel cramped, and I can never find a good position for my head. The few times I’ve been fortunate to snag a business class seat overseas, it’s been blissful. I had high hopes for this new class of seats.
What you get with Premium Economy:
Air Canada’s Boeing 777 has been reconfigured to accommodate a separated premium economy section that provides a number of bonuses:
Welcome drink and hot towel service
I’m a fan of the hot towel. It wipes away the griminess of handling the personal items bins in security and all the other airport surfaces touched by a million hands a day. The welcome drink of sparkling wine or orange juice felt decidedly business class. You also get complementary wine and spirits throughout the flight. Yes!
Amenity kit and bottled water
Nothing too fancy in these kits—an eye mask, earplugs, toothbrush and paste, and socks. Nice.
Power outlet at each seat
This makes Steve VERY happy. He can plug in his laptop and play a game for 6 hours or so. Seriously, he does that.
7-inches more legroom, greater seat recline, and footrest
I certainly felt the difference here and these “extras” allowed me to get some shut-eye. It also helped that the seat next to me was empty so I could prop my knees up on that side if facing forward was getting uncomfortable.
Premium meals served on china
The meal was very good and did appear to be a few cuts above the usual economy class fare.
Two bags of luggage, priority boarding, and baggage handling
This wasn’t a huge bonus for us as Steve’s Elite status offers these perks with each flight anyway. It is nice to board early and to never lose out on being able to stow your bag in an overhead bin right above you.
So, is it worth it?
We definitely enjoyed this flight overseas considerably more than past ones in economy. The extras really do make a difference in comfort.
We booked this premium economy flight using eUpgrade credits so it felt like it was free. If we had to pay $1,000 extra each round trip, I’m not sure we’d do it. Having said that, it’s always worth checking the price difference because when Steve booked our flight he found the difference on some flights was a couple hundred dollars. That’s well worth it. Always check.
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I cannot find an answer from the Air Canada websites, so I am turning to you.
A simple question:
Does an AC Premium Economy ticket allow access to the Maple Leaf (first class) lounges?
Thanks
I don’t believe you get access to the lounge with premium economy, no.
Just travelled Premium Economy Vancouver to Newark and back. The price was definitely worth it but it wasn’t exactly as advertised. Marketing should learn that over promise/under deliver is not a good thing.
Best things:
– priority check-in and priority boarding (although AC is the least organized of all airlines when it comes to boarding and there are far too many people in zones 1 and 2 so you still wait)
– lots of space for luggage in overhead bins, so no frenzy and stress over getting space
– seats: wider seats and armrests (lots of elbow room), recline is excellent, lots of leg room but no foot rest; if you are tall, non bulkhead seats may offer more room to stretch legs,
– bathroom nearby accessible at all times with short or no wait, very clean
– movie selection excellent, video software very good
– love the Dreamliner — humidity so much better, arrive fresh not jetlagged
Worst things:
– cleanliness: on both flights the seat area was quite dirty. The seat pocket had used tissues and other debris, very dirty sticky tray, very sticky dirty magazine envelope, video screen covered in greasy fingerprints and they actually handed out wipes to clean screen yourself. I doubt if they clean the seat area even once a week.
– welcome drink: a small bottle of water handed out after take-off; refused my drink order, had to wait for drinks until after they served meal! When I said I preferred my cocktail before the meal, they said on Air Canada it comes with the meal (or when they get around to you with the cart after meal service)
– amenity kit: none on either flight
– pillow but no blanket, the plane is cold so I really needed my large cashmere shawl on both flights. Even the men were putting on sweater and jackets. Not a huge problem but do bring warm jacket or shawl
– service: on outward flight, no special service, crew very busy, all questions deferred, crew too busy to help with buttons and screens; on inbound flight, lots of attention but still drinks served after the meal
– food: inbound flight, dinner was very low quality (white chicken meat with a bright red sauce) and not enough, no snacks were offered; outbound flight, breakfast just ok, snacks offered were bags of chips
– priority luggage: on outward flight the priority labelled luggage came out last. On inbound, it came quickly which was nice instead of waiting until all the bags came out
Thanks so much for sharing the details of your recent experience. I did not face the negatives you clearly experienced. Steve has flown premium economy a few additional times and has not been disappointed. It’s too bad AC dropped the ball on some basic comforts. I will say I have never understood why AC serves beverages after the meal service. That makes zero sense to me. I want my wine with dinner. I always end up waiting to open up my meal until beverage service comes around.
I booked premium economy to Europe and I’m finding out a few days before my return flight that they switched planes from a 777 to an Airbus that doesn’t have premium economy. What are my options?
That’s a bummer. Have you contacted Air Canada? I can’t imagine they would not adjust your fare. Let me know.
take westjet, i have flown all over the world for over 50 years and air canada used to be my preferred airline. now i will fly any alternative i can find. a 2 hour flight in the space they now allow is far too uncomfortable. i would not even consider a longer flight
Thanks for your perspective. No doubt air travel comfort has declined over the past 50 years. I actually don’t find the space in regular seats hard to cope with on mid-distance flights. It’s sitting for long periods that gets to me. Even if I’m in a spacious vehicle, for example, I want to get up and move after about an hour. I would like a plane where I can get up, stand, and move around in during long flights. Hmmm … sounds like a private jet. 😉
No, you need to travel as a dog. Airline regs require that a dog cage must allow enough room for the animal to lie down or walk around.
Ha ha! You might be on to something. 🙂
We flew Air Canada Premium Economy in February/March from Toronto to London. The seats are wider, have more leg room, a foot rest, and more recline. There was a flight attendant assigned to the small cabin of Premium Economy, which resulted in more attention. We got better food that was served on “china” and “real” sliver ware. We paid around$1,100 RT Thunder Bay, ON to Lisbon (via Toronto and London). In addition, we were offered the option to pay $25 for lounge access. We opted to pay for it on the outbound due to a LONG layover in Toronto. The international lounge was a very nice way to while away the hours and provided comfortable seating, alcohol and okay food. Was it worth to pay for Premium Economy and the lounge? Yes. We are doing it again this next winter.
Thanks for your comment Jan. Sounds like you had a very nice experience, indeed. The extra $25 for lounge access when you have a long layover is a wise choice in my opinion.
How much did the seats recline compared to economy? You explain the additional leg room but don’t address the recline.
There is definitely greater recline on the seats in Premium Economy compared with Economy. The seats overall are bigger and the legroom, along with the added recline, makes them better for getting some rest. I rarely get much sleep in Economy, but was able to fall asleep pretty easily on this flight.
I would be interested to know how you paid for this upgrade using Aeroplan points. The only economy fare you can upgrade using Aeroplan is a Latitude economy fare. A Latitude fare on an overseas flight is already fairly expensive and in some instances – is more than the “lowest” Premium Economy fare. When I called Aeroplan to confirm that you could not use points to upgrade a Tango economy fare to Premium economy I was told that (a) that was correct and (b) that it would not make sense to use 20,000 Aeroplan points to make up the small difference between a Latitude fare and a Premium economy fare.
So how did you do it?
Hi John,
Thanks for taking the time to pose this question. Let me apologize because I misspoke in this post. We did not book the flight with Aeroplan points. Rather, we used eUpgrade credits, which are available to Air Canada Altitude members. I have edited this post to reflect that. Again, sorry for steering you wrong here and thanks for pursuing it further.