Airline upgrades usually come in drips and drabs, tweaking existing services, so when an entirely new cabin product is launched it is big news. This is especially true when it is from the carrier serving more destinations than any other airline in the world, and the U.S. flagship of the consistently top-rated consortium, the Star Alliance. For all these reasons, the debut of United’s new Premium Plus class is likely the biggest aviation change - and best news - of 2019 for all travelers, frequent and occasional, business or pleasure.
Premium Plus, aka the “purple section,” for the distinctive color of the seats, has been coming into existence over the past few months in terms of the hard goods being installed on United’s long-haul international widebody fleet (some of which fly transcontinental domestic routes too). You will find the new seats on most 777s and all 787-10 aircraft (new for United’s fleet, which just received the first one). Premium Plus will be offered on 21 trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific and South American routes by the end of this month (May 2019). All planes with Premium Plus also have the newest Polaris business class, and United says that on average it will be adding one such aircraft every 10 days from now through 2020.
Some of the more popular routes currently include Newark to Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tokyo, Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt, Dublin, Barcelona and Tel Aviv; San Francisco to Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Beijing, Auckland and Tel Aviv; and Washington Dulles to Brussels, Paris and Tel Aviv.
These seats were classified simply as Economy Plus for booking purposes while the airline waited for the official launch and rollout of the matching soft goods, food and inflight amenities. During this transitional time, customers, especially those with elite status, have enjoyed an early ride and essentially free bonus of much more comfortable seats and greatly increased legroom.
Several aviation specialists used this window to preview the new seats (you can read an in-depth look at the nitty gritty of the cabin design here at one of my favorite travel sites, TravelSkills, now part of SFGate). Another very popular aviation site, The Points Guy, did a very early review of the new seats (not the full package) almost a year ago and concluded that United “shows a lot of promise for the new class…superb IFE [in-flight entertainment] and comfortable seats I could stretch out and sleep in.” He also compared it to the competing premium economy products on international carriers and found United clearly better than Air France, and as good or slightly better than Lufthansa.
But I waited for the official launch of the full Premium Plus package, and just flew it shortly after its debut on one of United’s longer routes, Newark to Tokyo (This new class follows United’s replacement of its existing business class on long routes with the upgraded Polaris class product, and you can read my review of that luxury cabin here).
The bottom line is that the comfort difference between Economy and Premium Plus is substantially larger than that between Economy and Economy Plus (which United still offers, making these four-class planes), whether on United or other carriers (some of which call it Premium Economy). Premium Plus is a very significant upgrade, similar to what you would get flying first class on most domestic flights, and akin to what international business class seating was in the days before the advent of true lay flat seats: a large leather recliner with footrest and a lot more space and recline than most people are used to in an airline seat. In fact, specialist site SeatGuru describes what to expect in short-haul First Class as “No Middle Seats; 5-7 inches of Extra Legroom; 2 Extra inches of Seat Width; Food Service & Free Alcoholic Beverages” and that’s about exactly what Premium Plus is, aside from the fact that there are middle seats in the center section ( a 2-4-2 configuration).
The seat is bigger and more comfortable in every way. It is wider (19 inches versus 17), has more pitch, the distance between any point on the seat and the same point on the one in front of it (38” vs. 34”) and reclines further (6” vs. 4”) then United’s already enhanced Economy Plus product. It is much bigger and has far more legroom than the regular Economy seat which has less than 32 inches of pitch, and believe me, half a foot more space between you and the seatback in front of you makes a big and very noticeable difference. The armrests between seats are also quite wide, so you don’t get neighborly with your elbows, as often occurs in coach. Aisle armrests lower out of the way, a really nice touch. To put this all in perspective, there are eight seats across on planes that often have ten in economy, or a full pair of seats divvied up as extra space.
As a result, I was able to sleep comfortably for a good chunk of the roughly 14-hour flight, and awoke without a stiff neck, something often impossible in economy. The bedding (Saks Fifth Avenue) was excellent, as good as the pillows and comforters on most airlines’ business classes (it’s the same as in Polaris, but that bedding kit has more pieces and now the just added option of a full mattress pad to sleep on).
There’s also substantially more in-seat storage, important on a longer flight where you likely have more in the way of entertainment materials, water bottles and so on, and I especially loved the tray table. Compared to any airline’s economy version, it is substantial, both in terms of size and heft, and you can actually work on this flight on your laptop if you want to, something that is really trying in the back of the plane. The tray table also has a cool flip up adjustable backrest for tablet or phone that makes viewing your own device much more comfortable, though you don’t have to, given the oversized (13.3-inch vs. 9) HD seatback screen, noticeably bigger than coach, and United’s very ample library of on-demand movies and television, probably the best of any domestic carrier. There are supplied noise cancelling over ear headphones, in-seat power and USB that actually work, and they are well located under the center armrest, not by your feet as on many flights.
Overall, there is a lot to love about an extremely comfortable seat that is well-designed with sleep, work and entertainment all front and center.
The food was better than Economy, not as good as Business, and served on non-plastic plating that nonetheless still looks like an economy class tray. The presentation could be better, but you order from a printed menu, like business class, and the selection includes optional on-demand snacks and free drinks, adult and otherwise, with three meal services on my Tokyo flight. Choices included Japanese cuisine, and I am big fan of setting the mood for a trip early with these kinds of options. If I were United, I would add a pre-takeoff glass of bubbly, as in First and Business, because with so few seats this would be a very low cost and logistically easy amenity that would add a lot of bang for the buck in terms of setting the Premium Plus class further apart right out of the gate, a nice aesthetic touch, but the absence of this amenity hardly matters in the long run.
The seat itself is the main event here, and United succeeded as well as anyone could have hoped for. As an added bonus, the purple section is its own mini-cabin between business and economy, with more privacy (but no designated bathrooms). There are less than half as many Purple seats as Polaris, just three rows, so it is a truly a mini-cabin, but you don't have the usual fight for overhead room, and you get to deplane appreciably faster (and board earlier). Premium Plus customers also get enhanced luggage allowance (two free checked bags per person). The amenity kit was very close to business class quality, with socks, toothbrush, etc., and most notably some of the best eyeshades I have seen in many such kits, contoured in 3D to cover your eyes without touching them.
My takeaway? I fly international routes in coach all the time, and to a degree I always dread it. I would look forward much more to a flight in Premium Plus, because it really is a s big step up in terms of comfort. A lay flat bed like the one in United’s Polaris Class is always going to be the better choice - if you can afford it - but this is as good a “regular” seat as I have flown, and a great value.
Prices will vary by route and date like all other tickets, but Premium Plus appears to be a very reasonable option, delivering a big improvement in flight experience for much less of a splurge than a full business upgrade, which often quadruples or quintuples (or more) the price of Economy. I just punched in a randomly selected week this fall for United’s daily nonstop from Newark to Tokyo roundtrip, and the cheapest Economy fare was $1,467. Premium Plus was exactly $600 more, a 40% premium at $2,067. However, the cheapest business class fare was a whopping $7,041 or nearly five times as much as economy and more than triple the high-quality Premium Plus seat. If you want to gamble you might get it for even less - on my flight they were offering the one-way bump to onboard passengers for just $250, and that is about as good a deal as you can find in luxury travel anywhere - and worth every penny.