Many airlines have introduced Premium Economy Class over the past decade. Even the major US carriers and Emirates, which initially resisted the trend, are now retrofitting Premium Economy seats onto their long-haul planes. But so many frequent flyer programs haven’t caught up yet.
Of the frequent flyer programs that still have award charts, most display pricing for frequent flyer redemption seats in Economy, Business and First Class. But too many completely ignore the existence of Premium Economy.
This means there is no possibility for members of many frequent flyer programs to redeem their points for Premium Economy seats, particularly on partner airlines.
Of the airlines that do offer Premium Economy awards and upgrades, some still haven’t been able to get the pricing right. In some cases, Premium Economy awards and upgrades are priced close to or even higher than Business Class.
Premium Economy is no longer a new concept. Most major airlines now have Premium Economy cabins on their long-haul aircraft. In fact, more airlines now offer Premium Economy than First Class. So it’s truly bizarre that, in 2021, so many frequent flyer programs offer First Class redemptions and upgrades – but not Premium Economy!
It’s not just a few airlines: This is an industry-wide problem
The Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program is just one of many examples. While it’s possible to redeem KrisFlyer miles for Singapore Airlines flights in Premium Economy, the same is not true when redeeming miles with Star Alliance partner airlines. Only Economy, Business and First award seats are available for redemption on Star Alliance partners using KrisFlyer miles.
It’s a similar story with almost all other Star Alliance frequent flyer programs including Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, Aegean Miles+Bonus, ANA Mileage Club and Air New Zealand Airpoints.
Air Canada Aeroplan, which lets its members redeem points for Premium Economy flight rewards on Air Canada, also doesn’t offer Premium Economy awards on any partner airlines.
Even when Aeroplan does offer Premium Economy rewards, for travel on Air Canada, the pricing doesn’t always make sense. We found examples of Air Canada Premium Economy flight rewards priced higher than Business Class on the same flights!
Star Alliance upgrade awards also exclude Premium Economy. With Star Alliance frequent flyer programs, alliance-wide upgrades are available from Economy to Business, or from Business to First. But it’s impossible to upgrade on other Star Alliance airlines from Economy to Premium Economy, or from Premium Economy to Business. (It should be, but it seems nobody has bothered to put the infrastructure in place yet.)
Many Oneworld airlines, including Qantas, do offer their frequent flyers the option to redeem their points for Premium Economy seats on other Oneworld carriers. That’s a good thing. But there are still some Oneworld airlines that don’t.
For some reason, Finnair Plus members can only redeem their points to fly Premium Economy on Cathay Pacific – and not on Qantas, British Airways, American Airlines or any of the other Oneworld airlines with Premium Economy seating. And Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program only offers Oneworld multi-carrier awards in Economy, Business or First.
Unfortunately, even though Qantas Frequent Flyer members can redeem points for Premium Economy awards on other Oneworld airlines, this isn’t necessarily the case on non-Oneworld partner airlines. For example, it’s not currently possible to redeem Qantas points for Air France Premium Economy reward seats.
This is even the case when there is Premium Economy award availability on Air France.
The Qantas website also displays no Iberia Premium Economy award availability.
Things aren’t much better in the SkyTeam alliance. Most SkyTeam airlines’ frequent flyer programs also offer no possibility to redeem miles for Premium Economy seats on partner airlines. Premium Economy awards simply don’t exist on most SkyTeam airlines’ award charts, except in some cases for travel in Delta Premium Select.
Meanwhile, Emirates Skywards members still can’t redeem miles to book Premium Economy awards or upgrades on any Emirates flights. This is understandable, since Emirates only launched Premium Economy at the start of this year. But Emirates Skywards members also still can’t redeem miles for Qantas Premium Economy awards, even though Qantas already offered Premium Economy seating well before the launch of the Qantas & Emirates alliance in 2013.
As you can see, the industry still has a lot of work to do to allow frequent flyers to use their points and miles to sit in Premium Economy!
