PE commences Saturday

[thegurio]

Just tootling around on DJ'as site and noticed a ad saying PE starts on saturday...

Wonder when they will allow point upgrades? also while im in a complaining mood - when are they going to allow multi-city booking so we can do a easy MR?

 

[dajop]

when are they going to allow multi-city booking so we can do a easy MR?

MR? Are you talking for accrual on a partner such as MH or on Velocity? DJ alter the paradigm when comes to Mileage Runs, you can do the "normal" (!!)MR and piece together a collection of cheap fares say SYD-CBR-MEL-HBA-SYD. Or you can use the same amount of money to pay for a return (or one way) fare, at a higher fare level, to earn exactly the same number of points.

 

[thegurio]

Thats true isnt it... I keep on forgetting that all you have to do is spend more money to get the same amount of points... I think that they may be the only carrot for going for PE personally

 

[Standby]

Has anyone actually paid for and travelled PE yet? and what is the conclusion of value vs both normal DJ and QF fully flex fares

 

[thegurio]

I was talking to a ground crew guy on Friday and he was saying that its been popular but hwo much i dont know and i will find out when the wife returns tommorow and flys D home.

 

[JohnK]

Anyone travelled DJ premium economy yet?

I was talking to a ground crew guy on Friday and he was saying that its been popular....

While we are on rumours on a recent DJ CBR-SYD flight I overheard the 2 flight attendants discussing the start up the SYD-PQQ route and they were disappointed how the loads on the SYD-CBR flights were very low.

Not sure how the SYD-CBR route is going now but in the 4 sectors I flew in February and March the loads were <60%. It is a shame and I sincerly hope the loads on this route improve.

 

[Yada Yada]

I flew to MEL this morning on a Blue Save and have ponyed up for PE on the way home this evening.

Curiously during web check-in, I was able to select my regular economy seat for SYD-MEL but the system would not allow me to select my PE seat for MEL-SYD and auto-allocated me to 1F. I was wanting to select 2D.

I am guessing that they want to fill from the front to ensure that rows behind can be kept for regular economy if needed. Will be interesting to see if many others are using PE.

 

[thegurio]

I flew to MEL this morning on a Blue Save and have ponyed up for PE on the way home this evening.

Curiously during web check-in, I was able to select my regular economy seat for SYD-MEL but the system would not allow me to select my PE seat for MEL-SYD and auto-allocated me to 1F. I was wanting to select 2D.

I am guessing that they want to fill from the front to ensure that rows behind can be kept for regular economy if needed. Will be interesting to see if many others are using PE.

What did you think of it? Was it worth it? I was considering this during a HBA-ADL trip - mostly ADL-HBA as there is a lounge there that i can actuallly use and a flight time to appreciate it!

 

[JohnK]

I am guessing that they want to fill from the front to ensure that rows behind can be kept for regular economy if needed. Will be interesting to see if many others are using PE.

Does not sound like a very positive excuse.

I hope there are more people paying for, and using, premium economy.

 

[Yada Yada]

And here is what happened...

I asked at the Lounge desk if I could move to the aisle seat - they said sorry no, you will have to ask at the gate. There had been some cancellations and delays due to weather yesterday afternoon so it was very busy in the Lounge. When I got to the gate, boarding had commenced and I couldn't be bothered to ask to change seats at that point so just took my assigned seat (1F). Someone else was sitting in the aisle seat.

I was surprised to find that my seat had not been configured for PE, so assumed that I would have to do it myself, which I did a few minutes after sitting down. When the CS saw this she came over and said "sorry, you can't do that unless you've paid for PE" and promptly put it back up!

I told her that I had paid for PE to which she said "really?". "Yes, I have." She then advised that the ground crew at the gate are meant to advise the flight crew in advance of boarding so that they can configure the cabin, so she went back up the airbridge to check. She returned a minute later with an apology, and put the table back down.

I asked the guy next to me if he'd paid for PE but he said no, he was on an earlier cancelled flight so was moved to this flight.

All other red seats were configured for regular economy so I was the only pax on board who paid for PE. The guy next to me got a bonus because of his cancelled flight. I assume if space had permitted this seat would have been left empty.

Anyway, confusion aside, I felt that PE was worth the money. The arm-rests move out further than I expected and provide quite a bit of extra width. As reported in another thread, they are very confortable to sit on and the seat pitch at 1D/E/F is of course the best on the plane.

So, thumbs up from me on the PE product. I guess the crew need to be more alert so that the cabin is correctly configured before boarding as it was a bit annoying to have to ask for it!

 

[Yada Yada]

I hope there are more people paying for, and using, premium economy.

I guess time will tell, although I don't think VB are risking too much with this offering. Aside from the cost of refitting the fleet, they lose no capacity at all if no-one takes it up and for those who do, the higher fare pays for the empty seat.

To my mind, the risk is more likely to be with new routes, especially SYD-CBR where QF are likely to spend a lot of money to inflict maximum pain with the hopes VB will pull out. If QF regulars just take the competition for granted and continue to fly the red rat at reduced fares, they will end up paying through the nose if VB bails out.

 

[ANstar]

I'm doing a similar flight SYD-MEL this coming Wed's.

I got a cheapo $85 fare down and decided to go for PE on the way back.

Yada Yada, how many miles posted for your PE flight back?

Was it base + the bonus or just the bonus for the R flight?

 

[pauly7]

I was surprised to find that my seat had not been configured for PE, so assumed that I would have to do it myself, which I did a few minutes after sitting down. When the CS saw this she came over and said "sorry, you can't do that unless you've paid for PE" and promptly put it back up!

I told her that I had paid for PE to which she said "really?". "Yes, I have." She then advised that the ground crew at the gate are meant to advise the flight crew in advance of boarding so that they can configure the cabin, so she went back up the airbridge to check. She returned a minute later with an apology, and put the table back down.

!

Good on you for setting the seat up yourself! Hilarious!

 

[Yada Yada]

I'm doing a similar flight SYD-MEL this coming Wed's.

I got a cheapo $85 fare down and decided to go for PE on the way back.

Yada Yada, how many miles posted for your PE flight back?

Was it base + the bonus or just the bonus for the R flight?

I'd forgotten about the bonus thingy! Here is what was posted:

Base:    2,723
Bonus:   4,177
         -----
Total:   6,900
         -----
S.C:     2,723

Good on you for setting the seat up yourself! Hilarious!

But slightly embarassing when it was taken away for a short while! The CS was a bit embarrassed when she discovered the mistake.

 

[ANstar]

Did my MEL trip last week. The whole 3 rows were in PE config and it was just myself in 1F.

Cabin crew were doing their welcome announcement and said and we would like to extend an extra special welcome to our premium economy passenger - which sort of made me feel a bit stupid and embarressed for sitting there.

Bonus Points posted within 2 days.

I would definately pay for it again if I got a free sandwich and drink, but I dont want to fork out the bigger $$$ and then have to pay $12 or something for a drink and snack.

Therefore I won't be flying PE again unless it changes.

 

[oz_mark]

I would definately pay for it again if I got a free sandwich and drink, but I dont want to fork out the bigger $$$ and then have to pay $12 or something for a drink and snack.

Therefore I won't be flying PE again unless it changes.

I know it appears to be against their model, but I think DJ need to find away of bundling a meal/drink into their fares, even if only for PE.

 

[RB777]

Just some comments from my recent Perth trip.

LST to MEL the plane was full however the PE seats were converted and no one was in them - so everyone was behind the first three rows.

MEL-PER was a similar story. 12 empty PE seats - surprising as the night before I checked on the website and all PE seats were booked.

Similar story on the return - so out of 4 flights 0 PE passengers. Now if they were made available for a surcharge in the same way that Blue Zone is then I think it would have been another story.

Agree with the bundling of a light food and drink into the fare (all levels). Air Berlin does this too as a "New World" carrier.

 

[Standby]

The LST MEL shows the problem of offering a prem product on a market
that is very price sensitive.
where as the PER issue of not being avail the night before suggests an operational aircraft chge. I'm pretty sure the PAC Blue aircraft arent fitted with PY and on of those may have been scheduled to operate to PER only to be changed on the day to an acrft with PY

 

[RB777]

Funnily enough we were on a Pacific Blue aircraft on the way over. Premium Y seats were installed and the flight attendant told us that the PTV's were going to be installed. Lat night in MEL I spotted a Pacific Blue with the telltale hump on the rear fuselage.

However the flight back was operated by a standard DJ plane.