A Guide To United’s New Premium Economy Product: Premium Plus

Although United initially announced their new premium economy product, Premium Plus, at the beginning of 2018, they neglected to release much information on what aircraft will feature the product and what the service will be like until now. Premium Plus is to be United’s new premium economy product which will eventually be featured on all long-haul widebody aircraft.

Many of you are probably saying, “but United already has a premium economy product, Economy Plus, right?” Economy Plus is a travel class which I label as “extra-legroom economy class” because the only difference between regular economy and Economy Plus is that you have a few inches more of legroom. However, the Premium Economy (or on United, Premium Plus) travel class has recliner seats and passengers receive better food and amenities in-flight, although it will cost more than Economy Plus. Premium Plus won’t replace Economy Plus, as all long-haul aircraft will have both cabins.

United’s move to introduce Premium Plus is mostly to compete more with American and Delta, which already have Premium Economy cabins. Although some aircraft already feature Premium Plus seats, United will officially begin selling it as a separate travel class on March 30, 2019.

Aircraft That Have Premium Plus:

United will eventually retrofit Premium Plus on all widebody aircraft unless the plane is slated to retire shortly (meaning some 777s/767s). United started retrofitting planes with Premium Plus this summer, beginning with the first retrofitted 777-200s which also have the new Polaris seats. In general, the retrofit process should go hand in hand with retrofitting their aircraft with the new Polaris seats which were introduced at the beginning of 2017. Until the official introduction of the cabin class on March 30, 2019, the aircraft which have Premium Plus will have the cabin sold as Economy Plus and will receive the same amenities and service as in Economy Class.

As of now, 9 Boeing 777-200s are retrofitted with Premium Plus seats, four 777-300ERs are retrofitted with the new seat, and one 787-10 has been delivered which initially is installed with it. When the installation is complete, United will have retrofitted 51 777-200s, its 18 777-300s, 12 787-8s, 25 787-9s, 14 767-300s, and 16 767-400s with the new seat. Since no aircraft will have Premium Plus without the new Polaris seat, all of the planes I mentioned above will also receive the new Polaris seat. All future 787-9s, 787-10s, and Airbus A350-900s will be delivered with the new seat. 

Seats In Premium Plus:

Premium Plus is a premium economy product, so the seats are significantly better than those in economy class. In a way, they can be compared to what business class was like 20 years ago. The seats all feature a leg rest, footrest, headrest, and have more recline than in economy. The seats have 6 inches of recline, 38 inches of seat pitch (legroom), and are 19 inches wide. Seats also have a 13-inch entertainment screen, which is significantly larger than in economy.

On 777s, Premium Plus is in a 2-4-2 configuration, while on 787s, it is in a 2-3-2 configuration. On the 777 and 787, all cabins only have three rows, to create a tiny cabin, meaning that 777s have 24 seats and the 787s have 21 seats. While not confirmed yet, I would assume that 767s retrofitted with the seat will have the seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. Also, all seats will also have remotes to control the in-flight entertainment and will have a power outlet and USB port. The seats overall are pretty similar to United’s domestic first class seats, with the addition of leg rest.

United Premium Plus 777 Cabin (Photo Courtesy of United Airlines)

United Premium Plus 777 Cabin (Photo Courtesy of United Airlines)

Amenities In Premium Plus:

In addition to a seat upgrade, passengers traveling in United Premium Plus also receive an upgrade to the soft product, in comparison to economy class. First off, passengers should receive food much better than in the regular economy class that is not served in plastic. I would assume that the meals would be comparable to what one would receive on a routine transcontinental domestic flight in first class.

Regarding amenities, passengers will receive amenity kits, although I am unaware of what they will be composed of. Passengers will have access to a Saks Fifth Avenue blanket and pillow. Based on photos, the blanket seems to be identical to the smaller blanket received in United Polaris business class, and the pillow seems to be similar although smaller to the ones received in business. Also, complimentary noise-reducing headphones are available in Premium Plus.

Bedding In United Premium Plus (Photo Courtesy of United)

Routes It Is Available On:

Again, the full Premium Plus experience will officially debut on March 30, 2019. United intends eventually to have Premium Plus available on all transatlantic, transpacific, and on all longer flights to South America. However, the reality of it being on all long-haul routes really won’t come true for a number of years. United has published a list of the first routes to have United Premium Plus, which are listed below.

Boeing 777-300ER:

Boeing 777-200:

Boeing 787-10:

If you are booked in economy class on any of these flights, you should be able to upgrade to Premium Plus in the coming days. I am really happy that for the first time in the history of forever, United is finally prioritizing Washington Dulles and putting planes with Premium Plus there! United has constantly neglected (my home airport) Washington Dulles by placing their oldest and non-retrofitted planes there and by keeping its miserable “temporary” terminal C/D from the 1980s there, so its almost a miracle that Dulles is getting some of their first Premium Plus routes!

All of the routes listed above will also have the new United Polaris seat. As you can see, most of Newark’s major transatlantic and transpacific routes are receiving Premium Plus and the Polaris seat, which makes sense given how competitive the New York market is. Also, it is nice to see that United’s retrofitted 777-200s are being placed on specific routes, and not just being shuffled around randomly as they are being done now. 

Other Perks:

• Passengers can pay to have access to the United Club. The price that it costs will be less than it is for United Economy passengers.
• Passengers will also receive United Premier Access. This means that they will be able to get priority check-in and their baggage will arrive first on the luggage carousels.
• Premium Plus passengers will also be able to check two standard bags, instead of one like in regular economy.
• One will receive 150% of the regular miles that one would receive if traveling in regular economy class.
• When you book a Premium Plus ticket but one of your legs is on a route that doesn’t have Premium Plus, you will be placed in premium economy. 

Pricing & Award Availability:

Pricing is highly variable for Premium Plus. Sometimes purchasing Premium Plus can be a good deal, although other times it is completely overpriced. As a baseline, Premium Plus on most flights roughly costs $500 to $1,000 more than a regular (not basic economy or flexible fare) economy class ticket. Like any fare for any cabin, the fare is dependent only on the route and the time of year that you are flying. On some routes, Premium Plus can be up into the $4,000s for a transatlantic flight, although other times, you can get long-haul roundtrip flights for prices lower than $1,400. Obviously, the former fare that I mentioned is definitely not worth it, although, for Premium Economy on a long flight, around $1,500 might be worth it.

I don’t recommend purchasing United Premium Plus with miles as they are often overpriced. Award prices for roundtrip Premium Plus can range between 100,000 miles all the way up to 200,000 miles just for a roundtrip flight in Premium Economy! The reason why the award prices are so high is that United has yet to introduce saver Premium Plus awards, which (hopefully) once they introduce them will be a lot cheaper. On many transatlantic and transpacific flights, roundtrip tickets for booking in Premium Plus can be up to 200,000 miles, while in United Polaris, roundtrip prices can be as low as 160,000 miles roundtrip.

Also, in terms of upgrading to Premium Plus on long-haul flights, you can generally upgrade from economy class for around 20,000-30,000 miles. Honestly, if you do have lots of miles, to have good food and a comfortable seat, spending those miles actually might be worth it. 

Additionally, the addition of Premium Plus doesn’t much affect upgrading from Economy to United Polaris. This means that passengers in economy class can still put in an upgrade request for Untied Polaris and elites can still use Global Premium Upgrades to upgrade into business. However, passengers can also just request an upgrade to only Premium Plus, not United Polaris from economy class for a lower price. In addition, passengers in Premium Plus will also be placed higher up than regular economy class passengers when it comes to upgrading to United Polaris. 

Conclusion:

United’s introduction of Premium Economy was largely influenced by a growing market of a travel class in between economy and business. United is the third US airline to introduce it, after American and Delta, so they were heavily encouraged to introduce a premium economy product by the market. Premium Plus certainly isn’t revolutionary when it comes to worldwide premium economy products, as the seats and amenities match competing airlines.

However, it is fantastic news that United finally announced their routes for Premium Plus and its amenities to get its premium economy product off of the ground. 🙂 Having a premium economy product is great for people who don’t want to or can’t upgrade to business, but still have the miles to or can pay for premium economy, where at least you won’t be extremely uncomfortable. I look forward to (eventually, although I, unfortunately, doubt it will be anytime soon) trying out United’s Premium Plus!

What do you make of United Airlines’ Introduction of Premium Plus?