I have a QUESTION

All your travel-related questions answered by a CWT expert

Q: WHAT IS PREMIUM ECONOMY?
A: “Better than coach, but not quite business class”, the premium economy concept was pioneered by Virgin Atlantic in 1992. Although not new, the idea has only recently gathered momentum among major carriers. With the desire of companies to reduce usage of business class for their travellers, and the pressure from budget carriers pushing up the bar for what constitutes full service, premium economy is becoming a priority for mainstream carriers.

Typical improvements over standard economy include a combination of: greater legroom by at least five inches; more comfortable seats with lower recline position, with power outlets for computers; superior in-flight services, meals and beverages; plus other perks such as increased frequent flyer miles, priority check-in, and even airport lounge access in some cases.

However, with the growing popularity of the concept, it has become more difficult to distinguish “true” premium economy from a mere label self-awarded by the carrier. United’s Economy Plus, for instance, only offers increased legroom and none of the other extras.

Also, some airlines reserve these premium seats for their frequent flyers, making it an incentive more than a product.

Among the services of this kind in the Asia Pacific, travellers can now fly in premium comfort with Thai Airways from Asia to the US, with the most legroom of all carriers; with Qantas from Australia to LA, London, Singapore or Hong Kong; British Airways to London; with ANA or Japan Airlines from Tokyo to Europe; with Air New Zealand across the Tasman or long-haul to London or Los Angeles. Even budget carriers have started to explore the concept: Virgin Blue recently launched such a service for domestic flights within Australia.

Price-wise, premium economy is seen by some as a bargain and by others as unpalatable. The value for money is usually measured in dollars per extra inch of legroom, ranging from about US$80 to more than US$300. In fact, timing is often of the essence: early bookers can end up paying not far from a business-class fare, while bargain shoppers might snap a last-minute discount a notch above the normal economy rate. No doubt their glass of champagne onboard will taste doubly sweet!

Q: WHAT DOES THE END OF THE PAPER TICKET MEAN FOR ME AS A TRAVELLER?
A: It’s official: air tickets have now become entirely virtual. Effective 1 June 2008, travel agents around the world are no longer able to issue a physical ticket and paper ticket stocks were removed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

This information may sound like yesterday’s news for most travellers, who probably have not seen the green-and-yellow ticket cards for a decade. Indeed, as of April this year, more than 95% of air tickets were already issued electronically. This has enabled cost savings for airlines and agents but also a vastly superior experience for travellers who are no longer encumbered with physical documents to forget at home or lose in a taxi. Gone is the mandatory detour via the airline office to pick up a ticket, or to add a sticker for a simple date change.

So what, if anything, changes? Paper tickets were still being issued until June for two main reasons:

First, a few small carriers, typically located in developing countries, still do not participate in the interconnected system that allows a travel agent to issue an e-ticket on their behalf. For these rare carriers, unless special arrangements are made with some travel agents, the standard option will be to deal directly with the carrier for the issuance of an e-ticket.

Second, interline tickets are often needed for a routing combining carriers. For these, it is necessary for the two carriers to have an e-ticket interline agreement in place. IATA has reported that such agreements currently in force represent more than 95% of the total interline volume.

This leaves a very small number of travellers for whom the travel agent may, for the time being, have to use specific workaround solutions to issue a virtual ticket. For everyone else, this “100% e-ticket world” is just business as usual.

Nicolas Pierret
Director Global Accounts, Asia Pacific
Carlson Wagonlit Travel

Email your travel questions to cwtconnect@carlsonwagonlit.com for publication in a future issue