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Is premium economy worth it for families?

Premium economy on a Singapore Airlines jet - CHRISSISARICH
Premium economy on a Singapore Airlines jet - CHRISSISARICH

Frugal families don’t turn left when they get on the plane. My children have never seen the interior of the Business Class cabin, and that’s not likely to change any time soon.

But what about that halfway house between cocooned luxury and sardined stoicism: the Premium Economy option?  The thought of a bit more legroom and a dedicated check-in desk is tempting when your finger is hovering over the booking button, especially when these options are advertised with pictures of smiling travellers cradling welcome drinks and sporting free noise-cancelling headphones.

Amenity kits, real cutlery and priority boarding are all very well, but for most Premium travellers it is the extra space that’s the real draw. Being able to arrive at your destination without having to iron your own limbs before standing up straight is attractive, but the price is high.

On average, according to Seat Guru, the airline advice site run by Trip Adviser, Premium Economy is 85 per cent more expensive than Economy. For the price, you’ll get an average seven inches of extra legroom, and an extra inch or so of seat width - as well as napkins, complimentary drinks and sometimes a posher meal. The stingiest airlines, such as Singapore, offer only half an inch of extra width for the price, and six inches of extra legroom, while Qantas is one of the more generous, with a seat pitch of up to 42” in Premium Economy, where most rivals offer 38”.

Space is tempting, but if you multiply the extra cost by the size of your family, you could find yourself paying dearly for every inch. For example, a one-way trip to Sydney in November with Qantas for a family of four would cost £4671 for everyone in Premium Economy, or £1480 on the airline’s cheapest economy fare.

Sometimes it looks better, and the gap tends to diminish if you’re booking last minute. A BA trip to Florida for the same family in August is £1647 in Economy, or £2034 in Premium, just under £100 per person more.

Is it worth upgrading? I recommend looking at the difference in terms of cost per hour and seeing whether the bill still makes you wince. The Qantas example above works out as  £145 an hour over the 22-hour flight for the whole family, or £36 an hour per person. The BA trip works out as £10.75 an hour per person extra for the frills.

At £10.75 an hour extra, I reckon I’d just about consider paying for Premium; at much more than that I’d pick my luxuries more carefully. With space so short in aircraft everywhere, it’s almost always cheaper to upgrade your airport experience than it is to upgrade the amount of space you are allowed to occupy while airborne. My favourite pay-as-you-go frills include airport lounges (free with my American Express card or around £30 per person including a meal), and valet parking (because who wants to stumble through the car park at the end of the holiday?). Even when given the option of using Air Miles to upgrade, I’d almost always prefer to use them on an extra trip, rather than some slightly comfier seats.

I guess the bottom line for me is that flying with a family is something you get through, rather than something you love to do.  And if I’m grinning and bearing the process anyway, I may as well do so in a slightly smaller seat, and bring a toothbrush from home.