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SQ has set up a Premium Economy showcase in a prominent part of Changi T3, right in front of the entrance to the airside departure area.
This was my first opportunity to eyeball the new hard product "in the flesh". I've not commented on the new PE so far as it is impossible to tell what the product is like from photos or videos. You really have to look at these things in the real world to form an opinion.
Now that I have, here are some thoughts:
The seats themselves look very well made, and stylish. Size-wise, they are slightly wider than regular Y seats, and there is greater seat pitch. Although the size difference compared to Y looks quite subtle if you just view the PY seat in isolation, my impression is that every extra inch counts, and while the seats are not huge, the added space should be quite noticeable once you actually sit in it. Looking at the seat, there looks to be an appreciably greater recline (Which to me looks good enough to make a positive difference in quality of sleep on red-eyes) and also more seat pitch. On a 777, PY is 2-4-2, whereas regular Y is 3-3-3 (And there are some other airlines like Scoot which do 3-4-3). Definitely more comfort and space.
The bulkhead/front row PY seats have an inbuilt cushioned calf rest and footrest that comes up from the front of the seat, which looks good. For the remaining rows of PY, there also appears to be a cushioned calf rest (Not 100% sure about this, as I did not see the calf rest extended on the non-front row seats. Can anyone confirm?), however the footwell and footrest are a minor disappointment, as the footrest is similar to previous gen 777 Y footrests, and if the mock-up reflects a real aircraft, there is also an obstruction to legroom.
You get a larger pillow. Hard to tell if the blanket is larger. In any case, regular SQ Y already has very good pillows and blankets.
Amenity kits look similar to the kits in Y, although they have attractive graphics instead of being plain gold/beige like the Y kits. There was no display of the contents.
There were also displays of the BTC (Book the Cook) menu, champagne, and some pictures of the catering, but no live catering mock-up.
The display gives you a very good view of the rear of the seat. Large IFE screens look very impressive, and the phone holders look big enough for today's phones (Don't know if they will fit ever-larger Phablets, though!).
But the back view did highlight one potential issue. If the mock-up is a reflection of the actual installation in the aircraft, then the space in the footwell would appear to be quite a glaring flaw: The footwell is obstructed by the metal seat anchors, which makes the footwell actually less roomy than regular Y on the A380/ A330 / 77W / 77WN.
Hopefully on the actual aircraft, this is not the case and that the footwells are not obstructed. If it is, I am very surprised that this flaw was not picked up in design phase.
Overall impressions?
There is no standard benchmark for premium economy. This is unlike Y or J, where there is some expectation among frequent travellers about what mainline full service Y should be, or what a good longhaul J should be.
For premium Y, you get some products which are incremental improvements on regular Y, such as CX PY, and then you have products like QF's PY which approaches business class. And there are products like BA's PY or AF's PY which are in-between. Pricing also widely differs, and the price difference between Y and PY must also be taken into consideration when making this comparison.
For this SQ product, at least from what I have seen viewing the display, I would rate this closer to low-end PY.
As a premium over Y, I would not want to pay too much more for this. Maybe 10-15% more over a flexible discount economy fare, but no more than that, especially since SQ regular Y is already priced at the top-end of Y fares compared to other carriers serving Changi. And even then, I would ask myself if the slight improvements were worth it. I personally would have preferred a slightly more differentiated product, especially in terms of recline and footrest.
Some questions I still have in my mind about the new product: Is there PPS credit for flying PY [UPDATE: Based on PPS T&Cs, you don't get PPS credit for PY travel]? Will pax be required to raise the seatback during mealtimes (Being able to recline at any time, and not having to raise the seatback during mealtimes would be a major plus for PY.)? And of course for the catering, we will only know when we fly PY how good it is. SQ already sets very high standards for Y catering, so it would be interesting to see what they do for PY.
I do plan to try SQ PE at least once, provided the pricing is reasonable. I also reserve the right to revise my opinion after the butt-in-seat experience (preferably mid-to-long haul), which is really the only true test of any new product!
This was my first opportunity to eyeball the new hard product "in the flesh". I've not commented on the new PE so far as it is impossible to tell what the product is like from photos or videos. You really have to look at these things in the real world to form an opinion.
Now that I have, here are some thoughts:
The seats themselves look very well made, and stylish. Size-wise, they are slightly wider than regular Y seats, and there is greater seat pitch. Although the size difference compared to Y looks quite subtle if you just view the PY seat in isolation, my impression is that every extra inch counts, and while the seats are not huge, the added space should be quite noticeable once you actually sit in it. Looking at the seat, there looks to be an appreciably greater recline (Which to me looks good enough to make a positive difference in quality of sleep on red-eyes) and also more seat pitch. On a 777, PY is 2-4-2, whereas regular Y is 3-3-3 (And there are some other airlines like Scoot which do 3-4-3). Definitely more comfort and space.
The bulkhead/front row PY seats have an inbuilt cushioned calf rest and footrest that comes up from the front of the seat, which looks good. For the remaining rows of PY, there also appears to be a cushioned calf rest (Not 100% sure about this, as I did not see the calf rest extended on the non-front row seats. Can anyone confirm?), however the footwell and footrest are a minor disappointment, as the footrest is similar to previous gen 777 Y footrests, and if the mock-up reflects a real aircraft, there is also an obstruction to legroom.
You get a larger pillow. Hard to tell if the blanket is larger. In any case, regular SQ Y already has very good pillows and blankets.
Amenity kits look similar to the kits in Y, although they have attractive graphics instead of being plain gold/beige like the Y kits. There was no display of the contents.
There were also displays of the BTC (Book the Cook) menu, champagne, and some pictures of the catering, but no live catering mock-up.
The display gives you a very good view of the rear of the seat. Large IFE screens look very impressive, and the phone holders look big enough for today's phones (Don't know if they will fit ever-larger Phablets, though!).
But the back view did highlight one potential issue. If the mock-up is a reflection of the actual installation in the aircraft, then the space in the footwell would appear to be quite a glaring flaw: The footwell is obstructed by the metal seat anchors, which makes the footwell actually less roomy than regular Y on the A380/ A330 / 77W / 77WN.
Hopefully on the actual aircraft, this is not the case and that the footwells are not obstructed. If it is, I am very surprised that this flaw was not picked up in design phase.
Overall impressions?
There is no standard benchmark for premium economy. This is unlike Y or J, where there is some expectation among frequent travellers about what mainline full service Y should be, or what a good longhaul J should be.
For premium Y, you get some products which are incremental improvements on regular Y, such as CX PY, and then you have products like QF's PY which approaches business class. And there are products like BA's PY or AF's PY which are in-between. Pricing also widely differs, and the price difference between Y and PY must also be taken into consideration when making this comparison.
For this SQ product, at least from what I have seen viewing the display, I would rate this closer to low-end PY.
As a premium over Y, I would not want to pay too much more for this. Maybe 10-15% more over a flexible discount economy fare, but no more than that, especially since SQ regular Y is already priced at the top-end of Y fares compared to other carriers serving Changi. And even then, I would ask myself if the slight improvements were worth it. I personally would have preferred a slightly more differentiated product, especially in terms of recline and footrest.
Some questions I still have in my mind about the new product: Is there PPS credit for flying PY [UPDATE: Based on PPS T&Cs, you don't get PPS credit for PY travel]? Will pax be required to raise the seatback during mealtimes (Being able to recline at any time, and not having to raise the seatback during mealtimes would be a major plus for PY.)? And of course for the catering, we will only know when we fly PY how good it is. SQ already sets very high standards for Y catering, so it would be interesting to see what they do for PY.
I do plan to try SQ PE at least once, provided the pricing is reasonable. I also reserve the right to revise my opinion after the butt-in-seat experience (preferably mid-to-long haul), which is really the only true test of any new product!
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