In July FCF wrote about how you can easily fly Premium Economy (PE) for less than the cost of the best seat in coach to Asia, Europe, South America, and the South Pacific on American, if you know how.
Now American is ramping up the international routes on which it offers a PE cabin, which leads FCF to the question, how is this impacting its competitor’s Premium Economy fares?
After a great deal of research, FCF has found that the answer comes down to four words: Depends on the destination.
The South Pacific: It’s a region long monopolized by flag carriers Qantas and Air New Zealand. Premium Economy often ranged from $2,600 to $3,500 from the West Coast, and seldom went on sale.
Well, the monopoly has been disrupted as American offers a great PE deal, fares starting as low as $1,706 on the LAX-Sydney route.
You would think that American’s oneworld partner, Qantas, would match such low fares. Well it did, for a moment: You could book LAX-Melbourne and other Australian cities, such as Brisbane and Sydney, for only $1,693 round-trip non-stop. Then the fare went back to the norm, $2,647+.
FCF predicts that Premium Economy fares to this region will get a much needed overhaul, and decrease, if only via Flash Fares.
South America: American is the only airline offering a PE seat right now (starting at $1,245 round-trip), so this is a great backup option (or for the kids), given that Business Class fares easily run $3,000 to $5,000.
Europe: PE is not a newcomer to this market, as the region already has many international airlines offering a PE seat, so American will have to fight to get a foothold. The airline is, on some routes, trying to undercut its competitors on non-stop flights. Take Miami-Paris: AA fares start at $1,066, while Air France charges $1,547. Other low-priced routes include Chicago-Paris, starting at $1,150, and Miami-Barcelona, starting at $1,029.
Some routes, Dallas-Frankfurt for example, are still priced high, starting at $1,918. That’s a strong sign that if AA owns a route, and it is one heavily used for business travel, it won’t discount heavily. (Some could even argue that Business Travelers will keep the PE cost up on such routes, as many corporate travel policies often make allowance for PE travel while forbidding Business Class.)
Asia: Same situation as Europe: Lots of airlines offering a PE seat (All Nippon, Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and Singapore), so AA faces a struggle. But all indications are that the carrier is going all out on LAX-Tokyo. PE fares start at $1,027 round-trip, $900 less than its oneworld partner JAL ($1,929), $1,000 less than All Nippon ($2,025), and $550 less than Singapore ($1,572). But don’t expect this to last forever. Airlines are famous for pricing rollouts inexpensively on routes where there is strong competition, as is the case on LAX-Tokyo.
However, Dallas-Tokyo is high, with PE fares starting at $1,800. So look for American to undercut on routes on which it has a lot of competition and to charge more if it has less competition and owns a route and it is a business route.
New Seats to Hawaii: Yes, kinda surprising, but AA will have two routes to Hawaii (Dallas to Honolulu and Maui) in January 2018 with the PE seat—and it will be the only airline to offer the PE seat on a domestic route. Fares start at $1,287, which is high, considering that you can get LAX-Tokyo for $1,027. But consider this: Economy is $987, so the increase is only $150 each way, and it is $765 less than the Business Class fare for 16 hours of flying. Well worth it.
Here is a list of routes American offers Premium Economy seats (but always confirm when you book as the airline is still moving aircraft around and not every one has the PE seat yet, so some routes might only see the seat during peak season) that the airline says it will have the seat starting between November and February, 2018.
Europe:
Barcelona-Charlotte, Miami, Philadelphia
Paris-Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Chicago, Philadelphia
Dublin-Charlotte and Philadelphia
Rome-Dallas and Philadelphia
Frankfurt-Charlotte, Dallas, Philadelphia
London-Miami and Dallas
Madrid-Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia
Manchester-Philadelphia
Munich-Philadelphia
South America:
Buenos Aires-Dallas and Miami
Rio de Janeiro-Miami
São Paulo-Dallas and Miami
Santiago-Miami
Asia:
Tokyo-Los Angeles
Tokyo-Dallas
South Pacific:
Auckland and Sydney-Los Angeles
Domestic:
Dallas-Maui and Honolulu
Los Angeles-Honolulu (only during the Christmas/New Years’ time frame for now)
Note: You can book connecting flights to the U.S. hub, and beyond the international one, too, only those flights will be in economy.