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If you have a choice between Singapore Airline economy seats versus another airline’s premium economy seat, assuming it is the same price. What would you choose? What if it is even cheaper?
The cost
Well, that’s exactly what happened recently. I was supposed to go on a business trip to Prague and I found out to my horror that Singapore Airline’s economy seats to Prague cost about SGD3,500 whereas Finnair’s premium economy seat cost only SGD2,900. This is at least 20 percent cheaper and a higher class. Quite a no brainer especially i can travel in better comfort and save cost. The downside was that I was not able to accrue Star Alliance miles as Finnair is One World whereas I am with Star Alliance. Another thing was the longer transit time, about 2-3 hours on both departure and return segment.
in this post, I will be just sharing my recent experience on Finnair premium economy. This is a red eye flight departing Singapore to Prague (transiting Helsinki) at 2150 hours. The layover at Helsinki is about 2 hours.
The seats
The seats were both wider and could recline more than the standard economy seats. The leg room was tremendous too especially if you choose the bulk head. I chose the bulk head so i could fully stretch my legs. The interactive screen is also noticeably larger.
My seat was 21C on the aisle as i paid extra for a better seat. I paid using my points from an earlier private trip which i also took premium economy. It cost me like 6200 points one each leg which i thought was totally worth it.
The amenities kit was not too bad. I was given a ear plug, eye mask, facial cream and lip balm. All housed in a nicely designed travel pouch. A neck pillow and a noise cancellation headset was also provided. The noise cancellation headset is a god sent. It worked really well when turn on to reduce the ambient and engine noise significantly. A huge difference.
Each passenger had a three ping adaptor and USB port to keep your devices fully charged. I was able to charge both my iphone and apple watch fully during this trip.
The meals
As for the food, it was not too bad either. The late dinner was rice with some sort of finnish version of their curry chicken and it was not too spicy.
The breakfast was the very standard omelette with sausage.
The verdict
Overall i enjoyed my flight even though it was 13 hours for the longest leg but I could rest very well and there was plenty of inflight movies or drama series. Premium economy is definitely the way to go for longer distance flight. It is something i would pay myself even for my personal trip which in fact i did when i went to Rome with my wife for a couple trip 2 years ago. I will perhaps try other airline’s premium economy products to compare. So far I had only tried Finnair and ANA. ANA is a rather basic and not so fancy product but at least it is Star Alliance which allowed me to accrue miles. That’s all for this post and hopefully I can write more in my next travel if i can get another premium economy flight.
