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The flight routes on offer for Thai’s Premium Plus are fairly short - less than four hours. That’s not the sort of flight time with high demand for a lie-flat seat. So why isn’t Thai Airways offering Premium Plus on its long-haul flights to Australia or to Europe, where a lie-flat bed has real appeal? Because that would threaten its lucrative business class offering. Segmentation of cabin classes The appearance of a lie-flat premium economy seat is another example of the segmentation that has crept into air travel since the 1980s. Until the late 1970s airlines typically divided their cabins into first and economy classes. Business class made an appearance in 1979, first in Qantas and British Airways cabins, followed by premium economy in 1992, introduced by Eva Air under the name “Economy Deluxe Class”. Shortly after, the concept of “Economy Plus” or extra legroom seating quietly took root in economy class cabins. Over the same period airlines have been shifting gears, introducing greater comfort into their premium classes and moving the lines that once separated them. A business class seat aboard Qatar Airways or Singapore Airlines is better than a first-class seat of two decades ago. A premium economy seat on a leading airline today puts an early model business class seat in the shade. Only the economy seat remains largely unchanged.
