How to Book Premium Economy Seats For Economy Prices

You deserve better than economy on your next long-haul flight, but if you're like me, shelling out thousands of dollars for business class flights is out of the question. 

That's where Premium Economy comes in, offering a sweet spot between getting scrunched into economy and the spaciousness and luxury of business class. 

It's not a lie-flat seat, but Premium Economy can be a godsend when flying long-haul overseas, with bigger seats (and plenty of legroom), better service and amenities, and even better food than what you get at the back of the plane. Every airline does it a little differently, and some even have different names for their middle cabins. 

Delta Premium Select offers a solid experience, with more legroom, wider seats, and amenities like noise-canceling headphones, an amenity kit, and dedicated service, too. Singapore Airlines offers an even comfier ride to destinations all over Southeast Asia (and even one in Europe). SAS Plus premium economy also includes a larger seat, solid service, and better inflight meals. I've also flown KLM Premium Comfort to Amsterdam, British Airways World Traveller Plus to London, and plan to spend more of my points and dollars on seats in the middle of the plane in the coming years.

But here's the best part: We've seen a recent trend of low premium economy fares – using points and miles or buying with cash. Thrifty Traveler Premium members have received a slew of premium economy deals to Europe and beyond under $900 roundtrip – and sometimes, half that price.

Here's how you can score a comfier ride across the ocean for the price of a typical economy fare … or less.

What Is Premium Economy?

Premium economy is a solid middle ground between regular economy and the fancy lie-flat seats at the front of the plane.

Premium economy seats aren't as nice or spacious as the first class or business class cabins, but they're a distinct step up from economy. They're typically far more spacious (both in width and legroom) and feature more amenities than regular economy in most cases. Often times, it looks a lot like what you'd find in domestic first class.

Premium economy varies from airline-to-airline, but in most cases you're likely to get some version of the following:

• A slightly wider seat
• More legroom, often with a leg rest
• A little extra seat recline
• Extra amenities (headphones, amenity kits, etc.)
• Dedicated flight attendant service
• Better inflight meal service
• Free checked bags
• Lounge access (in some cases)

The overall experience is a big step up – and for most travelers, this is plenty of luxury when taking to the skies. Some airlines will price these seats like the luxury they are, with extremely steep multi-thousand dollar roundtrip prices. In fact, most airlines brag about how profitable premium economy is for them to their investors every quarter. But airlines will also offload these seats at awesome prices you can book with cash or points and miles, which is where Thrifty Traveler Premium comes in.

We search hundreds of premium economy routes all over the world every day to alert our members of the best deals. Here's what we've found lately. 

Air France/KLM Premium Economy from 30k Points Each Way

To fly premium economy to Europe, you don't have to spend your cash. When you book with Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles (transferable from Amex, Capital One, Chase, and many other banks), you can use your points instead … and not that many of them!

Air France/KLM Flying Blue prices its own premium economy seats at these 30,000-mile rates a few times a year, and it's one of my favorite deals in travel. (I'm about to fly KLM Premium Economy to Amsterdam next week on this exact deal.)

The key is to try and book during a transfer bonus to Air France/KLM Flying Blue. For example, when we sent this deal, Citi was offering a 20% bonus to FlyingBlue, meaning you only needed 25,000 Citi points to book this each way … or 50,000 roundtrip! That's closer to what you'd expect to pay for the tight economy seats in the section behind. 

Even without the transfer bonus, booking a flight from Houston (IAH), Las Vegas (LAS), New York (JFK), San Diego (SAN), or D.C. (IAD) in this most recent flight deal for just 30,000 miles each way is a stellar deal. 

SAS Premium Economy to Europe from $740 RT

SAS Premium Economy is the most reliable way to book premium economy to Europe. SAS runs a sale seemingly every other month, lasting about a week, where fares dip into the $800s, $700s, and even $600s roundtrip. 

I think it might be one of the the best deals in travel. 

Not only are the fares the same cost as main cabin economy in many cases, they come with all the bells and whistles of premium economy. A bigger, wider seat, free checked bags, priority access and boarding, and even lounge access! Here are some of the fares we found on this latest deal from these and five other U.S. departure cities. 

If you need a premium economy seat to Europe, sign up for SAS's email alerts and book during their next sale – or better yet, join Thrifty Traveler Premium and we'll do the heavy lifting for you! It's a surefire way to get the best deal possible. 

Singapore Premium Economy

The best premium economy I've ever experienced was on Singapore Airlines. I flew the longest flight in the world – from New York (JFK) to Singapore (SIN) – more than 18 hours total. And the hours flew right by.

The seat was comfy, the food was excellent, the service was prompt and helpful for all 18 hours, and I couldn't believe how pleasant an 18-hour flight could be. That's exactly what you could be flying if you booked this deal. 

And if an experience like that sounds expensive … it's not …

We sent an alert to book these flights for just $1,314 roundtrip, a steal for the level of service you're getting on this coveted nonstop to Southeast Asia. 

This Singapore Airlines deal is another relatively reliable booking. Singapore often prices these flights from JFK and Newark (EWR) more closely to economy than it does its other routes. Why? Because the specialty planes that fly these two longest routes in the world don't have any economy seats, period. Even in the way back, premium economy is all you'll find! 

Interestingly, you can also fly Singapore Airlines to Germany. Thanks to a funky fifth freedom route from JFK to Frankfurt (FRA), you can book one of these over to Germany for … say … Oktoberfest!

This deal with Oktoberfest availability was sublime, and we heard from several subscribers who snagged these seats for just 63,000 points roundtrip!

Japan Airlines Premium Economy from 40k Points Each Way

I can't say for sure Japan Airlines Premium Economy is the best in the world, because I have never flown it (yet) . But nobody who has flown in these seats can say anything but that!

Flying to and from Tokyo (HND, NRT) and Osaka (KIX) and the U.S., these fancy new premium economy seats on the A350 looks like a dream … especially at these prices. 

You can use Japan Airlines' own miles currency (the now-beloved Mileage Bank) to snag these seats from just 40,000 miles each way.

Or you can use a Japan Airlines partner to book these using Alaska Atmos or American AAdvantage miles, too. That's what I did for an upcoming trip to Tokyo – shelling out 50,000 Alaska miles each way to fly back from Tokyo in March. 

American Airlines Premium Economy to Australia, Hawaii, and Coast-to-Coast

American Airlines Premium Economy sales aren't routine, but they also aren't rare. The airline prices its middle-of-the-plane seats competitively when you use points and miles, and that leads to some awesome deals like this one to Hawaii. 

While most of American Airlines's planes won't win style points – with the airline's new, premium Boeing 787s being the exception – you'll get a nearly identical premium economy seat to what you'll find on Delta and United. We recently flew AA's premium economy on the nearly 11-hour flight from Naples (NAP) to Chicago (ORD) and found the experience to be extremely pleasant – way better than regular economy. 

But you can fly much, much further than Hawaii in these fancier seats. How about New Zealand!

But closer to home, you can also enjoy the updated luxury of American's new A321 Premium Economy with this deal from New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX). 

When we sent this alert, just 24,000 American Airlines miles were enough to secure these beautiful new seats. Besides a lie-flat seat, this has to be the best way to criss-cross the country right now! 

Bottom Line

Premium economy can be the perfect mix between the cost-savings of regular economy and the service and amenities of business class. It's not a lie-flat seat, but there's no denying it's a comfier ride on a long-haul flight.

Best of all, we've been finding more and more great premium economy deals via Thrifty Traveler Premium, helping our members get somewhere fun better rested … often for the typical price of coach!