Economy class

Economy class on the KM Awu (Pelni) in Indonesia

Economy class, also called coach class (or just coach), steerage, or standard class, is the lowest class of seating in air travel, rail travel, and sometimes ferry or maritime travel. Historically, this travel class has been called tourist class on ocean liners and third class, or even fourth class, on railways.

Railways

Economy class seats of Kintetsu 16000 series train (Japan)

In North America, it is known as coach class by companies such as Amtrak. European railways call it second class. Standard class is used in United Kingdom and Ireland. It has been re-branded in some cases to broaden expectations. In Canada Via Rail now refers to coach as Comfort class. In India, the lowest class of service was branded third class under the British colonial rule. It was re-branded as second class following independence to avoid its former segregationist connotations. Today Indian Railways offers Economy AC-3 also in the same class.

Generally economy class seats consists of a seat, sometimes with a fold-down tray, that may recline. The seat may also include a pocket attached to the back of the seat in front for storage of small items such as magazines. Depending on the configuration of the passenger compartment, luggage can be stowed in overhead racks or at each end of the coach cars.

Standard class seating on British intercity trains often includes seating around permanent tables. Power sockets are available and some services offer (chargeable) Wi-Fi Internet access.

In France, Second class on the TGV superfast trains offers generous legroom and reclining seats. Regular trains of SNCF offer second class travel with 3*2 seating combination across.

In Spain 2nd-class cabins are called Tourist class on the AVE superfast trains. They offer electric sockets and there are video and audio services on most major routes.

North American intercity passenger trains are separated into different coach classes by the type of car (e.g, sleepers). Economy seating on North American passenger trains typically does not include meal service in the fare.

Airlines

Economy Class on an Emirates Airline Airbus A380-800.

An economy seat on an aircraft.

Economy class on a Lufthansa Italia Airbus A319.

Economy class seats usually recline and include a fold-down table. The seats pitch range from 29 to 36 inches (74 to 91 cm), usually 30–32 in (76–81 cm), and 30 to 36 in (76 to 91 cm) for international economy class seats. Domestic economy classes range from 17 to 18.25 in (43 to 46.4 cm).

A pocket attached to the seat in front will contain an airsickness bag, inflight magazine, Duty-Free catalogue and a safety and evacuation card. Depending on the airline, extras might include a blanket, an amenities bag (e.g. ear plugs, toothpaste, eye mask) and headphones. In-flight entertainment ^[1] in economy class is either a "mainscreen" mounted to the aircraft bulkhead providing the same viewing for all cabin passengers or individual screens for each seat that may show Video on demand. Some low-cost carriers can charge a fee for headphones. But economy standards vary between carriers. Qantas and Cathay Pacific offer in-flight audio and visual entertainment and meals on both international and selected domestic routes to all passengers, including those in economy.

Availability of food depends on the airline. Some major carriers no longer serve meals in economy for short haul flights. ^[2] Meals are now only generally provided on international flights. Some airport vendors have started to offer packaged meals to economy travellers that can be carried on to flights.^[3] Low-cost carriers, such as EasyJet and Ryanair, now charge for food and drinks on flights under two hours long. In addition, many carriers also make economy passengers pay for airport check-in, checked bags, pillows, blankets and headphones.

Some airlines have remarketed economy class because of its poor reputation with customers. Economy has been referred to as 'cattle class' or 'sardine class'.^[4] Examples of its rebranding include World Traveller from British Airways, the Kingfisher Class from Kingfisher Airlines, Hospitality/Hospitalité from Air Canada, Fiesta Class by Philippine Airlines, Tourist class at LAN, Classica by Alitalia, and Air France's Voyageur.

Premium Economy class

See also: Premium Economy

Increasingly, airlines offer a Premium Economy class to passengers willing to pay more for slightly better seats and, in some cases, better service. These include Alitalia ([1]) , British Airways (World Traveller Plus), Virgin Atlantic (Premium Economy), EVA Air (Evergreen Deluxe Class), Qantas (Premium Economy) and United Airlines (Economy Plus) among others.

See also

• Aircraft cabin
• Airline seat
• Business class
• Economy class syndrome
• First class travel
• First class
• IATA class codes
• Premium Economy
• Wide-body aircraft

References

1. ^ "World Traveller - On board". British Airways. http://www.britishairways.com/travel/world-traveller-seating/public/en_gb. Retrieved 2010-06-24. 
2. ^ Sharkey, Joe (2001-10-21). "Business Travel; In a sign of desperate times, many airlines on many of their flights will serve no meals". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2008-12-27. http://www.webcitation.org/5dNlW3RrI. Retrieved 2008-12-27. 
3. ^ "Carry-on meals take off at Miami Airport Terminals: HMShost finds Airport, Airlines and Travelers like alternative to in-flight food. (Food, News & People).(Brief Article) | Restaurants & Institutions | Find Articles at BNET". Findarticles.com. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3402/is_200202/ai_n8151094. Retrieved 2010-06-24. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Economy class seat survey". smarttravelasia.com. http://www.smarttravelasia.com/economy.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-24.