Interesting, but airlines aren't going to invest in upgrading their planes unless they can raise prices (and get more money). Thus, the best case scenario is that this becomes the new business class or something. The success of low-cost carriers like Spirit have shown that people prefer cheap tickets over better service or more comfort.
Maybe they'll take it to an extreme and start stacking the current seats without increasing the amount of personal space.
Correct - the article lists these as premium economy. It may make sense for an airline to replace 15% of sets with these and charge more. I would certainly pay another $100 for one of these on a 12+ hour flight (as would my employer).
I don't usually comment about downvotes, but I'll make an exception, since I used to fly premium economy regularly, and still do for all personal long-haul flights, I know what I said to be true.
I can only assume downvoters are confusing premium economy (the cabin class) with "premium plus" (or other names) that is offered by some airlines, which is nothing more than an economy seat with 1-3" of extra legroom, or sometimes just an economy seat in an exit row.
My biggest "problem" with premium economy is simply that it's always full. My flights are always a week out or less, and every single time it's completely full, leaving me with some near lav middle seat. It's like I want to give them money, but can't.
I don't fly regularly any more, but I did for several years (mostly long haul), and I found the same thing - even if economy was only half-full, premium economy was almost always full.
A side effect also meant it was almost impossible to use airline points to upgrade from economy, since the number of "reward" seats is very limited anyway, and always seems to be "zero" on popular routes.
At the time, I always wished they would increase their premium capacity at the expense of losing some economy seats, which I figured would have reduced the cost of premium economy a bit too.
Same thought I had. It's crazy to me they aren't expanding premium economy row by row til it's not filling up. It's often nearly double the cost, but doesn't nearly take up double the room. I think they'll actually find they can expand to infinity, as consumers are willing to pay money to not suffer.
Maybe they'll take it to an extreme and start stacking the current seats without increasing the amount of personal space.