It seems Air Berlin is moving into the “enhanced economy class” field, with the launch of XL seats aboard their Airbus A330 fleet.
Air Berlin Airbus A330 at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Image – Economy Class and Beyond
The product is an extra space style economy product – akin to United Economy Plus, Delta Comfort Plus and American Airlines Main Cabin Extra.
40 XL seats per plane will be offered – split over 5 rows in the economy cabin. This gives the usual 8 seating across that is expected aboard an A330 in economy class. The seats will be easy to spot with red headrests on them.
The seats offer 15cm more space (almost 6 inches), giving a seat-pitch of 37 inches in Economy XL.
Sadly, no press images have been released – although I wouldn’t expect it to be vastly different from the Air Berlin economy seat.
Instead there’s a handy infographic from Air Berlin.
Thanks to @AirlineFlyer for spotting this
The seats are bookable for Air Berlin services departing on and after the 1st December.
Of course, these seats don’t come free… so here are the numbers
- As a buy-up extra of €79.99
- Included as part of buying a “FlyFlex” ticket
- AirBerlinTopBonus members have a choice:
- Pay 10,000 miles to upgrade per segment during the launch period (1st December 2015 to 31st December 2015)
- Topbonus Gold and Platinum members will have the seat included.
It seems a reasonable offer – and compares reasonably against other offerings (I remember a price of $79 to $99 in the past for a United Economy Plus buy-up, American Airline charging £79 for Main Cabin extra).
For those travellers who are on a budget, and desire a bit more comfort – this could be a very useful option when it goes live in December.
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