Virgin Australia’s Economy X Is Now Available On All Aircraft

by Zac George
a man sitting on a chair with a laptop

In late March of this year, Virgin Australia announced ‘Economy X’. Economy X isn’t a new seating product but more an enhancement for their Economy cabin across the Virgin Australia fleet. The enhancement in seating is very similar to ‘main cabin extra’ or extra space seats which are found in the United States.

Initially Virgin said that Economy X would first be available on the 737 fleet followed by the 777 fleet. However today the carrier officially launched the product across their entire fleet.

a man sitting on a chair with a laptop

Virgin Australia Economy X

on domestic services, Economy X doesn’t just include extra space seating, it also includes priority boarding, priority overhead bin space and priority boarding.

The seating also has some great benefits when travelling internationally especially to Los Angeles on the 777. The seats were previously known as Space+ and include preferred overhead bin space, premium check-in, premium boarding, you will receive your first meal choice and will also receive a pair of noise cancelling headphones.

So where are the seats located on the aircraft?

  • ATR72-500 (Regional routes) – There are 4 seats located in row 1.
  • Fokker 70 (Regional routes) – There are 5 seats located in row 10.
  • Fokker 100 (Regional routes) – There are 5 seats located in row 12.
  • Embraer 190 (Domestic short-haul) – There are 4 seats located in row 12.
  • Boeing 737-700 (Domestic short-haul) – There are 24 seats located in rows 3 through to 5 and row 10.
  • Boeing 737-800 (Trans-Tasman and pacific islands, as well as domestic services) – There are 30 seats located from row 3 through to 5 and rows 13 and 14.
  • Airbus A330-200 (Hong Kong, and select Coast to Coast services as well as Nadi in peak times) – There are 8 seats located in row 28.
  • Boeing 777-300ER (Los Angeles)  – There are 57 seats which are located in row 20 through to 25 & 26 and 39.

The airline has fitted and adjusted the seating for most aircraft expect for a few 737’s which won’t see the seats as they’ll be getting sold to Tigerair quite soon.

a group of people sitting in chairs on an airplane

Virgin Australia Economy X

Virgin Australia Platinum members will really benefit from the seats. They will be able to select them for free and if they’re travelling with a companion on the same booking they will also receive them, regardless if the companion doesn’t have elite status, (space available of course)

Passengers that don’t have status will obviously be able to purchase the seats and they will cost $29. There’s no word on whether Gold or Silver members will receive the seats for a discount or not.

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8 comments

Noel May 21, 2017 - 10:33 pm

Now let’s hope the Australian flying public support this seating. Frankly. Don’t think that will, they’ll just continue tobuy the cheapest fare possible and then moan about the lack of leg room.

Zac George May 21, 2017 - 10:35 pm

From what I’ve heard – it’s been very popular, especially passengers with status.

Christian May 22, 2017 - 1:56 am

Perhaps this is more of a U.S. thing, but bloggers here avoid using the term “enhance”, since it’s become a transparent euphemism for screwing over the customers under the guise of helping them. For instance, Delta has “enhanced” Skymiles prices three times this year, and the year is young. Not the case in Australia yet?
On a separate note, exactly how much more width and pitch do these seats have? The picture of the guy with the laptop makes it looks like he’s happy, but he might be rather less so when he couldn’t take up a fair bit of room over the adjacent empty seat.

Zac George May 23, 2017 - 12:16 am

Christian – Luckily our FF programs haven’t devalued this year, yet ;). The seats provide an extra 8.9 centimetres of space.

John Hogan May 22, 2017 - 10:32 am

Ok you list the aircraft types but I can’t see any detail on what they are offering… Extra inches? How many?
Priority space? How much? What is the actual benefit to a passenger? From the photo it seems that there are still the same number of seats across the cabin, just with more solid dividers between seats. This reads like a puff piece lifted from a brochure, rather than something that should have appeared in my feed. It’s written from the airlines pov, not the customers. I’ll read the in-flight magazine if I want that kind of info.

Zac George May 23, 2017 - 12:14 am

Hi John, it’s around 8.9 centimetres of extra space. Thanks for reading.

Keith May 22, 2017 - 12:32 pm

Wish we could see pic between the seats and not the bulkhead which always have more room.

David May 28, 2017 - 10:36 am

Keith and John – Virgin hasn’t shared pics of legroom between seats but you can find quite a few real-world shots in this AusBT article 🙂

https://www.ausbt.com.au/virgin-australia-rolls-out-economy-x-extra-legroom-seats

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