Virgin Australia has just announced a new seating product which is called ”Economy X”.
The seats are set to have around 3 inches of extra legroom as well as priority overhead baggage compartments. Passengers seated in Economy X will also receive priority boarding and priority screening.
Virgin Australia 737 Economy (Image – B/E Aerospace)
It’s reported that all of the Virgin 737 fleet will be fitted with the seats. The seats will be available on all Domestic routes, short-haul routes like Fiji, Auckland, Christchurch, etc. It’s also important to note that these will seats will replace the current space + seats which only got introduced late last year. It’s said that there will be 24 – 30 seats fitted on the 737’s which will be placed in the first 3 rows of Economy and the exit rows.
The seats will be installed on all international flights including the long-haul 777 fleet. For international services, you’ll receive your first meal choice and also get a pair of noise cancelling headphones which are used in the business class cabin.
The product sounds exactly the same to what their U.S airline partners offer, the ”extra space” seating concept isn’t new and almost all U.S. airlines have these seats already.
Virgin America has their Main Cabin Select seats:
Virgin America Main Cabin Select (Image – Virgin America)
Virgin’s other U.S partner Delta also has the ‘increased space’ Economy seating both on their short and long-haul fleet, Delta call them Comfort +
Delta Comfort + (Image – Delta)
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.
Passengers that don’t have status will obviously be able to purchase the seats and they will cost $29. There’s no word to whether Gold or Silver members will receive the seats for a discount or not.
The new seats are set to come on sale tomorrow but will only available from the 21st of May 2017.
Featured Image – Virgin Australia
