Economy class, also called third class, coach class,
steerage, or to distinguish it from the slightly more expensive
premium economy class, standard economy class or budget economy class, is the lowest
travel class of seating in
air travel,
rail travel, and sometimes
ferry
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
or maritime travel. Historically, this travel class has been called tourist class or third class on
ocean liner
An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships).
Ca ...
s.
Marine

Travel classes originated from a distinction between "cabin class" and "
steerage" on sailing vessels in the 18th century. Cabin class, for wealthier passengers included small cabins and a shared dining room while "steerage" provided open decks with bunks often near the tackle to operate the Steer rudder in converted cargo space on the "between decks" area where passengers from poorer backgrounds cooked their own meals.
With the arrival of
steamships, competition between
ocean liner
An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships).
Ca ...
companies led some companies like the
Inman Line to offer additional options to economy passengers seeking to immigrate including small shared cabins and regular meals which were termed "Third Class". Many large liners evolved three and sometimes four segregated cabin, dining and recreation spaces for First, Second, Third and Steerage Class passengers.
After immigrant travel dropped beginning in the 1920s, steerage class was abandoned and Third Class cabins were often upgraded, redecorated and offered to budget travellers as "Tourist Class". This became the main low budget class for ocean travellers, gradually replacing Third Class especially during the boom in immigration after World War Two.
As ocean liners adjusted to the loss of passengers to air travel and switched to recreational cruising in the 1960s, most ships became "one class" to save on separate recreational and dining levels. However the evolution of the
cruise ship led to a variety of premium services and exclusive dining areas. Many
ferries operating on shorter routes have continued to offer cabin fares and large open accommodation for economy travellers similar to the cabin/steerage divisions or earlier eras.
Railways

In North America, it is known as coach class by companies such as
Amtrak. Most European railways call it second class, except in the
United Kingdom and
Ireland, where it is referred to as standard class (abbreviated "STD" on tickets) instead. It has been re-branded in some cases to broaden expectations. In Canada
Via Rail refers to coach as economy 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 continental Europe, second class mostly consists of open interior coaches with 2+2 seating arrangement, with or without air-conditioning, in rows or face to face, or (in some express trains) compartments of six to eight seats. Some commuter trains have a higher seating density, with 3+2 seating arrangement.
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.
Economy class also exists on some
sleeper services, most notably on most
Russian Railways routes, which designates the class as "
Platzkart", with cars featuring an open 9-bay layout, where each bay has six
bunk beds in two tiers – four transversally, and two longitudinally on the opposing side of the aisle, with the lower bunks functioning as seats in daytime. Several European railways also provide similar "coach class" sleeper cars, commonly dubbed
Couchette cars. There is a debate, though, whether Platzkart class is a full tier down from the traditional second class/"coupe", or is just a cheaper variant, as there used to exist an even cheaper "hard bed" class with three-tier bunks and no bedding, which is long since discontinued in Russia, but is still employed in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
Airlines

Economy class seats usually recline and have a fold-down table. Seat pitch ranges from , usually , and for international economy class seats. Domestic economy seat width ranges from . Full economy class is usually denoted 'Y' with schedule flexibility, but can be many other letters.
A pocket on the seat in front will typically contain an
airsickness bag, an
inflight magazine, a
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
In-flight entertainment (IFE) refers to the entertainment available to aircraft passengers during a flight. In 1936, the airship ''LZ 129 Hindenburg, Hindenburg'' offered passengers a piano, lounge, dining room, smoking room, and bar during the ...
in economy class is usually consisted of individual screens for each seat that may show
video on demand. For passengers sitting immediately behind a bulkhead or on the same row as an emergency exit, the in-flight entertainment screen may be contained within one of the armrests of the seat. Some
low-cost carrier
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...
s can charge a fee for headphones. However, economy standards vary between carriers.
Aeroflot
PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...
,
Qantas, and
Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific (), is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have sc ...
offer in-flight audio and visual entertainment and meals on both international and selected domestic routes to all passengers, including those in economy, while other airlines such as
Transaero may charge an additional fee for the in-flight entertainment.
Availability of food also varies. Some major carriers no longer serve meals in economy for short flights. 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.
Low-cost carrier
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...
s, such as
EasyJet and
Ryanair
Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...
, charge for food and drinks on flights. In addition, many carriers, particularly within the
United States and
Canada, also make economy passengers pay for airport check-in, checked bags, pillows, blankets, and headphones.
Many airlines have created a slightly enhanced Economy class with, for example, a slightly larger pitch between seats such as Economy Plus from
United Airlines. Arguably, such enhanced Economy classes only restore some of the comfort and amenities that were lost over the past few decades.

Perhaps the first cheaper-than-standard airline flights were United's Boeing 247s between San Francisco and Los Angeles (Burbank) in 1940. Their nonstop DC-3s carried full-fare passengers ($18.95 one way) and Boeings flew a couple of two-stop flights each way for $13.90. That ended in 1942, and low fares did not reappear on scheduled airlines until 1948 when Pan Am started one DC-4 flight a day from New York La Guardia to San Juan with a $75 fare instead of the normal $133. In 1949, a tourist seat on a Pan Am DC-4 from New York to Rio cost $382 instead of $460 on the standard DC-4 making the same stops.
In late 1948,
Capital Airlines Capital Airlines may refer to:
* Beijing Capital Airlines, an airline based in China formerly named Deer Air
* Capital Airlines (United States), a now-defunct 20th-century American airline
* Capital Airlines (Nigeria), a now-defunct airline based i ...
started one DC-4 flight each way a day between Chicago and New York La Guardia. Each flight left at 1 AM and stopped for ten minutes at Pittsburgh (Allegheny County). Chicago-NY fare was $29.60 plus 15% federal tax; seats on all other flights cost $44.10 plus tax. Coach flights slowly spread (all domestic flights were one-class, coach or standard, until TWA started two-class 1049Gs in 1955); in 1961, domestic coach passenger-miles for the year exceeded first-class for the first time.
IATA allowed transatlantic tourist fares in summer 1952: New York to London cost $270 one way instead of $395. In the next few years, tourist fares spread around the world.
Premium economy class

Several airlines offer a Premium Economy class to passengers willing to pay slightly more for better seats and, in some cases, better service. Premium Economy class is positioned as a middleground between Standard Economy class and
business class in terms of price, comfort, and amenities. These include
Air Canada,
Air New Zealand,
Alitalia,
American Airlines,
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...
,
Thai Airways,
Cathay Pacific Airways, All Nippon Airways,
British Airways,
South African Airways
South African Airways (SAA) is the flag carrier airline of South Africa. Founded in 1934, the airline is headquartered in Airways Park at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and operated a hub-and-spoke network, serving ten destin ...
,
Virgin Australia,
Virgin Atlantic,
EVA Air,
Qantas,
Delta Airlines,
JetBlue Airways,
United Airlines (United offers economy plus, which is different. See below),
Scandinavian Airlines
Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark ...
,
Philippine Airlines,
PAL Express,
WestJet Airlines
WestJet Airlines Ltd. is a Canadian airline headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, near Calgary International Airport. It is the second-largest Canadian airline, behind Air Canada, operating an average of 777 flights and carrying more than 66,130 ...
(on their Boeing 787-9’s), Air Vistara,
Singapore Airlines (from 9 August),
Pakistan International Airlines (only on 777 and A310 family),
Aeroflot
PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...
(only on 777),
China Southern Airlines and
Kuwait Airways (only on Boeing 777-300ER). The definition for Premium Economy class is not standardized and varies widely from airline to airline, from a slightly larger seat pitch with no other amenities, such as Economy Plus o
United Airlines to a true separate Premium Economy class with larger and more comfortable seats, better dining options, and better service.
Basic economy
Basic economy, a.k.a. fifth class (if
premium economy is counted as third class and standard economy is counted as fourth class) or last class, is the class below regular economy.
Basic economy was first provided by
Delta Air Lines for America's domestic market in 2012, closely followed by
American Airlines (AA) and
United Airlines for some domestic routes.
Both Delta Airlines and AA also plan to provide basic economy for international routes, which could see other airlines follow suit, leading to its global adoption.
The class has been criticised as "a clever way to raise the price of standard economy fares" and for its poorly designed pricing algorithms.
See also
*
Aircraft cabin
*
Airline seat
An airline seat is a seat on an airliner in which passengers are accommodated for the duration of the journey. Such seats are usually arranged in rows running across the airplane's fuselage. A diagram of such seats in an aircraft is called an ...
*
Business class
*
Economy class syndrome
*
Fare basis code
*
First class (aviation)
*
First class travel
First class is the most luxurious and most expensive travel class of seats and service on a train, passenger ship, airplane, bus, or other system of transport. Compared to business class and economy class, it offers the best service and most co ...
*
Wide-body aircraft
References
{{Commercial aviation
Airline tickets
Passenger rail transport
Travel classes