Economy Class Travel

Not everyone has the possibility to travel first or business class. Most tourists buy economy class tickets that lack many of the features the other classes have. Economy class has various nicknames and they usually are not very flattering: cattle class, coach class, standard class, steerage. This class is called tourist class on ocean liners, and on other forms of transportation, it equals 3rd or even 4th class.
The economy class has the most seats on the majority of the aircrafts. Because of it poor reputation several airline companies rebranded this class. These seats have the least legroom, but they usually recline and have a fold down table. They may also have some other amenities such as blanket, toothbrush, pillow, headphones, and individual in-flight entertainment. Most airline companies removed the meals included with the economy ticket fares. There is a premium economy class as well offered by Turkish Airlines, Alitalia, Delta Airlines, and others. These tickets include somewhat better seats and better service than standard.

On trains the economy class is referred to as coach in North America, second class in most European countries, or standard in United Kingdom and Ireland. The seats for this class may recline, but usually they have a fold-down tray, and possibly a pocket for storage. The tray and the pocket are usually used by the passengers behind your seat. In some countries like France or Spain these seats may offer electric sockets or more legroom for the long distance trips.

Maybe the worst economy class seats are the ones in Indonesian trains because the cars generally don’t have air conditioning. On top of it, there might not even be traditional seats available, but a long table on which passengers can sleep. However, recently the PT Kereta Api started to introduce economy class cars equipped with air conditioning.