Porter Airlines’ Unique PorterReserve Product: Worth The Premium?

Hello from Canada, as I’ve just kicked off my review trip to Bangkok! For the first segment of my trip, I flew Porter Airlines’ Embraer E195-E2 on the 3hr15min flight from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to Montreal (YUL). I flew the carrier’s most premium product, which is PorterReserve. The airline markets this as its “all-inclusive economy experience,” but I don’t think that actually does justice to what it is.

Canada’s Porter has been growing at an incredibly fast pace with beautiful new Embraer jets, and I’ve been meaning to check out this experience for a long time. I booked my ticket for just 10,000 Alaska Atmos Rewards points, which is an unbelievable bargain, so of course it was worth it (since for that many points, I’d take the most basic type of economy experience). 

In this post, I’d like to share my initial thoughts, and then I’ll have a full review upon returning home.

Porter’s Embraer E195-E2s are a pleasure to fly in general

Broadly speaking, the Embraer E195-E2 is a lovely plane to fly. For those not familiar, this is the newest and biggest Embraer jet. From a passenger experience standpoint, it’s tough to beat the plane’s 2-2 layout, as there are no middle seats. It’s amazing how long and narrow this plane is, with 132 seats.

Despite being a stretched regional jet, the plane has large overhead bins, and just generally has “big jet energy.” The lavatories are really small, but then again, airlines have managed to shrink those on mainline aircraft as well, so that’s not necessarily that noticeable. 

Porter also has free Viasat Wi-Fi for members of its free VIPorter program, so it’s lovely to get free inflight connectivity on as many devices as you’d like (you don’t actually have to credit the flight to the program, but you do have to be a member).

While there’s no seat back or streaming entertainment, there are AC power ports at all seats, so it’s easy to stay charged and enjoy your own devices. 

Porter’s PorterReserve has a unique market position

You’ll find PorterReserve in the first four rows of the Embraer E195-E2 cabin. As you can see, the seats are still in a 2-2 configuration, and it’s not a separate cabin, in the sense that there’s no divider between cabins, no separate lavatory, etc. 

The seats have very generous legroom, and at 36” of pitch, you should have no issues stretching out. Now, I lucked out on this flight, because I had an empty seat next to me, and obviously that makes a massive difference in terms of the perception you’ll have of a product (for that matter, I had the entire row to myself).

The airline markets PorterReserve as being an “all-inclusive economy experience,” though really, it offers a lot more than that. On the ground, it includes everything from two checked bags, to priority check-in, to priority security at select airports, to priority boarding.

What about once onboard? The soft product is differentiated quite a bit. Upon boarding, you’re given a bottle of water and a menu for the flight.

The food selection consists of a modified version of the buy on board options in economy, along with a starter of sorts. For example, on this flight, the starter was a “fiesta dip,” and then the main course was the choice between a mango chicken bowl, a “buddha bowl,” and a cheese plate.

There’s then a full choice of drinks, with soft drinks, coffee, beer, wine, and cocktails, all served in proper glassware (keep in mind that everything except cocktails are free in economy as well). It’s not just a one-time service, but you can request as many refills as you’d like.

Additional packaged snacks are also offered.

In terms of service, I’d say it’s a little more attentive in PorterReserve than in the main cabin, as they proactively come around once or twice to offer refills. And you can always ask for more by pushing the call button or going to the galley. But it definitely still feels more like economy than anything.

At the right price, I think PorterReserve is great

For a reasonable premium, I’d absolutely fly PorterReserve again. Obviously for 10,000 Alaska Atmos Rewards points, it was a complete steal, but otherwise, I’d probably pay an extra $100 or so for this over economy for a flight of this length (factoring in the extra legroom, priority services, and improved soft product).

That assumes I wasn’t checking bags, because if I was checking bags, I’d potentially pay more of a premium, since I’d otherwise have to pay for those.

For those curious, if I had paid cash for this flight, the cost (in USD) would’ve been $182 for PorterClassic, and $300 for PorterReserve (there are fare bundles within each of those options. So I’d consider the incremental pricing there to be reasonable fair).

I think Porter is missing an opportunity by not going upmarket

I can’t help but feel like Porter is missing out on revenue based on how it’s selling and marketing this premium product. It’s interesting how the airline explicitly calls this an “all-inclusive economy experience,” when in reality, it’s more than that.

Purely from an armchair CEO standpoint, I can’t help but wish that Porter had chosen to install a “proper” business class cabin on these planes, in a 1-2 configuration. It can be done in such an efficient way, since you could do it with a similar pitch, and you just lose 25% of seats in terms of having just three seats per row.

If they improved the soft product a bit (a properly plated meal, even if it’s cold) and made it a dedicated cabin with a curtain, I think the airline could charge a lot more for this product. Even if the airline didn’t want to install different seats, still upgrade the catering a bit and add a curtain, and then market it as something better. The way this is marketed actually undersells the product, which is rare.

What’s interesting about Canadian aviation is that Air Canada’s business class fares are incredibly high. While US carriers often sell domestic and transborder premium cabins at a reasonable fare, the same isn’t true on Air Canada, where tickets are typically quite expensive. So you’d think Porter could try to find a happy medium there, and introduce something a little more affordable, but still significantly more expensive than economy.

I just think PorterReserve has a confusing position in the market, and the airline is leaving money on the table by not making this a “real” business class, or premium economy, or whatever. But hey, that’s just my take…

Bottom line

I’m happy I finally had the chance to fly Porter Airlines’ Embraer E195-E2, in the PorterReserve cabin. Given what I paid, of course this was an incredible value, and I’d gladly fly the product again. Porter’s Embraer aircraft are nice planes in general, given the 2-2 layout, modern cabin, and free Wi-Fi.

PorterReserve offers a lot of extra legroom and an improved soft product, so it’s a comfortable ride, especially if traveling with someone. With the current Alaska Atmos Rewards pricing, it has to be among the best award redemption values out there.

What do you make of Porter’s PorterReserve product?