Breeze Airways Economy
Overall, I’m a Breeze Airways fan. From my east coast location and many others, they’ve put together an eclectic flight map, including quite distinctive city pairs. They offer a version of first class on many of their planes, very unique for a low-cost domestic carrier. Indeed, I enjoyed that cabin on a previous flight. But it recently occurred to me that I haven’t described the Breeze Airways economy experience. Enjoying a premium product is easier; how does Breeze truly measure up to other low-cost carriers’ economy products? Here’s my take.
Airfare
As I planned my January Las Vegas trip for my second U2 Sphere show, I crossed my fingers for a Breeze Airways sale. I lucked out during the Black Friday 2023 timeframe – Breeze offered a 50% off round-trip base fare sale. While I prefer to book one-way tickets only, I held my nose and booked a round trip to leverage this great deal.
But a fact of life with Breeze is they don’t have daily flights from my closest regional airport. Instead, I booked a round trip RIC-LAS itinerary which met my schedule. The total price after the promo was $89.88. Quite a deal!
At the Airport
Unsurprisingly, the Breeze experience within the airport is bare-bones. A gate agent seemed to show up only minutes before boarding. That’s not a big deal, as I and most others had no need for gate services. The boarding process at RIC was a bit messy. The gate agent called for subsequent boarding groups too early, creating a considerable line down the terminal. This was compounded when the agent paused in the middle boarding because “we got some things to take care of.” A pause in boarding is understandable, but the gate agent creating an unnecessarily-long queue isn’t. Boarding resumed ten minutes later.
On the flip side, personal item size enforcement was remarkably loose. On paper, Breeze’s personal item size maximum is 13″x8″x7″ – definitely on the smaller side. I didn’t want to pay a fee for carry-on size luggage, so my personal item size mattered. My backpack isn’t big but is certainly over those dimensions. I didn’t see the agent question anyone’s bag size, including my own. I boarded without issue.
On Board
As I entered Breeze’s Airbus A220, I noticed the 12-seat Ascent cabin (Breeze’s “First Class”) was completely full. Again, Breeze is really onto something with their discounted first class offering.
Meanwhile, Breeze Airways economy on the A220 is in a 3-2 seating arrangement. I didn’t pay for an advance seating assignment, and Breeze issued me a window seat on the two-seat side. Floor space in the window seat is considerably smaller than the aisle and middle seats. Each seat offers multiple USB charging ports and a coat hook. Seats recline a comically-limited amount. The one-year-old plane’s seats were comfortable enough.
A positive of Breeze charging for carry-on size bags are – shocker – less of them, resulting in quicker boarding/deboarding processes.
I didn’t opt for the $6 wifi, but Breeze offers complimentary access to movies, TV shows, and messaging apps.
Service
Breeze Airways flight attendants were chipper enough. Interestingly, they were very accommodating with our less-than-capacity economy cabin spreading out. Attendants helpfully announced when passengers could move to other seats, encouraging others to spread out and relax more. This may seem unremarkable, but for an airline somewhat dependent on extra fees for items like advance seat assignments, I found it generous. On each of my flights, my neighboring passenger moved to another row. I had a two-seat row all to myself on my outbound flight, and my own three-seat row on my return!
Flight attendants sold snacks and drinks twice on each flight. They also offered complimentary tea, coffee, and ice water on multiple occasions.
Breeze Airways Economy – Conclusion
I must admit the low-capacity economy cabin brought more positives to the experience that I can’t necessarily expect on packed Breeze flights. But many of my Breeze travel needs are for shorter flights where crowded planes won’t impact as much. Fully cognizant of my own confirmation bias, I’ll be back on Breeze again – definitely in economy, with a bit of Ascent mixed in. Meanwhile, I’m intrigued for the upcoming Breeze credit card from Barclays. It’s apparently called the Breeze Easy card – see the above from the in-flight menu card.
Have you flown Breeze Airways economy? How was your experience?
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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
I appreciate your observations as Breeze is beginning service to my local airport
Sure thing, Jeff!