Basic economy once ruled the airplane. Aside from those few rows in the business class cabin, what most passengers got was a bare bones, bottom-rung experience.

Now, even on budget airlines, premium seating is taking over.

Wealthy leisure travelers have proven most resilient to economic turbulence. So airlines are finding new ways to profit from customers who are willing to pay for some perks.

Sometimes that means turning previously included options, like a seat in the front half of the main cabin, into paid upgrades. It has also involved expanding the cabin between first class and coach, and introducing a torrent of small luxuries to justify higher fares in the not-quite-business class. For example:

• American Airlines introduced a Boeing 787-9 plane this summer with redesigned premium economy seats that have headrest wings for “additional privacy,” water bottle storage, and calf and footrests. It has said it plans to expand its lie-flat and premium economy seating by 50 percent before the end of the decade.

• Delta expanded its premium economy service — which comes with amenities kits, meals and more legroom — to transcontinental flights last fall. Glen Hauenstein, the airline’s president, said in the company’s recent earnings call that it used segmentation of the main cabin (think fees for extra leg room) as “the template that we’re going to bring to all of our premium cabins over time.”

• United Airlines said in July that it would add more premium economy seats between business class and economy-plus seats on its wide-body jets. “That’s the cabin, I think, that is generating very good returns,” Andrew Nocella, the airline’s chief commercial officer, said during the company’s earnings call.

Revenue growth in the premium cabin is outpacing the main cabin at all three carriers.

As airlines add premium options, they have also made moves to further distinguish their top-tier tickets from other rungs. This summer, American Airlines debuted an aircraft with first-class suites that have privacy doors — a feature Delta already offered on some flights and that United will soon include in a new international business class that also comes with caviar service and designer pajamas.

“It’s all about giving people more choice, more pricing options, and more products and services in every cabin,” Delta’s Hauenstein said about expanding premium offerings on the earnings call.

Meanwhile, basic fares are dropping. Airfares overall have decreased by 3.5 percent in the last year as inflation overall increased by 2.7 percent, according to the Department of Labor. Price drops at major airlines have caused a problem for budget airlines, which historically compete on price alone. Their response? You guessed it, also more perks.

Spirit Airlines, once the largest ultra-low-cost airline in North America, emerged from bankruptcy protection this year with plans to rebrand as a premium airline. Southwest Airlines, which joined American and Delta in withdrawing its financial forecast for 2025, has created premium seats with more legroom on all flights. And even no-frills carrier Frontier Airlines is planning to debut “first-class style” seats in late 2025.

Is the barrage of upgrade options paying off? Not quite enough to offset losses elsewhere: U.S. passenger airlines experienced a net loss of $225 million for the first quarter of 2025, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

But the strategy is probably here to stay. Jamie Baker, a J.P. Morgan senior airlines analyst, told DealBook he sees “no evidence of consumer fatigue or pushback.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Stiff tariffs on nearly 100 countries are set to start next week. President Trump signed executive orders on Thursday placing tariffs as high as 41 percent on dozens of U.S. trading partners. The move follows a flurry of deal-making ahead of a Friday tariff deadline, which resulted in preliminary deals with Britain, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, the European Union and other trading partners.

The Fed holds interest rates steady for the fifth meeting in a row. While the decision was highly anticipated, it was also contentious, with two members of the board dissenting, which hasn’t happened since 1993. The Fed on Friday announced that one of its governors, Adriana D. Kugler, will step down from her position next Friday, before her term was set to expire in January, which gives President Trump an opportunity to more quickly appoint someone who could eventually replace Jay Powell as chair.

Trump fires the head of the agency keeping tabs on the labor market. A disappointing report released on Friday, along with uncertainty over Trump’s new raft of tariffs, drove the stock market to one of its worst weeks in months. Hours after the report showed cracks in the U.S. economy, President Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, saying without evidence on social media that she “rigged” the data “to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.”

Other big deals this week: Tesla made a $16.5 billion deal for Samsung chips. Brown University will spend $50 million to restore federal research funding blocked by the Trump administration (Harvard is said to be open to spending $500 million). Figma’s I.P.O. was one of the biggest of the year — but could have been bigger. Union Pacific agreed to buy Norfolk Southern for $85 billion. And OpenAI has raised $8.3 billion at a $300 billion valuation as part of a plan to secure $40 billion in funding this year.

The founder of Outdoor Voices is back inside

Tyler Haney was 23 when she founded Outdoor Voices, an athleisure company known for its modern take on exercise sets. The brand was a cooler alternative to Lululemon, and became particularly known for its “exercise dress.” By 2018, the company, based in Austin, Texas, was valued at $110 million.

But in 2020, Outdoor Voices imploded. Its sales and valuation fell alongside its reputation as it became caught up in the widespread reckoning over ”toxic” corporate culture. Haney resigned as chief executive amid clashes with the chairman, Mickey Drexler, who was best known for leading Gap in the 1990s and J. Crew in the 2000s. She rejoined the company as a board member later that year, but only for a few months.

In the years since, the founder moved on. She founded TYB, a shopping rewards app — which raised $11 million in June — and Joggy, a canned energy drink. (Drexler also departed, becoming more involved with Alex Mill, his son’s fashion line; Haney said she and Drexler have not spoken in years, but that she wishes him the best.) Outdoor Voices closed all of its stores in 2024.

Then, last week, Haney announced her return, or re-return, to Outdoor Voices. This time she is co-owner, partnering with Consortium Brand Partners, which began conversations with Haney ahead of its acquisition of the brand in June 2024.

Jessica Testa, a media correspondent for The Times who first met Haney while previously covering the fashion industry, talked with her about the mixed emotions of coming back to the company that ousted her. The conversation has been edited and condensed.

It seems like there has been some animosity between you and Outdoor Voices since your departure. For example, when people made comments about the brand’s decline on social media, you’d agree or weigh in with your own criticism.

When I left initially, I had to look up how to resign. I had never done that before. I didn’t know how formal it needed to be. Then pretty quickly, the board brought me back. When it’s your baby, you want to do whatever it takes to make it work. But in rejoining I realized: I don’t have control of this. So I left for a second time.

Working through that was difficult. I had been obsessed with the details of the product and every aspect of how it came to life. So yeah, it was emotional, and I would respond to things.

Who is the C.E.O. of Outdoor Voices?

That’s a good question. I don’t think we have a C.E.O. It’s a shared responsibility between Consortium partners, and then I act in that way a bit, but we don’t have someone with the title C.E.O.

You didn’t want that title?

I’m the C.E.O. of TYB and Joggy, so I felt quite excited to just assume the founder role. I don’t think OV needs me as the C.E.O.

Before we spoke, I reread this Cut interview from two years ago, in which you said you might support Outdoor Voices again if you could make “a nice check.” What can you tell me, economically, about what this deal looks like for you?

I definitely did not directly say I’d do it for a check.

I certainly have become a much more savvy businesswoman. In my first go of Outdoor Voices, because of the nature of the model at the time — direct-to-consumer was taking on a lot of funding, which ultimately dilutes you as a founder — I didn’t have enough ownership for it to make sense for me to continue investing everything into it.

The details aren’t public — but control and equity is what I optimize for.

Your relationship with the press has been a little complicated. You are often grouped with “girl bosses” of the 2010s: young, stylish and energetic executives forced out of their positions by employee grievances — reported in the media — and public backlash. This time around, how much were you thinking about how you were going to be perceived?

There are major benefits to the eyeballs and awareness that press can drive. But I saw firsthand the pain of a not-completely-true story being out there. At the end of the day, I found that even the negative articles — they don’t kill you.

When consumers care and have almost irrational obsessions with these stories and products, it’s not the worst thing in the world.

Do you think of yourself as a different person now, and that’s why you can confidently lead this company — or do you think that the company, at the time, didn’t recognize your abilities?

I am the same me. Same core instincts. Definitely more well-learned.

A lot of it was the model of the time — and that, paired with a young, first-time C.E.O. who had a very strong-perspective board. It was a combination that ultimately wasn’t successful, so something had to give. It’s a little funny looking back, because it’s a private company, but a lot of things became so public. It felt a lot bigger than it needed to. I just think the ingredients to the formula or the recipe weren’t right.

A lot of people on social media were pleased to see you return. Some have also said they disapprove of your relationship with Elon Musk [Haney works out of Twitter’s old offices and has called Musk the greatest product builder of our time]. Why do you think people care about that? Do you want to clarify your friendship with him?

Anytime there’s major attention on something there’s a nature to critique. I don’t have a lot to say there. I am a tech C.E.O. now. I do work in the tech world. I don’t think it’s related to OV.

Big Tech’s big spending

The A.I. spending spree showed few signs of abating as big tech companies reported earnings the last couple of weeks. It did, however, show signs of beginning to pay off.

Microsoft became the world’s second $4 trillion company after it reported an 18 percent year-over-year sales bump, and Meta’s shares spiked more than 11 percent after it showed a 36 percent quarterly increase in profit. Alphabet, which has ramped up its A.I. efforts as its core business, search, faces new competition from chatbots, posted a double-digit year-over-year revenue increase. Amazon failed to convince investors its steep investments were warranted, and its shares dropped after earnings.

Which big tech company spent the most last quarter?

A. Microsoft

B. Meta

C. Alphabet

D. Amazon

Quiz answer: C. Amazon spent $31.4 billion last quarter, mainly on data centers. Among the four companies, Meta spent the least last quarter, with $17 billion of capital expenditures — though its C.F.O. implied spending could hit $100 billion in 2026.

Thanks for reading! We’ll see you Monday.

We’d like your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to dealbook@nytimes.com.