OMAHA—Midwest Regional Air announced Tuesday the launch of Premium Economy Plus Select, a new fare tier that includes the same seat, the same legroom, and the same bag of pretzels as standard economy, but with a flight attendant who delivers the word “enjoy” with noticeable conviction.

The fare, which costs $89 more than Premium Economy Plus and $140 more than Premium Economy, places passengers in what the airline calls “the confident zone,” defined as rows 14 through 22, wherever the flight attendant happens to be standing.

“Our research showed that passengers don’t actually want more space,” said Dennis Halvorsen-Pruitt, the airline’s Senior Vice President of Perceived Value Adjacency. “They want to feel that someone, somewhere, believes in their seat. We’ve simply operationalized that belief.”

According to the airline, Select passengers receive a warm, unhurried “Welcome aboard” at the door, followed by a mid-flight “Enjoy” while handing over a beverage that is identical to the one offered in the rest of the cabin. Company materials describe the second “Enjoy” as “load-bearing.”

Passengers who purchased the tier on its first flight, a 52-minute hop to Des Moines, reported mixed results. Karen Vosburgh-Tell, 44, said the word landed with real force.

“She looked me in the eye and said, ‘Enjoy,’ and for a second I did,” Vosburgh-Tell said. “Then I remembered my knees.”

The airline has also introduced a Select Plus Reserve add-on, which allows passengers to be told in advance that the announcement will be confident. Those who select it receive an email reading, “Rest assured.”

Industry analysts say the move reflects a broader trend of carriers monetizing the intangible. “First there was paying for legroom, then paying for boarding order, then paying for the right to be mildly acknowledged,” said Dr. Priya Lindqvist-Amadeo, a professor of Aspirational Seating Semiotics at the Northern Plains Institute for Applied Upselling. “The next frontier is paying for the absence of a sigh.”

Not every passenger is convinced. Several noted that the pilot’s announcement of turbulence, which is delivered to all cabins at the same volume, sounded just as assured as the flight attendant’s “enjoy,” though it came at no extra charge.

“Our research showed that passengers don’t actually want more space. They want to feel that someone, somewhere, believes in their seat.”

Midwest Regional Air confirmed that the confidence is not guaranteed on every flight, as it depends on crew scheduling, fatigue, and whether the attendant has already said “enjoy” more than 200 times that day. Passengers who receive a hesitant or trailing “enjoy” are entitled to a 4 percent credit toward a future Select fare.

The airline said it is already piloting a higher tier, Premium Economy Plus Select Reserve Signature, in which the flight attendant remembers a passenger’s name for up to 11 minutes. Halvorsen-Pruitt declined to confirm pricing but said it would be “aspirational.”

At press time, the airline had begun testing a lower-cost alternative called Economy Select, in which passengers are simply told the announcement was meant for them.