On this blog, my main focus is reviewing experiences in first and business class. That said, it doesn’t mean I’m always in a premium cabin. Recently, a reader inquired about how frequently I actually fly in economy, so I’d like to tackle that topic here.
I’m not opposed to flying economy, but I prefer to steer clear of it.
Throughout the last twenty years, I’ve traveled millions of miles. When I was younger and first started with miles and points, the majority of my flights were in economy, and I was perfectly okay with that. In fact, I was content taking short red-eye flights in economy. Sometimes, I even took them two nights consecutively.
However, as I’ve aged, my perspective on this has evolved:
– I lack the stamina I used to have for flying, and I find myself getting more tired, leading me to place a greater importance on comfort than I once did.
– With the availability of inflight Wi-Fi, the truth is that I can be almost as productive in the air as I am on the ground, but it’s significantly more pleasant to work from a first or business class seat, where I don’t have to twist my body to use a laptop.
– As I’ve matured, my willingness to pay for a better experience has risen, and financially, I’m in a stronger position now compared to my teenage years.
I have no qualms flying economy on short or medium-haul flights. That said, I do try to avoid economy on longer trips, and I also generally avoid red-eye flights unless I have a flat bed, as they tend to be too uncomfortable.
I place a higher value on premium cabin travel than I did in the past.
There are limits to what I’m willing to spend for first or business class.
While I appreciate traveling in premium cabins, there are also boundaries to what I’m prepared to pay. Although there are currently more reasonably priced premium fares than in earlier times, I’d never book one of those “full fare” long-haul business class tickets, which can exceed $10,000. That’s just excessive, and even if I had the funds, I wouldn’t feel right about spending my money that way. I’d rather endure economy and allocate that money to something else on the ground.
In past writings, I’ve discussed the price point at which I believe first class is worthwhile. For instance, on domestic flights, I’m usually ready to pay around an additional $50 per hour over economy for first class, as that’s what I assess the extra comfort to be worth, more or less. Considering that, let me share my general method for booking premium cabin travel.
For long-haul trips, I almost always redeem miles for first and business class at the saver rate. I usually have considerable flexibility with my travel arrangements, so if I can score a first or business class seat at a fair mileage rate, why wouldn’t I opt for that?
Sometimes, I’ll also waitlist for upgrades (like with American systemwide upgrades), but only if I’m quite sure that the upgrade will be granted. If I’m uncertain, I make it a point to ensure it’s a flexible ticket, allowing me to cancel last minute and rebook on another flight using an award ticket.
For short-haul flights, my approach is more varied, and I typically employ a few different strategies to secure a first class seat:
– I generally hold some airline elite status, so if I believe there’s a reasonable opportunity for a complimentary upgrade, I’ll just reserve an economy seat and hope for an upgrade; however, that’s not something I heavily rely on these days due to the increasing difficulty of obtaining upgrades.
– If I doubt the likelihood of getting an upgrade, I’ll check for any reasonable first class fare available for cash, and I’m willing to fly nearly any airline to make that happen.
– Nowadays, airlines frequently offer cash upgrades at reasonable prices, so I often take advantage of those opportunities; for instance, American consistently promotes these, and I find them worth it in scenarios where I doubt an upgrade would be approved.
– I sometimes even find redeeming miles for first class worthwhile; for example, American AAdvantage often provides excellent redemption rates for first class.
Domestic first class tends to be priced reasonably.
The circumstances under which I typically fly economy.
While I generally strive to fly in a premium cabin, there are certain situations where I don’t even attempt to book anything else, so here are those instances:
– Within Europe, I’m content flying any point-to-point route on an ultra-low-cost carrier with a suitable schedule, as these flights are usually short, and intra-Europe business class isn’t particularly impressive.
– On short domestic flights