Flying first/ business class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who only fly business must not travel very much or they enjoy lighting money on fire. Tickets to biz class to Europe are 8-12k which is sometimes 11200 per ticket more than flying in economy. Maybe a spouse flies so much you have a ton of points, but if you’re spending full freight 11200 more per person for a 7 hour flight you need to get an examination. I, too, have paid out of pocket for business class tickets but would never be so frivolous.

How many of you business class only passengers delight in bragging about driving a 15 year old Camry because the millionaire next door book is your bible?

Absolutely no one paying cash for business class seats subscribed to the Millionaire Next Door. It goes against everything the book stands for. Points and miles hacking would fit in though. However we are big on points and miles and still fly mostly economy just because anything under 6-7 hours I don’t find BC worth unless it’s an overnight. That leaves us more points for even more trips. The extra points I would spend on 4 BC tickets would pay for 8 nights in a high end hotel.

Except for the poster above paying 6k per ticket (which doesn’t even exist anymore) to go on business class but drives an 11 year old car - a thing that actually serves a valuable utility in your life and that will eventually break and need to be replaced, a cost that the poster has spent a high multiple of just buying airline tickets.

I just did a few searches for random sets of dates this July/August round trip direct from IAD to Paris, London and Madrid on United and found numerous options for each in the $4000.

Yes there are significantly higher exceptions for peak/last minute flights but most people are greatly exaggerating the average cost.

I often fly peak because of my kids’ school and sports. I don’t want to go to Europe in August. I would go in June. Same for if we go to the Caribbean. We want to go right after Christmas, not mid or end of January. I remember when my kids were younger, we may have flown back on a Monday instead of Sunday. The price of the ticket would me much cheaper if my kids missed one day of school. My oldest is now in high school so we don’t want him to miss the day even if it may be 5000 cheaper for our family of 5.

Before I had kids, I’m sure I would look at flights and it would matter less if I went in the beginning of May or mid April. We also have to pay peak surge spring break prices.

[Anonymous]

Point is we can’t just pick the random date a few months later. We go skiing President’s Day weekend.

I have a friend who books vacations depending on the flight deal. I remember her inviting us on a trip the second week of January, right when the kids were scheduled to be back in school. I countered with a trip right after Christmas. She said it would cost 4x more. Yes, the cost of week after Xmas when kids are on break vs mid Jan when kids are back in school costs different.

Another friend asked us to go away the week of Xmas, meaning we would be away on Xmas day. I said we like to be home for Xmas and why not the week after. She said it costs double the price week after Xmas vs before/during Xmas. We will go away after Xmas like we always do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:750k hhi we do business for most flights, though we often put the kids (late teens) in economy. I have a bad back so flying economy can be very painful/dangerous for me.

You also have a bad heart - shoving your kids in economy while lounging in style.

A similar thread turned ugly a couple weeks ago. People have different values. I’m with you - I wouldn’t split up the family - but others find this acceptable.

We don’t fly first even though we can afford it. The plane goes to the same place, so I don’t see the value in it. We have the $$ we have because we made economical choices.

[Anonymous]

HHI is 400K, NW is around 3M. We only fly economy or economy plus (depending on the cost of the flight). We try our best to get the best deals.

The only person who flies business on personal trips to Asia (India) is me because my body cannot handle sitting in an economy seat for that long. I fly just one particular middle eastern airline where I have status as well as I routinely get low price tickets. I pay around 3-4K for a round trip ticket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who only fly business must not travel very much or they enjoy lighting money on fire. Tickets to biz class to Europe are 8-12k which is sometimes 11200 per ticket more than flying in economy. Maybe a spouse flies so much you have a ton of points, but if you’re spending full freight 11200 more per person for a 7 hour flight you need to get an examination. I, too, have paid out of pocket for business class tickets but would never be so frivolous.

How many of you business class only passengers delight in bragging about driving a 15 year old Camry because the millionaire next door book is your bible?

Absolutely no one paying cash for business class seats subscribed to the Millionaire Next Door. It goes against everything the book stands for. Points and miles hacking would fit in though. However we are big on points and miles and still fly mostly economy just because anything under 6-7 hours I don’t find BC worth unless it’s an overnight. That leaves us more points for even more trips. The extra points I would spend on 4 BC tickets would pay for 8 nights in a high end hotel.

Except for the poster above paying 6k per ticket (which doesn’t even exist anymore) to go on business class but drives an 11 year old car - a thing that actually serves a valuable utility in your life and that will eventually break and need to be replaced, a cost that the poster has spent a high multiple of just buying airline tickets.

I just did a few searches for random sets of dates this July/August round trip direct from IAD to Paris, London and Madrid on United and found numerous options for each in the $4000.

Yes there are significantly higher exceptions for peak/last minute flights but most people are greatly exaggerating the average cost.

I often fly peak because of my kids’ school and sports. I don’t want to go to Europe in August. I would go in June. Same for if we go to the Caribbean. We want to go right after Christmas, not mid or end of January. I remember when my kids were younger, we may have flown back on a Monday instead of Sunday. The price of the ticket would me much cheaper if my kids missed one day of school. My oldest is now in high school so we don’t want him to miss the day even if it may be 5000 cheaper for our family of 5.

Before I had kids, I’m sure I would look at flights and it would matter less if I went in the beginning of May or mid April. We also have to pay peak surge spring break prices.

July/August are peak to Europe. June prices are similar. Different PP, but just looked June 20-30 to Paris, business class is $4200 nonstop on United. Where/when are you going that it's double that?

[Anonymous]

I’ve been watching prices closely and there must be some promotion pulling the big carriers down right now. In March, biz class tickets were universally 7-12k from Dulles to nonstop destinations in Europe for most of the summer (I didn’t check every week). London was a bit less, maybe 5-9k. I just checked and there are some great business class fares. Not the norm.

[Anonymous]

Planning a birthday/belated honeymoon to California next year and budgeting for first class. We have kids, we have debt, but life is short and I want to fly first class, dammit. We work really hard and are on the right track so wtf. Some people need to live a little!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been watching prices closely and there must be some promotion pulling the big carriers down right now. In March, biz class tickets were universally 7-12k from Dulles to nonstop destinations in Europe for most of the summer (I didn’t check every week). London was a bit less, maybe 5-9k. I just checked and there are some great business class fares. Not the norm.

BC to London is such a waste. That flight is super short.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been watching prices closely and there must be some promotion pulling the big carriers down right now. In March, biz class tickets were universally 7-12k from Dulles to nonstop destinations in Europe for most of the summer (I didn’t check every week). London was a bit less, maybe 5-9k. I just checked and there are some great business class fares. Not the norm.

We're still ok going at 700

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Planning a birthday/belated honeymoon to California next year and budgeting for first class. We have kids, we have debt, but life is short and I want to fly first class, dammit. We work really hard and are on the right track so wtf. Some people need to live a little!

That's OK to pay for this experience in celebration but it sounds wild to me to do that while you're in debt!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Planning a birthday/belated honeymoon to California next year and budgeting for first class. We have kids, we have debt, but life is short and I want to fly first class, dammit. We work really hard and are on the right track so wtf. Some people need to live a little!

That's OK to pay for this experience in celebration but it sounds wild to me to do that while you're in debt!!!

Nevermind, I see it's to California so it's not like its the 7k tickets

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Planning a birthday/belated honeymoon to California next year and budgeting for first class. We have kids, we have debt, but life is short and I want to fly first class, dammit. We work really hard and are on the right track so wtf. Some people need to live a little!

That's OK to pay for this experience in celebration but it sounds wild to me to do that while you're in debt!!!

Student debt, car payment (we share a car since our paid off cars jointly crapped out about a year and a half ago) and mortgage. We contribute heavily to retirement, kids 529s, and other investment accounts. Very low PITI. Never flown first class and no plans to replicate probably until we retire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Planning a birthday/belated honeymoon to California next year and budgeting for first class. We have kids, we have debt, but life is short and I want to fly first class, dammit. We work really hard and are on the right track so wtf. Some people need to live a little!

That's OK to pay for this experience in celebration but it sounds wild to me to do that while you're in debt!!!

Nevermind, I see it's to California so it's not like its the 7k tickets

Correct, it’s about $1100 a person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m am so lol, but that is such a true description of the parade of horribles in economy. And the reason why I sometimes will pay for first or business even though my income and net worth are less than those above. And why it’s completely silly to have an income of seven figures and be flying overseas in economy.

Some of us "economy horribles" are nice people, follow all the rules, but can't afford to shell out money for first class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:750k hhi we do business for most flights, though we often put the kids (late teens) in economy. I have a bad back so flying economy can be very painful/dangerous for me.

You also have a bad heart - shoving your kids in economy while lounging in style.

A similar thread turned ugly a couple weeks ago. People have different values. I’m with you - I wouldn’t split up the family - but others find this acceptable.

We don’t fly first even though we can afford it. The plane goes to the same place, so I don’t see the value in it. We have the $$ we have because we made economical choices.

That is your choice to "not split your family". But it's not "bad values" to put your tweens/teens together as siblings 5 rows behind you. As you stated, "the plane goes to the same place" and my teens are quite capable of not having me in their face for 6-8 hours every single minute. They are also quite capable of behaving and being good passengers