People who pay for business class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are retired and almost always travel business or first class. We have a very high net worth and while we are pretty thrifty on most things being comfortable in a plane is now a high priority. Yes, it is a big premium but we search for the best fares. When you reach age 65 and your children and grandchildren are well provided for you begin to spoil yourself.

Well done. I will never be near the wealth you guys have achieved, but if we're I would do exactly and you guys. I'm sure you have had a challenging career and now you deserve to spoil yourself. Enjoy your retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1.2m hhi, At our income you would think we would be flying first class or private but we are frugal and only book business class in cash. Points don't work anymore as everyone is paying for business class or higher and planes are always full and over sold.

1.2M HHI isn’t flying private $ unless you’re taking a Cessna you fly yourself

exactly its not that wealthy its really upper middle class lifestyle of the 80s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1.2m hhi, At our income you would think we would be flying first class or private but we are frugal and only book business class in cash. Points don't work anymore as everyone is paying for business class or higher and planes are always full and over sold.

Couple things- yes you can get business class using points still, but its not easy and definitely can be time consuming to figure out how to do it well. But "points don't work anymore" is simply wrong.

Second, most airlines now only have business class for international flights, so it's not being "frugal" to book the most expensive cabin on the plane. We are flying Air France business (on points) shortly, and their new A350 to Paris doesn't have first class at all. They are phasing it out of most of their fleet except for a subfleet of 777-300s. No US carrier has international first class anymore, and even premium airlines like Qatar have mostly phased it out in favor of really nice business class.

I have flown to Europe 4 times this year and all times i couldn't use my Lufthansa points status or even United to upgrade. I tried to do it on United and was rejected and I should have paid. You might be able to use points to book business but you will have a hard time getting upgrades with points or status anymore

[Anonymous]

Points? No. Frequent upgrades from prime economy seats to business/first because of elite status? Sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1.2m hhi, At our income you would think we would be flying first class or private but we are frugal and only book business class in cash. Points don't work anymore as everyone is paying for business class or higher and planes are always full and over sold.

Couple things- yes you can get business class using points still, but its not easy and definitely can be time consuming to figure out how to do it well. But "points don't work anymore" is simply wrong.

Second, most airlines now only have business class for international flights, so it's not being "frugal" to book the most expensive cabin on the plane. We are flying Air France business (on points) shortly, and their new A350 to Paris doesn't have first class at all. They are phasing it out of most of their fleet except for a subfleet of 777-300s. No US carrier has international first class anymore, and even premium airlines like Qatar have mostly phased it out in favor of really nice business class.

I have flown to Europe 4 times this year and all times i couldn't use my Lufthansa points status or even United to upgrade. I tried to do it on United and was rejected and I should have paid. You might be able to use points to book business but you will have a hard time getting upgrades with points or status anymore

Yes the only way to play now for business class is to book business awards directly. That's why it's hard- tough to find good redemptions, have to check consistently and be ready to book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Retirement net worth 5 million. AGI around 350k. We pay business class for a family of 3. Worth every penny for flights longer than 5 hours.

Interesting. We have higher income and NW and have never paid for business class on personal travel.

You figured out how to take it with you then! Let the rest of us know your secret please.

DP

Who says I want to take it with me? My responsibility is to future generations, not to spending down my income. What a strange way to think - we have different values for sure.

Yes, we have different values. You think it is OK to be a sanctimonious douche to a stranger on the internet and I think it is OK to be a sanctimonious douche to people like you.

Meaning, you totally missed the point.

/DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1.2m hhi, At our income you would think we would be flying first class or private but we are frugal and only book business class in cash. Points don't work anymore as everyone is paying for business class or higher and planes are always full and over sold.

1.2M HHI isn’t flying private $ unless you’re taking a Cessna you fly yourself

exactly its not that wealthy its really upper middle class lifestyle of the 80s

Yeah flying private you really start over at the bottom. Even though you’re paying way more than first class tickets you’re on a tiny plane with maybe a bag of suspiciously warm Fritos and on your way there, you have to walk past the gulfstreams in the new “first class.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1.2m hhi, At our income you would think we would be flying first class or private but we are frugal and only book business class in cash. Points don't work anymore as everyone is paying for business class or higher and planes are always full and over sold.

Couple things- yes you can get business class using points still, but its not easy and definitely can be time consuming to figure out how to do it well. But "points don't work anymore" is simply wrong.

Second, most airlines now only have business class for international flights, so it's not being "frugal" to book the most expensive cabin on the plane. We are flying Air France business (on points) shortly, and their new A350 to Paris doesn't have first class at all. They are phasing it out of most of their fleet except for a subfleet of 777-300s. No US carrier has international first class anymore, and even premium airlines like Qatar have mostly phased it out in favor of really nice business class.

I have flown to Europe 4 times this year and all times i couldn't use my Lufthansa points status or even United to upgrade. I tried to do it on United and was rejected and I should have paid. You might be able to use points to book business but you will have a hard time getting upgrades with points or status anymore

United is usually a pay or points plus $ to upgrade now. Points only seem to work for buying the original ticket. The points plus $ is a good deal to Europe - it's been $425 plus 20k points when I've done it this year. United points have become kind of useless so I don't mind burning points to upgrade.