Business or First class international airfare
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Anonymous
| At what HHI did you buy business or first class airfare for your family for international trips? We are a family of 4 and travel internationally 1-2x per year to Europe. I'm curious at what HHI folks switch from economy (which we still do) to business or first. I'm thinking of upgrading after a couple difficult trips. |
Anonymous
| All I can add is that I know two frequent-traveling families with assumed HHI in the millions and both of them refuse to pay for anything by coach. I think that's crazy. If I had that kind of money, no way in heck would I be in steerage. |
Anonymous
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Net worth may be a better milepost than income, since income while working is what will get you to your target net worth for retirement.
We moved initially to Economy Plus, coupled with an airline credit card which provided perks like earlier boarding and a free checked bag per person. Those two combined to improve our travel experiences, along with Global Entry. We did eventually begin to book Business Class, with a net worth around $16M, which is when flying at few times a year with the more expensive tickets didn't seem like it would have any material long-term impact on our financial position. |
Anonymous
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$10M net worth and returned last month from Paris in coach because we couldn't swing an upgrade. For Europe, we pay for premium economy and points upgrade (always on the waitlist for upgrade) and 1/2 the time the upgrade works out. For Asia/Australia, we pay for the upgrade to business at the time of booking. We've never paid full business class price.
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Anonymous
| For work when someone else is paying, always. For family trips never. 800k HHI |
Anonymous
But we got that kind of money by passing on lots of niceties along the way. It's hard to stop now -- just doesn't seem "worth it". |
Anonymous
I have to have a lie-flat seat on long-haul trips because I get sick from the thinner air. For some reason DH didn't want to fly in coach alone with the kids when we took them to Europe.  So we booked first class. At the time I think our HHI was $500k and our net worth was several million.
For domestic flights first class doesn't offer me any real advantage (yeah the seats are bigger but the immovable arm rests limit my ability to sit cross legged) so we are more likely to book coach and then see if we get upgrades. DH is more into the perks (free alcohol, more leg room which to be fair he needs more than me) so sometimes he books first class from the get go, especially these days when upgrades seem rarer. |
Anonymous
| I think it depends on the cost. If you can buy economy and upgrade for a few hundred a piece, sure. Did that on a flight home from hawaii and it was worth it for everyone. Right now I am planning spring break to Paris. Cheapest first class airfare is 5000. Many go closer to 10000. And we will go on an alaska trip later in the year. Spending 20K to 40K just on travel for one trip doesn't feel good even if we can do it. I'd rather spend it on the activities at the location than on slightly better food and more room to sleep (even though I won't). |
Anonymous
I think these things vary person to person. With a $900k HHI I drive a $30k car and I wear moissanites instead of diamonds. I don't get anything out of paying more for value I don't see or appreciate. But lying in your little luxury pod while you fly across the ocean . . . it really is much, much more comfortable. Of course, thousands and thousands of dollars to be more comfortable for a few hours? And knowing you are responsible for more of the carbon load? It's a mixed bag. |
Anonymous
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HHI is about $600k. We are at the point where we go business class about half the time for international flights.
(No idea what our net worth is. Maybe 3 million?) |
Anonymous
of course it varies person to person .... |
Anonymous
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We have good friends who just started flying exclusively business for international after business events that netted them $100M+ net worth. Prior to that they were flying mostly coach at $10M+ net worth.
We are at $800K HHI, $5M net worth, do not pay for personal business class but we do fly business international approx half the time based on timing work travel (leading to personal travel), status upgrades, points, and booking flights strategically (e.g. we book international flights where we are more likely to get upgraded but it's getting harder now post-COVID). We probably wouldn't make the complete switch until $20M+ net worth, and I don't know that I would ever pay for my kids to fly business. We do spend to make sure we have high status with Star Alliance to maximize opportunities for upgrade. |
Anonymous
Similar here-- a little over 600k HHI, but we've only been at that level a few years. Net worth around $2.5. We have a airline credit card, and DH travels a lot for work, so we have a ton of miles. We usually buy an upgradeable economy fare (which is more expensive than regular economy, but nowhere near the cost of business class) then use miles to upgrade to business on the redeye so we can lie down. We do this far in advance in order to find upgrade availability. On the daytime flights, like the return from Europe, we usually just do premium economy. |
Anonymous
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Dual feds we fly business class every other year. The flight is part of the vacation. Our son was 4 the first time.
Some people redecorate or upgrade their homes, we value travel and experiences. Once you fly business class it’s really hard to fly coach… |
Anonymous
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We have the net worth but not the disposable income. So we'll continue to live frugally, travel in coach, until we have so much accumulated that we feel we can draw down our capital for such frivolities. People with high incomes and significant net worth don't need to make that distinction. |