Flying first/ business class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI $1M, family of five, have never flown first class. I just can't fathom paying many times the cost to fly on the exact same aircraft to the exact same destination. Also, I wouldn't want to get my children accustomed to it. I'll admit I did look upon the first class section with envy on our trip to Europe last summer...would've been nice to stretch and sleep comfortably on the overnight flight. But I'll take a cramped, uncomfortable experience to save five figures.

With a HHI of $1 million what are you saving those 5 figures for and will the savings really make a difference to you in the long term.

If you’re brand new to that level of income and don’t expect it to last I guess it’s understandable to hoard while you can but otherwise I don’t understand why at that hhi you would deprive yourself of a far more comfortable travel /vacation experience just so that you can die with even more in the bank.

If people think that something is not worth the price they are charging they won’t buy it no matter what their income is. Not everyone cares where they sit.

Plus if HHI of $1M, that means about $500K after taxes. Then you have retirement savings, house (and all that goes with it) and cars. Possibly private school for the kids and definately college savings for the kids. Once you factor all that in, spending an extra $10-15K for business/first for a trip for 4-5 people to Europe is not worth it. It's another entire vacation somewhere stateside (with reaonsonble flights).

I'm worth 30M+ and just booked economy plus for a 1.5 hour flight, because I'm not paying an extra $200+ for first class. I'll sit in economy plus if my automatic upgrade doesn't materialize.
Sure I "could afford it". But if I do that for everything "I could afford" soon I'm spending way more than I want to. So despite having a high NW, I still value what I spend my money on and choose not to waste it.

So what do you splurge on? It’s ok to spend some money, not every decision has to maximize the financial outcome. Some like a weekly massage, others like to dine out, some like to upgrade when they are on vacation. You don’t have to do it all, but giving yourself permission to pamper a bit.

yes, I splurge on things that matter most to me. Long haul flights top that list, unless ridiculously expensive (not paying an extra $7K for a flight to Europe). However, I can afford to make those choices. I'd argue someone making $250K probably cannot. Unless they have family money from somewhere, they should probably be saving for college/retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI $1M, family of five, have never flown first class. I just can't fathom paying many times the cost to fly on the exact same aircraft to the exact same destination. Also, I wouldn't want to get my children accustomed to it. I'll admit I did look upon the first class section with envy on our trip to Europe last summer...would've been nice to stretch and sleep comfortably on the overnight flight. But I'll take a cramped, uncomfortable experience to save five figures.

With a HHI of $1 million what are you saving those 5 figures for and will the savings really make a difference to you in the long term.

If you’re brand new to that level of income and don’t expect it to last I guess it’s understandable to hoard while you can but otherwise I don’t understand why at that hhi you would deprive yourself of a far more comfortable travel /vacation experience just so that you can die with even more in the bank.

If people think that something is not worth the price they are charging they won’t buy it no matter what their income is. Not everyone cares where they sit.

Plus if HHI of $1M, that means about $500K after taxes. Then you have retirement savings, house (and all that goes with it) and cars. Possibly private school for the kids and definately college savings for the kids. Once you factor all that in, spending an extra $10-15K for business/first for a trip for 4-5 people to Europe is not worth it. It's another entire vacation somewhere stateside (with reaonsonble flights).

I'm worth 30M+ and just booked economy plus for a 1.5 hour flight, because I'm not paying an extra $200+ for first class. I'll sit in economy plus if my automatic upgrade doesn't materialize.
Sure I "could afford it". But if I do that for everything "I could afford" soon I'm spending way more than I want to. So despite having a high NW, I still value what I spend my money on and choose not to waste it.

Yes! (although we're not at a 50% tax rate) I'm a $1M HHI poster from earlier and people responded along the lines of what am I saving it for? I've got a family of five. I'd way rather spend the extra thousands saved by flying economy on experiences during the vacation, and on more frequent travel. And I know our income is high relative to most, but it's not high enough that we don't have to make choices about what we do. We want to fully fund college at any institution the kids want to go to, so we didn't elect to pay for our local private school which is about $40k/kid. We could have done both, but we wanted to join the expensive country club near our house. Our whole family loves to golf, and the kids do swim team there and summer camps and we probably spend $50k/year there between dues, cart fees, activities and all the food. It's a big, nice part of our life that means a lot more to us than being comfy in first class for a few hours on a few days of the year. Plus, we save about $220k/year for retirement and college. This income level isn't high enough not to choke on what first class tickets cost! Perhaps when I'm old and my body hurts and I'm not supporting three kids, I'll elect to fly first class. But I really can't fathom it at this point...my mind always goes to what else I could do with that kind of money.

[Anonymous]

My equation is simple. My entire vacation budget is 10% of my HHI. We like to ski ~15-20 days a year in CO. We do one international trip. We own a condo and visit family overseas. Maybe we take one additional trip somewhere fun a year. If we can manage all that and a ticket upgrade for 4 and stay in budget, I'd do it. It's never worked out that way, so we fly economy. My kids do private school, which is a priority, as is my retirement and their college/med/law school. When I'm retired and the kids finish school - on track to be the same year (I'll be 52) - then my equation changes and I'll indulge myself. Until then I have a job to do. It really doesn't matter what my income and NW are. My budget is 10% right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI $1M, family of five, have never flown first class. I just can't fathom paying many times the cost to fly on the exact same aircraft to the exact same destination. Also, I wouldn't want to get my children accustomed to it. I'll admit I did look upon the first class section with envy on our trip to Europe last summer...would've been nice to stretch and sleep comfortably on the overnight flight. But I'll take a cramped, uncomfortable experience to save five figures.

With a HHI of $1 million what are you saving those 5 figures for and will the savings really make a difference to you in the long term.

If you’re brand new to that level of income and don’t expect it to last I guess it’s understandable to hoard while you can but otherwise I don’t understand why at that hhi you would deprive yourself of a far more comfortable travel /vacation experience just so that you can die with even more in the bank.

If people think that something is not worth the price they are charging they won’t buy it no matter what their income is. Not everyone cares where they sit.

Plus if HHI of $1M, that means about $500K after taxes. Then you have retirement savings, house (and all that goes with it) and cars. Possibly private school for the kids and definately college savings for the kids. Once you factor all that in, spending an extra $10-15K for business/first for a trip for 4-5 people to Europe is not worth it. It's another entire vacation somewhere stateside (with reaonsonble flights).

I'm worth 30M+ and just booked economy plus for a 1.5 hour flight, because I'm not paying an extra $200+ for first class. I'll sit in economy plus if my automatic upgrade doesn't materialize.
Sure I "could afford it". But if I do that for everything "I could afford" soon I'm spending way more than I want to. So despite having a high NW, I still value what I spend my money on and choose not to waste it.

Yes! (although we're not at a 50% tax rate) I'm a $1M HHI poster from earlier and people responded along the lines of what am I saving it for? I've got a family of five. I'd way rather spend the extra thousands saved by flying economy on experiences during the vacation, and on more frequent travel. And I know our income is high relative to most, but it's not high enough that we don't have to make choices about what we do. We want to fully fund college at any institution the kids want to go to, so we didn't elect to pay for our local private school which is about $40k/kid. We could have done both, but we wanted to join the expensive country club near our house. Our whole family loves to golf, and the kids do swim team there and summer camps and we probably spend $50k/year there between dues, cart fees, activities and all the food. It's a big, nice part of our life that means a lot more to us than being comfy in first class for a few hours on a few days of the year. Plus, we save about $220k/year for retirement and college. This income level isn't high enough not to choke on what first class tickets cost! Perhaps when I'm old and my body hurts and I'm not supporting three kids, I'll elect to fly first class. But I really can't fathom it at this point...my mind always goes to what else I could do with that kind of money.

Yup!

Most of us didn't get to where we are by spending, spending, spending. So even once you have more $$$, you still "budget" and plan how to reasonably spend it.

[Anonymous]

About six years ago I was flying economy from SFO to ORD and I had an aisle seat. In the middle seat was a 300 pounder who couldn’t help but spread out leaving me to lean over the aisle for five hours getting hit by carts and people walking by. The next morning my neck and back hurt like hell. I had recently retired and we are very high NW. Now I fly first class and while I hunt for the best deal I’m not flying in economy. I’m too old, too wealthy and too tired of flying in what has become a cattle car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About six years ago I was flying economy from SFO to ORD and I had an aisle seat. In the middle seat was a 300 pounder who couldn’t help but spread out leaving me to lean over the aisle for five hours getting hit by carts and people walking by. The next morning my neck and back hurt like hell. I had recently retired and we are very high NW. Now I fly first class and while I hunt for the best deal I’m not flying in economy. I’m too old, too wealthy and too tired of flying in what has become a cattle car.

Airlines should charge by the pound. They charge for extra luggage!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About six years ago I was flying economy from SFO to ORD and I had an aisle seat. In the middle seat was a 300 pounder who couldn’t help but spread out leaving me to lean over the aisle for five hours getting hit by carts and people walking by. The next morning my neck and back hurt like hell. I had recently retired and we are very high NW. Now I fly first class and while I hunt for the best deal I’m not flying in economy. I’m too old, too wealthy and too tired of flying in what has become a cattle car.

Airlines should charge by the pound. They charge for extra luggage!

Airlines should have each passenger get on the scale with all their luggage, including personal items, coats and carryons. Any passenger whose total body and luggage weight exceeds the
allowance should pay by the pound.

[Anonymous]

We are at 600-800k depending on the year and only do in certain circumstances. When I am pregnant and past ~20 weeks I fly business for anything longer than about 3 hours, if we have a long drive upon landing, if we're traveling for something where one of us needs to be especially fresh then that person upgrades. Economy plus for overseas. Everything else just normal economy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About six years ago I was flying economy from SFO to ORD and I had an aisle seat. In the middle seat was a 300 pounder who couldn’t help but spread out leaving me to lean over the aisle for five hours getting hit by carts and people walking by. The next morning my neck and back hurt like hell. I had recently retired and we are very high NW. Now I fly first class and while I hunt for the best deal I’m not flying in economy. I’m too old, too wealthy and too tired of flying in what has become a cattle car.

💯Right there with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About six years ago I was flying economy from SFO to ORD and I had an aisle seat. In the middle seat was a 300 pounder who couldn’t help but spread out leaving me to lean over the aisle for five hours getting hit by carts and people walking by. The next morning my neck and back hurt like hell. I had recently retired and we are very high NW. Now I fly first class and while I hunt for the best deal I’m not flying in economy. I’m too old, too wealthy and too tired of flying in what has become a cattle car.

Airlines should require anyone who does not fit in the actual seat to pay for two. The person sitting next to them should not be miserable for the flight and have them encroaching on their space. If you don't fit, then you must purchase an extra seat. Simply rules

[Anonymous]

Our hhi is about $1m and it would never ever in a million years occur to me to fly business/first. My parents only fly first and have my whole life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming that you don’t track airline miles at what income level would you start regularly flying first/ business class for just regular vacation.

Assume 2 adults and 3 kids.

Is your number based on actual experience having reached it or is it a hypothetical question only for you at this point?

Our HHI is $575K and NW is $7.5M. We never fly coach. Not ever. If a particular flight doesn’t have business class or first class (usually small regional flights), we won’t even take it. I’d rather fly at a different time of day or to a nearby city. Our family of five flies about 6 times per year. Half domestic, half international. DH flies for business 1-2 times per month in addition to our personal travel. Always business or first.

Dealing with all the clueless and unprepared people that don’t regularly travel, the overcrowded club lounges, the chaotic boarding processes, the fake service animals, the lying and self-proclaimed disabled and military travelers pushing to the front of the line, the 3+ year-old lap children, the mediocre service, the bulkhead diaper changing, the garbage on-board food, etc…. It’s all too much. The only stress reliever is knowing that at least on-board we’ll have a reasonably elevated and comfortable experience. Couldn’t handle it otherwise.

We have a dedicated divided ETF that generates about $6K per month after taxes to help offset cost differences between coach and first.

I just … wow.

[Anonymous]

We fly coach for short domestic trips (Florida, etc). Business/First for Transcon domestic and international. HHI is around $2m but its been a really long time since we have paid out of pocket for any kind of travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About six years ago I was flying economy from SFO to ORD and I had an aisle seat. In the middle seat was a 300 pounder who couldn’t help but spread out leaving me to lean over the aisle for five hours getting hit by carts and people walking by. The next morning my neck and back hurt like hell. I had recently retired and we are very high NW. Now I fly first class and while I hunt for the best deal I’m not flying in economy. I’m too old, too wealthy and too tired of flying in what has become a cattle car.

Airlines should charge by the pound. They charge for extra luggage!

Airlines should have each passenger get on the scale with all their luggage, including personal items, coats and carryons. Any passenger whose total body and luggage weight exceeds the
allowance should pay by the pound.

So we should publicly fat shame? Great idea! I can't imagine any knock on consequences from that.

[Anonymous]

I love flying first class! It's worth it to me to pay more.
- I like boarding whenever during the boarding process and knowing I'll always have space in the overhead for my suitcase.
- I like having access to a bathroom that isn't always occupied.
- I like that if I want to recline my seat, I won't be in the lap of the poor person behind me.
- I don't know if this is actually the case, but airlines seem more willing to be accommodating if I need to change flights and/or have a tight connection if I'm on a first class ticket
- Flight attendants are nicer. May not be fair, but that's what I have noticed.
- Seats are way more comfortable
- I even like the pre-takeoff water/ mimosa/ champagne.