Business Travel Upgrades Out of Pocket: Wise Investment or Unnecessary Expense?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
I travel frequently for work, around 5-7 times a year, including trips to Europe and various locations within the US. My company's travel policy covers premium economy for international trips and economy for domestic flights that are less than 5 hours. However, I've found that I can often upgrade to business or first class at what seems to be a nominal personal cost—$1200 to upgrade to business class for a 13-hour flight to Europe (a major discount compared to the $5500 difference in full price), and $275 for first class on a 3-hour domestic flight (normally a $500 difference).
Interestingly, it seems related to the way my company books flights, as these upgrades often appear cheaper than I would expect. In contrast, when my spouse travels for business, the options to upgrade are either disallowed (e.g., the message "this flight is not upgradable") or the costs are much higher, comparable with the delta I see on travel flight differences if booking personally. Personally, upgrading adds a bit of excitement to my business trips. It might sound strange, but flying in an upgraded class often becomes the highlight of my trip. The access to the lounge and the overall experience provide a pleasant break from the usual grind. I consider these upgrades a good investment for the added comfort and the bonus points I accumulate, which offer future travel benefits. However, my spouse views these expenses as unnecessary. If the costs to upgrade were more than double what I mentioned, I would probably not consider it. But seeing the upgrade cost as nearly half of what it could be makes it feel like a savings opportunity. I'm curious about your opinions: Do you think paying out of pocket for these upgrades is a wise use of resources, or should I stick with the standard company-provided seats? |
Anonymous
|
That's a high upgrade cost. It must be guaranteed paid upgrade. For example, I'm flying premium economy for work to Europe and it's 20k miles + $300 on United.
If you travel enough on the same airline or alliance, you should be an elite member and that will include free lounge access at least on international flights, and free or cheap upgrades on most flights. Have you looked into that? |
Anonymous
Are you saying its 20k miles ($300) + $300 ~$600 to upgrade to business class or upgrade to premium economy? |
Anonymous
| 20k miles + 300 to upgrade to business. I do it all the time, as I have lots of United miles and $300 isn't bad. It's not guaranteed, so it only clears the day of, but most of my work trips to Europe are during the off season so flights aren't that full then. |
Anonymous
Maybe i am weird but i'd rather not use the miles |
Anonymous
Miles get deavluatd all the time, so that's why hoarding miles isn't that great of an idea. Also if you are an elite flyer, it's often a lower "cost" in either miles or $$ to uprade. |
Anonymous
Yeah that’s not true and is often the opposite for cash priced upgrades. Mileage+cash upgrades on United should be consistent no matter the status level, but change based on region. And there are no free international upgrades (except for very short intl flights) for any status level. The rule of thumb for cash upgrades from economy to Polaris is $100/hr. So chances are it won’t get much cheaper than what you are seeing but it could, especially closer to flight time. |
Anonymous
| Seems like it is worth it to you OP. $1200 is a very different thing depending on your HHI. |
Anonymous
|
If you have the budget for it whatever. I never thought first class was worth the cost. I don't know your breakdown of domestic vs international flights but I'm going tonguess you spend about 5-10k/year just on this. Is that something you're comfortable with?
I have a spouse who travels internationally for work regularly and he gets upgraded on points more. I personally didn't think first class was worth it. I didn't think the lay down seat was much more comfortable and the food was still airline food. |
Anonymous
| I do it because it makes the trip way more enjoyable. |
Anonymous
|
I think about it in terms of value of a day. Upgrading to Europe saves me about six hours of productivity. I earn $750k per year for about 250 eight hour days of work, or about $3,000 per day. So 6/8*$3750 is 2,000.
Not surprisingly, when I travel for work, I always buy business class. (Especially helpful is the fares are deductible from income, so effectively half off with federal and state taxes). If you are a salaried employee I don't think you can deduct the out-of-pocket upgrade cost, but if you have consulting/business income, you can. |
Anonymous
|
I do it - either pay for main cabin extra or first depending on the cost and length of travel.
Even for a short flight to Chicago, sometimes it is only $75-100 each way for first but a much more pleasant experience as far as lining up, getting on and off, having space for your stuff. |
Anonymous
| $1200 for ONE NIGHT? No way. |
Anonymous
5-7 trips a year is not going to translate to being an elite member, in most instances, unless you’re spending major ducats, which doesn’t seem to be the case here. |
Anonymous
From United's site: "Upgrade your seat with miles on most paid tickets for flights operated by United and United Express®. You can also use miles to upgrade other travelers. If you don't have MileagePlus Premier® status, there may be a co-pay fee for some types of fares." https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/mileageplus/upgrades.html |