Business Travel Upgrades Out of Pocket: Wise Investment or Unnecessary Expense?

[Anonymous]

It's not a "wise investment" under any scenario but if you enjoy it and can afford it, who cares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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?

It really depends. I find upgrading often significantly improves my travel experience, which can otherwise be demoralizing at times, and I think I perform better as a result, so it’s often worth it for me. Others are less sensitive to such things, and it wouldn’t be worth it for them. You have to know what you are and go with it.

[Anonymous]

What about taking into account you also accumulate a lot more miles using business class then economy? is there some type of advantage to rapidly gaining miles? I gained the second tier of class on an airlines just from 2 business class trips where if i were travelling economy it would take 4-5

[Anonymous]

I upgrade to business class for $800-900 last minute and that's worth it to me. I probably wouldn't do $1200 but my flights to Europe are 7-8 hours, not 13 hours. I also value the arrivals lounge option that comes with business class, although last time I did it the flight was so delayed the arrivals lounge (heathrow) was already closed).

In fact where are you going that's 13 hours in Europe? If it involves a connection in Europe it wouldn't be worth it to me because the upgrade on the second leg wouldn't be worth much - the "business class" on intra-Europe flights are often just coach seats with the middle seat blocked off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote: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.

Maybe i am weird but i'd rather not use the miles

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.

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.

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

“Some type of fares”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I just did a United upgrade for 20k miles and $425 for an overnight flight. That was from premium economy to Polaris. Totally worth it because I have a lot of miles that I never seem to be able to use.