Flying economy
Poll: Flying economy
Total Members Polled: 214
Discussion
WeirdNeville said:
I don't fly much and it's on my own money, so it's economy all the way. Modern aircraft are so much more comfortable and spacious, it's not like you "suffer" for being "cheap".
Panto season. "OH yes you do......" well, I do. Lanky sod despite trying to reduce the worlds supply of pies, the knees get it.Hated it, seat pitch of 31". Enough to think how far can I afford at the next time of booking. Obviously not top of the shop, that is silly money for me. Turns out that booking far in advance you get a bit further up the pecking order for a comfortable outlay. No good for the later bookings obviously. I think last years hols to the states wanted nigh on a grand a person to bump up to premium economy at the last minute when we got there after finding out cattle class was too short, and breathe out.
WeirdNeville said:
They evidently sell business class to those who don't pay for it themselves - No-one would sensibly pay ~£20 a minute out of their own pocket for a slightly bigger seat, a glass of domestic fizzy wine and a head massage unless they literally could not think of what to do with their next company directors paycheck.
It isn't always £20 a minute though, or anywhere near it. I once paid an extra £100 to upgrade a London to Rome return trip to business class. It wasn't a question of a slightly bigger seat, but of comfort (legroom and elbow room) instead of discomfort and the chance to jump the check in and security queues. On long haul it's a far bigger seat, extra feet of legroom. Also £20 a minute to New York would work out £18,000 for an upgrade, even Concorde didn't cost anything like that.
wiffmaster said:
We're very lucky in that my father had over 2,000,000 Airmiles (or Avios as it's now known), so we always fly business. As nice as it is, I don't think I'd ever pay however many extra thousand pounds for the sake of a few hours of comfort.
Basically same here. The other services are no doubt lovely, you get a nicer seat, nicer check-in, nicer food, nicer films, nicer trolley dollys etc. However, as nice as it all is, and there's no denying it's much nicer, it's only for a short amount of time. Sure 8 hours is a fair flight, and I know some flights can be even longer. But it's still a LOT of money to spend on having nicer stuff just for a day. I don't think I'd spend all those thousands of pounds it costs to updrade on any other single day out, not even a trackday etc.If I did have the money to spare I would probably put up with 8 hrs of economy and then spend the money saved on having a full amazing day out somewhere, like the grand prix, or a trackday, or a spa day for the wife, or go to a posh restaurant etc and still probably have change to spare.
No doubt that when you reach a certain level of wealth your views on value for money change, because whilst the service (benefit) is the same your valuation of the money (cost) has decreased for you, so the cost/benefit analysis shows it to be worthwhile. My personal circumstances mean that for me, it's not "worth it" for the short amount of time, but I respect the fact that for other people it is.
Mattt said:
WhereamI said:
Bluequay said:
Just about to book up for xmas in Oz at the end of this year. £800 each for Economy (which is a bargain over xmas) or £4350 each for Business. I think we'll spend some of the savings on nice hotels. I've bought a car over there with the savings from flying economy over the last few years 
£4350 is expensive for Australia, I rarely have to pay more than £3,000 and flying with an airline like Etihad or Emirates cuts the cost of transport and parking to the airport as well. But it is still likely to be something like £1,750 to £2,000 more than cattle class. Whether it is worth it depends on what that sort of money is worth to you.Even Economy still works out at nearly $2k for reasonable timed flights.
Having spent 15 years flying at least once per week on business, I now do everything I can to avoid getting on an aircraft.
If I do have to, business & first is nice, but I wouldn't pay my own money for the privilege (including the extra taxes, which are enough of a pisstake for Economy).
The only class I'll do anything I can to avoid is BA World Traveller Plus. I loathe the seats. They're hard and slippery, and whatever position I try to sleep in, I end up with the support for the tray thingy digging into my knee.
I would much prefer to be in the narrower economy seats than in WT+. This does tend to cause confusion when the gate staff smile and tell you you've been upgraded to WT+ and you refuse the upgrade! 
If I do have to, business & first is nice, but I wouldn't pay my own money for the privilege (including the extra taxes, which are enough of a pisstake for Economy).
The only class I'll do anything I can to avoid is BA World Traveller Plus. I loathe the seats. They're hard and slippery, and whatever position I try to sleep in, I end up with the support for the tray thingy digging into my knee.
I would much prefer to be in the narrower economy seats than in WT+. This does tend to cause confusion when the gate staff smile and tell you you've been upgraded to WT+ and you refuse the upgrade! WeirdNeville said:
I don't fly much and it's on my own money, so it's economy all the way. Modern aircraft are so much more comfortable and spacious, it's not like you "suffer" for being "cheap".
But if I flew long haul regularly, or was expected to be functional within 48 hours of landing, I think I'd want my creature comforts so long as someone else was footing the bill.
They evidently sell business class to those who don't pay for it themselves - No-one would sensibly pay ~£20 a minute out of their own pocket for a slightly bigger seat, a glass of domestic fizzy wine and a head massage unless they literally could not think of what to do with their next company directors paycheck.
I do like the suggestion that £2000 is chickenfeed though. I'd be tempted to donate it to charity and fly economy if I found myself thinking like that, just for a reality check.
No sweeping (and totally inaccurate) generalisations there then.But if I flew long haul regularly, or was expected to be functional within 48 hours of landing, I think I'd want my creature comforts so long as someone else was footing the bill.
They evidently sell business class to those who don't pay for it themselves - No-one would sensibly pay ~£20 a minute out of their own pocket for a slightly bigger seat, a glass of domestic fizzy wine and a head massage unless they literally could not think of what to do with their next company directors paycheck.
I do like the suggestion that £2000 is chickenfeed though. I'd be tempted to donate it to charity and fly economy if I found myself thinking like that, just for a reality check.
Oh no.
DJRC said:
Long haul Ive a Virgin credit card I hammer for their points, plenty in the bag now. Did Prem Econ to St Lucia last yr and out to Boston later this yr will be using the card perks to ensure Prem Econ again. No way doing long haul on econ with a wife whinging in my ear.
I flew PE with Virgin back from Orlando last summer in one of their new A330's and it was horrendous - little space in the cabin for bags, no air vents over the seats (in the middle row), the cabin was ridiculously hot, yet the cabin crew said it was cold! and the crew generally looked pissed off.The flight out in Economy had been absolutely fine. As I was paying for three of us, I was pretty miffed to have spent an extra £750 for a worse experience. Virgin completely ignored my complaint until I posted on their Facebook page and then they responded instantly.
My missus was thinking we'd go again in Feb this year, but I refused.
Deva Link said:
I flew PE with Virgin back from Orlando last summer in one of their new A330's and it was horrendous - little space in the cabin for bags, no air vents over the seats (in the middle row), the cabin was ridiculously hot, yet the cabin crew said it was cold! and the crew generally looked pissed off.
The flight out in Economy had been absolutely fine. As I was paying for three of us, I was pretty miffed to have spent an extra £750 for a worse experience. Virgin completely ignored my complaint until I posted on their Facebook page and then they responded instantly.
My missus was thinking we'd go again in Feb this year, but I refused.
We did Virgin PE to Johannesburg last year and it, too, was awful, it was a long weekend-ish in Zambia via SA, so couldn't really justify UC and thought it would be OK. It wasn't. Won't be doing that again.The flight out in Economy had been absolutely fine. As I was paying for three of us, I was pretty miffed to have spent an extra £750 for a worse experience. Virgin completely ignored my complaint until I posted on their Facebook page and then they responded instantly.
My missus was thinking we'd go again in Feb this year, but I refused.
We also did Tampa on BA PE just before Christmas - was actually OK-ish, but again, I won't be doing it again, those 777s are getting very tired, and no matter how much the crew look after you, faulty seats, screens etc, really spoil the journey. We'll most certainly do less travelling from my own wallet in future, but travel better when we do.
I am of course more than happy to do Economy on short haul, be it work or personal, but long haul, 5 hrs plus, it will be J irrespective of who is paying.
Mattt said:
WhereamI said:
Bluequay said:
Just about to book up for xmas in Oz at the end of this year. £800 each for Economy (which is a bargain over xmas) or £4350 each for Business. I think we'll spend some of the savings on nice hotels. I've bought a car over there with the savings from flying economy over the last few years
£4350 is expensive for Australia, I rarely have to pay more than £3,000 and flying with an airline like Etihad or Emirates cuts the cost of transport and parking to the airport as well. But it is still likely to be something like £1,750 to £2,000 more than cattle class. Whether it is worth it depends on what that sort of money is worth to you.Even Economy still works out at nearly $2k for reasonable timed flights.
I have flown on the A380 quite a bit recently and found economy in the lower deck forward seats, are quiet, roomy, child free and very comfortable and find it very difficult to justify paying business fares. There are several configs on the A380 and found the rear upper deck economy seats offered by Singapore airlines very good but the best is lower deck at the front as offered by Emirates.
I have recently found London/ Melbourne/Auckland/Sydney/London with Emirates (via Dubai of course) for £1295 on the a380 all the legs, to me, fantastic value and leaves loads in the budget for loads of other stuff we can do.
I have recently found London/ Melbourne/Auckland/Sydney/London with Emirates (via Dubai of course) for £1295 on the a380 all the legs, to me, fantastic value and leaves loads in the budget for loads of other stuff we can do.
Elderly said:
g3org3y said:
Economy. I'm poor.
Economy. Therefore I'm no longer poor 
We flew BA economy return to NYC and it was pretty reasonable tbh. With a decent entertainment set up the time goes fairly quickly.
The Alitalia flight to Tokyo however was a bit of shocker. Won't be using them again.
Mattt said:
Anyone know what the plan is once the Qantas/Emirates tie up goes through?
Assume that Qantas will handle the DXB-Australia legs and Emirates will handle the DXB-World legs?
Doesn't make sense to me for them both to operate the DXB-Australia route if they are a partnership.
Etihad have a tie up with Virgin Australia, both fly between Australia and Abu Dhabi and code share them which means that you have to be really careful to make sure that the flight you are on is actually Etihad because Virgin Australia aren't in the same league when it comes to quality of the flight. Maybe it will be the same with Emirates and Qantas.Assume that Qantas will handle the DXB-Australia legs and Emirates will handle the DXB-World legs?
Doesn't make sense to me for them both to operate the DXB-Australia route if they are a partnership.
Mattt said:
Anyone know what the plan is once the Qantas/Emirates tie up goes through?
Assume that Qantas will handle the DXB-Australia legs and Emirates will handle the DXB-World legs?
Doesn't make sense to me for them both to operate the DXB-Australia route if they are a partnership.
Yes, it starts on March 30th/1st AprilAssume that Qantas will handle the DXB-Australia legs and Emirates will handle the DXB-World legs?
Doesn't make sense to me for them both to operate the DXB-Australia route if they are a partnership.
Not sure what the division of flights will be but there will now be 15 flights a day from Dubai to OZ! Amazing really as quite a few will be A380's with at least 450 on board.
Edited by Kenty on Friday 18th January 08:53
I don't mind long haul economy really. Most of the time I'm on my own, book a preferred seat as soon as I can, and I can just chill out for a few hours. Always have plenty of reading material (Kindle is mega for this) just in case the IFE is on the blink.
I've flown Premium Economy once, on Virgin. It was nice enough for 12 hours back from Shanghai, but not sure I'd part with my own cash for it!
I've flown Premium Economy once, on Virgin. It was nice enough for 12 hours back from Shanghai, but not sure I'd part with my own cash for it!
I did 130,000 air miles last year all in economy, I actually find that lack of in-flight entertainment more of a concern in this class than the seat proportions. Travel inside domestic US and Business or First is actually pretty pointless (as it also is in Europe). I am Gold Star Alliance so get lounge and all the other benefits (which is worth it), I have done so much travel now 11hrs seems like a short hop so I think you get 'conditioned' after a while.
Choose your airline wisely and econmomy can still be good, of all the carriers I have used I found Singapore Airlines to be one of the best for economy. I look for routes with newer planes, problem is that mostly I use United (travel in US) and they have a nastly habit of swapping aircraft (especially out of LHR).
Choose your airline wisely and econmomy can still be good, of all the carriers I have used I found Singapore Airlines to be one of the best for economy. I look for routes with newer planes, problem is that mostly I use United (travel in US) and they have a nastly habit of swapping aircraft (especially out of LHR).
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