WWYD: Longhaul air travel for OAPs

[creampuff]

Here's a "what would you do question".

I'm importing my mum from Sydney to London for about 2 months. Shes in her mid-80s, health quite reasonable although she has quite bad arthritis.

She is stopping off in the Philippines for about 2 months to visit relatives.

I'm buying separate tickets Aus-Phils and Phils-UK. I've already bought the Philippines-UK ticket. It's in business class. It was expensive (well actually relatively cheap for biz class, but still expensive). Last time she flew here economy she was seriously messed up for a week afterwards and didn't fully recover for another week after that. She doesn't really appreciate business class, but I was worried enough after the last 24-hour economy flight that I won't put her in a flight that length in economy again.

I haven't bought the Aus-Philippines ticket yet. I can get economy for A$1000 or business for A$2,400 (divide by 1.5 to get to GBP). This leg is "only" 8 hours each direction. She's done it within the last 2 years in econo and didn't seem that bad afterwards.

I'm not made of cash. What would you buy?

[miln0039]

A$1,400 extra to look after your Mum? I'd probably stretch to if if I could manage.

[creampuff]

Oh I should elaborate: she's over just now in the Philippines at the moment for 2 weeks on a separate trip - her brother/my uncle died. She went econo on this trip but maybe the loss of her brother made her forget about the flight. Anyway it's not $1400, it's $1400 on top of paying this last minute ticket plus the other Phils-UK ticket, I'm running out of cash else I'd come up with the biz ticket without worrying too much about it

[miln0039]

creampuff said:

Oh I should elaborate: she's over just now in the Philippines at the moment for 2 weeks on a separate trip - her brother/my uncle died. She went econo on this trip but maybe the loss of her brother made her forget about the flight. Anyway it's not $1400, it's $1400 on top of paying this last minute ticket plus the other Phils-UK ticket, I'm running out of cash else I'd come up with the biz ticket without worrying too much about it

Ah - I wouldn't leave yourself short over it - economy isn't that cramped and having a business flight half the way will still take a lot of the strain off I am sure.

[Simpo Two]

Forgive me if this sounds harsh but does she have no funds of her own to help ease your burden?

[c7xlg]

"economy isn't that cramped "

Depends how tall she is!! I think Economy is VERY cramped. But saying that, 8 hours is very different to the 14+ hours it will be from Phillipines to UK

[miln0039]

c7xlg said:

"economy isn't that cramped "

Depends how tall she is!! I think Economy is VERY cramped. But saying that, 8 hours is very different to the 14+ hours it will be from Phillipines to UK

If it's with a decent major airline I struggle to call economy "cramped". It might not be as luxurious as your lounge at home, but it's not third world. If you'd said the issue was with the other people in economy and the fact all manners are left on the ground....I'd have agreed fully

[Chrisgr31]

I assume premium economy is not an option?

Whether economy i cramped on not depends on the aircraft. We flew to South Africa with SAA at Easter and the space in economy was relatively generous.

[c7xlg]

miln0039. Sorry I TOTALLY disagree. I find economy on ANY airline VERY cramped. I'm guessing you are not that tall. At 6'5" my knees are pretty much touching the back of the seat in front when sitting bolt up right on all economy seats I've ever sat in. Emergeny exit seats obvisouly help massively but no way to gurantee getting them.

To put this in context I'm 38 and have flown an estimated 1,000,000 miles or so on a wide variety of airlines in all clases (BA 1st through to Thomnson charter economy) so I think I'm well positioned to comment.

[TheEnd]

What was the nature of the two weeks of recovery post-flight?
Trying to tackle that might be the key.

[miln0039]

c7xlg said:

miln0039. Sorry I TOTALLY disagree. I find economy on ANY airline VERY cramped. I'm guessing you are not that tall. At 6'5" my knees are pretty much touching the back of the seat in front when sitting bolt up right on all economy seats I've ever sat in. Emergeny exit seats obvisouly help massively but no way to gurantee getting them.

To put this in context I'm 38 and have flown an estimated 1,000,000 miles or so on a wide variety of airlines in all clases (BA 1st through to Thomnson charter economy) so I think I'm well positioned to comment.

I'm 6'2" so hardly a midget!! I'm 25 and haven't counted the number of miles I've flown accurately, but excluding European destinations I'm about about 250,000 miles - predominantly with Delta and BA. I don't find economy the worlds most luxurious experience by any means, and if I'm honest I avoid it to fly Premium Economy or Business as much as I can. The main reason for moving though is to escape the sheer volume of people in economy.

I appreciate why at 6'5" you might feel it more cramped than I do however.

[Chrisgr31]

c7xlg said:

miln0039. Sorry I TOTALLY disagree. I find economy on ANY airline VERY cramped. I'm guessing you are not that tall. At 6'5" my knees are pretty much touching the back of the seat in front when sitting bolt up right on all economy seats I've ever sat in. Emergeny exit seats obvisouly help massively but no way to gurantee getting them.

Most of use are not 6' 5" and under the law of averages I'd be bloody surprised to find the OPs mother is 6' 5"!

[King Herald]

c7xlg said:

miln0039. Sorry I TOTALLY disagree. I find economy on ANY airline VERY cramped. I'm guessing you are not that tall. At 6'5" my knees are pretty much touching the back of the seat.....

Well I TOTALLY disagree. I'm a four foot tall midget, and find LOADS of legroom in economy.

Jeez......

[King Herald]

creampuff said:

I haven't bought the Aus-Philippines ticket yet. I can get economy for A$1000 or business for A$2,400 (divide by 1.5 to get to GBP). This leg is "only" 8 hours each direction. She's done it within the last 2 years in econo and didn't seem that bad afterwards.

I'm not made of cash. What would you buy?

I'm a bit of an expert on uncomfortable long flights, having flown Canada - London - Hong Kong - Manila - Singapore - London - Singapore - Manila - Japan - Detroit - Canada all in the last five weeks, in economy.

I can assure you that all long haul flights in economy are pretty miserable. If you can get economy-premium, or whatever version your airline of choice has, it will make a hell of a difference. Business class would be nice, but for 8 hours not strictly necessary.

You also HAVE to make sure you book her an aisle seat on-line as early as you can. I always pick aisle if possible, as you can get up at your leisure and stretch your legs, have a good walk around, go to the bathroom etc.

Whereabouts in the Philippines is she going? I live there myself.

[creampuff]

The only direct flights are on Qantas or Philippine Airlines and for that route, it is econo or biz only, there is no premium economy cabin. PE options on other airlines would add at least 4 hours (or 50%) to the trip time plus the stress of a transit stop so I think it is a no go.

It's a shame the cheap tickets don't allow you to mix biz and economy or I'd fly her econo on the way out and biz on the way back, since the way back is an overnight flight on both Qantas and PAL.

I've done _lots_ of econo longhaul flying myself and find it pretty uncomfortable, but 8 hours is fine. It's the long flights through a lot of time zones that mess you up. OTOH I'm not in my 80s like my mum is.

I'm leaning towards buying the cheaper economy ticket... I asked my mum about it and she seemed ok with it although I did also say I was a bit strapped for cash...

Edited by creampuff on Thursday 18th July 17:34