How rich would you have to be to fly business instead of economy on hols?

[realhousewifeoffitzrovia]

Just checked and a long haul flight from London to NYC in business would be £4300 vs. £550 for economy i.e. it's almost 8 times more to fly business, and that's just for one person.

I can't conceive of ever being rich enough to pay that much - or maybe it's more that I just don't think there is enough value in the (admittedly very increased!) comfort of the business class seat.

I'd rather spend the money on a nice hotel or meals, or travel more often (not very green I know) but curious whether others feel differently.

What about you?

The people I know who fly business o are either
People who go abroad very infrequently but when they do it’s visiting family in Aus or similar distance and they’ll have no accommodation costs while there.
Or are rich as Croesus!

A lot of people flying business class don't pay for it themselves - clue is in the name - they charge it back to work.

But there's also lots of people who are just that rich and don't have to pick between nice flight/hotels/food etc, they have enough money to cover it all.

I can't afford business class on my own but have occasionally gotten upgrades on points etc. Wouldn't bother paying for it unless I was much, much richer haha

I usually fly business, but I barely ever pay the sticker price for it. I tend to get business flights through Avios, which DH and I build up from putting all everyday spending and costs through our Amex cards and paying it off at the end of each month.

We aren't rich but always fly business long haul which means we are typically flying 15+ hours For us the holiday begins at the airport and makes the journey so much more enjoyable. Like you say op we also don't have a lot of costs at the destinations

I’m wealthy but don’t fly business unless it’s on points.
The only time I would ever do so is if I needed to head straight to meetings when landing.

Flights don’t bother me, I’m perfectly comfortable in coach flying long haul, especially with kids but I can also sleep standing up as well so the flat bed option isn’t required!

Sometimes at certain times of the year , business class tickets come down in price : if you are willing to search for good deals. Highly recommended if its a special holiday you are saving for.
(Once got a free upgrade when flight was overbooked. Fantastic on a 9 hour flight!!)

I've flown long distance (13h flight) on a few airlines, and have found that generally those flights are comfortable enough.

I would have to be more than 8x richer to accept a more comfortable chair for a fraction of the trip to be honest.

But then I don't go for frills in travel. Poking fun at my husband because he's flying out on a trip with his parents and they've booked him 22kg luggage and a no doubt disgusting in flight meal for £360. I'm flying separately a few days later and have paid £95 for my return flights, airport parking for a week and a rucksack.

So I'm not the best to ask about spending astronomical amounts on flights. And I'd tell any staff to get to fuck if they wanted business class travel.

I fly business on long haul but I search for deals and go indirect.

My husband is so tall we need to book the fire exit seats in economy and once you've done that x2 people return that's most of the cost of a discounted business class ticket.

We got business class fares for about what we had expected economy fares to be on a transatlantic flight one time - to a less business-important city, less busy time of year for business, and as the airline was about to take out an old (OLD) plane but the new plane to replace it was delayed. It's the only time we have flown business for pleasure purposes. (I have been in business class a handful of times in 20+ years when that was the only seat available and I had to go, or seriously long haul and I needed to get started on work matters as soon as I landed).

You can sometimes buy an upgrade with airmiles, or get a preferential rate if you are a frequent flier. (Or if they need to upgrade a passenger because economy is overbooked, the airline will try and give it to their high tier status customers first if they have empty business class seats on the plane).

We only go if it's on air miles. I assume lots of other people are the same.

(We use Ryanair as often as big name carriers, very often are carry on only even for holidays, and are well known in the family for having nice rental cars on holidays as we use our airmiles to rent those - so we are not big frills people).

Most people do it on points if they are paying.

Or they charge it to work because they have a fancy job - or a moderately fancy job and the justification of having to go straight to a meeting.

I think that price is an extreme example too. You can often get business class flights for 1.5-2 x more than the normal flight. While I wouldn't do it, I can see the temptation to have a bit more space.

Air miles, points acquired with credit card and booking six months in advance. Occasionally flying indirectly can be cheaper too. I only fly business if it’s over 7 hours and a night flight.

On that route you can often get tickets for under £2k in business so it’s not a typical example of the difference. Bare in mind there is often a premium economy cabin placed between your examples too. I work part time for an airline on a just above minimum wage so the upgrades are one of the major perks. Also lots of people use points to upgrade, 2 for 1 vouchers etc.

The £4,300 seems rather steep! Most business class fares to NYC are around the £1.5k to £2k mark if you time the purchase right. Not a small amount of money, but not quite such a marked differential.

We try to go business on any flights longer than six hours but that will be for a big holiday we have saved up for a few years to go on. It really does make a huge difference, particularly on overnight flights.

I will never fly long haul again in economy. In my case it simply means I won’t go. I don’t enjoy travel enough to tolerate much discomfort.

I have flown all around the world for pleasure not business, in the early years we went everywhere in standard economy, especially when it was us plus the DC
About 5 years back we decided we would fly premium economy especially as our DC often weren’t with us, and if they were they flew economy.
We had managed a couple of very long haul trips prior to the pandemic in premium or in business on points and now we are looking to do this or pay for future flights over the 5 hour mark (outside of Europe)
In terms of family income we are not mega rich but it is 6 figures

My DM always flies business. She's over 80 and has various physical issues and if she had to fly economy then she just wouldn't fly at all. She is fairly wealthy and has several holidays a year because she doesn't know how much longer she will be healthy enough to travel and she wants the memories for when she's stuck at home. Plus, she can't take the money with her when she dies so she might as well spend it now.

We were due to fly business back from New York next month, it was 'only' £300 than standard and for the experience

I have been upgraded for free to business class a couple of times without asking. Flying alone at the time to the US to see family :) my brother flies business class all the time, he was Vice President of a global company so they paid plus he racked up so many miles he can fly for free often plus if I’m honest he is incredibly wealthy.

If I’m flying for work I fly business because work pay for it.

If by myself I’ll use points if I can to get an upgrade.

I flew business to LA and back - just before Covid - so really glad I did as it's the last flight I did since then.

Was flying out on my own with Aer Lingus who have an option for bidding for an upgrade - so economy was £700 and I bid £700 for an upgrade. Same on way back.

The economy flight was already covered by work. But even if it hadn't been it would have been worth it at that price. Flat bed to sleep on, nice food, the lounge, priority check in - loved it and would do it again.

We are planning on Japan at some point next year - so will be looking at business class for that.

@Zodlebud

The £4,300 seems rather steep! Most business class fares to NYC are around the £1.5k to £2k mark if you time the purchase right. Not a small amount of money, but not quite such a marked differential.

We try to go business on any flights longer than six hours but that will be for a big holiday we have saved up for a few years to go on. It really does make a huge difference, particularly on overnight flights.

This ^^ Pre-pandemic, I made transatlantic flights about four times a year and I never paid such a steep mark-up for business class - I have back problems, so I tend to go business at least one way so I can lie flat.

That price means that the cheaper business seats are already sold. If you'd like to fly business, look at different dates and you'll find a better deal.