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?

I fly a lot for work so accumulate air miles I can then redeem on flights.
I buy economy/PE tickets and then upgrade for a lot less money than it would cost to buy business outright.
I'll take an unnecessary stopover in X country which means the flight is suddenly half the price.

I wouldn't ever, ever pay £4k+ on a business flight to NY! You can get it for 1-2k if you know how to book it right. Also, was that figure for a one-way or a return ticket? Return is usually much cheaper when travelling long haul.

My bil and his wife fly business class to Australia every other year.
They are not well off. They are in their 60s on min wage jobs ( but bil does as much overtime as he can)
They are in social housing.
They both have health conditions. They fly to Australia to see bil daughter so no accommodation costs. They save like mad for business class so they can be comfortable. Fair play. It's how they like to spend their money and they may as well be comfortable for that flight.

I've never thought about it / looked in to it, but if the difference you have quoted is typical, I don't think I wold ever consider it, unless I was lottery winner / pop mega star / film mega star / Premier Club Footballer amount of rich.
I don't know as I haven't experienced it, but I think "value for money" applies even when you have the money in your bank account.

I fly business for work but economy with family - economy is perfectly fine if you pick / choose your airline / flight times etc

I would personally would prefer business but with DC under 10 it would be a waste of money. I can get us premium check in / lounge / early boarding / priority luggage due to airline status which helps smooth things along

but if the difference you have quoted is typical

It really isn't though. I've just looked up my next long haul flights and they're currently £450 economy or £2100 business. This includes domestic connections, plus it's at the height of the summer holidays to a fairly busy destination. I bet they were under £2k 6 months ago...

Paying 8 times the amount of an economy ticket is madness, that is practically never the case.

Aside from deals or getting it for cheap with miles, you simply have to be earning the price of the ticket every day or at most a week to make it feasible. Anyone earning 1K a day (which is shockingly not that uncommon) won't think twice about spending a few grand on the comfort and overall experience of business class.

You can fly for £1500 to NYC to Paris with "La Compagnie", the whole plane is Business class... worth every penny
or London to Montreal for around £1500 in Club Class...with Air Transat... yes there is a second short haul....

I flew business once within Europe, I was moving back to the U.K. and it worked out cheaper as business has a bigger luggage allowance!

I've flown business class three times in my life. Only as upgrades, couldn't afford it.

Once as a 10 year old when my flight from England to Ireland was cancelled at the last minute. They moved most passengers to flights at another London airport but as me and my sister were unaccompanied minors we were put on a Virgin Atlantic flight to New York that stopped in Ireland to pick up passengers (our parents were so jealous).

The second time with Air New Zealand travelling from Auckland to Melbourne after I volunteered to be bumped from an overbooked flight. They gave me a hotel for the night and a ticket in business class for the following day. I was backpacking so the day didn't make a difference anyway.

The third time was when DH and I eloped. Again, it was Air New Zealand. We had paid premium economy but they upgraded us when we checked in. I had asked the airline in advance if it would be possible for the crew to hang my wedding dress somewhere in the cabin. I suspect that might be why they flagged us for an upgrade as the crew on the plane took the wedding dress and directed us to business class without even looking at our tickets. So tempted to travel everywhere with a wedding dress now

If you book at the right time it’s not that expensive. Also we collect Avios on the majority of the things we buy. It adds up!

Its a flying bus. I cant get my head around paying business.

@Hyperion100

Its a flying bus. I cant get my head around paying business.

In business, it's nothing like a bus. You can lie down, there's privacy, bigger screens and (sometimes) more entertainment, and the food is usually many times better.

On Virgin Atlantic Upper (which is their version of business, they don't do first class on Virgin) there's an actual bar. You can go and sit at the bar and they'll mix you drinks and you can have your meal there. It's bloody marvellous.

I fully intend to never turn right getting on a plane ever again...

@EileenGC

but if the difference you have quoted is typical

It really isn't though. I've just looked up my next long haul flights and they're currently £450 economy or £2100 business. This includes domestic connections, plus it's at the height of the summer holidays to a fairly busy destination. I bet they were under £2k 6 months ago...

Paying 8 times the amount of an economy ticket is madness, that is practically never the case.

tbf, that is still almost 5x that amount, and I'm not sure I would think that good vfm. Of course, maybe I'm just tight

I think if I came into a lot of money somehow, I would book a holiday somewhere that is on the opposite side of the world (have been watching Martin Clunes progs about the Pacific Isles and that would be high on my list), and I would try out business class, then I would be able to make a judgement on if it is worth it or not, with the experience of having tried it, rather than just guessing

I’ve flown business to Japan a couple of times for around £1600 by doing a short (1 hour or so) stop over. Prior to that it’s cost me up to £800 for an economy ticket because if I’m in economy I want a direct flight as it’s so hellish. For me personally, it’s worth every penny. I’m in my 50’s now and 12 hours in economy leaves me aching for days. It’s so lovely to arrive refreshed and pain free. And also enjoy my holiday without dreading the flight home. I’ll now do economy for up to 5hours or so, after that if I can’t go business then I won’t go.

Something worth bearing in mind is that because of the way airline fares are constructed, particularly for Long haul, there can be a really really significant difference between the price of a one way fare and the price of round trip fares..

Just a quick dive into one well known UK airlines website and doing a one way dummy booking LHR-JFK can produce eye watering economy fares (£2000 ish) and even more mind boggling business fares (£7000 ish)..giving the sort of split the OP has come up with.

Do the same dummy booking with the same LHR-JFK sector (same date, same flight number) as part of a round trip booking and you can find it’s around £300 ish for the outbound economy fare and around £1500 for the same sector in business class.

FWIW the £4300 was for round trip business class on BA for random dates in March, but sounds like there are ways to get it for about half that price I guess if you are flexible with dates or don't mind non-direct flights etc. or even less if you have the points.

Ah, that makes sense. You'll very rarely find cheap business class flights a month in advance. These 'bargains' poster have described need to be booked 10-12 months before travel!

Especially if you're doing it on loyalty points, there are routes that get booked the day flights are released, because there's a very, very limited number of airmiles seats. Using companion vouchers makes it even more of a nightmare...

We're flying virgin upper class to Orlando (and back) later the year - it only cost £300pp more than premium economy for the return trip.

I think it's about timing it right to get the best deals!

Cross post with @EileenGC but yes we booked it's 13 months in advance!

Friends of ours to Australia, not because they're rich but because of health conditions that would just make cattle class really unbearable. I'll quite possibly never fly more than two or three hours again, but if I had to do long haul and could dig deep for a business fare, I think I would.

@MelTem43

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

Same

Would depend on the price differential, length of flight and time of flight.
I’ve flown business in work trips and it is a different experience totally. So 1.5 times economy flight cost I’d pay now. 2 x economy I’d pay for a long haul overnight flight.
I’d need to be earning an awful lot more to pay more than double economy.

@realhousewifeoffitzrovia

FWIW the £4300 was for round trip business class on BA for random dates in March, but sounds like there are ways to get it for about half that price I guess if you are flexible with dates or don't mind non-direct flights etc. or even less if you have the points.

Doesn’t look to me as if BAs transatlantic schedule has recovered to pre-Covid frequency so that may be effecting things (perhaps it’s a case of still reduced capacity verses possibly increasing demand?) plus in terms of booking ahead March is getting a bit adjacent so there might already be an element of the prices increasing as the departure date approaches…

..Then add in certain flights can attract a premium, due to their departure/arrival times, plus there’s often a weekend premium and..blah blah…..etc..basically there lots of variables that might explain the occasional 5k’ish spilt.

@FrangipaniBlue

We're flying virgin upper class to Orlando (and back) later the year - it only cost £300pp more than premium economy for the return trip.

I think it's about timing it right to get the best deals!

Virgin Upper is amazing, really special.

Dh and I have often flown business or first. We’re not loaded but he had a lot of points from business travel, and we use the BA Amex card whenever possible, for the points.

It does spoil you, though. Once you’ve done a long haul night flight with the luxury of a flat bed, it’s exceedingly hard to contemplate it in economy.
For short flights, I.e. almost anything within Europe, hardly worth it - I wouldn’t waste the points.