Who on earth pays for 1st class flight tickets

[Gregoravitch]

Just got home from a lovely holiday from the US.

We splurged out for Premium Economy tickets and it was bliss, as you enter the aircraft we had to walk through first class and my word it was so bloody extravagant and packed, their didn't seem to be an empty seat.

Out of curiousity I had a look at the prices for the very same flight journey that we took for a first class ticket and the cheapest I could find was around 3 grand and the most expensive was 7 grand

3 bloody grand, if I could afford it I probably would but it seems horribly expensive. A return ticket would be 6 grand and that's more then our entire holiday for 4 for a fortnight cost.

Who are all these people paying these prices?

I'm also very envious, those first class seats looked very comfy

SapphireStrange Shots, I get that, but that only applies if you can afford the expensive flight AND the nicer hotels etc

Well we only can this time because we have saved like crazy and were able to buy the seats in a half-price sale. And because the place we're going to is quite cheap vs the £ (even post-Brexit slump), so the hotel costs a fraction of what it would for equivalent here.

We cut our cloth (budget) accordingly in other areas. It's certainly not a carefree purchase and we thought long and hard about the plans and sums before we went for it. It won't happen again for quite a while, either.

shovetheholly shotsfired - I think for me (and I'm only speaking personally) flying is just a horrible experience. Even in business, it's vile. No amount of lounges, free chocolates and champagne that I can't really taste makes the waiting around/security/sensation of sickness in the air/noise in the cabin/obnoxious fellow passengers seem less frustrating and annoying.

Funnily enough I posted elsewhere about how I can be quite a negative person, but when it comes to travel, I am ridiculously easily pleased. Of course I get bored and tired on a long flight, but the rest of it completely outweighs that by a country mile.

I like being pleasant and friendly to security staff at airports who more than likely get rudeness and abuse all day long; I like people-watching in airports; I like looking at the planes taking off and landing etc. And I like going on holiday to wonderful places and meeting people or seeing family or whatever I'm doing. And I can't get enough of experiencing take off and landing in a gigantic plane, it gives me a thrill!

But if you don't like flying to start with, like you do (don't? you know what I mean!) then of course it won't be enjoyable. Horses for course

See, I'm the opposite shots - pretty upbeat in life, but get me near an airport and I turn ragingly impatient. I fly three or four times a year, and I just find the whole rigmarole very wearisome. It's not that I'm afraid of flying, but more that I hate airports and the whole mundane horror of security, passport controls, being driven like sheep through pens. There is something about the non-place nature of them, the fact you could be just about anywhere (and it could be any time of day indoors), that freaks me out. I find it very generic, very dull. I am always so impatient to get to my destination - I just want to be there, exploring, not stuck in queues!

Shots, I didn't mean to make you feel that you needed to justify your spending to me or anyone else! I was just giving another point of view.

Have a lovely holiday.

As a travel agent, many people book Business/Club class for their holidays in our affluent area. First Class is a different matter, I usually look upon that as being for Celebrities or high profile people who would rather avoid a captive audience.

My DH flys a lot for his work and saved up he's rewards points and uses these when he has enough to to go 1st class. I would love to do it once but would have to be a long haugh to make it worth the expense

My parents usually go business class on long journeys (like US, India etc) - because they can afford it and they want the comfort! Why not hey if you can!! :)

We save airmiles over a couple of years and have an Amex card which gives us a 2 for 1 voucher. Once we've saved enough miles for one flight we get a matching one free. We went first class on holiday three years ago and again this year (you still have to pay airport taxes etc). On BA they bring you a cream tea, and offer to make you a bed up. It's ruinously lovely. Rest of the time we fly budget airline in Europe.

I flew to South America in business years ago to do a project. I travelled overnight Sunday, so lost half my Sunday, and got straight off the plane, showered and went straight to work.

We always travel business or first, but then we are both in our 60's working very long hours in our own business and are never able to take a holiday during the summer months. Ours is usually February and the prices are much cheaper then. Plus we are save our air miles to help out. Do we think we are any better than anyone else, hell no.

I travel a lot with work - about 50+ flights a year - and I've often been bumped up to first class. Trouble is, I do mainly short haul so never get to try out the overnight mattresses!

Mercy flights. My dad died on holiday and airline bumped mum to first for a very long return journey for some peace and quiet.

Lots of people have said that they would rather go on holiday to a nicer hotel than fork out for business or first class. For the people that I know who are actually paying £7/8k each first class ticket, it's not really about choices, they're not robbing Peter to pay Paul, as they can afford to go on holiday as many times as they want in the year and stay at 5 star hotels each time. If you can't do that, then you wouldn't pay for a first class flight I presume!

I once got fousty cheese with my meal in BA first class. It wasn't some exotic french delicacy, just plain fousty. I avoid BA like the plague these days, most of their planes are like something from the dark ages. On one flight a couple of years ago I got drowned by water from an aircon unit on take off. I was told 'that always happens on this plane'. They offered to get my clothes dry cleaned which was a great help considering I had to sit in them soaking wet for 8 hours before handing them over (I didn't). Seat was wet too. That was the last straw with that lot.

Having flown first, business and economy, first is fab, but not sure if the extra is worth it over business, business is great and economy is fine. My only issue is knowing how many friends fly business long-haul with their kids on points, I'm not sure unless I was much wealthier I would pay to fly business for myself just in case I ended up next to an unhappy child. I'm not criticising anyone who takes their child in business or first (I would take all of us if I could afford it), but it's not cheap and if it's a special treat, I would prefer to have spent the money on a better hotel room than risk feeling that I had wasted my money.

I fly first all the time. I am self-employed and the cost is billed to my clients. I'd be more profitable if I flew economy, but life is short and if I'm expected to be away from home at the drop of a hat, at least I can be comfortable and productive at the other end. I also have Amex solely for the matched flight and air-miles.

I've sat alongside a lot of rich and famous people but as they're usually foreign or young, I rely on the air stewards queuing up for selfies with them to tell me who they are .

Of course I don't think I'm better than the people in Economy. I did my time in Economy and shit hotels as a junior employee for many years.

The posters who think that BA Club in Europe is going to be a special experience are set for disappointment. A few years ago it was great, but the legroom has been reduced and is the same as Economy. You get lounge access and a bit more room around the seat but IMO it's a complete waste of money. I don't travel business class on shorthaul flights, there's no need to pay the extra.

To answer the OP's question, for longhaul travel I've paid for both business class and first class. I got used to travelling in business class when I travelled for work - the company paid of course. When I left that job I realised I didn't want to fly longhaul in economy ever again, so now I take one longhaul trip a year and either pay for it or use reward points. First class is very nice but business class on the majority of airlines is more than adequate.

I got a bump to first on a Virgin Atlantic from Joburg to London some years ago. It was amazing. I was reminded of that spoof ad from Not The Nine O'clock News where the bank teller at the end of the transaction says ' Certainly sir, and would you like to rub my tits too?'. But the most amazing thing was that it was full of nannies and their charges going back to the uk for the start of the school term. If I could afford it, I'd do it every time.

I went club class to America once and sat next to a bloke who had some horrible sinus thing going on and snorted and sniffed disgustingly through the entire flight. I'd been upgraded from economy but I'd've been really pissed off if I'd paid the extra price for the seats. Wanted to throw him out the window

The MD of the company I work at. He flies first class to business meetings, whilst his staff fly economy to the same meetings .

I've travelled Business Class when it ended up cheaper than Economy.

Airline staff

I hate to deflate people, but Club to Malaga will be a bit more foot room and only 2 in a row. BA normally do not have the proper lay flat beds for a 2 hour flight! You probably get food and drink. Make use of the business lounge at T5 though. Decent food and drink, but the chairs need replacing in places as some are a bit worn.

How do people afford business and first class? Mostly rich or business pays. In our case, Avios.

I have flown BA Club Europe a few times and Club World. We bought the CE seats in a sale and they were less than £30 difference to the equivalent economy, whilst the seats are the same as economy I enjoyed the extra side space, meal and wine, quick check in and easy lounge access. So I think it's worth it as long as the price is right!!

I'm scared of flying so will only fly on BA and if long haul will only fly with a bed that I can curl up in and have a little panicked cry we're not rich at all, I use my BA amex to build up the points and get a companion voucher. This year I have booked for next year the day the flights come out to ensure the reward flights are there and we added the children on when the sale started yesterday. This meant we got all of our flights for the same as the cost of one person in club out of sale time.

I don't think I'm better than anyone else and look with envy at people who are peaceful on planes no matter where they are sitting!!!

Air miles / upgrades / Amex offers all through dh spending many years travelling weekly to work on BA. To be fair, have only been in 1st once (took dd to NY for her 21st) but have used club quite a lot. Never paid full price though. Sometimes we've got good seats in sales. I hate flying (but do it quite a lot) and it makes me feel a bit calmer - or maybe that's just the gin in the lounge!

We flew first class on honeymoon. Dh travels a lot for work, and we almost always fly business when we go on holiday because I'm a bit of a knob and hate economy. Therefore we had a stack of air miles plus an Amex 2 for 1.

It was absolutely amazing. They set up a separate pod as a little private restaurant for the two for us to have dinner, and left all the bottles of wine we were drinking by our table so we could top up as and when, not that we got a chance to do it ourselves as they were so attentive. Unfortunately it was so good I definitely need to do it at least once again in my life!

What I would say is (long haul) business is generally worth the money but think you'd have to be extortionately rich to justify the cost of first.