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

I fly at lot with work.

I assume the OP is referring to Virgin given the reference to Prem Econ.

My work pays for PE level flights but I have so many air miles now I nearly always use them to bump my ticket to Upper Class.

It's nice - no denying it. The lounges at Heathrow and LAX are lovely and it's bloody bliss to get some proper sleep on the way back on the Friday Red Eye back to the UK.

Pagwatch - you've posted about that before I think?

It was a really heartwarming story - especially your DM's reaction when she realised you'd booked first class

Also, OP, you will not have walked through first class to get to premium economy. You always turn left to get to first or go up the stairs on a jumbo. No-one walks through first! Turning right will be Business/Club seats, then premium economy, then economy. On many flights we have used, Club is full! I agree upgrading to Club Europe can be good value.

When we use Avios, we usually use our companion flight, and we pay the tax but that often means we get return Club worldwide for about £1000 for two of us. Last time Rio and before that China, Japan, Cape Town and India. Off to the USA in October. It makes travelling bearable!

We always fly PE (but it's only once or twice a year).

We have a stack of air miles but never seem to find any decent upgrade deals.

This time we are flying Upper Class because the price difference was negligible, despite being an August weekend flight! It was the same cost one way as we'd previously paid for an economy flight. Could be an error but it was a no brainer for us and I can't wait. We wouldn't be paying £8,000 for them though which is the price we've had quoted previously...

I flew long haul first class alone with a 2 and 4 year old.

They had dinner whilst watching a film, then into pjs, teeth brushed and I settled then in the lie flat beds. 8.5 hours later, I was shaking them awake for landing.

We do it on miles but quite honestly, given that kind of experience, the cost seems worth it

Good point bojo

No one walks through first class.

Also, OP, you will not have walked through first class to get to premium economy. You always turn left to get to first or go up the stairs on a jumbo. No-one walks through first! Turning right will be Business/Club seats, then premium economy, then economy.

That isn't true. On some BA flights for example they all board from the front and everyone walks through 1st class. Believe me! As a regular 1st class BA flyer I can assure you (as I did earlier in the thread) that this does happen occasionally. Many planes have 2 doors- 1 for 1st and 1 for everyone else but sometimes the 1st door at the front is used for everyone.

Good point bojo. No one walks through first class.

Yes they do. On the BA flight from LHR to Oman for example. It stops in Abu Dhabi (or did until this summer) and everyone who boards does so through the 1st class cabin. That isn't the only example. I have seen everyone board through 1st in Mumbai and Hong Kong.

Enjoy/Bojo

Agree. I've passed through PE to get to UC but never from Econ on a transatlantic flight.

For a hotel, the luxury 5 star version might be £200 pn, whereas 3/4 star could be around £100 pn.

A decent Hilton is £200 a night. A luxury 5 star is double that in most countries.

I work in a pub and a couple came in the other night and asked for an Italian beer, as they were not ready to give up the holiday vibe yet. Fair enough, got them a Peroni each. Then overheard them talking to a friend saying that they were in business class and how bad it was that there wasn't even a curtain separating them from economy! 'They were right behind us it's just not right'! Snobby bastards!

OP, I don't know who you flew with but if it was BA their seats are absolutely archaic compared to other national carriers. And their business class with the plank of wood footrest you have to fold down??? What an embarrassment for a company that used to be 'the' airline every other airline tried to emulate.

Who are the people paying the prices for business and first? All sorts of people really. A right mixed bag of tricks. And Why do I do it? Well that would be because I'm at the stage in life when I can, and I like being really comfortable when I travel. So much so that even though I can get cheap flights because of the jobs 2 of my children do I don't make use of the facility because it could mean I'd end up in economy if the flight is full elsewhere. It does mean though that I can pay for a ticket and end up sitting in a cabin where there are empty seats I could have had with family travel facility. But I just want take the chance because I won't to get off the plane walking upright and not feeling like a corkscrew. I also don't want to take a week to get over my journey either. I'm too old for all that now even though I'm still a young thing at 58.

*Good point bojo

No one walks through first class*

Not true.

It depends on the carrier.

For Virgin Atlantic I've never gone through UC to get to PE or E.

For Delta I've been in FC and had E passengers walk past.

Never flown BA - so no idea there :-)

For Virgin Atlantic I've never gone through UC to get to PE or E.

You wouldnt on a standard plane. On planes with an upstairs I think that the stairway is at the back of UC (I always chose downstairs as near the bar) and so as a PE in the bubble you would walk through UC.

Actually thinking about it then it is the same on BA. The stairs to business class are at the back on 1st on some planes.

That would make sense Spring - I don't recall having been on a VA "double decker".

When I had a 'real job' I used to get first class and a chauffeur driven car (usually someone from the place I was going in a works car).

It would be work to plane, sleep on plane, sleep or problem solve in car, work till problem was fixed, sleep in car, sleep on plane back to work.

If I had to stay over it would be a microwave meal + flat or room above whatever I was fixing/solving.

Not glamorous at all, and it meant that the business could maximise my work load.

Ah, first class is so last year.

Flying private is where its at.

Ah, first class is so last year. Flying private is where its at.

Only if you enjoy tiny planes, often with a propellor.

The VA double deckers (747, which are full deck plus bubble) have different configurations. The first few I went on (NY route I think) had all PE or UC upstairs. There was definitely UC at the front, and you walk through PE to get to it.

The one we usually travel on is PE then UC to the far left, economy to the right. The bubble upstairs is a PE/E split.

Sometimes it's worth it to get a sleep. When we take our 2 year old into first, we get a lot of dirty looks from people who think they've paid for the right to be in a child free cabin. Luckily our little one is pretty good and they're all smiles getting off the flight

We normally go business or upper long haul so the kids can sleep, for me it's worth every penny, but have never been first and am happy with economy 5 hours or less

We use miles and we've flown first class 6 times long haul and business countless times. The people around us are usually pretty normal, mostly business people and wealthy older folks (60+). Only once has there been a cabin full of New York Socialite-type ladies who had a been to Europe for the weekend, and on the last business flight I was on there was a footballer and WAG. I don't know exactly who they are but she was stunning.

BA first is one of the poorer experiences I've had. The ground service is non-existent outwith the lounge. On other airlines we've been driven about in those golf buggy things, had a personal assistant, that sort of thing. The best one ever was Lufthansa who boarded everyone else onto the plane, then came to fetch us from the first class terminal (yes, an entire TERMINAL for first class) and then drove us out across the Tarmac to the plane in a Porsche It was surreal.

I've just arrived in New York for a holiday with my husband for his 50th birthday. We flew business class on BA/American Airlines and doing the same on the way back. We paid cash so no avios upgrade and only Blue on BA Exec Club (will be Bronze after our return leg). If you do our research - it is possible to get really cheap business class seats (ours less than a grand per person!). We flew BA to Verona last year - we live in Scotland so more expensive for us to fly than those in the South East. The return journey from Verona to London was cheaper in business class than economy so naturally we booked business class - get the business baggage allowance for the 4 legs of the journey so the tent and sleeping bags came with us! Plus access to the BA lounge on the return. Club Europe is hardly worth shouting about but it's an example that it can be done. That Edinburgh Verona trip inc BA with a business class sector was cheaper than flying Easyjet Edinburgh - Milan.

We splurged on our honeymoon on our flight to/from the US and Paris. Other than that, I'd say frequent fliers with the miles for an upgrade and people who are traveling for business. I've worked at places where if the flight is more than X hours long, you get to ride business/first class.