Are flight upgrades worth it to you?

[Dopplerineffect]

If you are not rich earning a modest income with a bit of play money. Not talking about the super rich.

Going away with my friend soon,looking at flights it is 2k more for first class ( I know can usually be 10k) then premium economy is another 400. She wants to go premium.

I have flown both but think its a waste for 10 hours but then when stuck in the cattlle market. I have regretted it. However it is only 10 hours.
Aghhh its a waste isn’t it?

Absolutely. I wouldn't fly with an airline who had a shared lounge. Qatar have their own lounge at Heathrow and Doha so no need to share with the people who paid or used a credit card membership to be there. Gatwick lounge was mainly people who thought they were Towie because they paid twenty quid. Those are the people we avoid generally. I guess that's what the extra money normally protects you from.

Agree BA not worth the money. Recently flew Business: lovely staff, filthy cabin and seats, food nothing special.

I had a dirty and very shabby cabin in a 1st class cabin with BA - it was a flight from The US - the cabin crew came around offering compensation before anyone actually complained. I thought it was really bad of the company not to tell us beforehand that there would be a problem with the standard or the cabin. We would have changed our flights if we had known.

There was bits of squished food around my seat - that would be bad enough in ANY cabin.

Oh some nasty snobbery there @JJS888 . Not classy!

Just remember, we are all human, no one person is better than anyone else! You are not special or better because of a number in a bank account. Money cannot buy kindness, humility or class.

I fly first and business, what can I do to be protected from attitudes like your?!

Not a lot sadly. But at least you don't have to look at me. And ditto.

I thought it was really bad of the company not to tell us beforehand that there would be a problem with the standard or the cabin

Yeah that's what they do now, and any complaints would be met with, "Well it was your choice to fly" etc.

Remember, flying in any cabin class, we're still breathing in each other's recycled farts

Does anyone know if its possible to get an upgrade on a package holiday flight at the airport? We are going to Dominican Republic soon and the flight back is a night one. I cannot see how to upgrade for one leg only. (its with First Choice).

nightsky Depends on the carrier. With United and SAS I can upgrade when I check in if there is space. SAS won't allow my DC in business so I don't bother with them. With United I'm nearly always out of luck because the flights are full to the point where I'm lucky to get a seat at all on the plane.

BA have been a nightmare so many times that I hope your carrier isn't them. If it's Delta or another American airline you will be able to upgrade on the screen when you check in if seats are available.

Thanks supermum The airline is Tui.

I've never flown with Tui! Sorry I can't help you but lots of people here will have.

With some time switching between air miles accounts I’ve used our miles to book DH and I in business class to Quebec to see in laws and then onto Boulder to see SIL in September.

DT’s want to go skiing in February so more checking what flights I can get on our miles points.

I seem to be in the minority but I like airport lounges. Less keen on those in the US but some of those in the Far East are lovely. I even like the BA lounge at Terminal 5 Heathrow!

Lounges are fine but I wouldn't upgrade for them. I sadly don't have the funds to travel business but have done in the past for various reasons. Would I pay for it? Totally depends on whether there is a good deal and whether it would detract from hotel or spending money.

How do you get points? Is it through the BA Amex card and can you use them for all airlines? Is it complicated and how much do you need to spend in order to be able to travel somewhere business class?

All advice welcome!

European and US classes are different.

For short-haul then not generally worth an upgrade to bus (no PE short haul usually). In European short-haul you don't get any extra leg room, you just get the middle seat free in a row of 3, and food on china. So you will be marginally more comfortable but won't make much difference. Some Bus short-haul have even scrapped the empty middle seat, think it's scandinavian. Don't see what the point is now.

Long-haul - PE will get you slightly more leg room (more like an emergency exit row), slightly better food, maybe an amenities bag.

Business Long haul is a complete step up - usually (not always so check carefully) lie-flat beds, which is the main difference. If you can afford it, do it, it's brilliant. The rest of Business is just trimmings like headphones, better food, drink before take-off, wide seats and privacy, pods sometimes, so you may not have a neighbour, lounge access.

First (not US)- never been, but DH has, and says it's lovely but not worth the additional £££ over Business.

I've only travelled on a charter flight once, middle-haul, but it was all economy, and the most cramped economy I've ever been in. Grim.

We have credit cards with the airlines which give us the most flexibility on flights which are useful to us. We travel regularly for holidays and my family live in Europe and DH’s in the US and Canada.

We put everything on credit cards- absolutely everything and pay it off in full each month so no interest charges. I travel frequently for work in business class so collect additional miles there. DH pays for everything for his work on the credit cards and this amounts to 000’s.

It’s quite a discipline to use a credit card for everything- I pay DC’s Uni fees and student halls bills (this mounts up), all the food shopping, petrol, lunch and coffees etc. We have 000’s of miles and keep checking which airlines are offering what flights or upgrades.

Airline lounges are different from Prestige etc, where you can pay. Airline lounges are for business/first class, and very frequent flyers so are usually fairly empty, good food and service, and a nice quiet place to work or relax. Some have massages, showers etc too.

The lounges you can pay to access are more crowded.