Do you feel like you’re wasting money flying business class?

[falindra]

I fly with work and get biz. So it’s hard to go back to normal and fly economy. We earn decent salaries but no way would we ever spend £2-3k of our own dosh on a flight.

We religiously collect avios and upgrade ourselves. But even then the taxes go up so we’re spending the airmiles plus another say £400 in taxes. We take home around £7k a month so £800 in taxes just to fly business class is a lot of money to us.

does anyone else feel the same?

Pretty sure we booked in Feb/March time!

I’ll slum it in cattle class if it’s short haul but anything over 4 hours and I’ll need to upgrade. If I can’t afford to do that I simply don’t go.

Travel is such a trial these days that I couldn’t stand 10 hours with my legs wrapped round the seat in front with junior kicked the back of my seat and a baby two rows back screaming it’s lungs off.

I get more Victor Meldrew as I get older I’m afraid.

@user1471548941 thank you!

Ive flown business class a lot and have never once felt like it was a waste

For me it depends on the length of the flight and the difference in cost. Sometimes you can get a fairly reasonable deal on business class flights but I don’t have the money to spend an extortionate amount on them if there are no deals to be had.

There’s no way I’d want to fly to somewhere like Australia in economy. I’d rather save up and go in 10 years’ time. I generally view premium economy as the best compromise for a single flight anywhere from 7-12 hours. Often it’s not considerably more than economy.

I don’t particularly enjoy flying and I find it a much better experience being able to sleep, get out of my seat when I need to without asking others to move, having the lounge access (particularly when there are multiple legs and you’re in a different time zone so just want to relax).

I feel the same about hotels. I’d rather go away once every couple of years and stay in a 5 star hotel than go a few times a year and stay in a 2 star. If I’m going on holiday I want it to be better standard than what I have at home. I don’t mind so much for a night or weekend away but if it’s my main holiday I want to do it right. Each to their own I suppose and for some people cost isn’t an issue.

We got a great deal once during the BA premium sale for business class flights plus a top hotel in Dubai. The sale was on in between the Christmas / New Year period.

For me, no. I value quality over quantity. I normally wait for sales to book business class seats if I can’t pay with points. I haven’t flown economy long haul since 2019 and I really love the comfortable business class brings. Direct aisle access, less queuing, not worrying about someone climbing over you while you’re trying to sleep! I understand not everyone is the same but I wouldn’t fly economy now unless it was the only option.

I feel the same way too. I’m going to Australia in February and there’s no way I would do it in economy. I can fortunately afford to stay in a nice hotel so it’s not like I’m compromising!

DH and I have always flown business class for work and yet would never pay for it for holidays. Would rather spend the money on something else, or even just save it towards an earlier retirement, than spend that much on a business class flight

To be fair we have only just realised we have a stash of Avios to use so I suppose that might change things. Although seem to be near impossible to use if you are tied to school holidays and need 4 tickets. Anyone know if they expire??

Avios do expire if you don’t collect / spend for 36 months.

It's easier to use them in part payment than for a whole ticket

Ooh really

ok good tips thanks

some might be quite old so sounds like we need to get on it

How do you collect avios points ?

Irritated I think various Amex cards will earn avios as you spend. Ours are from DH’s work flights though.

I don’t think the points have a shelf life (iyswim), it’s the account that you need to keep active.

So if you haven’t earned / spent any points for 36 months the whole account expires.

You can keep your account alive by buying something with Avios points from a shopping partner if need be.

You just need to join the BA Executive Club.

https://www.britishairways.com/travel/execenrol/public/en_gb?campaignCode=COLLAV

We are clever with our Avios and I hate flying in economy. £400 in taxes if you're in business class is a bargain!

But it's said very matter-of-factly. I'm the same. I've turned down free long haul trips (with a friend who is cabin crew) as I would rather not go than fly in economy. Not being smug or gloaty. I would honestly rather not go.

Ah gotcha Sabrina thank you.

Tailfeather what do you think the public response would be if a Royal or Boris Johnson said it?

Hubby and I are retired now and comfortable. We’ve done business short haul but I don’t see the point. Previously we traveled economy + for long haul but now we’ve decided that we deserve to be comfortable and have booked business for our upcoming holiday. It really depends on what you can afford.

I will happily pay more for travel accommodation as I always want to enjoy and feel comfortable in whichever place I'm visiting, but flights are one of those things I feel like is a waste to overly spend on.

However, I usually book an extra seat for comfort. Say myself and my husband (who's very tall and broad, so finds airplane seats and the lack of space very uncomfortable) are travelling together, I will usually purchase seat A (window) for myself and seat C (aisle) for my husband. I will then make a separate booking (the cheapest kind there is), and book seat B (the middle) so we have the entire row to ourselves. I prefer this option to paying for business class or first class.

We flew first class to Costa Rica and home - it was an experience and we would 100% do it again on a long haul flight!

I would think that would be a mistake PR-wise! But I would completely understand and agree if they admitted it anonymously on a forum. If you can't be honest here where can you be?!

No. I never regret it. But then I wouldn’t do it if I ever had to think twice about it. We all have different priorities in life and business class travel is one of mine.