Flying to Australia - is business class a waste?

[Turnupe]

Looking at flying to Australia. Can get good flights with Qantas, extra leg room, luggage, in economy for £1,200. Premium Economy with Vietnam Airlines is £2,200. Or Business Class with China Eastern is £3,200.

Is it a waste of money? I am not rich. I could afford it, but seems better to save money.

It’s not a waste at all but I wouldn’t pick that airline

I’d rather go PE with Vietnam Airlines than business with China Eastern.
i fly Australia-UK at least twice a year and always happy to pay for PE (with Cathay or Singapore), but won’t pay the extra for business, although I’m always happy to take an upgrade when it’s offered!

I’m happy to ‘waste’ money on upgrades, but would not on this airline.

Have a look at the reviews on Airline Quality dot com.

It is a waste. I want it so badly not to be but it is.

Would you 1k extra a night on a nice hotel vs a shit one for one night? I wouldn't. And that's essentially what you're doing.

But I wish it wasn't true.

My advice, if you have don’t have time constraints, is to book either extra legroom economy, or PE and then do a day stopover in Singapore or Hong Kong. £200 on a hotel room and a decent sleep is way better.

Best advice.

So the difference between Quanta's economy and China Eastern Business Class is £2,100. The flight time LHR to Sydney is 21 hours.

So the way I look at it is would I be willing to sit and sleep in a crap seat for 21 hours if someone was willing to pay me a £100 an hour to do so?

I fly Etihad and pay for the extra legroom seats. They also allow you to bid for neighbour free seats and I’ve never not been successful. It’s a fraction of the price for PE and makes a lot of difference.

I would - I think the lie flat bed and extra space is worth it. We flew business class to Japan and I'm really glad we did - arrived in a much better shape.

Agree. Qantas, yes, virgin, yes, China eastern, firm no.

I’ve been to Australia twice and only just about doable in BC, I wouldn’t even consider it in economy.

I've only flown to Aus once, in economy with British Airways, and would never fly there again unless I could afford a BC seat.

We were discussing this only this morning. We do that trip regularly but came to the conclusion that we would rather endure economy and spend the money saved on something else when we got there, or on stop offs on the way or way back.

I agree with this. Have a nice stopover somewhere and do premium economy with a classy airline.

Not at all. Well worth it on that long flight. However it's often much cheaper to go from a non UK airport so you could for example save thousands by hopping over toamsterdam/ paris/ Brussels etc and going from there

I'd avoid China eastern though

I too wouldn't fly with China Eastern, nor China Southern. Check their reviews and sometimes the connections mean its a 50hr flight!!! Air China, however, is Taiwanese and fantastic.

Another option could be Air Asia from Kuala Lumpar to Aus- or possibly a European city if they still have them. They have flat beds and used to be great value. The in-laws travelled London to Melbourne (when they used to operate from the UK) and raved about it due to the great value for a flat bed. I don't think they come up on search engines so worth a look.

I've been to Australia three times, always in economy (BA, Malaysian and Cathay Pacific). It's been fine. I wouldn't pay extra for business class, the jet lag will still be brutal and it's not like you're going to get there any quicker.

Isn’t Air Asia the one where you have to take your own food?

My parents used them once to Perth and they never flew again!

I love Air China, I flew PE with them. They only book up to 16 of the 24 seats so everyone moves around and ends up with a couple of seats each and nominee reclines into an occupied seat space . On my return flight only 9 seats were booked, so I ended up with two PE bulk head seats in a set of 2 to myself and my DS had the whole row of 4 PE bulk head seats.

I have to fly to Australia often and feel anxious at the thought every time because it is such a long way & no way can we afford anything but economy. So pay for the best seats you can afford.

That said, I would never fly China Eastern even in BC.

We once flew SIA PE and it was much better, but they have doubled the price the past few years and it is no longer affordable to us.
I always do a stop over in Singapore in one direction. The other, I take a shower in a pay per use lounge (just a shower I don't pay for the lounge as well).

How much time do you have (are your retired?) if time isn’t a problem I’d pay just a bit more than that business class seat and sail there, think about it - arrive rested, get through all your reading backlog, see a few places you would never visit otherwise…. I’m fancying going via Panama Canal and the South Pacific alas I have a job

I didn't find the jetlag brutal tbh. Stayed up till 4am, got up at 11 next day and ok from there. However In economy if I spend more than about 5 hours in a seat then I ache like hell for at least 4 to 5 days

Did you fly China Eastern?

I’d go premium economy with Singapore.

I've flown to Australia and NZ in economy on Singapore and Air NZ, Premium economy on Air NZ and Business on Singapore. Only flown Qantas on internal flights.

Economy on a decent airline is bearable if you are not too big or tall, have an ability to sleep upright and no joint/back issues. It would take me at least 24 hours to recover as I couldn't sleep more than short naps

Premium economy in my opinion is OK as the cabin is quieter and there are less people around but you are still really sleeping upright and I am not sure if Vietnam Airways PE would be much better than Qantas extra leg room. It depends on the planes, look at Seat Guru and also YouTube reviews.

Business is great and now that I can afford it is the only way I will travel long haul. I eat, relax and sleep, so arrive ready to go. BUT this is business on a decent, highly rated airline, I would not pay £3200 for flight on China, I would take the Qantas flight.

I wouldn't fly China Eastern if you paid me.