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.

Oh god yes. Snoring farting men!

I’m coming close to booking business class on the way out at least! It took nearly a week for my swollen legs and ankles to go fine as we were always on the move. My hips ached like hell too. I couldn’t move them - so what swaying me is pain - if I’d time I might country hop but I’m not doing Australia economy again, I’d rather not go.

Something I looked at in Skyscanner prior to the war in the Middle East, was flying to Dubai or Doha economy so about 7.5 hours and then business for the Dubai to Sydney trip about 14 hours, this saved around £1200 on the cost of the flight. So depending if there are other stopover options or if you are not going for a while, this may be worth investigating.

If you look at the Qantas and BA direct services that do LHR-SYD with a Singapore transit (i.e. no aircraft change) the sector timings are similar to the above but the other way round, so to speak, - LHR-SIN tends to be about 12:30, maybe a bit more, then another 7:30 'ish SIN-SYD.

Down side might be there's not usually much time for a leg stretch on the transit, and no doubt via the Gulf will be cheaper, especially for the foreseeable future.

I’m in Australia, and just don’t understand your options.

I wouldn’t touch Qantas/BA. No idea why you are throwing out Vietnam, China Airlines etc, don’t touch with a ten foot pole.

Look at middle eastern airlines, Etihad, Emirates, Qatar, Or Singapore is a really good option.

Is it a waste? God no! For me it would be a necessity but I’m not familiar at all with the airlines you’ve mentioned. It’s Emirates and Singapore airlines Ive flown going to New Zealand

We went business class to Australia with Air India and it was decent, not great like Singapore/Qatar but we did get lie-flat beds. We could have gone with Vietnam Airlines for less money and didn't, possibly for some sort of subtle racism or belief that it would be "communist"-level service, but I've since seen some really good reviews and vlogs and I think I would try them next time.

As to whether it's worth it, I think it depends on how much time you want to spend recovering from jet lag. On recent trips heading east where we have (a) gone business and (b) arrived in the evening, we have gone straight to bed on arrival and been in decent shape from the next day. But if we were going for 6 weeks and had nothing planned for the first 2 or 3 days we might want to save the money. (Compared to business, I'm not sure that premium economy is worth the substantial extra cost over regular economy.)

I used to work in tourism so I’ve traveled in economy and business class a fair bit. Not worth the money in my opinion.

For long haul we always book economy, extend the holiday by an extra day, book a nice hotel for the first two nights, and assume that we will just stay at the hotel on day 1 to relax from the flight and start adjusting to the time difference. So much better overall than businesses class, and a fraction of the price.

The last time I flew economy overnight I arrived broken. I can’t sleep, I ache like a bitch, my knees hurt and it’s horrible. I think one’s ability to sleep is the major thing. I’d never do it again.

The answer is always ‘would you miss £2000 or is it simply pin money?’£2000 goes pretty far in my world.

Imagine if someone said you had to stay in your living room for 24 hours. You have a tv and music and you will be fed given alcohol and snacks when you want. You have a chair. It reclines a bit.

BUT for $2000 you can get a tiny camp bed instead. It’s not very comfy. Teeny pillow. But you can have your feet up. The food you get given is a bit better. The service is a bit better.

pretty sure most people would stick with the former

Nope!

Some of us don't pay £2k either. I went to Australia and returned from NZ for £1350 on Qatar which is a decent airline

Heathrow to Singapore in business class was wonderful. l then spent two days in Singapore, then flew on to Perth, which is just over 5 hours, so not really worth the additional outlay.

No it's not a waste of money if you can afford it. It is an investment in comfort and stress reduction because it is a very long way to Australia. I agree with the comments made about choice of airline.

@pontivex is wrong - one of the key aspects of business class is more space so you are not in close proximity to strangers. It eliminates totally the problems of being crammed right next to a person who is unpleasant for whatever reason - smelly, sweaty, too fat for their seat spilling into your space. People in confined spaces tend to get on each others nerves more so for this reason business class tends to be a calmer and more restful environment. Sometimes you do get children and screaming babies but it is far less common.

For the best airlines, business class is really much more comfortable and the service is great - appreciate this may be a problem currently as many of the best ones connect via the middle east hubs - Eithiad, Emirates.

It really adds to the holiday experience and becomes something if not more enjoyable at least something that is less of a hell to be endured.