Reply With QuoteDepends on airline too to an extent. Some economy are better than others. Premium economy is usually a good bet but ofcourse business is decent if you can get a good offer.
Economy 8 hours
Premium economy 10 hours
Upper class 12 hours
Everyone has different views on flying long haul. Some want the cheapest seat, other want total luxury and then there is somewhere in between. Obviously money plays a factor for most, though I know people with a lot of money who wouldn't dream of paying more than the cheapest fare and others without a pot to wee in so to speak, that pay way above their means.
So taking the financial aspect out of it, you have 1 flight but 3 different times, which do you chose?
Comfort? Time? Or somewhere in between?
Last edited by Devonian; 13th October 2016 at 12:58.
Depends on airline too to an extent. Some economy are better than others. Premium economy is usually a good bet but ofcourse business is decent if you can get a good offer.
I fly to Thailand once or twice a year.
"Personally" I prefer to go with a direct flight........I like to leave Heathrow in the evening time (though In January Im flying lunch time!?)
Coming home.......I also get the early morning flight fro Bangkok (00.30 ish) arrving into Heathrow about 7 in the morning...giving me plenty of time to get home to South Wales.
I always fly economy........
Everybody is different though........Some will never ever fly cattle class! I cant afford to fly Business...........(well I probably can...but cant justify to myself paying an extra £1200 ish !).
It all depends on where you are flying from. how long it takes you to get to the aiport etc etc
I flew to Bangkok 2 weeks ago.........left my "preffered times"............Though when Im going in January.........As i mentioned I will be getting the lunch time flight from Heathrow.......arriving in Bangers early morning..................
Horses for courses!
Left turn always.
It can depend on direction of travel. (Assuming self-funded)
To the U.S. economy direct. Back from the U.S. premium/business.....but still direct.
The reverse if going East.
If I'm alone premium economy is fine.
With the wife and two sprogs I would get business. Mainly paid for by airmiles.
I have never turned left except when somebody else has paid for it or I've had a lucky upgrade. Nice though it is, I just can't bring myself to pay more than economy when I think what watch(es)I could buy instead. I fly regularly to Malaysia on MAS. Their economy class on the A380 is comfortable, their seat pitch allows decent legroom and they allow young families to board first.
I'll happily pay far more for a direct flight than one that involves a transit somewhere. I don't generally mind which class, but I fly frequently enough with Star Alliance airlines to have a loyalty status that gives an upgrade to business more often than not so I book economy.
I would choose the Upper Class option in this scenario, assuming that it is still a direct flight.
Last edited by Mr Curta; 13th October 2016 at 14:18.
I tend to just go with economy, although if taking the toddler then we'd try to pay for bulkhead seats to have a play area. Got upgraded to premium when on honeymoon and had an extra bit of width but didn't think it made much difference otherwise and wouldn't bother again unless it was free.
Would love to try first class, but in the real world I'd fly economy and use the money saved to have 2 extra holidays :)
The OP said 'taking the financial aspect out of it'.
I'd rather spend an extra 4 hours flying in luxury any day. Surprised some others wouldn't.
I'm the complete opposite. I view the holiday as starting when I leave my front door, so I'd refer one holiday going business class.Originally Posted by wombleh
Each to their own though.
Looks like we have luxurious tastes on the forum
We are going to HK next month, flying Economy going out but spoiling ourselves on the way back in Business Class all flights with Qatar on the Dreamliner
I think it depends how your daughter sleeps. Last time I flew to singapore with my daughter who was just under 2 we flee economy and although we could have got her ticket at the sub 2 rate we paid for an extra seat. At that age she was too big for the bulkhead cot and even in the extra seat my wife and I didn't really sleep because my daughter moves a lot as she sleeps. Next time we'll look to get at least one business class seat for one of us and one for our daughter as that way we'll all be able to sleep. I have found night flights best as otherwise she gets bored and wants to move around too much. She's already done a few longish haul flights to singapore and back and when she was younger and could fit in the bulkhead cot in economy it was fine, but I'd say over two or near abouts they won't fit well enough to sleep through the flight.
I fly long haul a lot and I usually go with economy. If you time the previous couple of days sleep right and the flight right (with the aid of some sleeping pills) you can spend most of the time flying asleep and also have less jet lag on the other side. Spend the extra money on the holiday, or get a new watch, after all if you're asleep then comfort hardly matters.
Dont fly long haul any more but when i did it was allways economy the price differential was never worth it in my opinion
Short-haul, it's a no-brainier. Flying to Europe, we'll always take the shortest flight. Business isn't much better on these flights anyway, and I'd rather get to the destination quickly, with less time travelling. Long-haul, they're a world apart - hence the OP question.
Once you get over 5/6 hours, especially overnight, it becomes very uncomfortable in economy (I can barely sleep in a chair, even reclined), so we generally go business (ideally upgrading with points, or at least getting a decent deal by booking a fair time in advance - I don't think too many people pay full price for business class tickets when it's for a holiday). There is a lot to be said for being able to lie flat, and given that I'm neither tall nor fat, I can sleep pretty well the seats, especially after a few glasses of wine. Arguably, you don't enjoy the amenities of the cabin, but sleeping for 6/8 hours of a 10+ hour flight make it very doable.
Day flights are a bit different - it's still pretty claustrophobic in economy for that amount of time. I'd possibly say that the middle option makes sense there - 10 hours in PE is probably far more pleasant than economy for 8, as I also think the food is better. (Not tried PE though, but I've flow domestic first in the US, which seems quite close to international PE).
PE probably makes more sense than another 2 hours in business/upper, but the gap between PE and business is still pretty significant. You have far more room, both in the seat, and to move around the cabin; you have a very high crew/passenger ratio, so service is very good; and the food/drink are pretty palatable. I'd still probably sacrifice a shorter journey for a more comfortable one.
Does anyone use credit cards that accumulate air miles per usage? My brother in law uses his for every Bill and even mortgage payment, but you must clear it at the end of the month as the interest rates are huge!! But by doing that he claims to get a round trip business class flight from the UK to Orlando every year.
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If someone else is paying or you have accumulated the miles then Business or First all the way (long haul) must be the way to go.
I fly business for work when going long haul, and its lovely, but i have to say for a day flight i wouldnt spend my own money to go business.
Night flight yes as i cant sleep in cattle class
Comfort over time on long haul.
I flew business for the first time a couple of years ago, and once you've done it you never want to go back!
The difficulty is when flying somewhere with the family, paying for business class seats for the wee kiddies seems a bit excessive, but I don't want to go back to turning right so I'll just have to save a bit more!
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Last edited by paule23; 14th October 2016 at 11:48.
I have generally found that even though I'm over 6 foot, cheap and cheerful is sufficient. Different story on coaches though!
I thought turning left was business?
Have always flown Business with work and privately when long haul, occasionally been upgraded to First which is a nice gesture of course.
Recently discovered Lufthansa Premium Economy when Business was fully booked and had no other choice due to a fixed schedule and was surprised how good it was to be honest.
I did LHR to HK Economy years ago and at one point I simply wanted to get off and walk !
I fly 18 hour flights to the Falklands and it is a killer with no upgrades possible however the leg room is much better then standard commercial economy etc.
On the odd business trip from Europe I have travelled business class since I'm not paying for it and I often think if I would pay for this out of my own pocket. Its nice to have seats which turn into beds, booze and food etc however can be so relaxing that you end up sleeping the whole journey and not taking advantage of the steak dinners and booze at a touch of the button. I also found the club lounges to be pretty crap if I'm honest, not much choice in food etc compared to all the restaurants in the airport - however maybe that is just the airlines I'm using.
In a nutshell if coming out of my own pocket I would travel standard and would use the extra cash to do nicer things at the other end, restaurants etc
Last edited by kultschar; 14th October 2016 at 11:57.
This is why I'm a bad driver. Should have been right.....
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That's what I've been doing. The Virgin Amex scheme is quite good if you like Virgin, and where they fly to (obviously). LHR Clubhouse is very nice - if a little busy at times. Not tried a First Class lounge (unfortunately, as some are on another level apparently).
BA credit card/miles used to be quite good. Not sure if it still is.
There are a few sites with discussions on the merits of the various points schemes.
I think normally its best to pay for PE and upgrade to business with points. (Unless you've got hundreds of thousands of miles).
I believe his card is American express which uses British airways.
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Yes I do which is kind of why I started the thread. I've had the Virgin Am Ex black card for the last decade. The white one is free but I pay around £130 which gives me double air miles and two upgrades to premium every year. I put everything personal on there, anything to do with our business that we can and also any purchases that friends are family are making to get the miles. Just checked my annual statement and I've spent over £75,000 which has given me 150,000 air miles. Not all my spending. For example my mother in law just bought a new kitchen for £6,600 - paid on my card and 13,200 miles ta very much.
I've just booked a return flight to Vegas next September for £510 and 100,000 miles in Upper class. If I paid it myself currently the flight is £4,100! It was the only availability there was but hopefully more seats will be released throughout the year. I'm hoping to get my mate premium for 42,500 miles and around £400 (using one of my upgrades).
Two rules though are:
1. Always pay off in full otherwise rip off interest.
2. Only good if you can be flexible on the flights as availability can be iffy, not that I've struggled. Done Orlando, Miami and NY without too much hassle, but Australia and Singapore I'd imagine are practically nil.
P.S. Don't sign up for one as the less people doing this the better for me
P.P.S. If you do PM me your email as I think I/we get a few bonus miles for recommending someone after they've taken their first flight
If I'm flying to the US I'll go economy.
I can just about manage eight hours in cattle class.
Going out to see my son's new place in Florida around April.
Cheers,
Neil.
I will always fly business, but with avois and a companion voucher it's a no brainer! I find flying a PITA so want as much comfort and space as I can get!
Someone mentioned paying their mortgage with a credit card, is this possible?
Yeah, I didn't get that either?
I'm in the industry and not aware of that. Maybe certain lenders would take an isolated payment to stop someone going into arrears, but as a one off.
Issue being the merchant fee of 1% or more. That's why some retailers won't accept Am Ex as they are 2% or more for smaller firms.
'Upper Class', as the OP's said, = Virgin.
In my experience, it ain't in the same league as BA's Business Class, especially long-long haul.
My brother in laws adamant he pays every household bills including his mortgage and sky tv with his credit card to accumulate as much points as possible. He also pays a yearly fee for the card to get more points.
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Not a massive expert here, so willing to be proved wrong!
I think there's been a bit of an "arms-race" in business class travel over the last couple of decades. I've not done masses of BC travel (as said before, if we go to Europe, economy is fine), but we've been to the US quite a few times with various different airlines over the years. Certainly with the US airlines (we've been on Continental and Delta Business Classes), they used to be way inferior to Virgin Upper i.e. no flat-bed, lounges not great. (Oddly "First Class" is inferior in US carriers). I think even BA's Business Class (Club World?) didn't have flatbeds at the time. Virgin Upper was perceived to be much better than most other Business Classes, as other airlines reserved those sort of things for First, and their lounges were certainly better than most.
Since then, everyone else seemed to up their game - I think many of the US carriers are now flatbeds, and I think Virgin don't really stand out anymore - possibly their planes are a little tired. Refurbed seats are quite nice though.
Not done BA business, though, so can't really make a direct comparison. (Nor any of the Asian airlines). I think the game has possibly moved on.
I've done BA business class once but Virgin Upper quite a few times and there's not really that much between them. Different seat configuration probably stood out the most. Slight favouring to Virgin I guess but that could be out of habit. BA however also do a first class, which Virgin don't, so I guess that's a step up even more.
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