How many people actually fly F in their lives?

[TomVexille]

I'm curious, what percentage of the Australian Population have actually flown in F at least once in their lives? Proper long haul F to qualify.

 

[equus]

Any answers obtained from this forum will be completely unrepresentative.

I think the true answer is very very little.

 

[RB]

Yes a few times using Lifemiles. Can't ever see that I would pay full freight

 

[Matt_01]

I think you could also break the question down to differentiate between paid, reward or upgrades. Have I flown longhaul F - yes quite a number of times. Have I ever paid for an F fare - yes, only once QF code share MEL-SIN-MEL (EK metal), it was during an EK sale and the codeshare F price was was lower than J on QF metal, also not true longhaul. Most of my (also +1 and Miss M) F travel is upgrades from J or outright F rewards.

 

[eric2011]

I have flown F three times. All times were possible due to J to F upgrades. The first time was many years ago between HKG-SYD and the 2nd was SYD-LAX return. I am a normal bloke on a average wage and all my travels are self funded. While the F experiences were good, I don't class them as great or mind blowing. I certainly would never pay for a F flight but I do have a policy where I don't fly Y if the flight is more than 1 1/2 hours (ie I will put up with) a BNE-SYD but don't if I can help it. Have done a couple of BNE-AKL F trips but they aren't really long haul.

 

[smithy]

Only time I have been in F was when my employer paid for the ticket...It was several years ago.

 

[Denali]

Not F, but Ive been eyeing it off but hubby thoughts are reward J seats leave us lots of points for another J trip so Im not allowed to blow them on F... but maybe one day.

Problem is F is kinda wasted on us as we are not foodies and dont drink booze so we dont really use/appreciate the F perks.

 

[TomVexille]

I have flown F three times. All times were possible due to J to F upgrades. The first time was many years ago between HKG-SYD and the 2nd was SYD-LAX return. I am a normal bloke on a average wage and all my travels are self funded. While the F experiences were good, I don't class them as great or mind blowing. I certainly would never pay for a F flight but I do have a policy where I don't fly Y if the flight is more than 1 1/2 hours (ie I will put up with) a BNE-SYD but don't if I can help it. Have done a couple of BNE-AKL F trips but they aren't really long haul.

It's certainly possible. 2 years ago we flew F MEL-SIN-NRT, HND-LHR-DXB-MEL. IIRC my income that year was less than half of the average wage of $80k but I scraped together the points to do it.

That being said, a majority of Australians would make less than that average wage, and most either won't or can't figure out how to play the points/miles game> And since most destinations that actually have F service ex Aus can often cost in excess of $10k, how many have actually done it?

 

[trooper]

LHR-MIA on BA (so the best Business class in the sky LOL) because the points required for F weren't ALL THAT much more...and because I wanted to do it once.

4 hour flight on CX (so not long haul...but on a 747) travelling solo on a cheap J ticket and bumped to F... 15 J to 1 J..... Nice.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I didn’t think your question was all that complicated Tommy. My uninformed guesstimate would be <.5%.

 

[serfty]

When the QFF program was majorly enhanced in 1998 with the introduction of Tier Credits, I realised my flight patterns then would likely not allow me to retain top level gold.

As a last hurrah, I booked a First flight on points (60,000) MEL-xSYD-SIN; +++ was $3.40. Return was via ADL in Business in a Dreamtime seat; 45,000 points.

So I thought it a once off. Since then I came across AFF and found First is regularly achievable; but not directly via one's wallet.

As for your question, I reckon @Cruiser Elite has a good estimate.

 

[boomy]

No idea but my logic says a very small fraction. It’s extremely expensive and most people have no idea how to use points and miles. In Australia, even those who try to use points (mainly QF points) to fly F will have almost zero chance to score a seat.

 

[Comoman]

If the fare gods are aligned SQ First Perth - LHR fare (Per-Sin in J though) is the same as a QF business fare equivalent on EK.

Otherwise it's slightly more expensive. I've done 1 x F upgrade using points, 2 x op-ups (J-F) and 4 paid in first (suites). All SQ.

 

[Pushka]

I’ve flown F 5 times and not paid for that pleasure. Twice I received an upgrade from Emirates (one was an upgrade from a J classic award booking); and three times have been via F award flights.
Just remembered - also travelled back from NZ in F on a discount sale ticket.
Have booked son and his partner on F from Manchester through Dubai - Syd - Mel on an award flight. They usually travel deep discount.

 

[Austman]

I've been in F on QF's A380 long haul. In F on SQ medium haul (ca 8 hour flights). In F on several North American airlines in North America (not true international F but it says First Class on the BP anyway!).

And in the First Class section of many carriers many times (operating it at the time as J).

 

[drron]

Way back when BA flew from BNE I flew F to SIN.It was a pay for J but fly F promotion.It was the first time I paid for J but I was off to a conference.
How things have changed.I joined Aadvantage as in the early 2000's you could not earn QFF points flying JAL from NRT-USA.We got enough points to get 2 J awards NRT-LAXWas so green I didn't realise that the same number of points would get me to JFK where we wanted to go.But AA upgraded us onboard to F.The rest is history as I then found AFF.
I think ~ 7 return F awards Japan to USA on AA,Once on JAL.
J-F upgrades on QF SYD-LAX.
A couple of AA F awards JFK-LHR.
BA F award LON-NRT.
Possibly a couple more.
But going full circle in 2 weeks with paid BA F SYD-SIN on promotion.

 

[Matt_01]

To chime back in, my very first F class was as a child with TWA or Pan Am back in the 70's. I asked my father which was the first carrier, he was not sure but thinks it was TWA. In the 70's F class was 18 seats in the front section (nose) of the 747 and upstairs was a lounge. Now we complain if we do not get 1-2-1 in J how things have changed.

 

[Pleb Status]

I have been pretty lucky over the past ten years and have flown more than 50-60 long haul F sectors.

These have all been on OW airlines (QF, CX, BA and AA) during my Qcult phase. One of my only four lifetime QFi Op Ups was a J->F upgrade SYD-LAX after the aircraft was downgraded from a 380 to a 744 (the other three were all PER-SIN Y->J and no QFi Op Ups were received whilst I was P1). I have received a single J->F Op Up on BA and CX also.

I am now in a 'Post F' phase as I feel I have 'been there, done that'. Also, no OW airline has a F product worth spending the points/cash on at the moment (and most are getting very old). As the gap between the better J products and most F is now so small (with respect to seating, menus, service etc), I would rather just travel in a quality J seat instead.

That said, the new SQ 380 F and the current EY 380 F apartments have piqued my interest and may be good enough for me to come out of F retirement to throw a few spare VFF points away on a sector to two...

 

[Strategic Aviation]

I've flown F zero times (except US domestic ), and don't expect to ever

 

[Mal]

It must be less than 1%.. With no more than 70% of Australians actually holding a passport, and many people just fly to New Zealand or Bali, I just can't see it being higher.