Would you pay to fly F?

[bertair]

With a few dollars that I won at a casino a few weeks ago at a Christmas party, a friend suggested that instead of flying Business Class to the UK as I had intended next May, I should use the windfall to enjoy a First Class ticket instead. Never having been one to splash out, although I must say flying Business is very enjoyable, it does cut a large slice out of my annual travel budget.
However I compromise in other areas when travelling, staying in cheaper hotels and Air BnB.
But the temptation of at least once flying First Class is strong.
I am wondering who flies First Class these days if they are paying the fare themselves and not travelling on company or Government business such as politicians, or movie and rock stars do. ?
The thought of paying $18 -$20 thousand for First as against about $7 K for Business is quite some jump.
Are the benefits that much different and do the Qantas aircraft flying to LHR or US ports fly with full First Class cabins often ?
Whenever I have flown Business SYD /LHR or SYD /LAX most times the Business Class cabins are full.
Why do you fly First Class if you do, and do you pay yourself or have your fare paid as part of a salary package or due to your employment level or as a Government MP ?

 

[jase05]

With a few dollars that I won at a casino a few weeks ago at a Christmas party, a friend suggested that instead of flying Business Class to the UK as I had intended next May, I should use the windfall to enjoy a First Class ticket instead. Never having been one to splash out, although I must say flying Business is very enjoyable, it does cut a large slice out of my annual travel budget.
However I compromise in other areas when travelling, staying in cheaper hotels and Air BnB.
But the temptation of at least once flying First Class is strong.
I am wondering who flies First Class these days if they are paying the fare themselves and not travelling on company or Government business such as politicians, or movie and rock stars do. ?
The thought of paying $18 -$20 thousand for First as against about $7 K for Business is quite some jump.
Are the benefits that much different and do the Qantas aircraft flying to LHR or US ports fly with full First Class cabins often ?
Whenever I have flown Business SYD /LHR or SYD /LAX most times the Business Class cabins are full.
Why do you fly First Class if you do, and do you pay yourself or have your fare paid as part of a salary package or due to your employment level or as a Government MP ?

Can only speak for myself as I’m a relatively newbie to F with a few short journeys but we are heading to the US in October and will more than likely burn a stack of QFF points to fly F. I’d never pay for myself but if you have the points why not. I’d suspect that many people who fly F are doing it with points either outright or an upgrade with points

 

[Himeno]

With a few dollars that I won at a casino a few weeks ago at a Christmas party, a friend suggested that instead of flying Business Class to the UK as I had intended next May, I should use the windfall to enjoy a First Class ticket instead. Never having been one to splash out, although I must say flying Business is very enjoyable, it does cut a large slice out of my annual travel budget.
However I compromise in other areas when travelling, staying in cheaper hotels and Air BnB.
But the temptation of at least once flying First Class is strong.
I am wondering who flies First Class these days if they are paying the fare themselves and not travelling on company or Government business such as politicians, or movie and rock stars do. ?
The thought of paying $18 -$20 thousand for First as against about $7 K for Business is quite some jump.
Are the benefits that much different and do the Qantas aircraft flying to LHR or US ports fly with full First Class cabins often ?
Whenever I have flown Business SYD /LHR or SYD /LAX most times the Business Class cabins are full.
Why do you fly First Class if you do, and do you pay yourself or have your fare paid as part of a salary package or due to your employment level or as a Government MP ?

The only time I've flown Long Haul F (that wasn't an J > F points upgrade on a QF flight) was HKG-JFK on CX. That was part of a DONE3 oneworld RTW trip and the CX Japan agent made an error while booking.
At the time, 2 class flights within North America were booked into the A (F) fare bucket on the J tickets. I had the AA code on the CX flight. The agent got confused (had already mixed up IAD and IAH) and booked the long haul 4 class flight in A instead of D. Until the flight departed, I kept expecting someone to work it out and rebook that flight into J.

 

[JohnM]

With a few dollars that I won at a casino a few weeks ago at a Christmas party, a friend suggested that instead of flying Business Class to the UK as I had intended next May, I should use the windfall to enjoy a First Class ticket instead. Never having been one to splash out, although I must say flying Business is very enjoyable, it does cut a large slice out of my annual travel budget.
However I compromise in other areas when travelling, staying in cheaper hotels and Air BnB.
But the temptation of at least once flying First Class is strong.
I am wondering who flies First Class these days if they are paying the fare themselves and not travelling on company or Government business such as politicians, or movie and rock stars do. ?
The thought of paying $18 -$20 thousand for First as against about $7 K for Business is quite some jump.
Are the benefits that much different and do the Qantas aircraft flying to LHR or US ports fly with full First Class cabins often ?
Whenever I have flown Business SYD /LHR or SYD /LAX most times the Business Class cabins are full.
Why do you fly First Class if you do, and do you pay yourself or have your fare paid as part of a salary package or due to your employment level or as a Government MP ?

I've flown F plenty of times, but I wouldn't pay to. I think the premium in cost over J is not worth it - especially if you are talking QF. I think that you would end up being very disappointed if you paid. I've always either upgraded from J on QF or used points outright on EK - which is a far, far superior offering to QF F.

I did once buy a F OneWorld Explorer RTW but the cost/value quotient for those is far superior to point-to-point.

If you have a decent swag of FF points, I'd look closely to see what you could snare on one of the other OWA airlines (it's probably Buckley's wherever QF flies F). And upgrading to F on QF is unlikely without WP or above status, I'd say.

Buy J and reap the points and just take a random ride on EK F when you can snare a seat if you really want to scratch the F itch, is what I would suggest.

 

[mrsterryn]

@bertair
Just for the data point I am a self funded traveller
Yeppers have travelled first a few times in cash dollars on QF
If you are platinum with QF or Oneworld equivalent some of the perks you already received , eg first class lounges and check ins
If you aren't it is fun to do those things . Also those status credits would be a nice chunk towards becoming platinum for a year +
Hope that gives a different perspective
Regardless have a good trip
Husband and I are actually off to London next may as well (our tickets cost about $11,000 each for first on QFas you mentioned prices )

 

[drron]

I do pay for BA F on one route.Why?It is cheaper than QF J.Simple.
Otherwise it has been the occasional op up,points upgrade or now F awards.

 

[Denali]

For me, I would be happy with J and spend $$$ on better accommodation - but thats me plus I have to pay for 2 seats as we're a couple.

Does your J seat allow you to bid for a F upgrade so its not as expensive?

 

[VPS]

Depends a lot on what airline and what aircraft. I did F on EK 380 and had a shower and that was amazing but I used points and don't think I could ever justify paying the money. I think I'd spend the money on earning some FF points (including bonus points) and using those to fly F. Good luck with whatever you decide and let us know you get on YMMV.

 

[amaroo]

Plenty of times.

Sometimes the combination of an impulsive nature and a great pricing offer just makes perfect sense.

When the trip has been well planned - the points come out to play.

 

[Quickstatus]

Depends on the price and i will look at the opportunity costs of that expenditure.

 

[Comoman]

Ex PERTH to LHR:

SQ F - typically around $11k. (J is around $8k).
QF 9/10 in J - around $13-14k.

No brainer. SQ F it is.

 

[JohnM]

QF 9/10 in J - around $13-14k.

And I can buy a complete DONE4 for less than that - and include the 9/10 all the way MEL-LHR-MEL in the 16 sectors should I wish to...

 

[Flying mermaid]

We have always been self funded and have paid for F numerous times. We started in 1989 and then once we were paying for 3 kids dropped to J and then back to F once we lost the parasites.

we do a mixture of F and J now but have never paid $18 to $20 thousand! Closest was probably around 17K for AOne4s. If you wait for sales you can do way better than that for a point to point. I think our trip to Africa in 2018 which was F with Emirates was more around 14k.

As to why we do it - well we love travelling and the journey is as important as the destination. We enjoy being spoiled in F and it is fun. If you are going to pay for F though, don’t do Qantas - fly Emirates or Singapore. Qantas is not good value for money in F - more J+.

We did do some Qsuites with Qatar last year and that has given us second thoughts. A lot of the benefits in F are the amazing wines (not Qantas, except for the Champagne). However we almost don’t drink alcohol anymore and everything else with Qsuites was so good that we are seriously thinking that when we start travelling again (taking a break at the moment), we might be saving money and going Qsuites by preference.

 

[LadyC]

Generally I would not pay to fly F and am happy with J. I do have on my bucket list F with both AF and LH but that will take some out of the way routing and a few years off yet.

 

[mrsterryn]

We have always been self funded and have paid for F numerous times. We started in 1989 and then once we were paying for 3 kids dropped to J and then back to F once we lost the parasites.

we do a mixture of F and J now but have never paid $18 to $20 thousand! Closest was probably around 17K for AOne4s. If you wait for sales you can do way better than that for a point to point. I think our trip to Africa in 2018 which was F with Emirates was more around 14k.

As to why we do it - well we love travelling and the journey is as important as the destination. We enjoy being spoiled in F and it is fun. If you are going to pay for F though, don’t do Qantas - fly Emirates or Singapore. Qantas is not good value for money in F - more J+.

We did do some Qsuites with Qatar last year and that has given us second thoughts. A lot of the benefits in F are the amazing wines (not Qantas, except for the Champagne). However we almost don’t drink alcohol anymore and everything else with Qsuites was so good that we are seriously thinking that when we start travelling again (taking a break at the moment), we might be saving money and going Qsuites by preference.

Have to say last first in Qantas wasn't great at all. Very disappointed.
We already had the booked ones for May and at a good price so they are staying
Where does Qatar fly first out of Aust ?
Heard quite a few who like them

 

[Forg]

I’ve flown F a grand total of once, EK to AKL, massive discount that was only about 20% more than Y on the same flight.

I’d have been royally PO’d if my F experience had been long-haul and I’d paid double the price of J to do it. There’s so little value in it. Some airports you get F lounge access you might not otherwise get (but a regular J flyer is going to be Platinum on one or two alliances), sure you may get a few glasses of wine worth maybe a total of $500 if you REALLY get stuck into it ... but there’s not $8k value in that lot, not unless $8k is totally nothing to you.

 

[JohnM]

Where does Qatar fly first out of Aust ?
Heard quite a few who like them

From PER, at least. I'm taking that ride in September.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Have to say last first in Qantas wasn't great at all. Very disappointed.
We already had the booked ones for May and at a good price so they are staying
Where does Qatar fly first out of Aust ?
Heard quite a few who like them

You can certainly get terrific F fares with Qantas on sales,, but Mr FM just won’t fly them anymore he’s been so disappointed.

haven’t done F with Qatar yet but I think they fly Syd-doh-lhr.

Qsuites is actually the J product and they are fantastic. For us there is the added bonus that they fly out of Canberra with a brief stop in Sydney, so no worries about connections. Coming back was even better - no going through immigration and customs in Sydney and having to check in luggage again and get the bus to domestic. Brief break in the international J lounge in Sydney then back on the plane and go through customs and immigration with about 15 people. . For us it’s worth giving up F for that convenience and the Qsuites product was so good we really didn’t miss F.

 

[jase05]

Have to say last first in Qantas wasn't great at all. Very disappointed.
We already had the booked ones for May and at a good price so they are staying
Where does Qatar fly first out of Aust ?
Heard quite a few who like them

Their F is only on the A380’s.
Currently SYD, MEL and PER

 

[mrsterryn]

We have our trips pretty well sorted for 2020 so I may watch out for a Europe trip for 2021 on Qatar for something different
I do think First can be magical, I know people will deride me lol but... It can be
We treated our son to first class Syd to LHR a few years back , Qantas staff from the lounge to the onboard all went out of their way to make it such a special trip for him (and me ) .
Maybe Qantas doesn't have the magic currently (I wonder if the overhaul of the A380s will help ) but OP if you have the desire (sounds like you do ) .....and you can afford...why not do it once.
It , hopefully, would be an amazing memory
Mind you I need to point out son is now married , new house , toddler and first flying is no longer on the cards lol