Article: Long-Haul Economy Class - A Valuable Reality Check

[drcam]

I'd take the cash and fly on United economy, bad as it is. I could go on a cruise with two weeks of near J-class food with the money saved. When you're a midget like me Y isn't half as bad

 

[Forg]

I'd take the cash and fly on United economy, bad as it is. I could go on a cruise with two weeks of near J-class food with the money saved.

J-class food is a $15 cafe purchase … $7500 buys a lot of $15 meals!

 

[jase05]

J-class food is a $15 cafe purchase … $7500 buys a lot of $15 meals!

$7500 doesn’t pay for my Chiro bill or time off work when my body is twisted like a pretzel sitting in cattle class for 14hrs. Forget all the other stuff but a flatbed is the single most important thing to me on any flight over a couple of hours

 

[Tiki]

Ignoring the fact that a big proportion of AFF'ers are retired (or it seems that way), here's an economy vs business test:

You need to travel for work to LAX in a weeks time, from SYD. Your employer won't pay $19,000 for you to fly QF in business, but they will pay $13,500 for you to fly on UA in business. They will also pay you 2/3 of the fare difference between economy and business and allow you two extra night's accommodation and an extra day to recover on return if you fly economy. Economy fares on UA are $1700 or $2300 on QF. No upgrades are available on either carrier, and not likely to occur as cabins are close to full.

Do you
a) Fly business, as you are entitled to it
b) pocket $7900 and fly UA economy
c) pocket $7500 and fly QF economy

B
$900 for a spa day with massage and shopping in LAX
$7000 for 10 days birding in PNG (independently to Hagen, Kiunga and Varirata).

 

[dajop]

B
$900 for a spa day with massage and shopping in LAX
$7000 for 10 days birding in PNG (independently to Hagen, Kiunga and Varirata).

I was reflecting on my post, and now that you've broken down, it may depend on your financial situation and how the payment is structured, which could well alter the equation. For some opting for the $7900 option, it might end up with a benefit to the Australian government of $3700, leaving only $4200 to spend on spa days and birding.

 

[Tiki]

I was reflecting on my post, and now that you've broken down, it may depend on your financial situation and how the payment is structured, which could well alter the equation. For some opting for the $7900 option, it might end up with a benefit to the Australian government of $3700, leaving only $4200 to spend on spa days and birding.

I have never had a job where travel is paid by the employer, I am strictly a leisure traveler and a backpacker since the 80's. So I assumed cash in hand. No idea how companies structure this type of thing.

 

[drcam]

Didn't think of the taxman. Oh, shucks.

 

[p--and--t]

IMO the number of points required for J seats now internationally on Qantas is about 4 times what they were pre-pandemic it's outrageous and something should be done about it.

Erm where do you get that from? They went from 280K to 319K in the last several years - that's an increase of 14% not 400%

 

[justinbrett]

Erm where do you get that from? They went from 280K to 319K in the last several years - that's an increase of 14% not 400%

And that increase occurred prior to covid (2019)

 

[Scarlett]

A.

and credit the UA J flights to my *A FF account, likely securing gold for the next year, as well as earning enough points for a (likely short haul) Y flight or two in the future.

 

[wendlle]

Never had the opportunity to fly in anything other than Economy and doubt I ever will - at least while my kids are young.
I don't get any sleep on long haul flights that we take, I'm happy If I can get the Kids to sleep for most of it and I just have to suck it up.
Driving 5+ hours home after a long haul flight with no sleep isn't any fun though

 

[Chicken]

Just sent this to a friend. If they start to lose interest and reply with "Um, too much trouble" on credit cards, I will say to them "You can go back to economy!"

 

[PumaPilot]

I have just flown to Norway and back for work. I managed to Bis to Singapore with Qantas but the flight from Singapore back to bris was in Econ, the dreaded night flight. HORRIFIC !! A family had a 7 month old child who screamed his offing lungs out from push back to landing. The baby was in the front of Econ so EVERYONE was kept awake including Biz pax. When we landed, the mother said it was the baby first flight. The parents made NO effort to comfort the baby but just let it lie in the bassinet screaming for 7 hour 45 minutes. The company I work for will NEVER EVER fly me biz so I have to use my points on long haul.

 

[clifford]

EVERYONE was kept awake including Biz pax.

I doubt that. Noise cancelling earphones are a great thing.

But I do know what you mean.

 

[SYD]

I doubt that. Noise cancelling earphones are a great thing.

Not great to sleep with…

 

[Port Power]

Not great to sleep with…

But I have certainly used them (somehow) for exactly that reason.

 

[stm1sydney]

No doubt the QF cabin crew did nothing to help, or even offer to assist, the parent.

 

[dajop]

with Qantas but the flight from Singapore back to bris was in Econ, the dreaded night flight. HORRIFIC !!

Now there's your main mistake. Flying with Qantas, which only have dreaded night flights from Asia to east coast From Singapore, the day flights are much more pleasant, even if connecting all the way from Europe. Unfortunately the only daytime flight Qantas has is SIN-PER, although they will have a QF code on the resuming EK daytime flight to MEL.

 

[stm1sydney]

Now there's your main mistake. Flying with Qantas, which only have dreaded night flights from Asia to east coast From Singapore, the day flights are much more pleasant, even if connecting all the way from Europe. Unfortunately the only daytime flight Qantas has is SIN-PER, although they will have a QF code on the resuming EK daytime flight to MEL.

Now there's your main mistake. Flying with Qantas.

FTFY.

Post automatically merged: Feb 1, 2023

Not great to sleep with…

I've found the Bose QC20 are quite good for this.

 

[PumaPilot]

For some reason, Bose headsets DON'T block screaming babies. The crew did little to help or from what I could see. My flight over was with EK, the WORST flight of my life, over 6 hour delay out of Brisbane, missed my connection to Oslo then put up in a cough hotel overnight, the bed was damp/wet, the bathroom was full of mould and then woken up at 01:30 by kids playing tag in the corridor. Because I was in Econ this is the hotel I was put up in. I had a good seat from Dubai to Oslo booked but lost that so had a horrific seat to Oslo. NEVER flying EK again