Biggest juxtaposition between luxury (from points) and budget (from money)?

[Human]

I’m a schoolteacher so while I can afford the occasional indulgence, more often than not when I travel I’m on a budget.

A few weeks ago I noticed availability in Emirates first class (using Qantas points) from Singapore to Melbourne, during the upcoming school holidays. I then found one solitary KrisFlyer Saver first class award from Melbourne to Singapore two days earlier. Having never travelled first class before, I jumped at the opportunity.

While I’m in Singapore, I’ll be travelling everywhere either on foot or on public transport, staying at an Ibis, and eating hawker food (though I’ll treat myself to an a-la-carte early evening dinner in The Private Room on arrival!).

This has me wondering — I’d be interested to hear other people’s stories of the biggest differences in their travels between high-end luxury, paid with points, and other parts of the journey paid with (very limited) money. Can anyone beat Emirates and Singapore First Class sandwiching Ibis accommodation, subway travel and street food?

 

[JackMiles]

Fun topic. I don't think I can beat your example but I am familiar with the feeling (eg, J flights somewhere to then crash at a friend's place). I'm strongly of the view that those comfy flights add so much to a holiday, specially a short one like yours. The flights become part of the fun, not something to endure, so your holiday extends from arrival at the lounge on departure to when you (sadly must) disembark on your return.

 

[Virgin Bart]

I was once exceptionally privileged to fly EK F MEL-DXB-WAW, it was incredible. Then I jumped in the Mercedes chauffeur and asked him to take me to... Ibis Budget Warsaw ($30/n). I was happy.

 

[Denali]

Bogan here, not F but J on points and shown to my seat wearing my Big W purchased outfit and wearing crocs (I forgot to pack shoes and had to buy some in Singapore).

Also ordered a driver/car for the day, one of those big black SUVs in the states, and asked to be taken to Walmart

 

[SYD]

I’ve flown J to SIN and caught the metro to the hotel a couple of times (and yes, the last time was indeed the Ibis!).

 

[tdimdad]

What, there's a different way from the airports than the MRT/train/bus? Do tell...

To me, hawker centres are the joy of Singapore. I happily transit in comfort when flying but when on the ground, I try to blend in as much as possible. Besides, staying overnight at a friend's place is much more rewarding and enjoyable than another hotel again.

 

[CaptJCool]

regular YHA indulger off J class fares (OOL) and walk there from the airport front door!
EK got rid of the Rewards points chauffeur cars although they still were available
i did contemplate getting the car from the 747 jet (hostel/hotel) at Arlanda airport to the terminal but yeah that seemed like an overstretch! (it's like less than a kilometre...)

having gotten back to Melbs (they provided me with a car to/from Tullamarine to the Rendezvous on Flinders Street) as I had an overnight there on the way to Adelaide (seemed extravagant as we rolled into Melb around midnight and the flight home was at 6am!) but that's the adventure of travel

Glad you jumped on the F rewards fares - well done to you!

 

[p--and--t]

A few years back, flew J Mel-Bkk-Sgn (on points) then executive limo to a “mini hotel” at $10pn. Then street food and walking everywhere for few days before joining a budget tour.

 

[OnePenguin]

Fun topic. I don't think I can beat your example but I am familiar with the feeling (eg, J flights somewhere to then crash at a friend's place). I'm strongly of the view that those comfy flights add so much to a holiday, specially a short one like yours. The flights become part of the fun, not something to endure, so your holiday extends from arrival at the lounge on departure to when you (sadly must) disembark on your return.

This is such a good point I've never thought about. If I'm flying J or F, I'm actively looking forward to the flight.

But in economy, it's just hoping to get off the plane as fast as possible.

 

[Human]

This is such a good point I've never thought about. If I'm flying J or F, I'm actively looking forward to the flight.

But in economy, it's just hoping to get off the plane as fast as possible.

Even in economy, there's a (masochistic?) part of me that's enjoying myself. There are definitely two sorts of people out there: those who see the travel to/from the destination as a necessary evil, and those who see the travel as part of the adventure.

I'm definitely the latter. Mind you, I haven't done an overnight flight in economy for years, and I don't intend to do one ever again!

 

[p--and--t]

Even in economy, there's a (masochistic?) part of me that's enjoying myself. There are definitely two parts of people out there: those who see the travel to/from the destination as a necessary evil, and those who see the travel as part of the adventure.

I'm definitely the latter. Mind you, I haven't done an overnight flight in economy for years, and I don't intend to do one ever again!

The boarding call for an overseas flight departure is just the best sound, regardless of class of travel.

Preferably with the end of the flight(s) being a new country, new culture, sounds, tastes and sights.

J is much preferred obviously but not always available or affordable. A 6 week sojourn with Y air travel allowing for private driver and car o/s for touring would trump a 2 week trip with J air travel anytime if cost was the deciding factor.

J is preferred over F, could never see the value of F especially since the modern era of lie flat beds.

 

[Flying Fox]

I have no problems staying at budget hotels. When I'm travelling for pleasure, I generally spend most of my time outside the hotel. For me hotels should be clean, safe, convenient and good place to sleep. Should a luxury hotel fall into my budget and selection criteria, then that's a bonus. I don't book $1000/night hotel rooms as I think that I can spend that money better doing other things. However, each to their own and I have no issue with those who do choose to stay at expensive hotels.

I'm a big fan of street food and local experiences. Cheap doesn't mean bad in my mind.

I do love flying J or F because your space is so limited in Y for long flights and arriving in better shape allows me to get out more to do more fun things straight away.

 

[RealtimeY]

Redeeming a J seated in F on QF SYD-HKG, then off to ibis.

Also, boarding with premium pax and continuing straight down the back of the plane.

 

[Mattg]

When I was in my early twenties, I flew to MLA in EK F. Booked using Qantas points, of course. This was back when Emirates offered the chauffeur drive service on reward tickets.

It was a warm day and I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Given my age and attire, I obviously looked out of place for someone flying F.

After landing in Malta, I approached the driver who was wearing a suit and holding a sign with my name on it. He didn't say anything, but I could tell that he was having a double-take and thinking to himself "You've got to be kidding". It was also pretty obvious that he was thinking to himself "wtf" when he dropped me off at a backpackers hostel.

 

[fly2earth]

Fun topic. I don't think I can beat your example but I am familiar with the feeling (eg, J flights somewhere to then crash at a friend's place). I'm strongly of the view that those comfy flights add so much to a holiday, specially a short one like yours. The flights become part of the fun, not something to endure, so your holiday extends from arrival at the lounge on departure to when you (sadly must) disembark on your return.

For me: Lounge>>>>>>flights>>>destination. Paying 1,000 $cott Morrisons on ECONOMY return flights watching tv shows in coughty pixel tv screens next to a crying baby is my favorite pastime even though youtube and netflix are 10x more interesting and personalised to my taste, ironic hey? And half of my time during the journey is counting how to get the max value out of everything (extra cup of orange juice during the flight, extra can of carbonated drink at the lounge, brushing my teeth on the plane to score a free toothbrush, calculating the absolute cheapest ways to get to the airport to the city the calculation time in which offsets any potential savings and puts my time debt balance several hundred dollars in the negative (potential saving maximum $10, unrealised), spending eternity to find the absolute cheapest ways to book the same hotel even though the savings aren't huge (potential saving less than $20 in most cases, unrealised) compared to the $1000 that I'm splurging on my economy flight for no reason). However doing domestic trips feel kind of a downgrade (eg. feels like not really traveling).

 

[fly2earth]

Here's one...Me selling 25,000 points in Asian airline comapny which is enough to upgrade you from econ to business class from Asia to N. America to a buyer for $500 because I don't value the $50/hr extra per hour just to sleep in the front section of the airplane since it is "practically the same to me"
Meanwhile WP's paying close to that amount only to fly for 3 hours on the subpar Trans-Tasman business flights rolling their eyes in disbelief
Now that I think about it the perceived value and prestige of taking business class is probably worth that alone (eg. you were hypnotic the whole flight and didn't get to experience the service but hey at least I get business class and am redeeming it at 4 cents per point what a great ____ing value!)
(adding the Me/Him/Her prefix so no Debbie Downer or Ebinezer Scrooge will mistakenly think that I am selling points)

 

[fly2earth]

When I was in my early twenties, I flew to MLA in EK F. Booked using Qantas points, of course. This was back when Emirates offered the chauffeur drive service on reward tickets.

It was a warm day and I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Given my age and attire, I obviously looked out of place for someone flying F.

After landing in Malta, I approached the driver who was wearing a suit and holding a sign with my name on it. He didn't say anything, but I could tell that he was having a double-take and thinking to himself "You've got to be kidding" as he wasn't expecting me to be his passenger. It was also pretty obvious that he was thinking to himself "wtf" when he dropped me off at a backpackers hostel.

My comment when reading your comment is...(you guessed it)

 

[rbjhan]

That sounds like me! Almost always in J (cash or points), but I have no problem staying in business hotels all around Japan, some cost as little as about $70.
In fact I see no point in booking global chains in Japan, overpriced and very limited choices. If I want to stay somewhere luxurious it'll be a high end ryokan.

 

[derf]

Depends on the occasion or purpose of the trip. For instance, my wife and our little toddler relocated from California to Perth, and this was a massive undertaking, in the sense that we were shifting our whole life from US to Australia. So the approach I took was that we need to do it in style and have a nice stopover on the way. So I got real lucky and booked Business Class on American Airlines flagship from LAX to AKL (Auckland), travelled 3 weeks around New Zealand, with some really nice stays in Queenstown Hilton Resort and Hyatt Place, as the main highlights, but a few other places all paid on points. Then the journey continued through from AKL to MEL, 4 day stay in Melbs catching up with friends, then onwards from MEL to PER. These last two flights were Qantas Business. All up, it was 21 nights in hotels, 3 Business class flights, and a 28 day trip to relocate. ALL ON POINTS! Can something like that occur again, highly unlikely, but how many times to you move to the other side of the world (mind you, we've done it twice now!). But I learned so much along the way, so it was great to see it all pay off, and definitely understand the value of research, feedback and tips from others, and pulling the trigger when something looks too great to pass up.

We'll likely utilize Hilton Aspire card regularly to enjoy those nicer getaways since we have a kiddo. Believe me, my wife have done our fair share of budget travel as a childless couple, but with kiddos any comforts you can manage to secure our golden.

 

[encryptededdy]

In fact I see no point in booking global chains in Japan, overpriced and very limited choices. If I want to stay somewhere luxurious it'll be a high end ryokan.

Personally I do enjoy some global chain hotels in smaller cities - they tend to be very new and have very large rooms. For instance, the Hyatt Centric Kanazawa or the Hilton Doubletree Nagasaki / Toyama. These are also often <$200/night so I'm happy paying for them (vs. outrageous amounts for one in Tokyo, for instance)