How many people actually fly F in their lives?

[MEL_Traveller]

But Business class wasn't introduced until the second half of the 70s.Usually when it was introduced the F cabins became smaller.Indeed with SAS F disappeared with the introduction of business class.

yes... all those cabin sizes I mentioned... SQ 40, CX 35 and QF 28 were all after the introduction of business class (alongside the 40F SQ had another 46 J on the upper deck of their 743s). Granted some F cabins were even larger previously!

 

[Pushka]

I didn’t fly until I was 21. Flying was considered luxury and usual travel was train or the road trip. Son on the other hand flew internationally at 7 weeks of age. Oh. And due to baggage handlers strike when we landed back in Melbourne Ansett upgraded baby and I to Business class! Funny the things you remember.

 

[HockeyMonkey]

Just booked our first F experience on EK404 SIN-MEL using points in Jan 2018. Seems to be quite a bit of availability.

 

[UP4014]

I have flown long haul in first plenty of times as a fare paying passenger in a previous job. Do more domestic (none of which I consider long haul) these days.

 

[daft009]

not fussed with F to be honest. Rather take the whole family on J on multiple trips, rather than one F trip.
Happy with SQ J wherever I've been (Asia, India, Europe)
Perhaps when I get older I might change my mind

EDIT: though I would loooove a SQ F amenity kit, well just the mens PJs would be plenty lol

 

[juddles]

not fussed with F to be honest. Rather take the whole family on J on multiple trips, rather than one F trip....

Completely agree. And unless you are very well off economically, the fare difference (even for J) is normally far better spent on the holiday itself (accommodation, etc)

The times I fly F are solo shenanigans, prompted by my personal love of aviation and the whole hobby thing. My wife does not share this interest

 

[SponsorSFC]

No one I know has flown F (outside of this forum), a few have done J but not many. People look astonished when we talk about our trips and how we booked them using bought or churned bonus points. Only 1 person has actually followed up on my offer to help them though.

I would say less than 10,000 in Australia would have flown F.

Our only F flights so far have been:
MLE-AUH-LHR EY A330 & A380
ZRH-SIN SQ A380

Both the A380 F was definitely worth the extra points over J, the A330 not so much. Still if it is on offer for points I will more than likely pick F over J. As mentioned earlier it is hard settling knowing that there is something better just a little further forward.

The way J cabins are improving though it is probably going to become a harder decision (if F is around at all that is).

 

[juddles]

....The way J cabins are improving though it is probably going to become a harder decision (if F is around at all that is).

I used to hold that view - modern J is far better than previous F.

But after having done some F travel, it is very, very addictive.

My only concern is that I am trying to make it a New Year's resolution to no longer fly EK in F from Australia to Europe. The last couple of trips ended the same way - met some great fellow pax in F, started downing those blooming Dom's, and ended up in the bar at the back with F staff bringing us Dom and JW Blue the whole flight. I seriously cannot remember the first 12 hrs after I last arrived in Europe.

I feel even more guilty as the last time this occurred, the other pax were on a special trip, and collectively we destroyed their first 24 hrs of their European adventure due to intoxication. I fly enough my body can get to hotels, etc on autopilot. They suffered more.

But by God it was a memorable flight

 

[Must...Fly!]

I used to hold that view - modern J is far better than previous F.

But after having done some F travel, it is very, very addictive.

My only concern is that I am trying to make it a New Year's resolution to no longer fly EK in F from Australia to Europe. The last couple of trips ended the same way - met some great fellow pax in F, started downing those blooming Dom's, and ended up in the bar at the back with F staff bringing us Dom and JW Blue the whole flight. I seriously cannot remember the first 12 hrs after I last arrived in Europe.

I feel even more guilty as the last time this occurred, the other pax were on a special trip, and collectively we destroyed their first 24 hrs of their European adventure due to intoxication. I fly enough my body can get to hotels, etc on autopilot. They suffered more.

But by God it was a memorable flight

Consider yourself providing a service, of being responsible for good travelling memories!

 

[Pushka]

I used to hold that view - modern J is far better than previous F.

But after having done some F travel, it is very, very addictive.

My only concern is that I am trying to make it a New Year's resolution to no longer fly EK in F from Australia to Europe. The last couple of trips ended the same way - met some great fellow pax in F, started downing those blooming Dom's, and ended up in the bar at the back with F staff bringing us Dom and JW Blue the whole flight. I seriously cannot remember the first 12 hrs after I last arrived in Europe.

I feel even more guilty as the last time this occurred, the other pax were on a special trip, and collectively we destroyed their first 24 hrs of their European adventure due to intoxication. I fly enough my body can get to hotels, etc on autopilot. They suffered more.

But by God it was a memorable flight

But that’s the flight you remember. The older I get the more I realise that memories are the most important things in life. Make them memorable but for the right reasons.

 

[Melburnian1]

If we exclude flights more than a decade ago, and also exclude USA "first", the percentage would have to be between 0.01 and 0.04 per cent: very small.

To a much greater extent than business class, my perception is that F would see truly frequent flyers repeatedly patronising it during the course of a year, but not many others.

What is the (declining) market for F? Company CEOs and Board members, Justices of courts, dentists, some medical practitioners and many specialists, some accountants, entrepreneurs who wish to show off, higher ranked public servants, celebrities including move and television stars: not really a huge swathe of the Australian population even if family members of these subsectors are included.

Pilots flying on leisure might also occasionally patronise F?

With fewer airlines offering F and many seats either empty, or taken by those flying to or from Oz but not a citizen or resident here, that decreases the numbers more.

Many of us will have heard a story from a friend who has flown F and boasted that he was the only one in the cabin, or one of two. I have.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If we exclude flights more than a decade ago, and also exclude USA "first", the percentage would have to be between 0.01 and 0.04 per cent: very small.

To a much greater extent than business class, my perception is that F would see truly frequent flyers repeatedly patronising it during the course of a year, but not many others.

What is the (declining) market for F? Company CEOs and Board members, Justices of courts, dentists, some medical practitioners and many specialists, some accountants, entrepreneurs who wish to show off, higher ranked public servants, celebrities including move and television stars: not really a huge swathe of the Australian population even if family members of these subsectors are included.

Pilots flying on leisure might also occasionally patronise F?

With fewer airlines offering F and many seats either empty, or taken by those flying to or from Oz but not a citizen or resident here, that decreases the numbers more.

Many of us will have heard a story from a friend who has flown F and boasted that he was the only one in the cabin, or one of two. I have.

But the title of the thread was 'in their lives'. Which would go back a lot longer than 10 years.

There's others to add to the list... those on their honeymoon, anniversaries, a retirement gift. Those buying miles and points. A few years ago when the Aussie dollar was above the USD it was just a few hundred dollars more to fly F than economy. People on average salaries were trotting around the world in SQ suites. The were AONEs purchased cheaply exCAI and various other parts of the world. Full fares purchased cheaply exCMB.

Then there's upgrade requests, award seats. Operational upgrades in school holidays. 20 years ago it was 30K points to upgrade to QF F LHR-Australia. Points earnings weren't as prolific as they are now, but earning by flying was a lot easier.

Sure some flights go out at less than capacity... but at peak periods some pax may have no option but to buy F. CX flights ex AU were often lightly loaded, but just after exams the cabin could be as much as 6/8 students on their way back home.

The upcoming RTW Qantas charter has seats starting at $19500 - economy. That goes up to $78K for first class. Plenty of people are filling SilverSeas cruises (at very high prices). Look at the Royal Auto magazine (or equivalents in other states) and you'll see plenty of 'top end' tours that are $1000pp per day. Even those European river cruises including 'free' flights can be $7000-8000 per person.

There's a lot of money out there in the travel market.

It's possible many people who could afford first class choose not to take it because they are satisfied with the offerings of other classes.

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

Once on an award ticket Qantas LHR-MEL...also First domestically in the USA..probably would never do again and would rather use points for J awards. Did pay once for J with Malaysian Airlines from MEL-LHR return...was fantastic

 

[travelislife]

Have done it on one trip back in the day of USDM where we got the BKK-CDG-BKK sectors on TG F in their A380s not far off brand new. Bloody amazing! The whole trip MEL-BKK-CDG-BKK-MEL priced at J class too! Left over 30,000 miles each (cause we had expected to pay first rates) were then used on an infamous Guam trip via Japan in business.

My wife and I were mid 20s at the time earning average wages but living like kings from the outside! Have been plenty more J points trips but I don’t earn them quick enough to throw them away on First.

 

[flying_duck]

Most of my friends don't fly at all. A once every couple years trip to see family the next state over is about it. Of my friends that do travel, they spend all their money at the destination or fly for work. Hence they're stoked to fly Jetstar to Hawaii. I have 600 friends on Facebook and two have flown first that I know of.

I took my first F flight at 14 - SIN - LHR on Singapore. It was a staff upgrade. My second F flight was a few months ago, SYD-SIN on Singapore in a suite. On points of course, earned points on spend not bonus points if that makes a difference.

I do think its something wonderful to experience, it's just not something I can justify often. I'm currently saving points for Etihad F. It's a bit like bungy jumping. Do it, so you know what it's like, but you don't have to do it every week. Do it again if you're somewhere exotic or special occassion.

 

[diningdecadence]

well it would be more if i had stocked up on USDM @ 1cpm. #hindsight! but still, plenty enough to have enjoyed the comforts and not want to travel Y.

edit - have also flown my mum and wife in F a couple of times, and baby #1 will hopefully be getting a ride next year.

 

[coriander]

Just booked our first F experience on EK404 SIN-MEL using points in Jan 2018. Seems to be quite a bit of availability.

I booked EK404 on points on the day award flights became available and there was no F availability for 3,4,5,6 Jan. So have to slum it in J. but as it's an overnight flight I don't feel I would have got full F experience. We are doing QF1 and EK 354 in F so as Mr Loaf would say "two out of three ain't bad."

 

[Andona]

First F flight was with my parents and brother, in the mid 60s from SYD to SFO with fueling stops in Fiji and Hawaii. paid by the govt to send my Dad on a long term secondment to a job on the east coast. I wish I remembered but was only 3 at the time!

The only other F trip was SYD-DFW on points with QF. Thoroughly enjoyed it but but decided that going forward, we'd rather put our points into more J seats than aim for F. We have no status with QF so its a matter of saving them up for Classic Awards for us.

Andona

 

[JohnK]

But that’s the flight you remember. The older I get the more I realise that memories are the most important things in life. Make them memorable but for the right reasons.

You're much better than me.

I don't remember many flights. Or hotels. Golf courses are a different story. I remember most of the 300+ golf courses I have played.

We are all different with different needs.

 

[Pushka]

You're much better than me.

I don't remember many flights. Or hotels. Golf courses are a different story. I remember most of the 300+ golf courses I have played.

We are all different with different needs.

MrP is the same as you. It’s all a chore for him.