How much longer or out of your way are you willing to fly so you will fly in J on points?

[airstriker]

I have a friend who has booked a business class flight which takes 16 hours (because of transit) on award points when he could have flown directly on economy for 9.5 hrs but had to pay in cash - not much of a difference between business surcharge&taxes and cash economy ticket.

Ignoring all other factors, how long of a detour will you be willing to make to take business class award flight (with lie flat beds) vs cash economy?

I would say anything more than 20% of the direct flight time is not worth it as, yes, J is great but u r still stuck on a metal tube with limited options.

 

[VPS]

I'm with your friend. 9.5 hours in economy - no way

 

[Skyring]

From my point of view, there are too many factors to give an easy answer. With a cash ticket there's the likelihood that you will be earning yet more points. If the money is the same either way, then why spend a bunch of points you don't need to?

If it's a daytime economy flight then it's not toooo much of a hardship for me. If it were overnight, then I'd be more inclined (heh-heh) to go for the lie-flat seat and more room.

Having said that, if time is not a problem, then I don't mind travelling indefinitely in business. I can sleep in the seat, the food is good, entertainment is provided and the only real problem is how long my liver can hold out.

 

[snabbu]

If we are talking about a 9.5 hour flight in economy, I would take almost any route to get to the same place in J with flat beds.

 

[Fifa]

I'm with your friend. 9.5 hours in economy - no way

I’m with @VPS!

 

[kpc]

Flying Syd-Mel-Hnd in J at Easter with Qf as that is all I could get released by Qf. No way I would fly overnight Syd-Hnd in Y!

 

[cjd600]

I can barely manage SYD-MEL in Y lol

 

[jase05]

I can barely manage SYD-MEL in Y lol

Yep, I won’t even do ADL-MEL in Y anymore.
ADL-DPS in J on VA is even going to be painful for 5hrs

 

[CaptJCool]

Assuming you can score a points redemption - the meandering route because you're on holidays is ideal.

the current malady with the points program is that its relatively easy to earn points, but damn difficult to burn points on flights.
whatever it takes to burn dem points and get more free drinking time///

 

[mx838383]

A 9.5hrs in Y will feel like 16hrs, and a 16hrs on J will feel like 9.5hrs. I find flying J always feels wayyyy shorter than actual flight time.

 

[luxury-lizard]

like others - more than about 4 hours I'm more than willing to fly a circuitous route if it means J instead of Y.

 

[airstriker]

Wow. To call this lopsided is an understatement. I thought it was not 'rational' but clearly I'm in the minority. Wondering where I went so wrong...

 

[drron]

Our next trip is with revenue air travel so rather than HND -BKK - SIN we will fly HND -BKK -HND -SIN
Similar price and more points. Perfect AFF compromise.

 

[dajop]

Not quite 9.5 hrs - two hours less, at 7.5 hrs, but I have and will continue to take a day flight from Singapore-Melbourne in economy (on SQ, EK or even on Scoot if I can get one of the Scoot seats with headrests and extra legroom) vs a more circuitous routing in lie flat business overnight via Manilia on Philippine Airlines, even though the latter is often almost as cheap as economy.

So I would say it depends on the specific circumstance! But generally for me, I've done enough overnight travel that Y day time trumps J overnight on flights <10 hrs. In the other direction .... maybe, it depends.

 

[Quickstatus]

I'm in the minority...

Why fly direct when you can connect.
In the context of this :

Why fly direct in Y when you can connect in J

 

[I love to travel]

Your friend has the right idea. 4 hours is hard limit for me.

 

[Skyring]

Our next trip is with revenue air travel so rather than HND -BKK - SIN we will fly HND -BKK -HND -SIN
Similar price and more points. Perfect AFF compromise.

I had a little trouble loading this into my thinking machinery; surely there must be a typo in there somewhere. But no, I can see how this works and is - of course - way more efficient.

I once did a DONE4 that only allowed one trans-Australia flight but for some reason Canberra wasn't counted as an East Coast city. So I presented at CBR one evening and checked in for CBR-PER-MEL-SYD in one hit with the PER-MEL leg a 747 red-eye. She looked at my ticket - it was one of the old paper ones, quite a wodge of them, twenty to the fare - and gasped.

"I'm sure we can get you on a direct Sydney flight" she said. Helpfully.

My turn to gasp in horror.

"No, no, this is perfect as it is!"

 

[MELso]

Flying back from the US LAX-PPT-NOU-SYD-MEL in January, as the revenue fare from LAX-SYD mostly in J (plus a SYD-MEL award flight in J natch) cost $500 less than a LAX-MEL one way flight in Y on a QF red eye. Sure, there's a 10 hour time penalty, but that's just more time to sleep, booze and lounge...

 

[burmans]

Ignoring all other factors, how long of a detour will you be willing to make to take business class award flight (with lie flat beds) vs cash economy?

I would say anything more than 20% of the direct flight time is not worth it as, yes, J is great but u r still stuck on a metal tube with limited options.

Well for me I’ve certainly detoured a bit, New York via Korea with a nearly 24 hour stopover and return via Canada and a twelve hour stopover. Can’t say I’ve minded, with my previously busy life I have always regarded a long flight or flights as a very welcome time to really relax, nice food and wine and catch up a few movies.

Now I’m retired even more so, I’m off to the Stan’s in a week, my flight over takes me on points from SYD - PER (10 hour day stopover), PER - DOH (15 hour stopover), DOH - ALA arriving early morning and then I have to wait around all day for a 5pm short flight to Bishkek. 50+ hours in all, but I do get flatbeds so will sleep, lounge access (PER to DOH is in first so Al Safwa lounge in DOH and beds if I need to sleep), I’m actually looking forward to spending time in DOH to look around (and to a lesser extent PER and ALA). For me the journey is, while not better than the destination, certainly equal, and while I could have probably got a more direct economy flight, the idea fills me with dread.

 

[mrsterryn]

Another who will take the rewards J long way round in preference to economy
I am actually doing that to south Korea later on this year