How much would you pay for a first/business class upgrade?

[Nunthewiser]

I personally would never think of paying as much as $100 for an upgrade, even to Australia... I guess my threshold of pain is pretty high.

On business travel years ago, I did happen to luck out on a free first class upgrade to London once. That was sweet, but not worth the thousands it would have cost.

 

[athena53]

On business travel years ago, I did happen to luck out on a free first class upgrade to London once. That was sweet, but not worth the thousands it would have cost.

I got that, too- was booked in Business, so already in a good place, but it was a 3-class plane and I got bumped to First. A bit roomier, nice little closets so you could put things you might need in flight in them and not have to forage in the overhead bin, and dinner service that really stretched out too long. First-world problems, I know, especially since you can ask for an abbreviated version of the meal to be served all at once so you can sleep. I don't sleep well on redeyes and wanted to experience it all anyway.

Yesterday I booked tickets for DH and me in Business Class from Boston to Iceland in August. It was a total of $4K and that was just BOS-KEF. Our flights to/from Boston were booked using miles. DH has had too many bad respiratory bugs after our long-haul trips; he gets worn out and then his immune system can't fight them off. We're pacing this with overnights in Boston in both directions (using Hotel points!).

To me, it's one of the hidden costs of aging. I'm pretty hardy but we have to do some things that are more comfortable (and more expensive) in order to keep from killing DH.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I... DH has had too many bad respiratory bugs after our long-haul trips; he gets worn out and then his immune system can't fight them off....

Hijack: Does he wear a mask when you travel? A couple of weeks ago I had to fly (to help out with an early-arriving new granddaughter). I am still fighting off the awful cold I get every time I take from Southwest's always full flights (not blaming SW, but they are so popular that the flights are always packed in my experience). We will be on a very long overseas flight in May and I am considering a mask. Or maybe I can tell DH I need to move up to business/first class. For my health

 

[athena53]

Or maybe I can tell DH I need to move up to business/first class. For my health

Sorry, but he's gotten bugs when we traveled in Business Class, too. Sometimes it's just something he picked up at our destination; one time, I'm almost sure, it was the guy at the liquor counter of the Duty-Free store in Madrid Airport, who was coughing and sneezing. We tried paying for our purchases at another counter but they sent us back to Typhoid Miguel. We washed our hands thoroughly afterwards, too. DH still got sick.

I think he's going to be more careful on this trip; he'll bring antiseptic gel and may wear a mask. The air in planes is dry and very little fresh air is brought in from outside during the flight so the germs just recirculate through the whole plane. I want him to ask his doc about preventative antibiotics. In general I deplore the overuse of antibiotics but if it can head off illness for DH I'm all for trying it.

 

[Meadbh]

Hijack: Does he wear a mask when you travel? A couple of weeks ago I had to fly (to help out with an early-arriving new granddaughter). I am still fighting off the awful cold I get every time I take from Southwest's always full flights (not blaming SW, but they are so popular that the flights are always packed in my experience). We will be on a very long overseas flight in May and I am considering a mask. Or maybe I can tell DH I need to move up to business/first class. For my health

Wearing a mask is not foolproof because it is difficult to keep it on without touching your face for hours on end. Rigorous hand washing is probably just as important.

During the SARS crisis I had to travel long distance with connections for a conference. I wore a mask on the plane. Nevertheless, I came down with a vicious cold and missed half the conference.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Thanks, Athena and Meadbh. Wearing a mask would probably make me touch my face more anyway. I am going to be scrupulous about hand washing and sanitizing from now on and see if that helps prevent another cold next time.

 

[athena53]

Wearing a mask is not foolproof because it is difficult to keep it on without touching your face for hours on end. Rigorous hand washing is probably just as important.

During the SARS crisis I had to travel long distance with connections for a conference. I wore a mask on the plane. Nevertheless, I came down with a vicious cold and missed half the conference.

Thanks for the insight. One of the reasons we love Business Class is the never-ending parade of food and drink (DH is especially fond of AA's made-to-order ice cream sundaes for dessert, although we're not taking AA this time). That would involve taking off and putting on the face mask a lot. Sounds like hand washing/sanitizer would be better.

 

[explanade]

I pay $500-550 each way and 20-25k miles to upgrade to business on international flights, which often last 11-18 hours.

But you're not assured of getting those upgrades. The hard part is, they hold your miles and copayment money for months and then refund if you don't get the upgrade.

That's on United.

 

[braumeister]

Yesterday I booked tickets for DH and me in Business Class from Boston to Iceland in August. It was a total of $4K and that was just BOS-KEF.

Something to consider if you do it again:
Last year we paid $3,470 for two of us in Economy Comfort on Icelandair.
Newark to Brussels, with a four-day stopover in Reykjavik.
Since business class was only half full, they put us up in there anyway, and treated us as fully paid business class passengers. Great airline!

 

[athena53]

I pay $500-550 each way and 20-25k miles to upgrade to business on international flights, which often last 11-18 hours.

But you're not assured of getting those upgrades. The hard part is, they hold your miles and copayment money for months and then refund if you don't get the upgrade.

That's on United.

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I don't put much stock in upgrading with miles. We managed it once with Continental- the return trip from Scotland in late 2001 after a lot of people stopped flying.

 

[rodi]

I don't have the money to fly business as a regular thing. But I *always* price it out. Sometimes the price difference is so little, it's worth the upgrade. We flew to Kauai in first in 2008 - the price difference per ticket was $75.

I'm flying business class for my big trip this summer. Even coach was super expensive- my open jaw, high season tickets were (and still are) pricing out at $1800. I priced Economy Plus - and it was running about $2600. My DH is 6'4" and my 14 year old is over 6' already... Plus, truthfully, I'm not a skinny-minny - so having a little more width and knee room (I'm 5'9") sounded really good. Business was consistently running over $5k.... no way I could justify that. But - it dipped for a few hours to $3.3k... and I pounced. Kids are flying in coach, and we're in the front of the plane. Actually - the way it worked out - the flights we wanted... business was cheaper than coach for the outbound - so the kids are in business outbound, coach on the return.
The price was back up to the $5k+ for business later that day... Even the BA clerk was shocked by the prices. (Booked through BA - but no british air flights - it's a cobble of AA, vueling, and USair.)

It's a splurge, for sure. One I'm very unlikely to repeat. But I'm really looking forward to being in the front of the plane. (And the euro price savings for lodging and train have offset the increased airfare.)

 

[athena53]

Something to consider if you do it again:
Last year we paid $3,470 for two of us in Economy Comfort on Icelandair.
Newark to Brussels, with a four-day stopover in Reykjavik.
Since business class was only half full, they put us up in there anyway, and treated us as fully paid business class passengers. Great airline!

Thanks! I'm thinking that if this works out we may do it again as a stopover to/from Europe. DH could probably handle Economy Comfort if we weren't bumped up; I had the equivalent on AA to/from London just after they rolled that out and, while it wasn't Business Class, it was certainly an improvement over Coach.

 

[braumeister]

Thanks! I'm thinking that if this works out we may do it again as a stopover to/from Europe.

Just to be clear, if you use this Icelandair method, the stopover in Iceland can be as long or as short as you want, and on either or both legs. We found the ground agents and cabin crews to be delightful people, and the overall experience was superior to nearly any other trips we have taken. We will definitely fly them again.

 

[audreyh1]

I'm flying business class for my big trip this summer. Even coach was super expensive- my open jaw, high season tickets were (and still are) pricing out at $1800. I priced Economy Plus - and it was running about $2600. My DH is 6'4" and my 14 year old is over 6' already... Plus, truthfully, I'm not a skinny-minny - so having a little more width and knee room (I'm 5'9") sounded really good. Business was consistently running over $5k.... no way I could justify that. But - it dipped for a few hours to $3.3k... and I pounced. Kids are flying in coach, and we're in the front of the plane. Actually - the way it worked out - the flights we wanted... business was cheaper than coach for the outbound - so the kids are in business outbound, coach on the return.
The price was back up to the $5k+ for business later that day... Even the BA clerk was shocked by the prices. (Booked through BA - but no british air flights - it's a cobble of AA, vueling, and USair.)

Wow, I'm impressed. I don't know how to watch for those kinds of dips.

We're flying (open jaw) economy plus. It's around $2K pp with upgrades, $1600 base economy. I easily get scared off of business class because I never see anything under $4k or higher.

 

[explanade]

Yeah I bought a business class ticket to Munich from SFO, for $3700 in early April.

Coach tickets were running about $1400-1500.

Reason is, I'm trying to make Premier Gold status and they have a spending requirement and the way they calculate the spending doesn't include some fees and taxes so you'd be fortunate to net 90% of the total ticket price to count towards the spending requirement.

I'm questioning whether it's worth it but I'll probably go through with it this year and see what happens.

 

[athena53]

Actually - the way it worked out - the flights we wanted... business was cheaper than coach for the outbound - so the kids are in business outbound, coach on the return.

Ooh, bad idea... you think your kids will ever sit in the back of the bus again?

But seriously: DS and I flew with my first husband on Frequent Flyer miles from NJ to Ohio in Business Class. (The Ex flew on business a lot back then and avoided Coach Class whenever possible.) A few months later, when I flew in Coach with DS, who was about 8 at the time, he said it would be nice if we could fly Business. I reminded him that the year before we'd flown to Montreal, stayed in a nice hotel for a few days, watched an Expos game and seen some of the attractions, for about $1,000 which would be about the extra cost of flying Business on the NJ-Myrtle Beach flight we were on. Bless him, he got the point and understood that sometimes you have to make tradeoffs.

 

[rodi]

Wow, I'm impressed. I don't know how to watch for those kinds of dips.

We're flying (open jaw) economy plus. It's around $2K pp with upgrades, $1600 base economy. I easily get scared off of business class because I never see anything under $4k or higher.

Pure luck and stalking prices on flights.google.com.... I'd been looking for a deal better than the $1800 coach tickets were running.... and happened to see a dip.... It appeared to be a few hour long dip - because I checked again that afternoon out of curiousity and the rates were back to the higher prices.

I'm hoping to actually SLEEP on the plane - something I don't do well. Lets hope those lie-flat seats are what they're touted to be.

 

[SJ1_]

about $50 on a 3 hr. flight...

 

[audreyh1]

Pure luck and stalking prices on flights.google.com.... I'd been looking for a deal better than the $1800 coach tickets were running.... and happened to see a dip.... It appeared to be a few hour long dip - because I checked again that afternoon out of curiousity and the rates were back to the higher prices.

I'm hoping to actually SLEEP on the plane - something I don't do well. Lets hope those lie-flat seats are what they're touted to be.

Glad you lucked out. I use google flights too, but I didn't do a lot of checking. I just verified that the $1600 fare I had scoped out a few weeks before was still available. I had to wait a while for my plans to consolidate since it partly depended on family.

 

[NW-Bound]

... I'm hoping to actually SLEEP on the plane - something I don't do well. Lets hope those lie-flat seats are what they're touted to be.

Flight time LAX/Sydney non-stop was close to 15 hours. I slept like a baby, and the flight was painless and felt a lot shorter than some torturous coach flights across the US which were only 5 hours.

The next long flight I was on was Atlanta/Tel Aviv, which was 14 hours. Same thing. It makes it difficult for me to fly coach, hence I like RV'ing more now.

 

[NW-Bound]

To appease the missus so that she will continue to go on long RV treks with me, I just hold a week-long cruise out of Fort Lauderdale for later this year.

Cruises do not excite me the same as they did back when I was still working and welcome any chance to relax, but I think I can still enjoy it. What is dreadful is the flight to get to port. Will have to look into that next. We already spend too much money, so coach it will have to be. Arghh!!!!

 

[FUEGO]

I remembered that someone in the forum posted about actually doing a cruise across the Atlantic instead of flying (although my comment was more spending the money on any cruise, not necessarily taking a cruise across the ocean as an alternative to flying), but didn't remember that it was you.

I will say that your initial comment in the past about cruising trans-Atlantic has always stuck in the back of my mind, and would be an awesome way to travel when I reach the point of retiring, since you should be able to score some pretty good deals (especially if you can go last-minute).

I just price two cruises today. Miami to Barcelona = $470 per person plus tips. Miami to England (Dover IIRC) or Denmark $550 + gratuities. Not the absolute cheapest I've seen, but pretty run of the mill prices for last minute repositioning cruises across the Atlantic.

We're thinking about building a summer 2016 family trip to Europe around one of these repositioning cruises. $2200-2700 plus gratuities for 11-14 days across the Atlantic for our family of 5 in 2 cabins of ~200 sf each, meals, entertainment, "layovers" in a few cities on the way, etc.

As for the OP's question, we were offered an upgrade to 1st on a ~2 hr flight (RDU to MIA) as the first leg of our flight to Montevideo Uruguay (the 9 hours of MIA-MVD wasn't available for upgrade for another $90 unfortunately ). We turned it down since 2 hrs isn't a long flight to me. I would definitely pay $90 for a 9 hr flight. Maybe more. Not $300 though. I can always get up and walk to/from the bathroom to stretch. What would happen if I did pushups in the aisle to get the blood flowing and burn off some energy?

 

[MRG]

....snip....
What would happen if I did pushups in the aisle to get the blood flowing and burn off some energy?

We'd probably hear about a forced emergency landing.:sly:

 

[FUEGO]

We'd probably hear about a forced emergency landing.:sly:

Cool, I could check a few things off my bucket list. I've never seen the inside of a federal detention facility.

 

[NW-Bound]

... or an asylum?

Hmmm. I wonder if flight attendants carry Taser guns.