Look,

if a company has business all the way in Asia (and australia) and is looking at it from a long term venture and is willing to send an employee all the way out to asia and wants the employee to be able to do what he or she needs to do efficiently and in the time frame he or she has with time zone/jet lag factored in and then to fly on to Australia for more meetings/work, they could do the company a big favour and at least invest in a business class seat for the person..or try to ensure the person gets a front row seat with leg room and space..whatever..as long as it helps the person be productive and efficient with the time they have and to do a good job.

A better rested employee or executive or manager or project leader is good for everyone rather than one who is tired and haggered after a long haul flight.

A friend of mine who handles a massive amount of work and projects for his company and works long hours to meet deadlines and middle of the night meetings online on skype gets sent to australia, new zealand and some regional destinations on economy.

The thing is the company bills the clients for his flight and hotel..but what is the point if he is going to get there haggered as he is and then have to go straight into meetings tired and to do project presentations and then be expected to fly back the next day and be back at work the following morning.

You can tell how much a company values it's key employee's sometimes by how they treat them. Or lack of looking after them.