Originally Posted by nd2010

I would go to India from EWR every 4 years since I was a kid. I used to look forward to the flights and enjoy the experience. Even when I was in the middle seat between my parents, I’d enjoy it. Even when I was in college I looked forward to and enjoyed the flight.

I didn’t go to India for the last 10 years until recently.

Lately I have been traveling a lot domestically for work. I almost always fly in F between EWR and LAS. Usually pay for F, but if F is lightly booked, I take my chances on a CPU. I became Platinum on United last year.

My parents booked a flight for me from EWR-BOM. Of course they put me in the middle seat in Y between them. I was not having that. I paid to upgrade all 3 of us to premium economy for the United segments of EWR-LHR and DEL-EWR. Then used plus points and miles to upgrade myself to Polaris for EWR-LHR and DEL-EWR. The J upgrade to LHR cleared but I’m still waitlisted for DEL-EWR. I then used an additional 50000 miles to upgrade my parents to J for DEL-EWR, still pending.

On my trip to BOM, there was a segment on Air Canada from LHR-BOM that I couldn’t even pay to upgrade online or at check in. So I was stuck in a middle in Y for the 9 hour flight and I thought it was miserable. I will never again fly international in Y.

Next time my parents want to take me to India, I will insist on booking my own flight myself. I’ll pay for J both ways. I make more money in a week than the cost of a J ticket EWR-BOM, and I’d rather give up a week’s salary to not be uncomfortable for a day