Originally Posted by
moondog
Like many FTers, I definitely appreciate business class, but one thing that's surprised me as my travel career has progressed is that my body actually cares a lot more about total trip duration than seat comfort. In other words, JFK-PVG nonstop in economy class sits much better with me than JFK-SFO-PVG in business class. The calculus is quite different if I take true stopovers at the connection point(s) because these effectively reset the trip clock.
I'm curious about this. How much time does it add in flight hours?
Being West Coast based, I feel similarly about stopping on the East Coast prior to a Europe trip. Our ideal is a non-stop, of course, but if we do have a stop, I try to pick one that is an hour or two away from either departure or destination, so the bulk of the flight is on one plane, in one seat. My worst schedule is say, a 4 hour flight to Chicago or New York, then to my European destination. I much prefer one long leg and one short leg, to two that are approximately equal in length. For a flight like that, or a non-stop, I would consider an economy flight over a business class flight, especially if the layover is long.