Originally Posted by
BaylorGirl
Hello,
I'm really new at FlyerTalk, but I just learned that I'm not supposed to post the same question on multiple airline pages. Sorry! I hope I'm doing this right now.
Anyway, I'm doing a research project on the travel industry and am wondering why people pay more for first class when they get to the final stop at the same time, still have to wait for bags, etc. I mean, you're just sitting in a seat that whole time, right? But I know a lot of people will only travel in business or first, so if you could let me know some of the reasons why you would choose that, I would appreciate it so much!
Thank you!
Flying coach class > than 6 hours is a miserable experience in my opinion. I used to do it, without thought, because I grew up poor and always purchased the cheapest available product, without thought. I even flew 10+ hour flights in coach class long after I had the means to purchase better seats, just out of "instinct."
As I've aged, my butt literally doesn't handle that so well, and I also try to use my time on the plane to do something useful: sleep.
At the same time, I'm becoming more and more cognizant of how short life is, and that I can't take what I've earned with me, so I might as well spend it in ways that bring me pleasure (or ways that reduce the misery).
So now for any flight > 2 hours, I pay for first class, or I pay for business class and then (attempt to) upgrade to first. I wouldn't even consider flying in an economy seat for 6 hours again -- every now and then when I'm on a 2-3 hour domestic UA flight in F, and they swap planes with Ted (no first class cabin), my butt aches after the first couple hours. If 2 hours bothers me, why deal with 6? You only live once...
For short hops (< 2 hours), I sometimes purchase coach tickets, but still try to upgrade. And sometimes I just pay for F so that I don't have to worry about it.
Summary: my body feels better if I have a better seat, I sleep better if the seat reclines more (think lay-flat bed on UA's international F), and on intl F flights, I like having the ice cream and video tapes in-flight, and the first-class lounge access at SFO, LAX, NRT, HKG and BKK.