TBRIC

I seldom pay for J as my company will not reimburse. I am fortunate to enjoy an upgrade % that hovers around 90 as I don’t fly from a hub and am EXP. As I average 130 segments a year, and am in my 60’s, that’s important. When I travel personally with my wife and I am not totally sure of an upgrade, I will either pay for J/F or burn SWU’s as she enjoys it. Occasionally, when I have to get to ATL quickly I will fly DL in first and pay the difference personally as the difference is always minimal. (Which is why I chose AA in the first place... would never be comfortable not being upgraded because they chose to sell the seat for 40 or 50 bucks to somebody who flies once or twice a year). Just my $.02

MarkOK

Nearly all of the time, I could never justify the cost of domestic F, and heck I think the MCE fees are ridiculous enough (for people that have to purchase them). A few hours of less than perfect comfort just isn't that big of a deal to me, and I am not so rich that I can't use my financial resources on much better returns of luxury and comfort. From age 18-33, I was group 8 (or equivalent), chose a window seat in the back of the plane, checked a bag to not worry about overhead space, and was perfectly happy/comfortable. It didn't hurt that back then, it wasn't uncommon to have a row to yourself in coach of course, but even now, the uncomfort of coach doesn't bother me much.

The few times I did buy F was on some last minute flights when both of the following were true:
-- I was crunched work wise and really wanted to get work done on the plane. In coach, sometimes I can work but sometimes I can't (basically, if the person in front of me reclines, there just isn't enough space for my somewhat large laptop even in MCE without me flailing my elbows half way into my neighbors space to type).
-- It was more of a last minute flight purchase when the discount F fares end up being not that much more than the coach fares offered.

And once, it was a combination of these two things -and- I needed just enough EQDs and EQMs to get PlatPro on a challenge (I in some ways regret that extra cost though, the platpro benefits were disappointedly minor for the whole rest of the time).

chiefkays

I fly domestic F because its a bigger seat and because it minimizes my stress with travelling. All my flying is leisure, and I only do it a handful of times a year. As someone on the larger side who gets stressed easily, paying for F ensures that my flying is as comfortable and stress-free as I can make it.

HGPilot

Thanks for all the responses. Looks like no-one is enthralled overall with AA's domestic F product. I'm typing this right now on an A321S back to LAX and I have to say it's a world of difference from the A321 I flew out on. Big TV screens, better seats, power sockets. What on earth is AA thinking removing these from planes?!?

VFR

I am sure they are thinking of what they weigh and how much that costs. There is some additional cabling under the seats to distribute the content as well, so it's not just the weight of a tablet. Maybe with wireless IFE products on the market, IFE will make a comeback on AA -- Delta developed one in-house so unfortunately they can't just buy that and copy Delta.

I almost never buy domestic F; I usually fly really inexpensive Y fares so the price difference is usually double and I would rather have two trips in Y to one trip in F.

aisleorwindow

I usually DON'T bother paying for domestic F. I fly ORD--West Coast 2-3 times per month and an exit row is just fine for me if I don't get upgraded. But there are situations where I will buy F:

If cost difference is nominal: e.g. ORD-MIA-PUJ was only $112 more, so that seemed like a no-brainer

Because children: e.g. my wife was traveling solo with our daughter as a lap infant on Delta DTW-ORD. It was only $60 more for F, and really only a net of $30 since she had to check a bag. Only a 45 minute flight but ended up being on the plane for 6 hours due to weather, so that was well worth it.

Special circumstances: OGG-DFW-ORD red-eye on intnl config plane with the wife for vacation. Flight is basically like a TATL. Scored some good points with the missus on that one ;-)

ppwchess

Depends on where I'm going and what type of aircraft it is. I'm not going to spend the extra $$ for a recline seat to Chicago. I will pay the extra $$ on a lay flat to Miami. PHX transcons have crappy F so usually opt for MC and hope I get MCE when I check in. That was the one nice thing about have plat this past year.

Aislegirl

We pay for domestic F when flying on long weekend type leisure trips as a couple. Makes life so much less stressful and the trip gets off to a nice start. Also have paid on some trips to Hawaii even though it’s usually ridiculously high. Depends on the occasion.

The firm I work for only pays for coach seats but I sometimes pay the difference to upgrade myself on business trips. Depends on the circumstances of the flight - I’m tall so the legroom really matters to me especially on longer flights headed east to west in the winter.

birddogmax

I use a pretty simple formula. Anything under 3 hours, I don't even think about it - I just book an exit row seat and hope for an upgrade. If one isn't available, I do the best I can. Over 3 hours, if the cost of F is 15%-20% of the EQM's, I'll almost always pay for it. I'm rather tall so the comfort factor is pretty important (coach seats are pure evil if you are over 6' tall); however, I won't pay a ridiculous premium. As an example, an F seat DFW-BOS for around $600 is a no-brainer and availability is usually pretty good. But DFW-SEA is a terrible route for premium seats, with F often $900 or more. I simply refuse to pay that amount just because AA can get it from all the Boeing/Microsoft/Amazon execs shuttling back and forth. Let them pay the big bucks, I'll suffer a backache and relieve it with some Alaskan Amber when we land :-)

IADCAflyer

So, I do domestic F when the total travel time is at least six hours (including lay overs). That's not hard and fast. If I have a client on a budget, I'll suck it up and pray for the upgrade.

The exception is if I'm on the west coast and coming east. For a number of reasons, I'd rather take the red-eye rather than deal with an extra night of hotel and meals and rental car. The cost balances out.

Cledaybuck

I don’t. I have a hard time justifying the cost, especially when most of my travel is with the family and it would be x3.