With lounge access through status, c£5 per hour of flight unless I am in a middle seat when it’s c£15 per hour of flight. Minus those sums if I have the exit row.

The lack of legroom and the inability to use a laptop properly is the killer.

Ms HF and I did our first Club Europe flight last week, LGW to LCA. As a redemption and as non status holders we thought this was great value.

Club check in and fast track security worked well.

Lounge was good but busy. However the airport as a whole was busy (Friday morning in June) so it was still better than being outside, and we enjoyed the drinks and snacks.

The flight itself was good, with priority boarding being called, no shortage of locker space and the middle seat table being better than simply licking out with a spare middle seat.

The crew were fantastic and really got everyone in the holiday mood. This was despite an ATC slot restriction delaying us about 1hr, which was dealt with well with good information and invitations to visit the flight deck to pass the time.

Food was good and champagne and wine flowed liberally.

Very much enjoyed the package and at the right price would pay for it over Y.

To come back to the question at hand, how much would we pay? We said £50-80 over economy per person per leg depending on flight length.

Here are my valuations:-

For a non exec club member I would value CE at between £50/75 to £100/£125 with the first set of numbers representing the 80 and the second set the 160 tier point routes. The later part of the pair is if you need the extra luggage. The benefits for this customer are clear. In addition to the empty middle seat, they have lounge access, food and drink on board and fast track.

For a Blue or bronze member I would add £10 - £20 for the extra tier points earned

For a silver member the value drops to £20 - £30 as the only benefits are the extra Avios and on board food. But chances are you will have less room as you may be able to snag an exit row in Y.

For gold I’d add a tenner to the silver value for the chance of snagging row 1.

Hi all just my 2ps worth - for what it’s worth! :-)

i think, It’s so hard to put a £££ figure on this as it depends on so many different factors, from disposal income, to personal space to length of flight etc etc. I can see why Gold/Silver card holders who get status through long haul flights, or through corporate means would rather have a Y exit row and not pay for the complimentary bar/meal service as they have most of the other benefits that come with CE (lounge access, priority boarding etc). If however, CE is the primary source of your tier points to gain status, I would put a higher value on it. In a nutshell, I personally would recommend CE on all band 3/4 flights if it’s at a price that is acceptable to you. For Bands 1/2 flights, I’d recommend it less so, unless it’s to build up your tier points for silver/gold status :-)

Pre-status I used to take £60 off however much the upgrade was when making a decision as that’s been how much my bike cost anyway (it was never under 23kg). With status I pay for it when around £50-80 more than ET and then only when going on holiday with my wife at a socially acceptable time to be enjoying the bar runs. The bike races are just in ET as there’s no point paying. It was galling when they cut the “highest class leg” rule as I used to only book it one-way but get the double baggage both ways, but silver came soon after so that was well timed.

The value for me at this point is almost purely in the tier points. Booking in CE vs not over the course of a year is generally the difference between renewing GGL and not, which I find to be pretty valuable.

The value in not needing to do a separate tier point run over the course of the year is at this point worth it given my current volume of travel (I’m trying to be away from the family as little as possible currently). That said I’ll pretty much only book CE if row 1 is available (unless a long haul aircraft) because I prefer the extra space to open the MacBook.

It’s not really a value thing. CE is a terrible product. Y is intolerable. I largely fly J except on abwrage one Y deferment a year to remind myself why I do. Usually end up there because Y saver is available whereas I’d have to use a GPR for J.