kmandrew

This is something I have thought about for awhile. Most of us earn a lot of miles; when we use these miles for pleasure travel, especially international is our travel time a pleasurable experence?

My perspective is when my wife and I are lucky enough to book J/F we actually look forward to the whole experence. On the rare occurrence we have to book Coach we kind of dread the travel time and just want to get to our destination. We only go overseas once a year so it is kind of a big deal for us so when we are spending 2 days of that trip in the air, looking forward to that aspect is, in my opinion, important.

I know there are a lot of members of this forum that travel a lot more then we do and many that have traveled less, just curious what people think?

JDiver

Pretty much agree with you. I've got SMF-LAX-SYD-PER return coming. It will be OK in Business, if Coach torture endured to get me there, including stress positions and postural torture.

BearX220

I think most would agree J or F are usually fun, while Y is almost always an endurance contest. There is endless disagreement, however, on whether buying your way up and out of the endurance contest is worth the money or miles.

84fiero

I don't know if it's a philosophical difference or just different preferences. While I won't argue that J/F is nicer, personally I don't book above coach and have thus far been happy with that choice. I do like to travel by air, and am a private pilot myself, but when it comes to going on vacation the airline trip is just a means to get me from A to B so I can begin my experience at the destination. Coach is "good enough" for me - even on long TPACs - that I don't care to spend extra for premium.

Now for longhaul flights, my perspective may change as I get older and my body is less "adaptable", though I hope to remain in good shape for years to come.

swag

For me, the real philosophical question is why we consider premium cabin travel fun.

We thrill at the gourmet food and champagne, but could easily eat and drink better at many restaurants on the ground in most major cities.

We aspire to the Etihad "apartments", yet if we ever booked a hotel room that was 39 square feet with a shared toilet, we'd wish we were sleeping instead at a Comfort Inn, or even a Motel 6.

We marvel at the Emirates on board shower, but if a hotel limited us to 5 minutes of water, we'd slam them with a one star review on TripAdvisor.

So why then? Is it the thrill of just enjoying the "luxuries" while in the air? Is it the memories of alternatives (coach) that are much worse? The knowledge that others on the same plane are enduring coach while you have it better?

BearX220

If I ever do a book on flying-status issues -- and I've thought a great deal about it -- something like this would be more or less the foreword. Incredibly well-posed questions. To some extent, though, you can pose the same philosophical argument about many luxury products. Why do some people covet a $75k Mercedes when a $25k Ford is made of the same stuff and just as safe? Why do some people buy $2k Zegna suits instead of $299 Jos A Bank suits when most others can't tell them apart at five paces? It's all subjective and goes to very deep emotional questions.

In the case of air travel I think a big chunk of the puzzle solution lies in your last sentence -- the knowledge that others on the same plane are enduring coach while you have it better. I think that helps explain why all-business-class air services rarely stick. Customers always want someone else to be down the back of the plane in a cloud of lavatory disinfectant.

philip0

Frankly, luxury and status in this context aren't even minor considerations for me -- my award travel philosophy is strictly utilitarian. I was always too tall for economy seats but could get booked to an exit row at check-in because able-bodied, had a good reason to request it (height), and smiled nicely at the desk agent. Right around the time airlines started charging for exit rows was when I started buying tickets for two and became friends with a Points Wizard. Now I routinely gift travel to friends and family but from the beginning all my points generating activity has been primarily, if not exclusively (anymore), to mitigate the pain of buying 2x J tickets using aftertax dollars.

To answer OP's question more directly, I would like to sample airplane suites because they're a rare and unusual (perhaps unique) experience. But I would be very unlikely to spend twice as long traveling just to score a suite award. I wish I could say I look forward to the air segment of leisure travel but it would be more accurate to say that flying only in premium classes means I don't dread it. Sometimes, to be fair, I have a really great experience and show up well rested and well fed. But constitutionally, the series of lines and invasive TSA and the germ-ridden surfaces everywhere start me off at a pleasure deficit. A right-sized seat just brings me back to "ambivalent".

747FC

For the Mrs and me, it marks the start and end of a vacation, so is a cause for celebration. The other aspects of the vacation are why we travel, not the International F or J.

If others think we are clinking our champagne glasses because we are feeling superior to the Y cabin, that suggests some self-esteem issues from those who feel that way.

philip0

I like the way you put this but the obvious crux of it is that terrestrial hotels are not limited by physics / engineering / technology (yet) to only 5 min of water or tiny room sizes. Accessing these technologies in the air represents a rivalrous and exclusive and, for most people, prohibitively expensive (thus rare) experience. Drinking space-beer (made from hops that traveled into orbit) isn't expensive but it seems cool because it's otherwise technologically inaccessible. More to the point, the luxury-class products restore some of the magic to air travel, romance, pick your descriptor. I also think Security Theater (among all the other indignities) has helped propel nostalgia for air travel as a privilege.

Can't speak for the general flying public but knowing less fortunate people are in coach does not enhance my enjoyment / ambivalence over being in F / J at all. Without a doubt plenty of fliers would agree with BearX200's theory about it, though.

JerryFF

My wife won a trip to Italy for 2 that included roundtrip coach air. Going over to Europe on KLM, they let us use our miles to upgrade but coming back Alitalia did not and we were stuck in coach. The return was one of the most uncomfortable and unpleasant travel experiences we have had in a long time. There is total justification in trying to fly F or J on any long trip.