MasterGberry

I am not an avid TATL flyer, and do it a few times a year, usually for 5+ nights. Quite often to visit family for 8-9 nights.

I now need to fly to a funeral next week, and I am super busy atm in my own personal life and being gone for more than a few days is out of the question.

My plan is to fly in the day before the funeral, and fly out the day after the funeral. Effectively would be in California for about 48 hours, and gone from home around 72 (a bit more) hours.

I will need to do a layover via Germany, no direct flights unfortunately at this time of the year.

Is this doable on my body? What is the best strategy for sleeping? I have one small advantage that there is only an 8 hour difference now instead of the normal 9.

My plan was to probably just sleep at 6 PM or so California time at the latest for the 2 nights I am there and really not adjust too far into the time zone. This way I can sleep easier on the plane back home to Europe too, and avoid major jet lag when coming home.

I will either book premium eco and upgrade to biz with vouchers or book biz and upgrade to first class one direction with vouchers. If I do the latter, what direction am I better off upgrading to first class with?

Looking for some advice here from the travel veterans on how to best do this trip, since I have never done a TATL with such a short timespan before.

Thanks.

fransknorge

Yes it is doable of course. I guess it depends on your general level of fitness though but except medical contrindication it will be OK, just tiresome.
Sleeping early sounds a good idea. For upgrade I would prefer a flat bed on the flight from California to Europe and prefer Business as First is more of a treat. If you want to maximize sleep Business is good enough.

scottishpoet

Certainly doable

I used to do out sunday back wednesday so a little longer.

I do one night in jnb from europe, so 2 overnight flights, connecting in fra. Similar flight times but no time difference

You can try to sleep 6pm to 2am. I find that tough, east coast 10pm to 5am is easier. The finding things to do from 2am till the rest of california wakes up is the toughest part.

If looking at PE one way, i would do that outbound daytime flight and the lie flat on the overnight return

sw1x

Definitely try to have a flat bed on the return flight as going East to most people is tougher than the other way round. I sleep as well in J as in F, so if I were to book J and upgrade one direction, it would likely be the outbound to the West Coast. If you have a real layover in Germany, in FRA you could make proper use of the FCT.

I actually think this is quite doable, as there won’t be much adjusting to time zones anyway. Just be prepared to rise early in Cali.

MasterGberry

Thanks all for the suggestions. I will be staying with family, and the house is big enough that I can go stay in another section from 2-7 AM without disturbing people.

I'll make a final decision on how to purchase tickets/upgrades etc when the final dates are locked in and see what the prices are looking like.

8420PR

I think the shorter trip (2-3 days) is more "doable" than longer ones (7-8 days), as you can just sleep when you are tired, and don't need to make the effort to adjust your body to the new timezone.

e.g.:
Day 1: you arrive and will be very tired so will likely sleep well.
Day 2: go to the funeral, and then sleep in the afternoon if you want.
Day 3: not a problem to wake up early, as anyway you have a flight to catch.

oliver2002

Î do a weekend in the US every October/November for the FT moderator meeting and the jetlag really doesn't have time to kick in for a 2 day trip. Flying business helps as you get some sleep in when tired. Last year the upgrade didn't clear because of my idiocy, so I had to slum it out in PE, which didn't allow for any sleep. So I had no problems to sleep at the right time of day once I go home.

MasterGberry

So I just called the SEN hotline, and they informed me that there are no upgrade seats available, and that I would be put onto the waitlist. Looking on expertflyer, biz is mostly booked out. I guess they will sell the remaining seats to people who bid for upgrades (really bad timing with spring break coming up next week).

Is there a way to see what the fixed-upgrade price would be before buying an eco or prem eco ticket? I know they overcharge on a biz ticket for the extra baggage etc, and I am going to just go with a carry on + my suit bag most likely...so ideally would buy a cheaper ticket and just buy an upgrade to biz on the long haul assuming it was cheaper than buying a biz ticket outright.

oliver2002

I would book PE and file the evouchers/mile upgrades. The upgrade should clear, the business class looks sold out because the back is full with spring/easter break pax. They will upgrade the evoucher/miles waitlist before doing any op-ups due to oversell.

MasterGberry

Won't they also prioritize the paid upgrades first? e.g. if there are only 4-5 seats available, they will choose to sell them before they do the waitlist?

Yeah...bad timing with spring/easter break unfortunately. I just don't want to get stuck in prem-eco 😅

oliver2002

No they won't sell/accept bids if the aircraft is oversold.

olm022

I do ZRH-GRU Wednesday-Sunday every third week. Admittedly, I can’t fathom doing it in M/Y. But in C/F it is quite doable.

MasterGberry

Is there anyway to tell if the aircraft is oversold? I assume just checking the # of seats avail in each area of the plain on Expertflyer etc

e.g.

F0 A0 J6 C1 D0 Z0 P0 G1 E0 N0 Y9 B0 M0 U0 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 T0 L0 K0 looks pretty sold out.

while

F4 A0 J6 C6 D6 Z6 P0 G9 E7 N0 Y9 B9 M0 U0 H0 Q9 V9 W9 S0 T0 L0 K0 looks a bit less sold out.

(diff planes, same day).

Ideally the upgrades/waitlist would clear instantly (i've read this sometimes happens), but unknown if I will get that lucky or not.

oliver2002

The agent can pull up the forecast for the flight if they want to.

SK AAR

Maybe you should reconsider if it is really needed that you attend the funeral? The main person will never know whether you attended or not...