The decision is based partly on how many miles you have. If business class is going to clean out your account, then maybe you should go economy and save the miles for one more trip. But if you have more miles than you can use, then business class looks good.

Some people fly business class because it is only ~50% more miles but the price of a paid ticket would be 3-4 times as much as economy. I think that's a bit silly; if you personally would never pay 3 times as much, then you aren't saving that much money. Perhaps these are the same people who won't buy a TV at $1000 but will buy the same TV if it is list priced at $3000 but then discounted to $1000.

For me, there is a big difference between business class with flat horizontal seats, and business class with slanted seats or armchair seats. I use business class awards only for very long flights (>12 hrs) and only if there are flat horizontal seats.

I try to follow a simple rule. If my flights are shorter than 6 hrs, I'll go in couch, if more - on business. I will not splurge on first unless it's Cathay Pacific which is legendary yet reasonable milewise. For example, I will not blow 200K+ miles on a Singapure F suite no matter how much everyone is raving about it.

But the thing is I mostly fly solo and not all that often. If I needed to fly with family and/or every month or so, my "cavalier" attitude would certainly require a bit of adjustment.

This is subjective. I'm 6'1", so I can tell you that 31" pitch in coach is miserable for me, even going to Europe.

However... back in the day, I used to be a Plat on NW, and they'd let us grab the bulkhead seats in coach at time of booking. I flew DTW-FRA-DTW, and SIN-NRT-SEA in bulkhead seats, and you know what? I was actually fine. So, I'll pay real cash to sit in those seats. How much? Not sure at the moment.

But the miles game has been good to me. My wife and I have enough miles to fly J/F once a year for the next four years... so we will. J seats give you access to shorter checkin lines, better baggage allowance, and club access. F doesn't give you much more than that -- perhaps a slightly nicer lounge and bigger seat. But you know what? Back when standard J was a recliner seat, there was a truly noticable difference with F. Now that J is mostly flat bed seats, the benefit of F is so much more marginal. I'd almost say it's not worth it.

If my choice were to fly every year in Y or every other year in J, I'd fly every year in Y. But I can fly every year in J, and I don't have the desire to make two trips a year. (I do... but it's not pressing. My wife and I like to go for three or four weeks at a time, it would be a bit difficult to take two trips that long, and I have no desire to cut the length short and travel more often.)

If you are miles rich, of course it would be better fly first or biz.
If you only fly on a few hours flight, coach probably will do.
If the trip is your dream vacation, don't think you want sit in coach next to a huge passenger. :-)
If you are big and tall, don't think it would be pleasant to fly coach.
If you have a family (with 2 kids), then you'll waste lots of miles for your trip vs if you are solo or couple.
If you don't have too many miles and want to save up for another trip, then fly econ.
If you have a business, can accumulate miles quickly thru spendings, then fly biz/first.
Etc.

Great answers from many different views.
For me, its all about how many miles I can accrue (via churns= limited) and ($ used to generate miles= dont have a business and everyday use generally dont amt to alot). And then seeing how many tixs I can get. (BTW: my wife's credit history is terrible with multiple late payments and higher than avg. useage to available credit ratio--and she wonders why shes often turned down or under review with CC apps).

I like to fly to exotic Asia for vacations and its a LONG haul. Dream of flying in biz comfort with lie down seats but reality is we could only accrue enough miles every 2 years or so for 3 economy tix for the 3 of us (me, wife and young son). We have to brave the long 16hrs uncomfortable flight or upgrade to biz in comfort for 2 seats and leave the wife home. but doing so will ensure me of at least 16 months of uncomfortable life when I return. -ha
So for us its all about how many tixs we can get and not leave anyone behind rather than comfort level.( Lucky my son is still short so seating is not really a issue, wife is 5-2 so also not too bad with seating. I'm 5-10 and seating is very uncomfortable after about 5 hrs- but I have to just suck it up knowing I'll get there eventually--getting a few drinks inflight helps dull the discomfort for me though)

Great answers. I had only flown J once many many years ago but when I got into this hobby, I thought that I'd try to save my miles and fly coach. But last summer we went from SFO to JNB to Cairo to London back to SF. I had enough miles and we went business class.

Since then, I've flown to hawaii (5 hours) in coach and that wasn't bad. I think my new rule, roughly, is if the flight is less than 6 hours, I'll be ok with coach. 6-10 it depends on my miles status, etc. Over 10 AND if I have a stopover in a different country/region, I'll def go business/first. It gets a bit tricky if it is a direct 10-12 hour flight. SFO-China is around 10-12, but without a stopover in thailand, I don't know if I'd do J.
I am also trying to get some of the discounted awards like US Air offpeak or AA offpeak + Avios direct flights, so we shall see.

I've found many times with AA that RT Transcon say Bos-Las Coach is 50K miles and the Milesaaver First class is also 50K. ok, sign me up! and with USair I have a CC that gives me a 5K mile discount and sometimes the FC is only like an additional 15K miles. which gets me free bags, free food and free drinks. more comfy seats etc. yeah even though I'm a Coach kinda guy, I'll throw the extra miles and ride up front. with a little creativity and pre planning you can enjoy some upgrades once and a while without spending a lot of extra miles. RT

Who needs domestic F to Hawaii - no one. Who needs domestic F period. No one. I don't really understand the rush to MR for the sake of upgrades, as the food is garbage and E+/EC/Ewhatever is fine. The other benefits are IMO worth MRing for.

A lot of us need international C to survive with our lives. Yes, even us who pay for our own tickets most of the time. I sometimes time my schedule so that I'm getting off an AMS-CAN flight and going straight to a meeting - I need C for that. No one really needs F, and if they do...they are really really full of themselves

But, I don't always need C. I fly to Europe from US east coast all the time in Y - usually in an exit row. I always buy the tickets. I'm flying to DUS two times in the next month, and I paid $600 for the tickets. I creatively routed my flights to give me 22,000 DL miles each time with the 100% bonuses. Why would I redeem all my miles when I can: 1. Afford the ticket easily, 2. Earn a lot of miles flying. Sometimes I get it - like you need to be in Paris in the peak season and the ticket is 1600$. Still then, I ask why didn't you just buy US miles and do the ticket in C for $2000?

IMO, business or first class are only valuable for mid-long haul (5 hrs+) flights, especially if overnight with lie flat beds. You just arrive at your destination feeling better, and it takes the edge off of jet lag. Not that the improved seats, service, food, etc., aren't nice otherwise, but I don't particularly think they're worth the premium.
-Karl

coach all the way.

i'm into quantity over quality (been there, done that). plus, i'm drugged up on dramamine the entire flight (even the 13 hr ones), so luxury would be wasted on me. honestly if I could teleport places and skip the travel process altogether I would.

Actually, one thing I noticed, I don't value the destination as much when I flew business class. South Africa, Zambia, etc were awesome, but there were a few times I was ready to go to the next place, not because I was tired of the place, but because I wanted to experience the next J product....anyone else feel this way?

If the flight is 6 hours or longer for me, I choose business OR first (depends on my stash at the time). If the flight is shorter than that, I go with coach.

I also flew on Turkish Airlines in coach about a month ago (didn't have the miles for anything else - short notice), and had free reign on alcohol. Literally free. I didn't have to pay for alcohol. I also got a little "care pack" that included a cloth, lip balm, etc. I'm sure it was because it was a long flight, but either way it made me feel a little better about being in coach for so long. Continental doesn't provide those amenities for coach on long-haul flights (ie USA to China).

I personally don't, but I notice that's a theme with a lot of bloggers. I sort of wish they'd focus more on the destination than the size of the seats. I'd rather see what kind of experience I can get on miles/points - not always what kind of amenities.

Yeah, on my coach flights to Hawaii, I've never wanted to leave dreading coach back, but on business class flights, we were pretty excited to hop on the flight. Maybe it is partly because Lucky etc building up the flight experience more than the actually destination....I mean these guys fly somewhere for 2-3 days, then go to one more place for 1-2 days then head back. I like to go for at least 10 days and anything less than 2 weeks (16 days including the extra weekend), is a bit short for me.

It's like eating a Pringles chip: If you get your spouse an international J or F ticket once, you'll have to do it again. My wife said that she didn't want her 14-hour flight in F to end.

Her trip was only 15k more miles (one-way) than the alternative of double-miles coach. That plus a $150 change fee. It's worth it just to have a good story to tell your friends.

The positive spin is that flying international J or F will get you off your butt and active in credit card churning and other mile-earning activities.

For domestic or short-haul travel it's no big deal. For international if you can find saver space and you have the miles, do it. This opportunity won't last very many more years IMHO.