MikeFromTokyo

I do my best to avoid flying in coach, but hotels and resorts, as well as dining and activities during my travels are my priorities.

I am willing to pay whatever I consider to be a reasonable premium to fly in C class on long flights. Depending on the prices of tickets and mileage requirements I usually try to either purchase an I class fare(or other discounted business class fare), do mileage upgrades, or get award tickets. I am young and all of my travel is personal/leisure so I have never purchased a very expensive full fare J or F ticket in my life, but still I manage quite well to get out of coach on most of my long haul flights.

When J/C is just too expensive, I suck it up and fly in the back. I am lucky to not be very tall and to have a slight build which makes Y a bit easier for me to tolerate than it is for some, I suppose. Also, if J/C would have meant paying a premium of several thousand dollars (or even a bit more), the satisfaction of having saved the money helps me get through the trip in Y.

Hotes and resorts are a different thing entirely. Premium cabin air travel for me is a nicety, but the right hotels and reosrts for me are what makes or breaks a trip.

Non-NonRev

I was recently chatting with a couple who was down here in FLL to take a cruise. In discussing their travel arrangements, these frequent cruisers told me that they used to fly to and from their departure city in F, but now fly in Y and use the cost savings to pay for pre-cruise and post-cruise hotel stays. They said that by "bracketing" the cruise in this way, they eliminate the stress of flying in on the morning of the cruise, and on the other end, the post-cruise stay helps them ease back into "reality"

SFflyer123

Same here. Although Y is crazy painful for long-hauls, when I finish that trip and I realize how much money I've saved, it really is a huge bonus. The other thing is that when I get upgraded to C, and I see the service and food, sometimes I think to myself "Thank god I did not pay $3600 for this". Sure, it's a nice steak in C, but it's not worth paying the extra $2000 for that steak. So, once C drops to a reasonable price (for me, below $2500), I think I would pay for it because economy fares are now running around $1700.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Most of my International is in J/F but using system wide upgrades and super saver business class awards. When I go somewhere my hotel room is just to sleep and shower. So as long as it is clean, comfortable, quiet and safe that satisfies my purpose. On the other hand, I will likely be sitting in the a/c for eight plus hours and spending that time sandwiched between strangers, often people of considerable size, is an uncomfortable horror. You arrive at your destination and then arrive home exhausted from the flight and also hungry as the food served in coach is lacking indeed.

My profile is single, well paid, very flexible time off policy (actually there is no policy per se) and waits for no one.

janehoya

This is why we pay for C (I don't think I properly explained it in my previous post). I hate Y class. I hate it so much that I wouldn't hesitate to stay home rather than fly it long-haul. While I could tolerate it before my son was born, now that we have him, it is unbearable. As I said, I have to worry about someone grabbing his/our seatbacks and potentially wake him up (dread the thought!), I also have to police him so that he doesn't kick the seat in front of him (little boys are thoughtless), and then I have to worry about the food and beverage situation. I am also slightly claustraphobic. When we can we use award tickets, though it is getting increasingly difficult. Last year one us bought a Z fare and the rest got award tickets. This year two had to buy a Z fare as we could only find one award ticket. Y was $1,700 and the Z fare was $3,400. It was an easy decision.