+1^.. I would rather buy a vehicle, or at least a good down payment towards one.

^ +1!!!

So how would one get 4 or 5 star hotel with parking lot view?:D

I agree that many people underestimate how many passengers pay for F. There is definitely a market of very rich people (investment bankers, large business owners, celebrities, etc) for whom $10K to $20K is just not much money compared to their total wealth. And among these people are those who simply insist on flying first class all the time (business will never do).

I suspect that high-ranking corporate officers (CEOs, CFOs etc) are in F at reduced fares per their corporate contracts negotiated with the airlines.

Of course there are also individuals who are savvy about traveling in F at lower cost. Not just mileage upgraders, but people who use RTW discount F fares or "circle Pacific" fares to cut the cost of an F ticket by 50% or more. And I have to admit, for a trip to the US (from Japan) I have found Circle Pacific F fares tempting, as the cost is less than half a typical round trip F fare and I can throw in a visit to a nice place like Australia. (Never have gone through with it, though.)

I would never ever pay full retail F fares (unless I were really really rich). NRT-JFK, for example, is over $20,000 on JAL or ANA. Business can be had for approx. $4,000. The difference in value between C and F is nowhere near $16K.

Priceline is pretty reliable. :)

Good on you! Business class has been getting very crowded with self employed people nowadays They should have your sense and fly at the back. I will conitnue to enjoy business travel, occasionally first when the organisation I work in rewards me, or the airline upgrades me, and use my miles accumulated to travel business with my family on our vacations, and use them to get free hotel nights for these vacations , as I have been doing now for 12 years. Perhaps the fact that I fly 200,000 miles or so a year has something to do with my desire to stretch out a bit and not queue endlessly

And I dont detest alcoholic beverages so thats even better!

I don't know how rich is "very rich". I often pay for FC travel, and for J when there is no F. I try had to pay as little as i can but I still do it. There seem to be a fair number of people who do that to reduce the hassles of flying. I agree that it is a self-indulgent choice, but it is my own money and one way or another it will not be with me after I die. Thus, I prefer to enjoy myself when I travel.

My husband and I made a similar flight MEL to LAX the other day and it was brutal. Thankfully the seat beside me was blocked and DH had the aisle. However, flew over on the A380 and that was 100x worse. I'm long legged and even with seatbacks up my knees brushed the seat in front of me. All last minute stuff so we had to get what we could get for seats.... :(

If I were rich, I’d most certainly pay for F.

As is, I won’t fly over the ocean in Y. Most of my TATL flying is for work, and our policy puts us in J for all int’l travel. Sometimes on Lufthansa I’ll use my CO miles to upgrade into F, especially on the return so I can use their First Class Terminal.

I do pay for J out-of-pocket for personal travel though, unless I think I have a good chance of getting an upgrade with miles or system-wide upgrade certs.

This is an interesting discussion.

Personally, if I had that much money I would fly F. Or if I was REALLY rich I would hire a private jet.

But there is f and then there is F. I have flown F a couple of times. One I paid for an upgrade NRT-IAD on UA when I was completely exhausted from an ordeal in Thailand and Singapore and needed to be able to get some rest. With a C and F product that was (and still is) a few generations old I knew that C wasn't going to be good enough. Since I had paid miles for my trip to begin with it was worth $1200 to me at the time to buy the upgrade.

I flew to BKK using miles last year in F on LH, TG and UA (in the new F suites). (Only 120K miles with Aeroplan). Worth it to me using miles. LH would not be worth paying for IMHO because their hard product is a generation behind. TG was a good bit nicer albeit also older. I thought UA was quite nice on the 767. So whether it's "worth it" depends a great deal on not just the airline but also the particular F class (or C class) product on offer.

I have flown longhaul C both with miles and paid cash. But I am very particular about which airlines and aircraft I will do that on.

As noted above there are some good deals to be had on specific products in premium classes. For example, SQ has a discounted F class RTW product ex USA that is less than $7K. It has a ton of restrictions and rules but you get to fly around the world in SQ F for a much reduced fare.

There are also still consolidators out there selling cheaper C and F class seats too.

On a long haul I just don't want to deal with Y. I think I could do it...at great discomfort. But I live well below my means in every other aspect of my life so for me a splurge on a big trip or two a year is where I choose to go a little overboard in order to be able to really enjoy traveling.

I couldn't have said this any better. You couldn't pay me to get back on a cruise ship. Cramped, boring, and complete lack of choice.

Funny, several friends mentioned priceline.. may have to try it out sometime.^

Especially if you want the parking lot view! ^

If my client were willing to pay for first or business class, on top of my regular compensation, then SURE, I'd fly first or business class. I'm not a reverse snob.

I just take issue with those who see it as "impossible" to fly Coach on long flights. It can be done. I do it all the time.

For me the food and drinks are not such an issue. They have to keep me hydrated and not hungry. I can get a nice meal on the ground any time I want at a tiny fraction of cost of a fancy airline ticket. The big issue is the seat. I am large and have some medical issues that cause me pain if I travel in coach for more than X hours at a time where X is on the order of a transcon flight. So Z tickets are my friend for international flights. Discount biz tickets purchased way ahead of time for $3-4K/RT typically. I'm almost always traveling on business but not with a large travel budget so I sometimes get creative with financing these tickets - e.g. splitting the cost with a host, or asking the host to cover. Lately I've been in enough demand that I have been able to get one group to pay the entire Z fare and another time they offered to pay a good portion of it. The F cabin looks lovely but it's completely unnecessary for my medical issues and it makes no sense to pay for it for the food. I don't sleep much on planes even with a good seat because of the movement of the plane - same issue on a cruise ship in rough seas so I fear the F cabin will be somewhat lost on me. Had a very comfy Z seat on my last trip SYD-LAX on UA. Nice flatbed plenty of room.