I am a mostly leisure traveller,
although I travel for business two or three times a year.
For leisure, it is maybe 10 return flights (at least
one intercontinental from Europe).

There are several "is it worth it" topics on business
vs. economy class that I don't understand. I like to travel
light, so extra baggage allowance is not a feature I ever
used and for short-term flights I try not to check in
baggage (less waiting time).

My American Express Gold also includes Priority Pass
membership, which allows me lounge access almost anywhere
with any ticket, even with budget airlines.

I don't know if pure business class ticket gets me to better
lounges, but I am okay with these: I can relax, read,
browse internet, usually get a shower and have a drink or
light snack. And it looks as much better deal (even if I
had to pay for it) than sticking with one airline alliance,
which would get me to their lounges on their flights only.

So, if I understand it correctly, business class gets
me: better food, more leg room, less waiting (with online
checkins, there is rarely any waiting at all at the
checkin counters and I don't need to board my plane
first, as it flies together with all passengers) and
more ticket flexibility (rebooking) and more miles.

Is it worth it? I know there are people that get high
just from the "status feeling", but I like to spend
my money well. Is the business class price worth the money?
If it is $1000 more for 8 hour flight, isn't it better to
invest those $1000 in a better hotel and a good restaurant
while on ground and sleep during those 8 hours on the plane?

(note: I understand the ups and downs of budget airlines
vs. classical ones and of frequent flyer topics and that I
should always try to get the best deal, which includes
considering miles earned).

Leisure traveler here who always goes business or first. I use my FF miles to upgrade so I don't have sticker shock. Much better experience IMHO.

The issue is many people CAN'T sleep for those 8 hours in coach. It depends on the individual traveler. I am very tall and 8 hours in coach would be like torture. I would stay home before I would fly longhaul in Y. It's not just a little extra leg room, often it's the difference between sitting upright for 8+ hours or sleeping in a 180 degree flat bed. Not much of a comparison.

I agree with GetSetJetSet - I am not overly tall (6'2") but I have had back surgery and 8 hours in Y would kill me. I've been to Bangkok twice and am going back in December. I'll have a 14 hour flight (2 hour layover) and then another 7 hour flight. If I spent all that time in coach I would need 3 days to recover. Having said all that Y tickets for my itinerary were a little less than 2K my C class tickets were 4K. Double the price but it's worth it to me.

I think this is personal issue. My wife and I were talking yesterday and some friends of ours, who are extremely well off, will never spend the money to fly C or F. On the other hand they've spent $ 125,000 on two new cars. We own an 06 Infiniti & a 98 Mazda.

They drive in style we fly in style!

Yeah, my husband and I have flown plenty of TATLs in Coach but he's 72 and his back is creaky. We've had to cut back from two to one trips to Europe annually because of this, but now we fly Business and redeem miles for one or both seats.

I haven't seen any differences in the lounges we get with Business Class vs. PriorityPass- in fact, sometimes they're the same lounges.

Well some business class tickets are insanely priced that's for sure, but you can find reasonably priced business class tickets in the middle of the summer when the biz is pretty much empty like you can get Oslo-New York for 2500 bucks. Also it seems like you can get Oslo-Beijing for that price on Aeroflot as well (I know only the prices from Norway).

And for domestic US flights Delta has some good prices on their socalled "first" (well the actual farerules on that fare are abit strange, which I am not going to dig into in this post). And then you got the FT way of doing things. If you got miles/status enough you upgrade or book award flights.

Ultimately it comes down to the value of your time; as stated earlier on this thread, flying J or F means less recovery time than flying Y. For short trips that difference is a few hours, for half way around the world it can be a few days. On business trips I often arrive at 6 am and am at work at 9 am -- so paying thousands more for the airfare is cost effective, while not working for a day or 2 is not an option. For a leisure trip I can envision getting more value out of paying thousands on the ground