To pay or not to pay is the question
 

I am traveling to Addis Ababa airport on my way to Kilimanjaro in about a month. It is a long flight of over 15 hours. I am flying by coach. The airline offers a one way upgrade (only up-to Addis Ababa) for about $1000. Return will be another $1000. Unfortunately I can't use miles (as I don't belong to the FF flyer program of this airline or its partners). Is it worth paying $1000 each way for a comfortable flight?
Any opinions?

If it is a lie flat bed.......you'd have to be crazy not to pay $1K each way to upgrade from economy.

But that is just me.......been there done that........many a time. Your body and mind will either thank you, or punish you, for the first 2 days after you land.

I couldn't get my credit card out fast enough for the outbound trip. Coming home maybe not so much but I'd still take it for $1,000.

If I was about to climb Kilimanjaro, I'd want to be as rested as possible. If paying another $1,000 would mean that my legs wouldn't be all cramped up from sitting in an economy seat for 15 hours, it would take me about two nanoseconds to get my credit card out. And if I had just climbed Kilimanjaro, I'd pay any amount to be able to lie down.

(I'm guessing that, if you can afford to climb Kili, then you can find $2,000 somewhere without starving your family or having your home repossessed. If I guessed wrong, my apologies. And if you're going there for some other reason, perhaps physical rest isn't as important.)

Or spend the $2000 to stay a few nights in a beach resort in Zanzibar prior/after climbing and be even better rested than in an airplane seat.

+1

or do both
:)

(Can you get the resort with miles? Then you can pay cash for the ticket....)

Depends on how well you sleep on a plane and how your body reacts. MrsCP can fall asleep on an RJ before takeoff and I need to wake her to deplane, feeling great.

I can barely sleep on any plane at all.

Also consider the lag time between the flight and the climb. A couple of nights sleep does wonders, and I can do a lot of things for $1,000.

For some people, $1,000 is a pittance to feel better for a day. For others, it's a month's discretionary spending.

You got it!
 

No one can answer the "is it worth it" questions, only the person asking the question can make that judgment.

For me, any flight is "worth it", I've been done with coach in any form for several years.

if the original fare was <1000 USD, a roundtrip upgrade puts it under 3000 USD, which is not unreasonable. if its on a good carrier like emirates rather than egyptair, id even call it a very good fare.

Hell yeah.

If that means you are 71, then the answer is very simple: pay the money and enjoy life.

When I saw the OP's age I thought the same thing. My late husband got spoiled in Business Class on long hauls when we started using miles from my business travel. At some point, and it may have been that age, we made the decision to do all our long-hauls in Business. He was over 6 feet tall and his back was starting to give him problems and it just took him too long to recover from Coach flights. We flew less often after that but that was our priority.

He's gone now. I'm 65, shorter and have no back problems but that's still how I travel. The rest of my lifestyle is pretty modest so I can still keep the bills paid and stash a little in the grandkids' 529 accounts.

OP, you made the right choice.