RandomBaritone

I have a couple of transatlantic flights coming up, and in each case I've decided to forego the relatively reasonably priced upgrade to J, in favor of enduring 7+ hours in Y. It occurred to me, though, that the stars really had to align for me to make this choice. I'm a 50/50 business/leisure traveler, and I love sampling premium cabins. In these cases, though, I just couldn't justify the extra miles and/or fees, because:

1. I have a pretty firm 8-hour cutoff for feeling like I "need" to be in J, and now that I'm based on the east coast Europe fits neatly within that window. Anything shorter than that and it seems silly to spend the extra. Maybe this comes from all the years I've flown 6-hour transcons without (or with minimal) complaint in Y? What's your cutoff for going stir-crazy?

2. The flights I'm taking are on a UA 764 to LHR and a LH A346, both of which have two-seat pods at the window in Y, and in both cases I'll have my spouse with me, so no tripping over strangers. I'd say 2/3 of the reason I fly J when possible is to avoid bothering people and being bothered when nature calls, so this is huge! Do you place such a high premium on not having a stranger in your row?

3. In the LH case, there's no J saver award space on that flight; the competing J option is on LX, and it gets me to my destination over four hours later. That's four hours I could be enjoying Stockholm -- plus, the extra four hours will give me more choice when I check into my hotel. I've learned from experience that when you check in after 9pm, you're often stuck whatever room the front desk has left in your category. How long a layover or delayed arrival are you willing to accept for a few hours in J?

4. As a *A Gold, I get lounge access when traveling internationally in Y. That alleviates maybe 20% of the reason to upgrade right there. And given how lackluster UA's inflight service is, I'm looking forward to sampling their spiffy new Club @ LHR more than my actual flights. How much does lounge access tip the scales for you, especially if it's something you don't receive otherwise?

5. Finally, in the UA case, the flights are nearly empty and we paid for them as opposed to using miles. I can't help wondering if we'll be offered one of those cheap last-minute upgrades I hear so much grumbling about. R space abounds, and the current upgrade offer is 20K miles + $550 each way, so 80K miles + $2,200 for the two of us r/t. Maybe at half that price I'd bite.

Thoughts?

JVPhoto

1) If I can reasonably get J/F for 4+ hours.
2) Agreed in that having less people around you is better. I use the lav a lot so the sUA 763, or sCO 764/777 are the aircraft I try to get on as the middles are undisturbed aisle access.
3) I try to get to a destination before 3pm if I can...anything later even if it is a "better product" airline I would have to reconsider. If it means going in J vs. Y and arriving at 8pm vs. 3pm I would do that though (on a l/h flight).
4) New lounges are fun and as *G it's not much of an issue except for places that had a real F lounge like SQ in SYD when I flew SYD-SFO or TG in BKK.
5) That is a fair amount of miles and $ where it almost works out to a discount business fare PLUS miles you've already paid. If that was the case I would do it on whatever the overnight flight would be (i.e. EWR-TXL upgrade to sleep but not TXL-EWR which is a day flight).

On some of my own things coming up...

SFO-NRT my Mom & I are in BF for her birthday trip, but if there was a cheap enough offer ($700-$900) at check in for GF I would go for it because a) she's flown BF but never GF b) I'd like to visit the SFO GF lounge BUT what's keeping me from potentially deciding no is that right now we are on the upper deck (something she hasn't flown) and will be able to sit closer together.

NRT-ZRH-LHR on LX J award for the both of us. Right now CA has F NRT-PEK-LHR but I don't think the extra miles is worth the award on CA for TWO of us. I would probably fly it by myself but with her I think that would be lost on her and I don't want to deal with the PEK military airspace delays or award hacks. If LH opened up HND-FRA-LHR in F at T14 for both of us I would jump because I think she would be more keen for the LH F product on the 748i as well as the FCT/L.

I am doing a JFK to SIN mileage run that is all Y booked to J upgraded already with my GPUs. However, if on the NRT-SFO leg I was offered something like I mentioned above I might take it to fly GF and visit both UA GFL and NH F.

philfna

SF GF lounge is okay, but not worth the buy up. I'd say the Centurion lounge is much nicer...

For me more than 6 hours I'll do BF or GF.

halls120

Good point about the 8 hour not being that much longer than a 6 hour transcon, but for me, I'll almost always opt for the TATL upgrade if I can get it, because I like to sleep, and I can't do it in Y unless I've got 3 seats to myself.

StingWest

I always try to upgrade eastbound, but yes the $550 plus 20,000 miles (which I value at another $400) is a lot to pay. From the east coast, you're right - it might not be worth $950 (by my calculation). Think about how else you could spend that money at your destination!

As far as the London UCs - the new ones are great! Not as nice as the Virgin Upper Class lounge admittedly, but certainly as good as the giant BA lounge for example, which is way too noisy to be restful. (but BA has better food offerings)

Kacee

I wouldn't do a $550 co-pay plus 20,000 miles for a 6 hour flight, either.

I wouldn't be happy about sitting in Y, but the upgrade value is just not there IMO.

RandomBaritone

Great points everyone.

One final wrinkle: I've heard that LH begins to open saver F inventory two weeks before takeoff, so once that time rolls around I imagine I'll start babysitting my LH BOS>MUC leg to see if we can snap up two seats. We flew LH's new J last autumn, and it was nice -- except the food -- but LH F might be worth the price of admission, if only for bragging rights afterward.

That's even if I have the requisite 160K miles difference in my account by that point.

Completely agree, and that's exactly my situation as well: our current itinerary puts us at the hotel at roughly 3pm, while the upgraded LX itinerary has us getting in close to 8pm. I picture us getting stuck in the last available room in our category as a result.

JC5280

I flew LH F on an award ticket two years ago FRA-IAH and had the entire F cabin to the both of us on an A380. I have not forgotten it, in fact it has spoiled every premium cabin experience since.

Our flight that day from SIN-FRA was in LH J and it was good, but about on par with most other premium cabin experiences. I thought it was cool sitting in row 70 something and still being in J.

Last week I was in SQ J, UA J, and Japan Airlines J (because of a UA error) and the SQ J was VERY memorable. The UA J was just okay and thats where I confirmed to myself that I would try to upgrade/buy up to/use miles for whatever non-US carrier's premium cabins that I could get access to. With United, I just have a tough time seeing the value unless I can get it cheaply.

Case in point: Same aircraft type, SQ's J on their 777 is 1-21 and UA's J was 2-4-2. I know, its a bit harder to get SQ J, but thats where the challenge lies.

RandomBaritone

It's posts like yours that make me want to pull out Excel and see if I'll have 160K miles by my LH flight in July. There's plenty of LH F availability in the next two weeks, but July will probably be a very different story.

LaserSailor

Company rule...anything over 4 hours or overnight flight is paid F.

I'll use a GPU iff it confirms immediately on booking.

krazykanuck

haha. My company is so cheap. On TATLs they'll spring for Premium Economy instead of regular... and even when the travel policy technically allows for business class, there is *pressure* to fly in Y.

CrispyRice

I travel internationally 2-3 per year for work, which always buys Y, but will pay the money part of the "miles + money" if I throw in the miles.

I do east coast to Europe in Y just fine, it's short enough and I generally won't pay to upgrade those. I will book personal travel in J to Europe using miles if I'm travelling with someone who doesn't travel often since it's a bigger treat.

I always try to upgrade the longer flights - Asia, Australia, etc.

As a plat, I have no GPUs and only a limited number of miles earned every year. I'd rather save them for vacations in J than use them on too many upgrades.

Also, given a choice, I'd rather upgrade westbound from Europe. I don't do J enough that the novelty has worn off and I'd rather be awake to enjoy it.

Artpen100

I try to upgrade on any flight of 6+ hours, particularly overnight. I mainly fly for work, so arriving more refreshed is important. I'm willing to pay about 2k USD more RT for business. I have tons of miles from credit cards so if I can upgrade on UA for 40k miles and 1100 USD RT I consider it a bargain.

RandomBaritone

And then there are those of us who work for not-for-profits ... even getting approval for economy airfare is tough, and any personal upgrades paid for out-of-pocket need to stay hush-hush, lest people talk.

It's a great fit for me in every other way, but the reduction in travel from my previous position is a downer.

SunLover

My last TATL trip in Y was UA EWR-LHR-EWR on a 752. I had seat 21A (E+ exit row) both ways, and 21B/C were empty both ways. So Y was really fine in that situation as I had loads of space and IMO it would have been a waste of money/miles upgrading. Had I been in an E- middle seat I would have looked at it quite differently.

With the 2 seat options I would vote for toughing it out in Y. If you are *G you get E+ at booking and lounge access along the way which is a decent amount of gratis creature comfort.


SunLover