When You Fly, What Class Of Service Do You Use?

[karazyal]

I travel ecomomy from Bangkok to Libya every five weeks. I use the same airline, Emirates, and am a Gold card holder. I have had one upgrade to Business class in two and a half years. Thats 1 in 60 flights.

Has anyone got any tips on how to get an upgrade without using airmiles or paying?

Who knows.

I often fly to Asia on Northwest from the U.S. Point to point within the U.S. I almost always get free upgrades with my gold card. The long run across the ocean from Detroit to Japan is the flight I want the free upgrades on! Flying to Bangkok - never any free upgrades, without paying or using miles. Detroit to Manila I have received free upgrades more than once, even on the long run from Detroit to Japan.

I do get a lot of bonus miles that I didn't get when I used China Airlines and United.

[britmaveric]

Ask for a comp upgrade - it does work. (of course space willing)

[LaoPo]

LaoPo

[cdnvic]

LaoPo

That would get cold for me on that Aleutiens track between YVR and ICN.

[LaoPo]

LaoPo

That would get cold for me on that Aleutiens track between YVR and ICN.

....and no booze, blankets, beautiful stewardesses and.....toilets...

LaoPo

[Jet Gorgon]

Cargo.

Sorry, Brit, cannot vote as that is not a listed category.

[Robski]

It is psychologically frustrating:

Own cash (earned not inherited) do I spend an extra 500 GBP for BKK-MAN-BKK business class.

Benefits: lounge access and legroom, a glass of champagne.

Or: Suffer economy (14 hours X 2): Then........

500 GBP spending money, upon landing for the first week back in Pattaya?

Tough call that one Libya.

I fly 'cattle class', with Emirates the cattle are very comfortable thankyou, I can relax in the knowledge that you rich gits are paying for the fuel and I've got another 500 for the Pattaya fund.

[Soju]

I've done the math - Detroit to Osaka, Japan (Northworst Airlines)

Business Class is an extra $300.00 USD per hour over coach

First Class (when they had it) was an extra $500.00 USD per hour over coach

Conclusion;

Company money - Business Class

My money - Cattle Car

Wow, that is one heck of a premium to pay for business. On my typical route, ICN-BKK, flying THAI, it's less than $20 per hour for a standby upgrade to business, or less than $30 per hour if I purchase the ticket as an original business class ticket. Your costs are more than 10 times mine. More proof of what a ripoff Northworst is.

[thomo]

I mean is there nothing more interesting for them to do with there time???

Says the guy who responded twice

Errr yeah,

I don't think you saw post #12 mate.

[marshbags]

I try for a business upgrade whenever possible. . I always fly EVA, and no matter what time of the year they are usually fully booked, so an upgrade is easy with a silver card. The great thing about flying EVA, is that you can book in to Evergreen deluxe, and if you do not get the upgrade, then all is not lost, because that class is like business class on some airlines. What is particualy important, is that you get to use the VIP lounges.

Just started using Eva and Evergreen deluxe thanks to T,visa members recommendations.

I would appreciate the silver card qualifications / info if you don,t mind Lampard. I hope to do 2 trips a year to Europe, mileage wise if this comes into it.

Do you qualify for extra miles by the way when you fly Evergreen deluxe ?

Thanks for all useful advice.

marshbags

[kash]

Wow, that is one heck of a premium to pay for business. On my typical route, ICN-BKK, flying THAI, it's less than $20 per hour for a standby upgrade to business, or less than $30 per hour if I purchase the ticket as an original business class ticket. Your costs are more than 10 times mine. More proof of what a ripoff Northworst is.

Could it be because THAI is one of the most expensive airlines in the first place? : )

[Jamie]

Usually Economy. Once in a while I am lucky enough to get upgrades on domestic flights. Northwest is pretty good about that. Never had the opportunity to get upgraded on an international flight. Since I haven't flown enough recently, I am back to non-elite status so I'll be stuck in Economy for some time to come I suspect.

[Florin]

Wow, that is one heck of a premium to pay for business. On my typical route, ICN-BKK, flying THAI, it's less than $20 per hour for a standby upgrade to business, or less than $30 per hour if I purchase the ticket as an original business class ticket. Your costs are more than 10 times mine. More proof of what a ripoff Northworst is.

Could it be because THAI is one of the most expensive airlines in the first place? : )

He's talking about Northwest, not THAI...TG is by no means cheap, but many times their prices can be lower than the competition and you just can't beat their truly delightful service

[cdnvic]

Sometimes a $15 knee brace can do far more for getting an upgrade (or at least an exit row) than points.

[Florin]

Sometimes a $15 knee brace can do far more for getting an upgrade (or at least an exit row) than points.

Now that would be downright dastardly

[Soju]

Wow, that is one heck of a premium to pay for business. On my typical route, ICN-BKK, flying THAI, it's less than $20 per hour for a standby upgrade to business, or less than $30 per hour if I purchase the ticket as an original business class ticket. Your costs are more than 10 times mine. More proof of what a ripoff Northworst is.

Could it be because THAI is one of the most expensive airlines in the first place? : )

Not on the routes I typically fly they're not. They're the cheapest except for some of those airlines with "China" in their name, which I refuse to fly. From ICN, they're by far the cheapest non-stop to BKK. When flying from ICN to Europe, with a stopover in BKK, they're much cheaper than any of the direct airlines, and it gives me a chance to stopover in BKK and spend some time with my wife there. When flying to Europe, my company pays for the ticket, and I refuse to fly economy when flying on business. A business-class ticket is much, much cheaper on THAI than any of the other reasonable options, so my company never complains about my preference for THAI.

Also flying from the States to BKK, AFAIK, THAI is certainly not more expensive than most of the American carriers. They probably are more expensive than the Chinese carriers, but then again THAI currently has the only nonstops from the States to BKK, so well worth the price, which isn't bad to begin with. Flying BKK to Europe, I don't know. I never fly those routes except on a ticket that originates in ICN, so don't know how competitive or not they are.

BTW, the post I was originally responding to mentioned $300 per hour premium for business over economy from Detroit to Osaka, which I'm guessing is roughly 25 hours roundtrip (without spending the time to lookup the actual flight times), which comes out to a $7500 additional cost for business as opposed to economy. I don't think TG's price is anywheres near that for business class. Certainly not last time I checked.

Edited February 25, 2007 by Soju

[kash]

He's talking about Northwest, not THAI...TG is by no means cheap, but many times their prices can be lower than the competition and you just can't beat their truly delightful service

No, he is talking about Thai, as he is flying TG He is dissing Northws though cause they charge such a huge premium, my point was that you dont see that premium with TG as you normally pay a premium just to fly Economy, hence the small difference in price :-)

[Florin]

Hihi, OK, I should have paid more careful attention to the wording Nevertheless, they're not that bad...for ex. BKK-SYD-MEL-BKK for 35.000 BHT (taxes included) is perhaps higher than the Salaam Aleikum airlines, but I don't feel it's a ripoff.

[marshbags]

I try for a business upgrade whenever possible. . I always fly EVA, and no matter what time of the year they are usually fully booked, so an upgrade is easy with a silver card. The great thing about flying EVA, is that you can book in to Evergreen deluxe, and if you do not get the upgrade, then all is not lost, because that class is like business class on some airlines. What is particualy important, is that you get to use the VIP lounges.

Just started using Eva and Evergreen deluxe thanks to T,visa members recommendations.

I would appreciate the silver card qualifications / info if you don,t mind Lampard. I hope to do 2 trips a year to Europe, mileage wise if this comes into it.

Do you qualify for extra miles by the way when you fly Evergreen deluxe ?

Thanks for all useful advice.

marshbags

Now i,ve been able to make time, I,ve managed to locate the relevant web site relating to the 4 membership tiers on the following url for anyone who may be also be interested.

http://www.evaair.com/html/b2c/english/clu...Silver_Card.htm

Regarding the additional mileage for Evergreen deluxe, it is an extra 15% on top of the actual mileage if you fullfill the normal requirements, which are provided on the url:-

http://www.evaair.com/html/b2c/english/clu...es/Mileage_kind

You can of course access the home page for Eva on the above url,s also

marshbags

Edited February 27, 2007 by marshbags

[Naam]

i should have listened to some posts here which mentioned negative facts about Emirates. i used to fly EK years ago just after it was established and was always quite happy. a few weeks ago the old lady and me had to fly to Brazil from Thailand. most horrible connections from Bangkok to Rio available. international flights from Europe or South Africa mostly with a stopover in Jo'burg and Sao Paulo, at the latter changing airport, rechecking luggage. etc. before boarding a flight to Rio which adds up to a horrendous total travelling time.

proper thing to do was to make a halfway stop of a few days in London but flying from "summer" to winter in Europe would have meant additional gear to wear. we therefore selected Dubai as stopover to and from Brazil, flying BKK-DXB-LHR and return with Emirates (business class).

result: lousy seats compared to other airlines, food and service ok.

from LHR to GRU we flew TAM (business), a rather unknown brazilian airline BUT with super sleeper seats reclining flat 180º! flying time LHR to GRU was ~12 hours out of which i slept at least 10 hours.

an excellent "salem aleikum airline" is Qatar Airways. we flew some months ago first class to Europe and back and got pampered like never before.

[Florin]

I don't understand why you chose that routing...It would be very easy to go Bangkok-Frankfurt-Rio with TG+Varig or LH+Varig, with minimal hassle...true, Biz on Varig (even though I've heard only good reviews about "New Varig", risen from the ashes of the previous bankrupted airline) might not be that good, but it would still beat a couple of extra stops.

[Naam]

I don't understand why you chose that routing...It would be very easy to go Bangkok-Frankfurt-Rio with TG+Varig or LH+Varig, with minimal hassle...true, Biz on Varig (even though I've heard only good reviews about "New Varig", risen from the ashes of the previous bankrupted airline) might not be that good, but it would still beat a couple of extra stops.

one of the reasons for that routing was to make at least one stop but not in a "wintery" Europe. the other reason was that flying business on TG or especially LH in combination with Varig (the latter with age old aircrafts and on the brink of bankruptcy) would have been a price difference of ~2.800 dollars. i am not dirt poor but i don't throw that kind of money away.

edited for

addendum: getting seats for the days we had to travel was another big problem.

Edited February 27, 2007 by Dr. Naam

[macduff]

It is psychologically frustrating:

Own cash (earned not inherited) do I spend an extra 500 GBP for BKK-MAN-BKK business class.

Benefits: lounge access and legroom, a glass of champagne.

Or: Suffer economy (14 hours X 2): Then........

500 GBP spending money, upon landing for the first week back in Pattaya?

[macduff]

well you can sertainly get over your jet lag in pattaya

[farangsay]

Well I used to climb in a box and get a friend to send me as

unaccompanied baggage but that is getting expensive so now

I sneak across the tarmac and grab a wheel strut. Parka and

thermal underwear is recommended for this

.

[JimsKnight]

Nope, just wonder why the hel_l someone would feel the need to start a thread on such a topic as 'What class of aeroplane seat do you use?. Surely if they've ever been on a plane they can see that most people fly economy, then business, then first class.

I mean is there nothing more interesting for them to do with there time???

Is it just unbelievable bordorm and they want to start a thread but have nothing else to talk about or is there an actual reason?

If I was the paranoid, conspiracy sort of guy I would suggest that a good way of profiling TV members would be to poll for this type of thing and then other areas, then gauge it against the responses by posters and draw conclusions from that. It wouldn't suprise me if someone hasn't already been doing that already. You can see already peoples lifestyles and jobs in a general kind of way by people rambling on about it.

[ercorn]

I fly economy,I tried frequent flyer game with KLM got upgraded AMS-BKK once in 5 yrs then I decided to buy the cheapest ticket as long as not Aeroflot,Lot or China airlines it doesn`t matter.I figure that when the plane crashes I doesn`t matter what class I am in.

[MMan]

In the States I fly economy. For long flights to Asia I use FF miles to either get a Business Class seat or an upgrade to Business Class. Love the miles and I'm a whore for them. Right now though there are no Business Class award seats available for the time period I want to fly to Thailand, so I'm thinking I buy the Thai Premium Economy.

[PeaceBlondie]

I flew often enough 1998-2005 to get silver status with two FF programs, and never once got upgraded from economy. All I know about business and first class is when I walk past those huge seats with armchairs and imagine that I'm so vain I'm flying my Lear Jet to Nova Scotia, etc.

Often in economy class, flying is slightly better than taking a second class train through Mexico. Uncomfortable, confining, boring, etc. The movies are slightly better than what they show on the first class bus, Bangkok-Chiang Mai, and the music channels have never heard of Lynrd Skynrd or Guns'n'Roses. A night in Heathrow is a preview of purgatory. If you choose a weird routing, you may pay double or it'll take two days to get there. I'm a good, fast walker, but if I were disabled or a slow walker, it would take forever to get between the entrance gate and the airplane.

Modern air travel surely beats the Conestoga wagon, but unless you're a millionaire, it's no fun.

[ilyushin]

Cockpit Class