Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 54 total)
  • Would you travel business class for a long haul one off flight?
  • mrsheen
    Free Member

    I’ve been looking at Emirates business class and get 10% off from my bank. Is it worth it?

    jam-bo
    Full Member

    only if someone else is paying.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Yes, you will probably get picked up or dropped off, arrive much fresher and maybe even enjoy it. Which route?

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    robdixon
    Free Member

    if your name is “Lord” Brian Paddick the answer is yes – even if the purpose of the £9K return flight from New York (paid for by us) is to come back to the House of Lords to say just short of 500 words in a speech and then leave immediately.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    Not unless you are worth millions. A good friend of mine always travels long haul business, spends about £20k pa on it, he retired at 40 and is worth £10m FWIW. I used to be BA Gold and flew business everywhere for work, its a great way to travel. Its is not worth £3-5k of my money imo.

    nickjb
    Free Member

    It is a lot better but it is a lot more expensive, too. It does turn a long flight into quite a nice experience but the money saved would pretty much pay for another holiday. I’d say overall its not worth it and you’d be better off spending the money on doing something nice when you get to where you are going but it depends how much spare money you have and how much you hate being in cattle class.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    only if someone else is paying!

    jam-bo
    Full Member

    and emirates economy isn’t too bad.

    kilo
    Full Member

    Yes. If you can afford it, imho, it’s money well spent.

    FunkyDunc
    Free Member

    How much would it be?

    globalti
    Free Member

    Emirates Economy is as good as Business in some other airlines.

    Yes, I always travel in C class but my employer pays as they reckon I need to arrive in good shape for all those negotiations and meetings…. ha ha.

    Tallpaul
    Full Member

    I fly business on long-haul 2-3 times per year. It is great but I wouldn’t pay for it myself. However, I would (and have) pay for the upgrade to Premium Economy over Economy on a long-haul.

    The extra pitch does make a difference, but the main reason is that you will be in a smaller, quieter cabin compared to Economy. The relative tranquility is worth paying for.

    takisawa2
    Full Member

    Emirates Economy is as good as Business in some other airlines.

    Not when I flew from Dubai to Sydney a few years ago it wasn’t. It was a truly awful 15 hours. That A380 plane has probably (hopefully) improved matters though. If (when) we travel to Oz again I would cost it around going business class or probably go for 2 stopovers en route. We did that coming back last time, Singapore & Dubai. I don’t envy those who fly that far on a weekly basis.

    Tallpaul
    Full Member

    Also, if you like to gamble, you can pay for a class upgrade at check-in at a fraction of the cost compared to pre-booking. This only works if there any upgrade seats left, of course!

    chewkw
    Free Member

    mrsheen – Member
    I’ve been looking at Emirates business class and get 10% off from my bank. Is it worth it?

    I would. If you have the money and with a bad back the answer is yes. I was in Emirates A380 Business class once it was brilliant.

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    I wouldn’t pay it – I got bumped from Econ to First coming home from Oz as they’d cancelled my return route whilst I was out there – Syd to Osaka, Osaka to Tokyo (shortest flight ever and done in a crammed 747) lay-over in a hotel and finally Tokyo – Heathrow.

    It was okay I guess, seats were lovely but this was before you could make a sort of bed of them, as much beer as you wanted and a bigger TV, but it would have been thousands of pounds more than I paid and I’ll put up with a slighter smaller seat for a couple of grand – it’s only a couple of hours.

    FunkyDunc
    Free Member

    Just looked at Emirates to get a rough idea.

    Heathrow to Perth Australia return.

    Cattle class – £1k
    Business – £5k
    First – £6.7k

    Private jet £120k each way. 😯

    May as well go first surely ?

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    No. Premium economy is a good idea if you’re paying. Business is lovely, but multo expensivo.

    Then again, it’s your money and if you can afford it, fly comfy!

    zippykona
    Full Member

    On our last transfer Atlantic flight in economy we vowed never again.
    Got ourselves a virgin credit card and now travel in Upper. It makes holidays even more nicerer.

    ti_pin_man
    Free Member

    yes if you’ve got the dosh.

    no if you don’t.

    I fly a lot of domestic flights and build up points which I try and save to upgrade us on family holidays. I love showing up in a business class seat with my family including twin toddlers, the look of fear in the business class seats is frankly priceless!

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    Depends how much more than cattle class it is, last couple of times I’ve done it (with BA), it’s only been a few hundred more, so factoring in the extra luggage allowance that means you don’t have to pay additional baggage charges for a bike (or 2), plus all the stuff you get at the airport (lounge with free food and drink, fast track security etc) and if it’s an airline with fold flat chairs, meaning you can get a half decent sleep, it’s kind of a no brainer. Not sure I’d pay more than £5-600 for it though.

    Not a chance would I pay to upgrade from business to first though. Unless my first name was ‘Sheik’

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    May as well go first surely ?

    I’m banking the points for the upgrades on my next one, I was going to upgrade to premium on the Sydney-LA flight last year bit didnt get round to it. Ended up at the front of economy by myself while premium was rammed much nicer.

    For LHR/DUB/PER look at Bus/Prem Ec for the 2nd leg. the 7hr one is OK really just pick a good seat – even paying to choose a good seat is worth it.

    Last one was NZ, Businss out but thats only the Leather armchair not the beg recliners or lay flat. The nice bit was the service as I was the only one in the little section it was 1 to 1. Also the lounges make a big difference long haul somewhere to have a shower, eat for free and chill out really help.

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    +1 on the lounges. To me, airports are the 8th circle of Hell, whereas the lounge is nice and quiet, and I don’t get wound up by the general population…

    br
    Free Member

    For all those who say it’s not worth it how tall, or more importantly how long are your legs?

    And once you’re over 6′ and/or +34″ inside leg, the answer is ‘yes’.

    I use to fly regularly with work, usually at least one long-haul a month along with a couple of weekly UK/European flights. Originally all were business class and then the UK/European flights were mostly moved to single-class planes.

    I’ve also gone first class a few times, for me it wasn’t worth the cost – but the best long-haul has to be anything with a sleep-bed, often I’d fly out (eastwards) to be in work first thing Monday morning, having just arrived on an overnight plane.

    And have just booked our holidays for next month, only Athens but its a +3 hour flight and we’ve 3 hours to kill in LHR T5 each way, so flying Club Class 🙂

    breatheeasy
    Free Member

    Definitely worth doing for an overnight flight if you can get a fold flat bed, and its a decent length flight.

    Tallpaul
    Full Member

    b r – Member
    For all those who say it’s not worth it how tall, or more importantly how long are your legs?

    6’5″ and 35″ inside leg. I wouldn’t fly long-haul in Economy. But I happily do so within Europe. The extra pitch on a Premium Economy seat on BA was just fine for a long flight.

    jimdubleyou
    Full Member

    I used to fly a lot for work (3 weeks a month, a return flight a week). Business class makes a big difference when you’re with a lie-flat carrier (are there any that don’t now?).

    If we’re going a long way (+6 hours) I try to get Prem Econ as a minimum, but I’m a big unit – being cramped in econ for that length of time plays havoc with my back.

    Our honeymoon was RTW on Air NZ business class, which was frankly awesome. Been back to NZ since – couldn’t afford the business class on the way out, but paid for it on the way back. Got bumped up to business on the way out too, which was nice :).

    +1 for lounges, if travelling a lot, get a credit card that gives a free Priority Pass.

    mrsheen
    Free Member

    Any decent credit cards in particular which offer flier miles or whatever they’re called?

    Thanks for all your responses too.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    I just did the airline sponsored one, pick their FF program and see. Though you need to put decent cash through it to get anywhere – I did all my spending through it as much on the AmEx as possible as that was double.
    Take a look at what you need, I can only upgrade on mine when I hit a certain status level (which you need to fly a lot to do) and then only on Flexi Fares and only on the airline who holds the account.

    Like anything to earn good miles you really need to be flying a lot, the status credits are worth a lot more and get you in the nicer end of the plane etc.

    It’s amazing how much easier it is with board when you like, priority check in etc. but then again I fly a lot for work.
    Most CC lounge programs will get you into a basic one but for hub airports expect it to be rammed and non existent in some airports.

    mrsheen
    Free Member

    I rarely fly so it sounds like my plan of doing majority of purchases on such credit cards might not be worthwhile?

    squirrelking
    Free Member

    Emirates Economy is as good as Business in some other airlines.

    Not when I flew from Dubai to Sydney a few years ago it wasn’t.

    I think he was referring to Aeroflot or some of those African airlines that are so exclusive they don’t fly in Europe.

    Emirates ain’t all that, not much of an improvement on BA to be honest. They didn’t lose our luggage but on the flipside we did have to transfer in shitehole Dubai.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Try Abu Dhabi ethiad cattle class…

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Interesting above re transfers. If going to Australia or NZ, I’d always choose to transfer via Singapore or Hong Kong. The airport of the former, Changi, is a modern wonder.

    wobbliscott
    Free Member

    Emirates economy class is no better or worse than most other airlines economy. If you’re flying to Dubai then you can easily rough it in economy on a daytime flight. If further and your own money then I’d probably rough it anyway, but if I were wealthier than I am and could afford business then I’d pay it. If you book early enough you can probably get a business class ticket for about £2000 – £2500, that’s roughly what I pay when travelling out to Singapore/Vietnam/Indonesia with Emirates if I book early enough. I did Sydney return with Emirates for £3k recently so I think that is not rediculous money even though I couldn’t afford it myself. It is a great door to door service and the economy travellers in the back have to be subsidised somehow.

    CHB
    Full Member

    I fly Emirates to Dubai once a year or so and Business class is lovely. If travelling with the family I would probably save the cash and fly budget (and upgrade accommodation at the destination with the saving!).

    bamboo
    Free Member

    If you fly business, make sure to take pretentious photos of yourself wearing crappy shoes

    gavinpearce
    Free Member

    If you can afford it yes. My wife and two children flew back from Barbados last summer in business. When they touched down at Gatwick my youngest (aged 6) shouted ‘I didn’t sleep all night!’ Apparently most likely no one else did either! Oops.

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    😆

    (That was in First, though! 😉 )

    zippykona
    Full Member

    The old Upper was better than the new Upper. Sorry you can’t see my shoes!

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Prefer a reverse herringbone, Zippy. Sorry. Such as Cathay’s rather nice seat in the 777.

    More space, more privacy, and you can actually see what’s outside.

    Such as..
    Sunset on the approach to Changi.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 54 total)

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