Over the past decade, we’ve seen airlines in the United States do a better job of monetizing premium cabins, including first and business class. Back in the day, first class would be outrageously expensive. Most seats wouldn’t be sold, but rather, would go to people upgrading. Nowadays the percentage of first class seats outright paid…
Continue reading: Is First Class Worth The Premium? Here’s How I Go About Deciding…
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Love being a V10 equity partner (>$10MM a year) and not having to think twice. First every time for me and my beautiful wife. When we have kids, they’ll be flying up front as well.
btw there is one V10 - Latham - currently paying $100MM. They’ve just poached two Wachtell partners that way.
It’s great to be a lawyer.
FC is never worth the over-priced premium .
Same as the expensive "model" girlfriend is never worth the over-priced premium .
Lol what cope. My girlfriend (turned wife) received the princess treatment she deserved from date one. I suspect she picked me over losers like you because I wasn’t a loser and wasn’t afraid to show my affection. Also, we were associates at peer firms. We’re both partners now. She will be up for shares next year.
Domestic "First" - a misnomer if there ever was one -in not worth more than $300 for the longest distance (think DCA-LAX type routes). The product is similar to, but not quite what you would get on an international premium economy flight.
That some people pay more than $300 for an upgrade, I find bizarre. When my current business trip was booked in Jan for DCA-LAS travelling next month, AA was pricing the upgrade at $1,300 with an empty cabin. It is now down to $780 with 6 seats left. The D "First" price for my complete trip is now at $1,900-$2,100 for mid March travel. Good on them if they can get people to pay these prices, but anyone doing so - just crazy.
Well, one thing’s for sure; if you want first, buy first, because waiting for complimentary upgrades, especially in 2026, is nearly a lost cause, even with top tier status, even using those worthless PlusPoints and SWUs.
The number of morbidly obese people in this country is staggering. I'd rather not have them shoving me into an already too small seat. With upgrade offers being generally generous it's a no brainer. Even when they're not like yesterday $795 for SAN/CLT on a 321. Long upgrade list and no one upgraded at the gate. Was worth every penny of that $795 particularly as we were delayed 30 minutes at the gate because of airport traffic to the runway.
As an EP and PL on AA, we pretty much have given up on the freebies. We do have pretty good success with the cash offers after ticket purchase. Flying BNA DFW ASE this week and my 1-way ticket was 6.5K miles. I then upgraded both legs for about $150. Perfectly happy with this and totally worth it to me! My return ASE ORD also was 6.5K miles and they want $125 for the UPG. There is a meal but it’s a CR7 so I’m sticking with MCE and a free drink or 2. And then a good dinner in Chicago. Last month, we bought JFK LHR for like $300 and the upgrade to J was $500….. that was a no brainer on a 77W!
My valuation is entire different than Ben's.
US Domestic non-redeye: $10 premium for short flight, $50 for long flights. This means essentially never first class.
US Domestic red-eye: lie flat premium on a case-by-case basis depending on the urgency of the trip and work value. Usually red-eyes are avoided.
International non-redeye: will not fly unless a mistake fare. This mainly means that Europe to US will not be in business class or first class.
>>>International redeyes: BOS-LHR is too short. West coast to Europe and Pacific flights are candidates for lie flat business class. Price point varies. Greater willingness to pay for EVA and Singapore Airlines.
I largely take a similar approach to Lucky’s, with a per hour valuation for first class. One additional consideration for me is which seats are available in economy. If I’m going to be in a middle seat in the back, I’m more inclined to pony up for first. Conversely, if I can grab an aisle seat in the exit row, the upgrade isn’t as valuable to me.
If you can get exit row aisle seat, it is better than Domestic FC. If top elite - you get all the benefits you list, except seat width (unless you are fat - not an issue) but the leg room is much better then FC and that is most important item. Plus no seat in front reclining into you. Even in AA FC (the current version) AA decreased the pitch, if someone in front reclines - you can't open a laptop and in some cases can't even get out of the seat.
A lot depends on if you are paying cash or are paying with points/miles. If you have tons of points available to burn on that airline, just go for it, especially if you might not otherwise use the points in the reasonably near future.
LOL. Delusional.
She picked you because you tricked her into believing you're a big shot lawyer.
Now you're just leeching on your wife. She wouldn't dump you because she doesn't want to pay support to a gold digger like you.
My wife and I travel together. First class means no third passenger. I'll buy it if the price is right.
I’m tall, older and retired … no status. Happy to pay for that domestic F upgrade at a rate not to exceed $60 per flying hour. I have the most success on AA.
Haha. I love trailer park trash like you. But I still refuse to dance with you!
Talk about over-thinking it...
As an ATMOS Titanium with AS (formerly known as MVP75k) and oneworld Emerald, I honestly cannot remember the last time I flew on AS or AA when I wasn't seated in either the Exit Row or in Premium Economy -- the difference being 8" more leg room vs. 4" of extra leg room + free alcohol, respectively. The choice is simple: morning flight is for exit rows; evening flight is for PE.
For ME, domestic first isn't worth it. If I get upgraded, great! But I'd rather save my points for flights in J overseas and cash for another flight...
True CD, a Low Class trollBot who has even more false logins than 1990Bot and EskimoBot combined.