How Often Do I Fly Economy? Here’s My Strategy When First Class Isn’t Worth It

On this blog, I primarily review first and business class experiences. However, that’s not to say that I always fly in a premium cabin. A reader recently asked me how often I actually end up flying in economy, so I want to address that in this post…

I don’t mind flying economy, but prefer to avoid it

Over the past two decades, I’ve flown millions of miles. Back when I was a teenager and first got into miles and points, a vast majority of my travel was in economy, and I was fine with that. For that matter, I was happy to take short redeye flights in economy. Heck, sometimes I even took them two nights in a row.

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However, as I’ve gotten older, my approach to this has changed:

• I don’t have the stamina I once had when it comes to flying, and I get exhausted a bit more easily, so I value comfort more than I used to
• Thanks to inflight Wi-Fi, the reality is that I can basically be just as productive in the air as on the ground, but it’s much more comfortable to work from a first or business class seat, where you don’t have to contort your body to be able to use a laptop
• As I’ve gotten older, my willingness to pay for a better experience has also increased, and I’m in a better financial situation now than I was as a teenager

I have absolutely no issues flying economy on a short or medium haul flight. That being said, I try to avoid economy on longer flights, and for that matter, I also try to avoid redeye flights unless I’m in a flat bed, since they are otherwise just too unpleasant.

There are limits to what I’ll pay for first or business class

While I value flying in premium cabins, there are also limits to what I’m willing to pay. While we nowadays see a lot more reasonably priced premium fares than in the past, I’d never book one of those “full fare” long haul business class tickets, which can cost $10,000 or more. That’s just too much money, and even if I could afford it, I wouldn’t feel good about spending money that way. I’d rather “suffer” through economy, and do something with that money on the ground.

I’ve written in the past about the price at which I consider first class to be worth it. For example, on domestic flights, I’m typically willing to pay roughly an extra $50 per hour over economy for first class, since that’s what I value the incremental comfort at, give or take. With that in mind, let me share my general approach to booking premium cabin travel.

For long haul travel, I almost always redeem miles for first and business class travel at the saver rate. I typically have quite a bit of flexibility with my travel, so if I can get a first or business class seat at a reasonable mileage rate, why wouldn’t I fly that way?

Sometimes I’ll also waitlist an upgrade (like with American systemwide upgrades), but I’ll only do it if I’m very confident that the upgrade will clear. Or at least if I’m not sure if it’ll clear, I make sure it’s a ticket that’s flexible, so I can cancel at the last minute, and rebook on another flight as an award ticket.

For short haul travel, I take more of a mixed approach, and I usually have a few different strategies I use to secure a first class seat:

• I generally have some airline elite status, so if I think there’s a decent chance of getting a complimentary upgrade, I’ll just book economy and hope for an upgrade; however, that’s really not something I rely on much nowadays, given how difficult upgrades have become
• If I don’t think the odds of an upgrade are great, I’ll look if there’s any decent first class fare for cash, and I’m happy to fly just about any airline to do that
• Nowadays airlines also frequently offer reasonably priced cash upgrades, so I often take advantage of those cash upgrade offers; for example, American constantly sells these, and I find it to be worthwhile for situations where I don’t think an upgrade would clear
• I sometimes even find it to be worthwhile to outright redeem miles for first class; for example, American AAdvantage often has good first class redemption rates

The situations where I usually fly economy

While I generally do what I can to fly in a premium cabin, there are some situations where I don’t even bother trying, so let me share those:

• Within Europe, I’m happy to fly any point-to-point flight on an ultra low cost carrier with a good schedule, since most of these flights are short, and it’s not like intra-Europe business class is much to get excited about
• On short domestic flights within the United States, I really don’t care where I sit; my most frequent route is between Miami and Tampa, so I usually just book the flight that’s most convenient in economy, with no consideration for upgrade odds
• When we travel with one or both of our kids, I largely prefer economy, since it’s much easier to be closer to a toddler in economy, rather than in first class (where there’s more distance between seats)

I just did some rough math about my travel patterns over the past couple of years. Roughly 20% of the segments I’ve flown over that period were in economy. That being said, in terms of distance flown, it only represents 3% of my total travel distance (since a majority of my economy segments were on flights of under 500 miles).

Bottom line

While I primarily cover premium cabin travel on the blog, that doesn’t mean I never fly economy. I actually fly it quite frequently, both on flights within the United States, as well as within Europe.

The reality is that I do value the comfort of premium cabin travel immensely. However, there are limits to what I’m willing to pay for it. Fortunately miles & points allow me to travel in premium cabins on most long haul flights, which I’m very grateful for. But even within the United States, I’ll gladly pay a reasonable premium for first class.

What’s your approach to flying in economy vs. in premium cabins?