Flying Business

So you read my last post and you want to fly business? There’s a real question as to whether a business class ticket is even worth it for you. The 2.8% return on Delta miles that I calculate in my previous post is predicated on the assumption that a business class ticket’s cost is equal to its value. That’s a personal question.

I actually don’t think a business class ticket is worth it: You pay a $3,000 for 8 hours of additional comfort. $400/hour! I reserve that kind of fee for serious legal advice; the extra room and free booze just doesn’t cut it for me. One reason is that I can’t sleep on a plane, regardless of the comfort. It makes no difference to me if I’m awake in a lie-flat vs. an upright seat.

A business class ticket is wasted on a kid, in my opinion. They have plenty of room in a coach seat. Free booze helps them not at all. Unless you’re trying to give them something to shoot for later in life, or just build a memory, then they don’t need this. When I was a boy, we’d set up pillows and blankets and sleep on the floor.

My wife, however, can sleep on a plane, but not in a coach seat. For her, the difference is substantial. If it cuts down a day of jet-lag, you can start to justify it. If you hate coach flying so much that you’d prefer not to go at all, then it’s definitely a value. Plus, I’ll admit, it’s a pretty fun experience. Now, when I fly as a family, I fly as a family: we sit together. So I aim for one business class flight in every four trips, rather than, say, have my wife fly in business while us boys stick it out in coach. Seems pretty democratic.

Since a straight purchase of four business class tickets is beyond my annual budget, I use my miles. Let’s do the math on that, then: 4 business class tickets on Delta = 500,000 miles. If I travel to Europe every 2 years, as I try to do, that means I expect a business class trip every 8 years. So, I have to book 62,500 miles/year, $5,000+ a month. That’s basically spending every penny through the card. It can be done, but it’s tough – you got to maximize boosters whenever possible.

Your other options, of course, include just getting close, and buying the extra ticket(s) at rate. You can hope for a sale, or try services like http://www.skyluxtravel.com/ -- I’ve never tried them myself, seems shady, so don’t take this as a recommendation, and you can’t coordinate easily with your award redemption.  If you have to buy two tickets, and get awards on the other two, your out-of-pocket will be somewhere in the $5-6k range. Still a bite, but doable.

A further option that’s appealing is to just to business class on one of the legs – my wife, for example, likes to start the trip in business. It sets the tone for the trip and helps with the initial jet lag. Coming back? Not so critical, since it’s a daytime flight. You’ll be awake anyway, so lie-flat seating is largely irrelevant. Plus, you have the experience of the trip to get you through the 8-9 hours.

Surprisingly, Delta has no problem with you booking just a one way with miles. Same cost per leg either way. The trick was always getting the one way return ticket: airlines used to absolutely soak you on a one way ticket. For example – current Delta rate for ATL-ZRH in June, R/T, is $1,400 (outrageous, btw, I bought in for nearly half that). The one-way fare for June is $2,400. You’re better buying a R/T ticket and simply not flying the second half, which is a waste, and not always easy to do.

These days it’s getting a little easier to get a one way. The bargain carriers don’t seem to mind much at all: go to Norwegian Air, and you’ll see that they let you do it without a problem. Domestically, Southwest Airlines seems to be OK with one-way tickets, too. So, a sample itinerary I could build for myself:

Outbound: ATL-LON, Business Class, 4 seats, 250,000 miles +$600 in fees.

Inbound: Norwegian Air, LON-NYC, LowFare+  $473.30/ticket, $1893.20 total

                 Southwest Airlines, NYC-BHM, $175/ticket, $700 total.

Grand total: $3193.20 out of pocket, about $800/person.

It more or less works out to be a regular fare purchase, with using the miles to upgrade the outbound leg to business class. Not ideal – the one-way fare I’ve constructed is about $650/ticket, which is not much lower than my R/T target of $750. This is just an OK compromise between waiting forever for miles to build – 10-12 years, in my case -- or using them every 6 years on half of the trip.

There is another option, if you’re dying to travel business class. A relatively new airline, La Compagnie, flies an all-business class 757 from Newark to London & Paris. The seats aren’t lie-flat – by the looks of it, I’d say their outfit is a dated version of business class, but still a big improvement over coach. Their fares can be phenomenal, though: $1,700 RT Newark-Paris is standard for them, though I’ve seen offers NYC-LON for $1,100 RT. That was off-season, mind you, but still – if you snag seats at, say, $1,400, it’s close enough to a coach fare with a legacy carrier that I think it’s worth the try. For us Southerners, we still have to get to NYC, which is a $350 R/T ticket from BHM ($250 from ATL). You’ll probably have to overnight in NYC on the way back, too. You end up near $1,800/ticket, $7,200 total. A hair too much for my tastes, but I’d bet a reasonable option for several of my readers. All I ask is, if you do try La Compagnie, tell me how it went.