I had a choice to take a more timely flight in economy class or wait two hours and fly in first class. My wife and I did not see eye-to-eye on it…
The Dilemma: Economy Class Now Or First Class Later? My Wife And I Disagree Over Which Flight To Take
I remember the first time my wife Heidi visited the USA when we were still dating. I put her in business class on Lufthansa for her flight back to Frankfurt and her response was like…why are you wasting your money on business class? I don’t need it! #keeper
After 10 years of marriage, she now enjoys premium cabins and no longer scolds me for spending extra dollars or miles for lie-flat seats. But in her mind, there is a big difference between traveling to Europe and domestically.
My opinion is that whether the flight is one hour or 17 hours, I want to be in a premium cabin. I’ve flown plenty in economy class and do just fine, but who doesn’t want to be more comfortable, even on shorter flights? And I’m willing to tailor my schedule around making that happen in the most cost-efficient way possible. I can work anywhere so it does not matter if I am sitting at home or sitting in an airport.
Recently we were in Chicago, preparing to fly home to Los Angeles. As I said, I’m leaning strongly toward stepping off the status hamster wheel and we flew American Airlines on the way out (mostly so I could take advantage of my British Airways Gold status and take her to brunch in the Qantas Lounge).
On the way back, I booked United and had two choices. The 7:35 pm flight would get us in earlier and was operated by a brand new Airbus A321neo, but had no upgrade space (in fact, first class was sold out). The 9:31 pm flight was operated by a 737-900, but had confirmed upgrade space. Flight time is four hours from Chicago to LA.
I wanted to take the later flight…not for the dreadful food, but for the extra space. Furthermore, I figured we could just sit in the United Club and get our work done so that we could rest on the flight.
Heidi said she did not care about the upgrade and just wanted to get home earlier.
I’m a strong believer in “happy wife, happy life” and so I booked the earlier flight. As a consolation prize, I thought at least I’d be in a new cabin and could relax and watch a movie on my seatback screen during the flight.
Well, turns out the Viasat internet worked so well that I worked for four hours straight and so (as usual) my wife was right and we made the right call.
Even so, it was tight. She took the window, I sat in the middle, and a big guy sat on the aisle. It was very tight indeed, and we were even sitting in EconomyPlus (extra legroom economy).
Bottom line: I was happy to get home earlier for the sake of my wife and appreciated how productive I was on the flight (I love the A321neo), but I still would have waited two hours for first class.
It’s clear I made the right call here, but how long are you willing to wait for first class on a domestic flight?
I fly economy domestically (even coast to coast) and business or higher internationally.
I would have easily waited a few more hours. Can’t stand economy- just too cramped nowadays. I go out of my way to fly C/F.
First off, what lounge would you have access to in Chicago?
Also, would the upgrades have been free?
Lastly, while everyone likes first class better (me because I’m 6’4” and weigh a lot more than I’d like, although my wide shoulders are the biggest problem for my flight neighbors) why does it matter so much to you?
Lounge access – yes (United Club)
Upgrade – free* (*using PlusPoints)
Why does it matter? – irrational to an extent, but the extra room is nice and I like to drink out of glasses, not plastic.
Everything is relative. I’m sure there are things you like, about which someone would ask the same question “why does it matter so much?”
On a domestic US, I would wait about 30 minutes for a higher cabin assuming everything else was the same. A different airline or aircraft variant could change the equation.
If the flight was the 2nd of a connection, that might be different.
I have worked well or solved difficult work problems in economy.
In the old days when there were political hijackings (not the ones to Cuba), being in first class might have meant being pistol whipped.
I got off the hamster wheel during year 3 of the pandemic, which is ongoing. It feels great.
Ongoing…..f#cking ass clown! Hopefully someone shoves that mask down your throat!
Are you OK?
Lighten up, Francis.
“Heidi said she did not care about the upgrade and just wanted to get home earlier.” Winner!! That’s me. I have done standby on an earlier flight and got a middle seat in coach instead waiting for a later flight in first class. Once you have wife and kids at home, family always come first.
Sure, but here we were togehter. It wasn’t just me coming home.
But I am assuming your kids were at home. Also, I love going on a trip but the best part is to come back home. I would do whatever possible to get home earlier.
Kids were home, but they were asleep anyway…flight would not have mattered.
I’m in a position where I’m grateful to be flying F/J for work for both domestic and international flights. But, I’m still a bit stingy and find myself booking Y if I’m traveling for personal reasons, such as seeing family and I can bear with it as long as it gets me from point A to B as soon as possible.
Over four hours, I start considering First. Over eight, and I need a bed.
If there is a blessing to being not tall, that might be fitting into a domestic economy seat. For a couple of hours I can endure anything if necessary.
That said, I am with Heidi. Getting home earlier is always my priority.
You definitely made the right call from a marital perspective. I have a similar approach when the spouse asks to fly WN (though not if getting there is critical, like around a holiday, and I can increasingly argue WN is more expensive) . But those are not the decisions I would make if on my own.
No AA flight leaving at the same time as the first flight with Domestic First available?
10 or 15 years ago, I might have answered differently, but today, I agree with Heidi in this scenario. I just can’t deal with getting home after midnight and then getting to work the next morning anymore, so no, I wouldn’t delay a flight home from 7:30 pm to 9:30 just for a domestic F seat. If anything, I’m willing to give up an F seat for Y if it means getting home at a reasonable hour. Now, if it’s a noon flight where I can get an F seat by waiting until 3 pm, that’s a different story.
I don’t have IATA stats handy, but I’m convinced that a 4-hour sector length is longer than the median commercial flight- it’s not really a short hop. I would also have preferred to stay in the lounge and catch the later flight. Still , it’s not worth an argument with a spouse or other travelling companion.
The question is whether you would have the same preference even for flights that are quite short. Personally, I don’t really assign any value to the extra space when it comes to flights of under two hours (hence I don’t bother complaining when Lufthansa ‘upgrade’ me from my exit row seat to a business class one with less legroom).
I am facing a similar dilemma. Flying with my wife & 5 year old halfway across the world. Stop in JFK overnight but fly in J or avoid a stop in JFK but fly in PE. I have done the former multiple times. Leaning towards the latter this time. Landing at JFK at night is no fun.
“who doesn’t want to be more comfortable, even on shorter flights?And I’m willing to tailor my schedule around making that happen in the most cost-efficient way possible.”
“I can work anywhere so it does not matter if I am sitting at home or sitting in an airport.”
The idea you’d be willing to contort your schedule to leave home earlier than you need to or get home later than you like or take a long layover just to have the extremely mediocre experience of short-haul domestic first class is kind of baffling. I recognize you can usually swing lounges but, as a hypothetical, would you choose to sit in a terminal for three hours to avoid being in an economy seat for one or two hours?
Probably not – I cannot recall ever doing it.
I still like first class even on shorter flights, but of course, there is a relationship between my willingness to wait and the length of the flight.
I have never worked on a flight but I have bought an extra seat for comfort several times. Your situation seems ideal for buying an extra seat for comfort so you can spread out a bit while working and also to keep another person from sitting next to you. Why didn’t you do that?
I only fly first class and if my spoilt wife doesn’t like ot she can walk home. Economybseatsvare uncomfortable and full of loud rude people. I just signed my first private plane lease contract and I’m hoping that will satisfy my needs.
We in economy are happy that you fly first 🙂
Wife makes call > first class > economy class
YMMV
Interesting to me you sat in the middle. My partner is also an EXP, and we have an agreement. When one upgrade clears, she always gets it. But when we’re both seated in coach, she always takes the middle.
Since she’s the one who wanted economy, she would have been the one in the middle seat. Otherwise, she can fly home by herself, I’d wait for the first class.
I’m chuckling about you wanting first class even for a 1 hour flight. Unless it’s a totally free upgrade, I’d opt out of it in that there’s little point.
In this particular dilemma, your wife is right about the time. That 2 hours means you got in (after drive) about midnight versus 2AM. That’s a huge difference in waking up the next morning although that may be mitigated by jetlag.
My wife would probably enjoy the business class experience primarily for the food. She loves being served on nice plates and different food to try. She’d probably prefer to use the points to get as many economy seat flights for her relatives she’d like to come over and hang out. I’ve also impressed upon my wife the importance of understanding where money goes: Unless you’re exceptionally rich, money spent on unnecessary luxuries has to come out of somewhere. She regularly volunteers at the church and would give the shirt off her back (if it was legal) for the wounded warriors. We donate generously to the church and humanitarian aid campaigns. There’s retirement savings, education, and heck, even a rainy day. It’s tough to impress on her that nothing FEELS better than not being a servant to your lifestyle.
A dear friend of ours was laid off a year ago and she’s living with the worry. She hasn’t found new work but she spent all her money on a nice deck she never uses, luxury cars, and a big home.
That’s not to begrudge you your lifestyle. I’m happy to read you enjoy it and you have a wonderful family life as well.
Four hours flying time from ORD to LAX? I remember when the estimated flying time was 3:33 from ORD to LAX.