Our friend and syndicated columnist Christopher Elliott is out with his latest column, once again waging class warfare on the divide between economy class and the premium cabins. As usual, he couldn’t be more wrong.
The Contention: First Class Is Unnecessarily Nice
Elliott cannot believe how great first class has become:
“It seems like every time you look, airlines have added a ridiculous new amenity. Now they’re chauffeuring passengers to the gate in limousines and offering cabins with beds, private showers and butler service.
“But these airline perks aren’t for you. They’re only available to the elite flyers or the superrich. The rest of us must endure shrinking seats with zero service. Does anyone else think there’s something wrong with this picture?
“No one asked for this obscene, if not un-American, division between the “haves” and “have-nots” onboard. Instead, airlines invented a flying caste system that’s embarrassing and offensive to any fair-minded traveler.
Not so fast, Chris. Let’s not assume “these airline perks aren’t for you.” Let’s not assume lie-flat beds, private showers, and butler service are somehow obscene rather than remarkable innovation.
And then, Elliott asks, how do you get this?
“How do you get this? You probably can’t. It’s reserved for the airline’s top customers.”
It’s true that not everyone can sit in first class. But that doesn’t mean you cannot enjoy premium cabins for a fair price on the trips that matter most to you.
As for economy class passengers?
“They want to be treated like valued customers, but they end up paying extra for everything. Plus, at the end of the flight, they sign up for the airline’s addictive frequent flyer credit card, which just ends up getting them into more debt while enriching the airline.”
How stupid does he think people are? That airline co-branded credit cards are just meant to grow consumer debt? Really? Or maybe it’s just that a credit card almost always makes more sense than paying with a debit card.
Miles & Credit Card Points Are The Great Equalizer
Here’s what flies totally over Elliott’s head: credit card points and frequent flyer miles allow flyers to experience “how the other half” or even “top 1%” live without breaking the bank. The point is not free travel: nothing in life is free. But my benchmark is using miles coupled with fees that can approach the cost of an economy class ticket, to enjoy something that otherwise would have been out of reach.
I don’t buy $10,000 first class tickets. Heck, I don’t buy $5,000 business lass tickets. Even if money was not an object I don’t think I would, because with a little flexibility it just isn’t necessary.
And this isn’t just about chasing over-the-top luxury for pride or for vanity. Rather, it is about actually enjoying air travel. It is about making the plane trip part of the vacation rather than just a means to get to the vacation or making business trips restful, not stressful.
CONCLUSION
Elliott asks, “Maybe it’s time to put those experts in one of the tiny economy class seats on a transpacific flight. If that doesn’t change their mind, nothing will.”
Well, my mind has not changed. I’ve flown my share of transpacific flights in economy class. And you know something? It makes me want to be even more wise in earning and burning miles so I don’t have to do it again.
That’s the takeaway: miles and points bridge the gap between rich and poor (well, perhaps middle class) by offering sweet deals for those who take the time to carefully learn the nuances of loyalty programs and credit cards. I can assure you, after 15 years of doing it, it remains worth the effort.
And while I have no personal animosity toward Elliott, it continues to boggle my mind that year after year (indeed, decade after decade) he still enjoy coverage in top newspapers around the county. It’s really time for a fresh perspective.
My favorite part of his article is where he asserts that anyone flying in a premium cabin who has a conscience is “uncomfortable” with the class divide between first class and economy, quoting a woman who flew in first class to France and found the experience “ridiculous”.
I dunno. I think that I’d have to fly Singapore suites a few times to see if he has a valid opinion. Maybe Air France first as well.
Indeed, I’m going to have to do a lot more research to validate his data points.
“learn the nuances of loyalty programs and credit cards”
Don’t forget manufactured spending.
How do u manufacture spending? I am curious. I pay my taxes by card. I pay my business expenses with plastiq where permissible. What am I missing?
Check out the sites listed in this search:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=manufactured+spending
Thank you. How did I miss amazon payments be4?
Matthew is spot on. My spouse and I are lucky to have good jobs but certainly not first class flights to Europe jobs. Points and miles are absolutely the equalizer and have given us opportunities we’d never otherwise never be able to afford. We’re still amazed that miles (mainly via Chase Sapphire and United cards) have allowed us 3 round trips to Europe in Lufthansa and Austrian business class – nearly $30,000 worth of flights for maybe $1200 in total annual fees. I think we all realize that the airlines are wising up to this (look at dynamic pricing) but I’m confident that deals can still be had if someone is willing to fly midweek and off season. Nonetheless, I don’t understand the griping about economy class. I’m lucky to live in Chicago – a market with tons of TATL competition – and am still amazed that $400 gets me a r/t flight to Europe, a personal video screen, a few free glasses of OK wine, and a warm (if marginal meal) and a little breakfast. Pick the right airline with 2 on a side A330 seating and it’s not a terrible way to travel.
While I don’t subscribe to the Marxist sentiment of the article you referenced, I don’t think miles and points are quite the equalizer you say that they are (certainly not for lower people, but probably true for the middle class as well). Everyone I talk to who is into miles and points are college-grad yuppie professionals who have upper class incomes and the freedom and deep pockets to put thousands of dollars each month on a credit card and pay it off.
No disrespect for folks like @Chiguy1979, but he even admits himself that he and his wife have good jobs, which no doubt mean an upper class household income and the ability to chrun, take vacations, etc.
The point I am trying to make — miles and points narrow the gap between the 10% and the 1% — but that’s about it.
Valid argument.
Fair point, but I don’t think that’s necessarily true. With a salary of $50-60k/year, you can qualify for a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve. $4,000 spending over 3 months ($1,333/month) gets you a 60k bonus + 4k points minimum for the spend, for a total of 64k points. That’s enough for either one, one-way Business Class award to Europe or and $800 statement credit for a flight booked on Chase Travel. At least in my part of the country, you can live comfortably on that salary as a single person, and using Plastiq for your rent for 3 months and putting your groceries and gas/transit pass on your card gets you to $4k or pretty close. No, it’s not accessible to the truly poor, but you don’t have to be top 10%, either.
Meant Chase Sapphire PREFERRED above, not Reserve.
@Andy K
While your point is well taken, not every travel hacker is upper middle class or higher. I myself am a retired postal worker, and make around $50K per year. I also have over a dozen credit cards, put all my purchases on them, and pay them off completely every month, resulting in a credit score of around 810. All it takes is financial discipline.
I’m certainly not in the 10%!
Bwahaha… Ok. Let’s make everything equal. The guy in first who bought a last minute international flight for 12,000 will get a smaller seat, but will only pay $1000. The family of four in the back who planned ahead and bought low prices economy tickets will get 4 extra inches of legroom but WILL PAY THEIR FARE SHARE. Instead of paying a ridiculous $30 to fly across the country and then the Atlantic (because 95% of their ticket price was government taxes and fees that don’t go to the airlines) they can collectively pay a few thousand extra for their seats with a little more legroom.
That would make everyone equal – who’s for it?
The bigger problem with that stupid opinion is about behavior of vast majority of flyers most of the time.
Want to be treated like valued customers? What a joke! Most of them would jump onto competitors to save a few bucks. Seriously, why do you think ULCCs are doing so well? Against that kind of cold blooded calculation from the customers, what do you expect? Airlines investing in customer service? For what? Those people will not pay the extra $10 for that investment anyway.
The only customers with catering to is, of course, the ones going out of their way to remain loyal to your airlines. Everyone else? See paragraph above.
I think liberals need to come to their senses. And republicans need to stop lying or listening to people who are lying. These includes most whites in their party. As i said there are only two kinds of republicans. The stupid and the evil. Everyone in Congress is the evil kind.
We need to get our immigration under control. Its hard to ask for basic income and universal healthcare if the borders are porous and everyone can just walk in clutching a child. Worry about people you represent instead of the woruld that didn’t vote for you. Lgbt rights are fine but they cannot dominate the entire conversation. Liberals have made the lgbt their 1%. A small group sucking up all the energy because of which toilet they cannot use. Enough. And do a freaking better job of showing how more taxes will improve the life of people. Republicans run circles around the liberals talking only about higher taxes but don’t talk about the better quality of life that it brings (did i say republicans are evil?) And the stupid in their party listen to the evil in their party because they both look alike. The stupid are racist and the evil are smart and evil.
Ok. Eff you Republicans. A basic standard of living guaranteed to everyone and beyond that everyone is free to make as much money as they want.
No one is asking for equality in society. Rich people that work harder should be rich. But poor people should not be poor. A person who pays more for first class should get treated better than a mileage junkie. I have no problem with it. I find a lot of flight attendants are cool with you even if they figure out you are not really rich even if you are in first class.
Death to republicans. They are pure evil. Greedy assholes and lying scum.
https://mobile.twitter.com/robdelaney/status/1223577742618300417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1223627543783198720&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2F2020%2F02%2F01%2Fwatch-news-anchor-shows-americans-real-size-wealth-gap-using-american-pie
Eff republicans. Remember only two kinds, stupid and evil.
Yeah, republicans are such complete douches, but Dems need to focus on the middle class and not the fringes or 3rd world.
Take your white nationalism elsewhere. Illegals contribute to society. Medicare and social security would be insolvent a year sooner than it would otherwise if it weren’t for the taxes illegals contribute. If you want to look at REAL drains, look to the red state wellfare queens.
I doubt the illegals making $10 an hour are paying enough payroll taxes or income taxes to fund even a pittance of the Medicaid benefits they draw, Medicare they will draw, the 10K a year per child it costs for public school funding and the increased social costs of violence they disproportionately commit. Most are off the books unless they are using social security numbers anyway. The few bucks an hour they save business owners does not outweigh the increased housing costs that decent people are forced to pay to live away from their dangerous neighborhoods.
There are an awful lot of people with socialist points of view that write for newspapers. Whereas most of us are happy to work hard to have a better life and experience nicer holidays. That doesn’t mean we should have to all wallow in guilt because many other people want to spend their money on other things, does it?
Those who have accmulated excess did because the tax code was customized to make them rich. Like the blond asshole and his minions in congress are doing now. He never paid any income tax. The quinessential free loader. The Republicans are the biggest sociaists. Except the largess gets accunulated in a very few hands. But it’s still socialism that benefits the rich.
No one expects rich to pay their fair share quietly. Why the stupid, poor republicans vote for the rich is mind boggling. For that you need religion. Use religion to scandilize and dehumanize the liberals so that poor Republicans vote for policies that benefit the rich.
Remember only two kinds of Republicans. Stupid and evil.
True story about Cbris Elliott. I used to read his column with some regularity. One day a few years ago, I left a critical comment on one of his tired rants where he calls for re-regulation, and tacitly suggesting that the government should subsidize his $200 transcon airfare in E+ seating, but won’t admit it. He then stalked my comments on both your and Cranky Flier’s blogs and launched an ad hominem attack against me (and you, and Cranky) as a paid airline shill in a reply, without actually addressing what I said. I decided he wasn’t worth my time after that. And I’d posit he’s not worth yours, either.
Anyway, I agree with most of what you say, though Elliott and his ilk do have a point when they point out the airlines’ laughable duplicity in describing their changes to Y and loyalty programs as “enhancements”. I can’t board an AA Oasis 737 and tell you with a straight face that it’s a better experience than 20 years ago, for example. Too bad he ruins an actually valid argument with his class warfare drivel.
You sound like such an insufferable twat with this post.
The main point is that premium class fares subsidise economy fares but there is no getting around the fact that premium cabins are for the rich and comfortable.
Taking Avois for example – you would need to spend over £100,000 to get anywhere near enough points for a return premium cabin fare.
Even with the sign up bonuses (like Amex) you still have to spend a huge amount of money to get a point per pound spent.
You also then have to afford the huge taxes and surcharges carried with a premium cabin fare.
Plus, you need a good credit rating to even get these cards. And let’s say you do save for several years, once you do get that discounted fare, you are back to zero again.
If you are a frequent flyer then one is most likely in a well paid job, and if you own an airline credit card you are most likely to have a good credit rating.
But I have no problem with the cabin system. It’s something to aspire to and it keeps economy fares super low, meaning more people on low incomes can fly than ever before.
But premium cabins are still out of reach for many on low incomes and a luxury.
Absolutely agree. Began flying first class as a full-time student in university through points and miles and was effectively paying less than most of my classmates were in economy to travel over breaks. $2.5k for an economy round trip NA-Japan-China-Singapore during peak winter season? No thanks, I’ll use $2k worth of miles and fly F instead.
Seat size, leg room and economy amenities are declining but so are fares. The average economy ticket is half of what it was 15 years ago in nominal dollars. If people want more space they can pay what they did 15 years ago.
Most people are so cheap and short sighted they will go with the lowest fare.
I think your spot on with your analysis. Look at my own trip to Scotland last May that got Chronicled here. Those tickets in F on Lufthansa would have run $36,000 if I had to pay for them and there is simply no way on earth that’s going to happen.
But miles and a couple of hundred bucks meant that I got to treat my dad to
The flight of a lifetime.
Elliott also misses something else. That airlines are delivering the products their customers ask for. Most consumers continue when buying coach tickets to prove that price rules above all. That singular focus has driven the evolution of coach to being what it is today.
What Christopher Elliott has forgotten is that airlines reflect the social economy of the country they serve. Airline seats have shrunk and gotten closer together because of the disappearing middle class. This segment of our population has shrunk to the point that it is necessary to put in all of these seats to actually make a profit and still have customers able to afford tickets. With the ever shrinking middle class, airlines have had to conform. You write the best articles by the way. Thank you.
The fact is that many if not most of the people in the pointy end of the plane are not there because they are rich and paid for it. They are there due to miles or because they are a frequent customer, often due to their job, and also because they bothered to learn how the market for airline tickets work. For example, I have a friend who always flies his family in international economy, saying he does not want to spoil his children. But I take mine on business award tickets that even with charges are less than his economy tickets. (And my kids are old enough to know now that that is how flying works – it favors the knowledgeable.)
You could make a good case that flying in a comfortable manner should not require lots of secret knowledge dug up on websites like FlyerTalk, I also think you can make a good case flying should not be so complicated in general, particularly when I read a complaint from some occasional flyer who didn’t know that if they skipped a leg the rest of their trip would be canceled, or the difficulties of changing a ticket. But inequality between those who know and those who don’t is different than class envy.