Why Fly Business Class Seats: The Experience vs Losing a Day
I never understood why anyone would opt to pay $3,000-$4,000 more for a business class seat. Having flown many economy flights and business class tickets, here is what I’ve found through my experiences on flying both economy and business.
Flying Economy
Flying economy almost always is something to dread – and with good reason. You’re stuck in a cramped seat for hours and over half a day on overhaul flights.
That’s after spending hours to get to the airport and get through security. Then you go through all the other pains of possible travel delays, baggage issues, and overpriced airport food. Once you’re on the plane, you’re constantly checking the flight time to see if any significant time has passed.
You’re stuck trying to getting some shut-eye while sitting in that cramped seat and just finding any way to pass time by watching movies or reading.
When you finally get to your destination, you’re already exhausted from all the travels. But now you have to settle in and deal with finding your stay or overcoming jet lag.
Yes, unfortunately, that’s the typical flying experience.
Flying Business
That’s until I tried flying business class for the first time. In short, instead of an experience you dread in traveling, it is truly an experience you can look forward to.
The moment you step into the airport, everything is designed to make your life as easy as possible. Not only that, you get to experience feeling very special.
When you check in, there’s a special expedited line for you to check in your luggage (with greater luggage allowances). When you’re ready to go through security, there’s a separate line for you to pass all the “regular” line and travelers.
After you get through security, there’s an airline lounge available for you with showers, food, comfortable chairs, and great workspace for you to relax and do what you need to do.
When ready to board, you’re called in first to a special line. Upon boarding, you’re immediately served drinks and a menu of unique special food that will be provided on flight.
On overhaul flights, you’re presented with an amenity kit with useful items to make your experience better. Amenity kits usually include eye masks, ear plugs, special lotions, tooth brush, comb. You look forward to dinner as you would if you went to a nice restaurant.
Your seat is huge with plenty of space. And the best part of traveling business class? When you feel tired, you can recline your seat all the way, lie down, and fall sound asleep in the comfort of your seat. Domestic flights don’t have that reclining bed seats but international flights normally will.
Sleeping on flights really is where business class tickets offers the most value in my opinion. If you’re able to get some shut-eye it totally changes your travel day. When you get off the plane, you actually feel refreshed and ready to go. It saves you from having to recover from overhaul flights. If you’re flying for important meetings the very next day, this is invaluable.
Bottom line: If you’re able to afford to pay for a business class ticket, it’ll change your perspective on flying. It will be an experience you’ll look forward to. Better yet, if you can use points & miles to travel on Business Class, you should do it.
If you’re fine with going through the pains and recovery days to travel economy to save, just go with an economy ticket. Economy is usually over 50% of what you would pay for a business class ticket.
If you want to learn how you can fly business class seats without having to pay for it, I wrote some articles below that may be helpful.
How to Travel Around the World for Cheap
How to Maximize Travel and Earn Credit Card Points
