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“I almost always book the minimum flight, basic economy, whether or not I am paying. There is so little to be gained from moving up compared to the price.” Per
by abxyz 1y ago
“I almost always book the minimum flight, basic economy, whether or not I am paying. There is so little to be gained from moving up compared to the price.”
Perhaps I’m too precious but economy class is awful compared to business class. Lie-flat seats are a significant improvement over economy. If you are spending your own money, sure, stick to economy so you can spend your money on other things that are more important to you… but someone else’s money? What conceivable reason is there to choose economy if someone else is paying.
- whobre 1y agoBusiness is much better for long flights. For flights under 5 hours it almost does not make any difference.
- ghaff 1y agoBOS to SFO, domestic business is more comfortable but not to the degree I'd likely pay out of my pocket for.
- piperswe 1y agoUnited premium transcontinental business class between SFO and BOS is quite nice and reasonably affordable. It's no Polaris, but they are comfortable lie-flat seats. At least, that was the case when I flew that route in late 2019 - not sure if they still have the same service.
- WalterBright 1y ago> What conceivable reason is there to choose economy if someone else is paying. Not taking advantage of someone else's generosity. If that's not good enough, don't think the someone else doesn't notice being taken advantage of. They won't say anything, but in the future you may be "overlooked" for other opportunities.
- WalterBright 1y agoThe smart way to handle this if you really want to fly business class is to pay the upgrade cost difference yourself. Mark it on your expense report when you turn in the receipts. Your sponsor then may say "no worries, we'll take care of the upgrade cost!" then you're golden. In any case they'll respect your integrity.
- ghaff 1y agoCompanies usually have certain travel policies including who can fly business and under what circumstances. If you're within policy I don't see the issue.
- WalterBright 1y agoYes, if it is written policy, then there is no issue. Also if you get agreement in advance then it is not an issue.
- scarface_74 1y agoI’ve worked for three cloud consulting shops, they would never allow this. One of those consulting shops is AWS’s internal shop.
- WalterBright 1y agoNever allow the employee to pay for the upgrade himself? Wow. Companies also tend to overlook excessive travel expenses if the employee is bringing home the bacon. But don't put hooker expenses on it! (Yes, I've seen this happen.)
- scarface_74 1y agoThe three companies have travel policies that apply to everyone. It also depends on who is paying I guess. I am a post sales consultant where for the most part, my company gets reimbursed by the client and in the contract, they have the guard rails as far as allowed travel expenses. Then on the other hand, you don’t have to choose the cheapest airline possible, so you can choose the one where you have status and get automatic upgrades (Delta Platinum Medallion in my case) and a higher chance for upgrades. Of course you can pay for the upgrade yourself. But why would I spend my own money to do so. They are so strict though that every time my receipt after flying showed I was in an upgraded seat, I had to also send in the email as proof that my upgrade was free because of status.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- ajmurmann 1y agoA big advantage in business to me is that it's usually only two seats next to each other. That also no risk of middle seat. I've yet to experience lie-flat seats in business class. Even first class on many planes doesn't have that.
- scarface_74 1y agoWhat risk is there of a middle seat if you are choosing your seat? While I do enjoy my automatic C+ upgrades at time of ticketing because of status on Delta, I’m short and average size so main cabin doesn’t really bother me especially if I can get an exit row seat. It wasn’t bad flying nine hours to London two months ago.
- nutjob2 1y agoIf someone else is paying it's very likely they have restrictions on business class seats on long haul, given the typical large fare difference.
- mvdtnz 1y ago> What conceivable reason is there to choose economy if someone else is paying. Thanks for the unpleasant reminder that people like you exist.