[mrguyorama]

>The people with more disposable income

Business class tickets are bought by companies not people. You pay for that "subsidy" through more expensive products to pay for that exec's stupid flight to a symposium where they all talk about how great they are and how important their ideas are.

[Sohcahtoa82]

Every time I've flown First/Business class, it's been out of my own pocket. Every time I've had my employer pay for a flight, it's been in cattle class.

Now I'm wondering what percentage of people in First/Business class are paying for the flight themselves.

[toast0]

My current employer lets me expense flights so that I book in First and they pay what it would have cost in cattle. Might be worth it?

Otoh, I have minor elite status and have gotten upgraded to cattle plus the last couple flights which might be nice enough.

[scarface_74]

I fly frequently on average more than once a month and I really don’t see the benefit of first class for domestic flights. I am short though. I’m good with exit row seats.

We aren’t budget travelers and we have been on a plane for leisure 12+ times a year since 2021. We are both Platinum Medallion on Delta and get automatic C+ upgrades at time of booking and enjoy our lounge access (via credit cards).

[ghaff]

Domestic at least, I expect a lot is upgrades for status travelers (who have flown a lot of it on company expense accounts). At least that's my experience.

In semi-retirement, I probably do need to burn down my points though.

[notahacker]

I think the average flyer can be pretty confident that they're saving more on the flight than the incremental addition to their grocery bills attributable to company executives' flight costs...

[Der_Einzige]

YUP! As usual HN downvotes the truth! I have NEVER seen a business who is willing to let people actually travel in business class outside of the C suite and even then I've seen them refuse it for C suite!!!

This includes for people making 500K+ a year. Still forced to sit in coach unless they pay out of pocket.

Normies ruined business class. Can't get business class tickets on international flights for anything less than 10X and often more like 20X the price of economy. It should be no more than 4X.