[SilverElfin]

> I've yet to find a better way to instantly time-travel forward 12 hours

I find it very hard to use a computer in the cramped tables of the plane. And the person in front always ends up aggressively reclining only when I have a laptop out. Plus I feel bad that maybe my bright light is disturbing the people sleeping next to me.

[hdgvhicv]

It amazes me that high paid SV techies won’t pay more to fly in premium or business

[dbetteridge]

Not everyone on hackernews is paid SV salaries?

That plus flights from Australia are expensive enough in economy, business class is easily 4-10x that cost.

[fc417fc802]

Aren't there any airlines traveling to and from Australia that offer something midway in between sardine and business class?

[dbetteridge]

Premium economy is a thing, but debatable on the sardine thing.

Basically closer to "old economy", where you have leg room and real utensils

[hdgvhicv]

Qantas offer premium economy, about 39” leg room and a few extra inches of width.

If I travel long haul personally I will always go business, booked wel in advance. It’s rare enough that the extra cost is worthwhile. Others spend the money on fancy cars instead.

[SilverElfin]

It’s incredibly expensive on international flights, right? A 12 hour flight sounds like something that would cost thousands for business class.

[hdgvhicv]

I consider SV property incredibly expensive but people pay it.

[stevage]

I remember being a high paid techie getting 19 hours of paid work done between Melbourne and New York, on a laptop in economy (and a long layover in LAX due to a storm). It was fricking glorious, most productive day of my life.

[lossyalgo]

How did you run your laptop for 19 hours in economy class without a power plug? Not even M-series MacBooks last that long.

[stevage]

I mentioned the layover in LAX. Also including an hour or two before takeoff.

[pintxo]

Not everyone on here is necessarily from SV?

[bpye]

When I fly transatlantic I don't mind paying to get an exit row or bulkhead seat, but even just premium economy is a much more significant increase in cost over economy, at least flying from Canada.

[cyphar]

Business class flights from Sydney to San Francisco cost A$6k, 6-10x as much as economy. Flights from Sydney to Europe are more like 3-4x (A$7k vs A$2k) but still ludicrously expensive. Good luck convincing your company to expense that for work trips, and most of us don't have SV salaries. Honestly, I still manage to get some work done on long flights, the more annoying thing is flights which don't have power outlets or WiFi.

If you are a point hacker you could spend the points on upgrades (which tend to give you better rates than buying base tickets) but then you're paying for a minor comfort improvement that you wouldn't pay for normally -- which is a textbook example of induced consumption and is playing into exactly how airlines want you to use points.

[bpye]

> flights which don't have power outlets

Or ones which do but the outlets are so loose they are practically useless.