The Insanity of Flying Business Class
By James Trolinger, the World’s Worst Tourist
August, 2014
I have flown over two million miles with American Airlines, have a permanent Gold Card, and occasionally go platinum (50,000 miles in a year). The benefits of these cards were significant, once upon a time, especially in the days when card holders could almost always upgrade to business class seats for a small fee. Those days have long since disappeared, and little by little, gold cards and frequent flyer miles have eroded in value and become more and more difficult to use. Airlines have reduced the number of flights with the resulting decrease in empty seating, they are now much freer with gold cards, and, finally, more travelers are actually paying the price for business class flying, so the pickings at final boarding are slim. Recently, I checked on redeeming frequent flyer miles for a business class seat to London for two months later. No non stop flights were offered and none even included flying in American Airlines planes. The typical flight offered took 8 hours longer than a paid ticket.
Paying for business class seats is the subject of this analysis. Occasionally, I pay the full fare for a business class seat; however, under normal circumstances, simple math and cost analysis compared with the other choices and propositions I make in life lead me to the inevitable conclusion that purchasing business class is insane. If someone else picks up the tab, would I choose business class? Of course. Nevertheless a simple analysis proves that flying business class makes no sense at all, for almost anyone, regardless of who is paying for it. Business class passengers should be ashamed of themselves for being sucked into it.
I fly from Los Angeles to London often, and I know the various fares well. A typical cost for a business class ticket for a 6000 mile, 10 hour flight, or 20 hours both ways costs $6000 -$8000, compared to economy class at $1000. Taking the average at $7000, gives a difference of $6000 or $300 per hour more to sit in business class. Recalling that the $300 is after tax money means that, depending on my tax bracket, I must make about $500 per hour to net $300. For a wealthy business man, attorney, doctor, etc who is in the highest tax bracket the number is more like $600 per hour. From the seating diagrams one can estimate that business class seats take up about four times the space of economy class, so if the cost were linear, those seats should cost somewhat less than four times the price, since the number of passengers requiring service is also one fourth; however, the multiplier is more like seven.
The inevitable conclusion is that for anyone who makes less than $600 per hour ($1.2 million per year) the difference between business class and economy class is a lot more than he charges for his own time to work. Consequently, doesn’t it make sense to think of sitting in the economy seat as being like a cushy job with pay of $400-600 per hour for the time? Why waste the time sitting in business class when one could be collecting $500-600 per hour “working” during that segment of time? Moreover, in comparing that part of the job with what you normally do for your (considerably lower) hourly rate of pay, it makes even less sense. In my normal work hour I sit at a computer staring at a monitor and struggle with a report or proposal or, worse yet, crawl in a hot, somewhat dangerous environment with laser beams bouncing around my face, while in the economy seat I would be reading, watching a movie, sleeping, or getting up to walk up and down the aisles; in other words a really cushy job.
An attorney’s regular work hour includes searching through law books looking for relevant cases or sitting in an uncomfortable wooden chair in a court room, or standing at a podium under high pressure to ask exactly the right question. How can sitting in the economy seat possibly be more difficult work than any of the alternative work? So the inevitable conclusion is that it makes sense to take on a few hours of easy work, unless, of course, you simply don’t want to do any more work, regardless of the pay. Perhaps retired people with more money than they can ever spend can justify business class.
The often used argument that companies should fly their employees business class because they can work better on arrival doesn’t stand up, since the company doesn’t pay them as much as they could save by having them sit in economy.
Most likely, those who make over a million a year go for first class, so those people are not applicable here, and a similar argument probably applies for first class. The too-seriously-rich-to-fly-in-first-class fly in private jets and so on, so the argument extends across the wealth spectrum. To keep it simple, I will keep the discussion focused on business class.
Are there any logical reasons for flying business class?
The comfort gap between flying economy and business has increased drastically in the past 10 years, almost as if airline companies were doing it deliberately to push people to upgrade. Today, flying economy IS more like work, while flying business is more like entertainment. One is somewhat uncomfortable and a hassle, while the other is comfortable, entertaining, and no hassle. In business class you have your own little private office with a bed and someone always offering a drink and good food, while economy class is somewhat cramped, less than comfortable, and offers mediocre food. Simply choosing between working and being entertained would prove logical if the cost were reasonable. However, it is easy to prove that such entertainment is not good value. Compare that cost with other forms of high value entertainment, such as a good seat in a top Broadway play ($50 per hour) or a seat in a hot air balloon ( $100 per hour), a dinner in a good restaurant ($50 per hour), seat in a major league baseball stadium ($50 per hour). $50-100 per hour seems to be a typical cost for high value entertainment, so $300+ per hour is not good value. Lesser forms of entertainment like going to movie ($10 per hour) come at a real bargain. The difference between business and economy on a 10 hour flight will purchase a seat in a learning institution for an entire semester or more, that is, pay a semester’s tuition at a university for a starving student.
Dispensing with excuses people make for flying business class.
- “I can work more effectively so being in business class pays for itself.” As pointed out above, this simply is not true. Sitting in economy class saves more money than you make per hour, so paying for business class cannot pay for itself regardless of how much better you work there.
- “I need my sleep to make my time more valuable after I arrive at my destination, and I need to get horizontal to sleep well.” Simply by flying during your normal waking hours, you don’t need to sleep or won’t be able to sleep during the flight. Jet lag is a matter of time difference and is not cured by sleeping in business class.
- “Flying economy is so uncomfortable that it makes me sick.” The economy seats may not be the most comfortable seats, but they are not painful or harmful if you don’t stay seated for the entire flight. You can and should walk around during the flight regardless of which class you sit in. You should do that even in your own office. Economy class seats are not less comfortable than many other seats we regularly sit in.
That said, I have observed in recent years the continuing squeeze on economy seating. To squeeze in more seats, airlines have reduced leg room, seat room, and width. Today, in most airlines I cannot sit in an aisle seat without part of my body protruding into the aisle. My shoulders are constantly being bashed by carts coming up and down the aisles, not to mention the physical intimacy I inevitably experience with neighbors. Airlines may eventually reach conditions that could make economy so painful that business class becomes a valid option, and airlines benefit doubly by packing in more passengers while incentivizing more to purchase business class. England based Ryanair is actually planning on super economy seats where passengers are in more of a standing position, being seated on a bicycle type of seat. Now THAT would make me less critical of business class.
What logic explains why people fly in business class?
Various logic can explain why people fly in business class. Choosing entertainment over work is a no-brainer for most people. Perhaps they have done my analysis and are just ignorant. There is a more likely reason. Being in business class feels special; you can stretch out, get served a drink before take-off and watch all the little people being herded back to economy class. It elevates you and places you above all of those guys; it’s good for self esteem if you forget what a dope you are for paying that much for it. To summarize:
- If a person is ignorant of the facts discussed above he may simply be choosing entertainment over work without realizing that he is paying way too much for entertainment with this choice.
- If you need a lift in your self esteem flying business class is an expensive way to purchase it.
- If you simply just don’t want to work, choose business class and be entertained instead.
- If you have more money than you can ever spend, then there is no reason to fly economy.
- If you really would rather have fun and play for 10 hours instead of doing some simple work at high pay, then fly business class.
Summary
Business class is entertainment, while economy class is work. The next time you fly to Europe and choose between business and tourist class, you have the choice between being entertained during the flight and paying the airlines $6000 for the entertainment, or “working” at a rather cushy job and making enough money to pay for some starving students next semester’s university tuition. A few years ago I set up a college scholarship fund for such a purpose at the University of Tennessee, and my choice funds several scholarship students each year.
An Observation
As I pass through business class I often observe teenagers sitting in business class, apparently there because the parents are there. I often wonder how one of these teenagers would choose if you offered him or her the choice of moving back to tourist class plus $6000 in cash. How would you react to the following ad in the classified section of a paper or professional journal.
Consultant wanted: Twenty hour, two day assignment with a well known airline company. All expenses paid. Pay is $500 per hour in advance. Assignment: evaluate service, comfort, snacks and meals provided to tourists in our tourist class section. All materials and equipment provided. Does this sound like an easy, high paying job? If your child were offered such a job, would you suggest he take it?
Just remember, every time you fly business class you are turning down such a job opportunity and you are not even allowing your teenager to have a crack at it.
The World’s Worst Tourist at work in his $500 per hour job.