If you can't afford it regularly, it is a bad idea to splurge on Business Class

This might sound like kind of a jerk post, but as someone who has traveled extensively for over 2 decades I can say that sometimes it is actually better to wonder what it is like on the other side rather than actually experience it.

I say this because once you have gone down that road, what you had previously been satisfied with in the past now seems so dreadful that it makes travel seem oh so much worse.

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It wasn't until about 4 years ago that I had flown hundreds of times in my life but NEVER had flown business class. Sure, I would be forced to walk through business class on my way to economy or "steerage" as I like to call it, but I never had the privilege of actually sitting there. I would, just like everyone else, stare with a bit of a sense of awe at the immense amount of space that these people were getting that I was not. I've always been ok with regular steerage seats and perhaps part of the reason why that is, is because I've never known what it is like otherwise. Some times my economy seat would be a lot better depending on the airline or other times I would get lucky and the entire 3 seats on one side of the plane where I was wouldn't be occupied by anyone other than me. You just get lucky every now and then.

But then one day, I had a chance to bump myself up to business class with one of those last minute offerings that some airlines used to do (I don't think they do anymore) for a tran-Atlantic flight for something really low like $100. I jumped at the chance and it was absolutely amazing. Not only do you get more space but you have a separate line at the airport, you get to skip certain parts of security and in my situation we had a different immigration line when we arrived. The perks were not just limited to a better seat, priority boarding, better food, and all the things that you would expect from a business class seat. It was just a far more enjoyable experience across the board, like you would expect it to be.

Ever since that flight I have found myself complaining about the things that I never used to before, because I have seen what it is like on the other side of the expensive fence.

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The lounges are part of the deal, people are nicer to you at every turn, and everything is just a lot more convenient. I had always just rolled with the punches and dealt with it in economy for many years up to this point, but now that I have seen what business class is like, economy just sucks to me and it didn't before that day.

I have looked and looked and looked for those deals on business class again but despite the promises of various websites that they can be found, I haven't found them. Also, the price, as I am sure you know, between economy class and business class is immense as in much more than $100. The last time I checked was just a flight from New York to Mexico City and the price difference between economy and business class was over 3 times the cost.

I would like luxury, but i cannot justify that increase in cost.

I have always wondered how they justify this cost increase but the reason is actually pretty simple: just like anything else it boils down to supply and demand. There are a lot fewer business class seats and therefore they justify a higher price. Airlines are going to charge as much as they can even if that means leaving a few of the seats unoccupied. Hell, when I got the business class upgrade I would say that at least 50% of the seats were unoccupied while economy class was absolutely jammed. Airlines do not offer the cheap upgrades perhaps because they run the risk of offending the people that actually paid full price for business class seats.

There is also the question of actual business travelers who are likely not at all concerned about what the ticket costs seeing as how they are not spending their own money anyway.

I think that even if it is a really special occasion like your Honeymoon, the increased cost would be much better spent on a really nice dinner (or likely, half a dozen of them) rather than getting a bit more luxury in your 10 hours of transit to the resort. That is the way I tend to look at it.

The bottom line here is that ignorance truly is bliss and I never had a problem with economy until I saw what it was like on the other side of that curtain. If you have a chance one day to upgrade for $100 like I did, I honestly think you are doing yourself a disservice by taking that offer because now every flight you take after that is just going to seem awful.

That's just my opinion though. I realize that I probably wouldn't take my own advice if the opportunity arose in the future but then again, it is exceptionally unlikely to happen again.