Is it worth it

[Katys Grandad]

Works out about £150 an hour for all four, and presumably two are children.

Frankly I am amazed that so many people think it is worth that amount of money.

However we have had this discussion several times - each to his own!

At what price do people think it is not worth the extra? i.e. the cut-off point

That's very good question.

I approach it by imagining if I arrived at the airport and was told that I would be given £1,000 to do what I wanted with when I arrived at my destination if I stayed in my economy seat or I wouldn't be paid if I moved to a slightly better seat for the journey. Each of us will have an idea which way we would go.

Also an interesting point about small children in premium cabins. If you can afford it then fair enough but I don' think they get a lot out of the extra expenditure.

YMMV.

[alastair]

As others have said, it is a matter of what you want to do with your disposable holiday money. Personally,
if I had £1000 left of my holiday budget to spend I would rather spend it on higher quality accommodation in Florida than give it to an airline. I would be spending 14 nights in the accommodation and only 17 hrs (return trip total) on the plane.

[jayre]

Thanks DaveL for the info re the cruise option and one way ticketing

[FraserLynn]

It is all a very personal preference as people have said. I flew economy (long haul) once in the last 30 flights or so and spent the whole time cursing myself for not paying the extra.... We will always be as flexible as we can to get the best price for a better ticket, you can get some good deals. That said, I really struggle to see the benefit in upgrading on short haul flights.

Again, with the small children in premium cabins, I personally am looking forward to my kids being a bit older... they can fly economy once they are old enough to sit on their own.... My son is 14 next year and I have already given him fair warning that he will be flying differently soon.

[Robert5988]

Again, with the small children in premium cabins,

However IMO Vigin PE, and BA WT+ are hardly 'premium cabins' in that they don't compare in any way with Business Class or First Class.

It is paying £2,200 for a family of four to have a slightly better seat that I think is very poor value.

[Tonish]

Is it worth it. Yes, for me, but everyone has their own boundaries, and it also depends on how you view the journey portion of the holiday. Many people work long hours, away from family most of the time, and the relatively short period you spend on holiday becomes very important. My holiday starts the moment I leave the desk, swipe my access card and head to King's Cross on my way home the night before we fly. The journey is all part of it.

We stay in a great villa, rent the best car we can get, eat out in great places and generally pamper ourselves something shocking. Too many times the memory of all the pleasant experiences is spoiled to an extent by the horrible 12 hours or so it took to get there. And the last day of the holiday is spoiled by the thought of the cramped seat you're going to be stuck in all night long to get home. So, as long as I can afford it, I will upgrade as far as I can. You arrive in a better frame of mind when you've had enough space and have been treated a little better. But yes, there is a limit. We flew economy this time because PE was booked out and we wanted to fly direct. We could have gone upper class, but it was just too much. So, I guess there is a level at which we all decide it's just too much, but that level will be different for everyone, for different reasons.

But for me, yes it's worth it.

[FraserLynn]

However IMO Vigin PE, and BA WT+ are hardly 'premium cabins' in that they don't compare in any way with Business Class or First Class.

It is paying £2,200 for a family of four to have a slightly better seat that I think is very poor value.

I agree with that, we have done Virgin PE a couple of times and whilst it is much better than Economy, it's still not UC!! Never bother with BA WT as it looks much worse than Virgin. I have never paid more than £2,200 for the four of us to fly Club over economy. Our next trip is in April and the tickets were under 1k return for BA club. You can get club for that sort of money if you are flexible with dates.

[Katys Grandad]

I agree with that, we have done Virgin PE a couple of times and whilst it is much better than Economy, it's still not UC!! Never bother with BA WT as it looks much worse than Virgin. I have never paid more than £2,200 for the four of us to fly Club over economy. Our next trip is in April and the tickets were under 1k return for BA club. You can get club for that sort of money if you are flexible with dates.

That makes good sense to me. Oddly enough, I regard Business Class as more 'worth it' because you get so much more for what is often only a bit more money. For me, Premium Economy isn't sufficiently enhanced to justify the often big difference in fare.

First Class is a something I occasionally treat myself to with my Frequent Flyer miles but I wouldn't/couldn't spend the sort of money a paying passenger stumps up for it. I suppose if I had unlimited resources or my employer was paying (fat chance!) I'd take it every time but it's ridiculously expensive if you aren't in that small and fortunate category.