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For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, you know that my family always travels in economy. With five people traveling, it’s hard to part with that many miles and points to put us in business or first class seats. Last year, we barely scraped up enough miles to fly us all to Australia and New Zealand and back in coach. So it may come as a shock to you that I’m considering splurging on lie-flat business class seats for a trip to Europe.
Why would I even consider this? After all, my family survived a 17-hour direct flight to Sydney with no issues. It was even pleasant.
In short, I blame my crazy idea on the pandemic. I feel like I’ve been robbed of a year of travel. My son will be off to college in a few years, and this trip to Europe may be our last “big” trip all together. Why not splurge a little?
Of course, the caveat is that I would only have enough miles and points for one direction in business class. Which direction is better for the splurge?
The Case for Business Class TO Europe
If we splurged on business class seats to Europe, we would start our trip off with a bang. My kids would be so shocked and surprised.
Due to the likely timing of our flight, we would be flying at night when we could get some good sleep on those lie-flat seats. We could wake up refreshed and ready to hit the pavement when we land in Paris in the early morning.
Of course, we may be too excited to sleep on the way. Plus, the flight isn’t terribly long (8ish hours), so between take off, the meals and landing we might not sleep that much anyway.
The Case for Business Class FROM Europe
If we splurged on business class on the way home, we would have something to look forward to. We would not be dreading the return trip due to cramped seats and long, sleepless hours. In my experience, the time zone adjustment is harder flying back home. So any sleep we could get on the return flight may help us.
However, our flight home will likely be during the day when we may not want to sleep anyway.
If you have traveled to or from Europe on lie-flat business class seats, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Worth it both ways? Or was one way more worth the splurge?
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Thank you for sharing this interesting information. Keep doing
I’ve been looking for tickets to Sydney as well because l also think it is any opportunity to travel, better do than no.
About business class in Europe, yes, once l did when l had a flight to Berlin. The price was pretty affordable and l definitely liked it.
@Maria Glad you enjoyed business class to Europe.
My first foray into using miles/points to travel was on a trip to Europe and we had the same problem. We decided on going business class to Europe with the hope that we could get some decent sleep because travelling east to Europe is always harder for us than coming back. But we also wanted to enjoy the premium class experience for the first time. With that in mind, living on East side of the USA, I booked the longest flight I could figure out for the trans-Atlantic portion without using up two days. We used United miles transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards and flew ORD-IST on Turkish air, and then connected to get to Prague. Our layover in IST was complete with access to the fabulous Turkish Airlines lounge and we had over 10 hours to eat and get enough sleep on the way over. Food and service were terrific. Dont know how that will have changed in Covid times.
@Beth Sounds like a fabulous trip!
For me, if I’m using miles, it depends on the flight duration. I used to fly business class to Europe and Asia for work several times a year, at my peak it was around 200K miles annually. But I’ve always booked award trips to Europe in coach (Asia/Australia is definitely biz!). The problem with European flights is that it typically takes the FAs 90-120 minutes to finish the main meal service and the second meal service will start 90-120 minutes before landing. So, if you’re on an 8 hour flight to Europe, you get 5 hours sleep (best case) or less than 4 (worse case). If sleep isn’t your objective and you simply want to be wined/dined, then I would do business on the return to the US…if you do that, pick an airline with a known-good experience otherwise you might be disappointed (looking at you AA and UA!). Although…in COVID times with drastic budget cutting…it could all be a crap shoot.
Personally, I probably wouldn’t use miles for business class to Europe unless 1) the flight was over 9 hours or 2) there was an award sale or other incentive that made the upgrade attractive.
We went to Scandinavia last year for our 20th anniversary and I had enough points for business one way and premium economy the other. We picked biz for NA/Europe, PE home and thought it was a goood combo. The food was almost as good and the width and leg room in PE was perfectly adequate for a 7 hour flight.
@Evan Sounds like a good flight combo. We may consider something like that.
I like to end on a high note and will there in coach and back in business. It is purely because I am usually super excited going there and a little sad to be leaving. Dealing with coach on the way out just seems to be easier mentally than on the way home.
Having said that, 75% of my flights are in coach full stop.
Have you considered maybe getting coach tickets but then paying to sit in the larger seats? I sometimes do that to help.
@Beth I feel the same way…always so excited on the way over. I’m not sure that economy plus would be worth it for us…my husband is the only tall one in our family.
I used to think that to Europe was more important but any Northeast departure flying into MAD, LHR, DUB or LIS does not seem worth it if you have to pay cash or a crazy amount of points due to the short flying time. Even if you skip meal service on both ends the rest time won’t make up for it. Now if you can fly into IST, ATH or FCO or VIE it might be a different story.
Nowadays flying from Europe in C is far more important to me.
@Skaner Good points.
My hub is ORD and it depends on timing, destination, airline and non-stop vs. 1-stop. If I manage to score a non-stop (or my stop is in Europe) and it is leaving later in the evening I will gladly fly business class. However, if I am fairly confident that the economy section will be rather empty and I can score a free middle seat or even a complete row for myself, then I often also pick economy. Same goes for if I have an early flight or a stop along the East Coast. At the beginning of the pandemic, when all Brits tried getting home, I scored a free upgrade from Economy to Business on British Airways from JFK-LHR, which I certainly won’t complain. However, due to strong winter tailwinds the entire flight was barely over 5 hours long and that’s too short for me to justify paying extra for. If the long-haul section is under 7 hours I usually don’t even consider paying extra for business class.
Returning Westbound, I often prefer flying Business because of the extra service I can take advantage off, longer flight time and coming back home less stressed out.
@Anonymous I would love to return home less stressed out. Coming home is always such a bummer and a chore with all the unpacking and jet lag.
@ Ian — Both. I wouldn’t fly to/from Europe in Economy if it were free.
@Gene It’s not THAT bad! LOL I’ve done it several times and survived.
I follow the jet lag diet for trips to Europe, so I just sleep and save the evening protein filled meal for my breakfast, so I forgo all the drinks and other foo foo stuff. On the way home, I eat and drink to my hearts content and take little naps. So, for me, I’d close going over so I could get a good sleep.
@PT Thanks for sharing your perspective.
Interesting that you find the time zone adjustment harder coming home. Heading east is always way worse for me, which means that the first couple days in Europe are rough. Coming home is usually a breeze.
I’ll always pick lie-flat to Europe, preferably a 10-11 hour long-haul from a West Coast hub. Makes it easier to get some sleep.
@Ian Thanks for your feedback. Maybe I’m remembering it wrong. Our last trips to Europe were flying west through Korea, flying East on the way home. The last time we flew directly east to Europe was on our honeymoon 16 years ago.
I will say the absolute *best* experience flying lie-flat was westbound to Asia, but it was the perfect flight timing. Depart SFO ~1:00 AM and arrive in TPE ~6:00 AM. Felt fresh and ready to go, and my son and I spent basically the whole day out exploring.
Generally, though, eastbound kills me. Even just to the East Coast for work, where I need to get up at 6:30 or 7:00 AM.