Is Business Class Actually Worth the Upgrade?

When you book flights–either with cash or with points–do you always spring for business class or are there times you would rather choose economy?

Our recent flight on KLM made us ask the question: should we actually strive for business class on all long-haul flights? Or is it better to stick to economy or premium economy?

For this analysis, we’re going to ignore the “true” first class cabin above business class. With most airlines eliminating international first class, it’s difficult to fly in the cabin and it’s a story for another day.

Reasons why you should fly in business class

Lounge access before the flight

Simply put, you’ll get premium services at the airport simply for flying in the business class cabin. Typically, this includes a shorter check-in line, priority security lines, and lounge access before your flight. If you already have elite status with the airline, this might not be anything different than you already get. However, sometimes you can access different lounges for flying business class (like United Polaris lounges).

If you don’t have elite status, you could potentially get a lot of value out of this benefit. Especially if you’re running late and need the priority access to just make it onto your flight.

Lie-flat seat

The real benefit of flying in business class is the high likelihood of getting a seat that can transform into a bed. For some, it’s a must for getting any quality sleep on a plane. And when you’re tired, having access to one is a welcome sight. While you won’t be able to use it as a bed for takeoff and landing, you’re pretty much free to use it any other time. Having this seat is generally seen as the reason to fly in business over economy.

Sometimes you’ll get bedding to make the seat more comfortable and sometimes it’s just the seat itself. But the seat should at least come with a pillow and blanket to help with sleep.

Better food

It can feel very much like a factory line in the economy cabin. You might get food that doesn’t look all that appealing and choices are a bit limited. That can lead to grouchiness during the flight and perhaps a need to bring your own food onboard. But in the business class cabin? You’ll typically get more options, higher quality food, and a better appearance. Pair that with more drink selections, and it can feel like a real meal.

We should also throw in that if you get the munchies outside of a meal service, you can also check if there are snacks to tide you over. Because that’s a thing too.

Amenity kits or other gifts

For sitting in the business class cabin, you’re often provided a gift in the form of an amenity kit. These kits usually contain the essentials you might need for the flight (toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, eyeshades, etc.). After the flight ends, you’ll have a reusable kit that can store your toiletries or whatever else you might want to bring.

On top of these amenity kits, you might also get other “gifts” for flying in business class. One example that comes to mind is the KLM Delft House.

Or it can be simple like a box of chocolates.

Let’s also throw pajamas into this category. Fly with certain airlines on longer flights and you might score yourself some extra clothing. On long flights, it can help you feel (and smell?) fresher to not stay in the same clothes the whole time. And with most airlines that offer pajamas, you can keep them after your flight.

Better service

The business class cabin is smaller than the economy cabin. On top of that, typically there are multiple flight attendants dedicated to the cabin. Some airlines have their better flight attendants servicing the higher cabins. All of this adds up to an expectation of higher quality of service in business class. Admittedly, this one is a bit more hit-or-miss as even excellent flight attendants can have an “off day”.

Free Wi-Fi

As airlines start to introduce free Wi-Fi across the board, this one is becoming less relevant. However, a few airlines offer free Wi-Fi to premium customers. Free is free, right? If there’s a need for you to access the Wi-Fi midflight, it’s nicer to get it for free than to have to pay for it.

Getting off the plane first

You might not initially think much of this benefit, but this can be huge when landing at smaller airports. It’s not fun waiting behind a full plane’s worth of passengers to clear customs and immigration. Being in the back of the economy cabin can mean two hundred people ahead of you in line. But if you’re in the business class cabin, you’re generally in the first couple dozen. This alone can be the difference of 30-60 minutes saved.

Downsides to flying in business class

Of course, it’s not only upsides to flying in business class. There are downsides to going in the cabin too.

Cost of flying in business class

The biggest and most immediate thing you’ll see when flying business class is the price tag. Not all of us can fly on OPM (other people’s money). Cash flights can be very expensive, especially if you’re looking at one-way options. There are ways to make cash flights cheaper, but you’ll still have to shell out a pretty penny to fly them.

With award flights, it feels like a lot of the devaluations have centered around business class pricing. When airlines drop first class, it means business class is their most-elevated product and they might add a premium to fly it. Ballooning prices on the business class cabin means you better get the most out of your experience.

Award availability isn’t great

On top of the increasing award costs, good luck finding award availability in business class cabins. Some routes are a haven for awards, but many–especially on lengthy or desired routes–have lots of people fighting for the seats. Business class cabins can’t hold infinite passengers, so availability is a scarce resource. You might want to get in the habit of booking 11-12 months in advance, or at the last minute, to get a seat.

It’s also a catch-22 with all these award tracking services. You’re fighting with everyone else to get a seat, so you set an alert to tell you when it’s available. You get the seat and they don’t. But then they decide to set an alert next time. And suddenly everyone uses alerts and if you can’t book immediately once you get that alert, you’re done–cabin’s gone. Having these online services providing alerts is both a blessing and a curse.

Redeye flights are still redeye flights

Regardless of which cabin you’re in, a short hop eastbound across the Atlantic is still going to be a short flight. If you’re supposed to sleep on the flight, you might not get much sleep anyways. I know some people like to think that this is where the business class cabin is maximized, but that’s not the case for everyone. If the flight is short enough, it doesn’t matter if you’re lying down or sitting up; your sleep will still be disrupted and feel incomplete.

Slow service can wreak havoc on your sleep schedule

By extension, let’s look at those shorter flights a bit more. Typically, you’ll get a fancy meal right after takeoff and it can be coursed so that everyone in the cabin eats at the same time. Sometimes that can take up to three hours after departure to complete the service. And then you might get another meal before landing, and that can start about 90 minutes before landing. All in all, you’ve just dedicated around 3.5 to 4.5 hours of eating.

Don’t care about the food? Well, the cabin lights will be on while others are eating, so if you don’t like wearing eyeshades, you’ll be impacted.

On a flight that might last around 8 hours, having half the flight with lights on doesn’t give much opportunity to sleep. And that’s assuming you can fall asleep immediately and you can use the restroom when you want to. It all makes us truly wonder if you get quite as much sleep as you think you’re getting.

In economy, you might get one tray of food that has all courses on it. And then it’s lights out. So if you’re looking for more time with the cabin darkened on a shorter flight, you might find that in economy. Think of this as the dirty truth no one wants to talk about.

Do you really need business class on daytime flights?

If a lie-flat seat is great for getting sleep, do you really need it if you have no intention of sleeping? It might be nice lounging around, but we would argue it’s not a necessity. And by that extension, you could easily argue you would be perfectly comfortable in premium economy. Of course, on longer flights (like Europe to the west coast of the U.S.), it might still be good to take a quick nap.

Does the better food, more space, and lounge access make the difference for you?

As a result, you might actually find it’s easier to get award flights on the westbound daytime routes. It certainly seems like others agree with it not being needed given the relative ease of finding award flights.

Duplicative benefits with elite status

Say you already have elite status with an airline. That elite status might already get you into the priority lane and lounge access before your flight. It can also include more baggage in case you’re bringing a lot with you. Flying business class might then not offer much more of a benefit before your journey commences.

Having elite status doesn’t necessarily turn flying business class into a downside. It’s more that you personally might not get an upside even though you’re implicitly paying for it in the price.

Final thoughts

This isn’t meant to force you into one category or another. It’s merely intended to be thought-provoking. You might conclude you want to always fly in business class or that you never need it. Or, you might determine that there are situations where it may not be necessary. It’s all a balance between what you need on a given journey and how much it costs. We’d all love unlimited points and miles (and cash), but that’s not a realistic expectation.

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