Who can even afford coach class?
September 18, 2008
An acquaintance of mine is planning a trip to Australia this winter. The cost of the business class ticket?
$18,546
*gasping for air*
A coach class ticket for that self-same flight booked in June went for about $4000. That’s … that’s … I think my brain is broken.
People … who … how? I actually can’t even form a coherent thought about this.
Yes, it’s a business trip and the cost of the ticket will be paid for by someone else. My entire system is still outraged by the notion.
You should be able to get a round trip economy class ticket from the US to Australia for $2,000. When my Mom came here from Israel on business class the tickets cost $6,000. These numbers you’re quoting are off the wall.
moom: that’s what I was thinking, $2000, $2500 tops. After all, my tickets to VN were just about that much.
The prices for this business class ticket are outrageous!
I did a random search on Qantas LAX to MEL (LAX popped up) leaving Mon and first class was $12k.
United was 19k fully refundable business class. (first was over 24K)
Well if you want to leave tomorrow you’re going to pay a premium. I’ve also often seen ridiculous prices quoted on US airlines own websites.
Search Kayak.com for a flight to Ma month from now and there is a United roundtrip flight for as little as $1008. The cheapest for Monday is $1324 on Air New Zealand. That’s pretty amazingly cheap.
That is why I have never had the joy of flying business class…
karen: ai-yi-yi. But that’s for a last minute flight, this itinerary is for December, still a long ways off.
moom: I’ve seen some pretty awesome deals on Air NZ as well, I wonder if they’re any good to fly?
sara l: The only time I’ve ever gotten better than econ was on a one hour flight to PDX, and that was a fortuitous bump to First for giving up my seat on two previous flights. Totally not worth it.
Yeah, I don’t know what the deal is with Air NZ. They have permission to fly direct from Sydney to the US so you don’t have to stop in Auckland. Kayak is absolutely the best travel deal site for anyone based in the US. I’ve flown business class a few times – across the Atlantic and from Singapore to Melbourne due to bumping up/volunteering to take a different flight which in the end I didn’t need to take. Also paid once $35 extra at the ticket kiosk in LA (probably) to fly business class across the US which was OK but not like on an intercontinental flight.