If you read miles and points blogs, many make it seem as if the pinnacle of travel—if not of life itself—is flying in lie-flat business class or first-class seats. Your travel destination and what you might do there appear, by contrast, unworthy of the consideration of one who, in flight, is able to sample suboptimal caviar.
My wife, Sarah, in our Frankfurt to Denver lie-flat business class seats
Having not flown in lie-flat seats myself, it’s been tough to judge whether such miles and points bloggers believe what they’re preaching or whether they just enjoy the commissions they receive from pushing the greater number of credit cards one must open to accrue enough miles and points to fly business class on an award redemption.
Too sassy?
Well, I finally had the chance to try it out. Here are my down-to-earth thoughts on luxury at 30,000 feet. (See what I did there?)
My Wife’s and My Flights
For my wife’s 40th birthday, we went to Paris. We flew in Lufthansa business class from Denver to Paris with a layover in Germany both ways. In this post I’m going to focus on the international flights between Denver and Germany since those are the ones that had lie-flat seats.
SeatGuru lists 77 airlines that offer lie-flat seats on long-haul routes. Among such offerings, Lufthansa’s product is about average. One site ranks it as the 27th best business class cabin.
My Impressions of Lie-flat Business Class
Aside from cost considerations, which I’ll discuss below, I found lie-flat business class to be superior to economy class in every way. Our international business class flights were the best flights I’ve ever flown.
Here are my overall impressions:
Positive Impressions
-
Comfort
Our seats articulated in ways that enabled me to be much more comfortable than I’ve ever been in coach. The ability to lie flat is especially nice, of course, for sleeping.
-
Service
The service was very good. Throughout the duration of the flights, the service reminded me of what you experience at a good restaurant where the waiter checks on you often but without being intrusive. On both flights we developed a personal connection with our steward. Contrast this experience with economy class where flight attendants serve people en masse, not individually.
-
Food
I don’t get some blogs’ fascination with detailed reports of the food in business class. It’s not going to measure up to your favorite restaurant. That said, I found the food better than any I’ve had flying economy class. It is also more plentiful, and my wife and I had more choice among offerings. I enjoyed trying atypical fare like “crabmeat deviled eggs.”
-
Drinks
As soon as we boarded the flights, we were offered champagne. Throughout the flights, we had our choice of free beer, wine, spirits, and liqueur in addition to nonalcoholic offerings.
Denver to Munich on Lufthansa in an Airbus A350-900, Row 8, Seats H & K
Mixed Impressions
- Lufthansa’s business class seats are mostly configured in such a way as to put two or sometimes three people next to each other. As a couple traveling together, that worked well. But it’s not a good configuration for solo travelers. When thinking about flying business class, you should research the cabin’s configuration on SeagGuru to see if it would work well for the number traveling in your party.
The way Lufthansa’s seats angle toward each other is fine for couples but not good for solo travelers.
Negative Impressions
-
Lufthansa’s Lie-Flat Seat
While our seats were the most comfortable seats I’ve ever flown in, they left a lot to be desired in the lie-flat position. I’m not a huge guy. Yet, I found the seats too small when lying flat:
- Width. I found our seats a bit confining at 20” wide. Of the 317 lie-flat seat configurations listed on SeatGuru, 77% of them are wider (2.4” wider, on average).
- Length. Lufthansa’s lie-flat seat is 76” long. At 5’ 7” tall, I’m 67” tall. So, it would seem I should fit fine length-wise. But I encountered two drawbacks. First, the footwell (cubby where your feet go) is only 12” wide. So, things are somewhat confining by your feet. Additionally, our seats had an immovable headrest/pillow (see pictures above). I’m a stomach sleeper. Since I couldn’t put my arms under that headrest, I was tempted to “scoot down” in the seat. But there wasn’t really enough room to do so. When I slept on my back or side, it worked. But those aren’t my preferred sleeping positions. If you’re taller than I am, I think you would have to sleep on your side, possibly with knees bent, in order to fit. Of the 317 lie-flat seat configurations listed on SeatGuru, 57% of them are longer (a considerable 13” longer, on average).
-
Time for Sleeping
But even if the seats were perfect, I have a more fundamental critique of traveling in lie-flat seats. On a US to Europe overnight route, there just isn’t that much time for sleeping, thereby diminishing the value of lie-flat seats. (Some other overnight routes would do better in this regard.)
To illustrate my critique, consider our overnight, nonstop flight from Denver to Munich. It was 9-hours, 30-minutes long and arrived in Munich at 9:50 am. That seems like a great setup for getting a decent night’s sleep and waking in Europe relatively well-rested.
But consider this. The flight departed from Denver at 4:20 pm and arrived in Munich at the equivalent of 1:50 am Denver time. Even if you skipped dinner and breakfast service, how much sleeping can you do in a timeframe such as 4:20 pm to 1:50 am?
I couldn’t fall asleep until around 11:00 pm Denver time. I then slept for about an hour before waking up for breakfast. (I actually slept a little bit more during a nap on the daytime flight from Frankfurt back to Denver.)
Being shorter and a side-sleeper, Sarah slept a bit better than I. (I’m grateful to her for allowing me publish a picture of her sleeping!) This was our Frankfurt to Denver Lufthansa flight on a Boeing 747-400, Upper Deck, Row 85, Seats A & C.
Are Lie-flat Business Class Seats Worth It?
The Cost of our Tickets
Had Sarah and I paid cash for our flights, they would have cost a whopping $17,461 total—$8,731 per roundtrip ticket!
Instead, I purchased each ticket with 135,000 miles (70k United & 65k Singapore) and $452 in taxes and fees.
Covering $8,279 of the $8,731 ticket with 135k miles means that I redeemed each mile at a value of more than 6 cents apiece. That is an extremely strong redemption of United and Singapore miles, which are typically valued at about 1.5 cents apiece.
There’s no doubt that redeeming miles for lie-flat business class seats is one of the best possible redemptions in terms of the dollar-per-point value. It makes aspirational/unique experiences possible (like flying “upstairs”):
The Opportunity Cost
At the same time, when considering whether something is worth the cost, you have to look at what you give up by buying it.
As I’ve shown before, you can fly roundtrip to Europe for under $450. From that perspective, you could travel roundtrip to Europe in economy 19 times for the $8,700 price of one roundtrip Lufthansa business class flight. (Or you could treat 18 of your closest friends to a free trip to Europe with you. . . .) That’s astonishing.
From a miles and points perspective, the landscape is less dramatic, though still eye-opening. With most airlines, you can fly roundtrip to Europe in economy class for 60,000 miles. So, you could travel roundtrip to Europe in coach 3 times for the price I paid for one roundtrip Lufthansa business class ticket: twice for the 135,000 miles I redeemed and once for the $452 I spent on taxes and fees.
From these perspectives, the opportunity cost of a business class ticket is high. Whether it’s worth it or not I can’t say. But here’s what could make it more or less worth it:
More vs. Less Worth It
-
Value of Your Time
Unless you get a great deal on a business class ticket, I can’t see how it makes sense to pay cash unless your time is so valuable that an extra hour or two of sleep is worth the cost of the ticket.
-
Point Quantity
If you have enough points to cover all your intended travel, then using a bunch of points to fly business class isn’t absurd. (At least, that’s what I’m telling myself. 🙂 But I think it’s true.) Otherwise, you have to weigh one business class flight against three economy class flights.
-
Ability to Sleep
The easier it is for you to sleep in unideal conditions and/or at unideal times, the more effective lie-flat seats are likely to be for you.
-
Flight Times
The later the longhaul overnight flight departs, the more likely most folks are to be able to sleep. In the case of my wife’s and my overnight flight to Europe, we first flew the long Denver to Munich leg and then the short Munich to Paris leg. In the future, if possible, I would rather fly the short leg first when I am less likely to sleep and then the long leg later. So, for instance, Denver to Dallas, Chicago, or New York first, and then nonstop to Paris from one of those cities.
-
Superior Business Cabin
Lufthansa’s business class was very nice. But flying one of the 26 business class products that rank above it would likely be a better value if the dollars/points required were comparable or fewer.
-
Special Celebration
As I mentioned, my wife and I flew to Paris to celebrate her 40th birthday. We loved our trip. Our over-the-top flights definitely added to the celebration. If I had it to do over again, I absolutely would. Some things in life are worth the splurge.
Conclusion
Flying business class is not the pinnacle of travel, much less of life itself. But it’s far superior to flying in economy in every way.
Every way, that is, except for the massively important consideration of cost.
Unless you are sitting on a mountain of cash or points, to decide whether flying business class is worth it, you have to ask whether, for the price, you’d prefer one flight in business class or something else the points or cash can buy, such as 3-19 flights in economy class.
Question: Do you think flying lie-flat business class is worth it? Why or why not? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
If you liked this post, why not join the 5,000+ subscribers who receive blog updates on how to have more time and money for what matters most? Sign up here.