Monday, April 16, 2007

$119

That is the cost of an upgrade to Economy Plus seating on a United airlines flight from LA to Sydney. And I just paid it while checking in online.
I remember the good old days, when I could get an Economy Plus seat just by asking, or sometimes without even asking. But in the last couple of years, United isn't giving anything away for free. Given that I am on the tall side, a few extra inches of legroom can make all the difference, especially on a looooong flight like this one!
Is a slight increase in comfort worth $119? Part of me thinks I should not be spending $119 on something like this right now. If it was a shorter flight, I wouldn't have bothered. And maybe I could have gotten lucky and gotten the extra legroom seat for free if the plane wasn't full. But I really didn't want to take any chances. And since I paid for the rest of my ticket with miles, I can still feel like my trip is a bargain overall. (At one point, this logic had even tempted me to buy $500 worth of extra miles so I could upgrade to business class, but I passed on that.) I am also indulging myself in taking a car service to the airport-- given the weather we've been having, there is no way I want to drag my suitcase on even a short walk to the subway!

Well, I really am getting out of here now. I will be trying to post a little bit via email but I apologize in advance for the weird formatting that seems to happen when sending a post via Blackberry-- if anyone knows how to prevent that, let me know!
Hasta la vista, babies!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Enjoy the long flight. Now if only John Howard (Aussie PM) would let Singapore Airlines fly the SYD-LAX route passengers would get better service and prices. I used to always go via SFO because the flights were less full but sadly this hasn\\\'t been the case for the last 5+ years.

As an aside, this the SYD-LAX route used to be one of the longest flights, if not the longest. Now you can get 18 hour flights from JFK to HKG or LA to SIN. The Atlanta to Capetown flight is also very long.

Anonymous said...

Madame X, my mental picture of you is now blown since (I have no idea why) I always had an image of you as short to average height.

Is Sydney for work or vacation? Whichever it is, have a good trip.

Anonymous said...

That is a VERY long flight. I would also have hesitated about it but $500 for a business class upgrade sounds like a great deal. Have a great time!

FR said...

I don't think you would've been able to get the upgrade by asking. I recently flew United to Chicago from SFO (going in one direction had a layover at Denver, which was a plane to Amsterdam with a stopover at O'Hare) and every flight was full and they had to bump people off to the next flight.

I think you made the right decision. It is a long flight and our knees will appreciate the upgrade.

frugal zeitgeist said...

$119? Makes me glad for my stumpy little legs.

This is going to come a day late and a dollar short, but walk around, walk around, walk around while you're in flight. Deep vein thrombosis is scary shiznit.

Anonymous said...

Have a great trip!! I think the upgrade was well worth the price. That's a long flight to have cramped legs!

Anonymous said...

$119...that is money well spent for that long of a flight. I use to travel over 50% for my last job and loved anytime I could get an upgrade.