I planned this year's vacation on short notice. In the middle of a 3-week arbitration, I decided that I would need to take a break when it was over, did a little research, and booked my trip.
To get to Australia, I flew on Qantas # 8, from Dallas to Sydney. At a scheduled 16 hours and 55 minutes, it is currently the longest commercial airline route in the world. Sitting in economy class, I'm sorry to say it felt every bit as long as it sounds. Qantas has 4 classes of seats: economy, premium economy, business, and first. After booking my trip online, I inquired of the cost for a premium economy seat on just this leg of the trip. The answer: $3,000 more (which was more than the economy round-trip cost in the first place).
On arriving at the Dallas airport on a flight from Des Moines (where I had celebrated Thanksgiving), I went out past security, and to the ticketing desk for Qantas. I thought that perhaps I could charm my way into a deal and that the airline might be looking to sell vacant seats for a discounted price. Unfortunately, I was insufficiently charming & was given the same quote: another $3K for premium economy, $6K for business, and $10K for first. No thank you.
One of the wealthiest people I know justifies his purchase of first class airfare by saying that he has more money than he can spend and if he doesn't fly first class, some day, his daughter's future ex-husband will have his money to fly first class. This is meant as a joke because his daughter isn't even a teenager yet, but even if you don't want the money to go to a future ex-son-in-law, there are certainly more worthwhile ways to spend $3,000 (let alone $10,000), if you're even able to part with that much money in the first place. I'd rather experience discomfort for 17 hours and donate something to charity.
For my part, I just sat in economy class and imagined being handed $175 every hour (the equivalent of $3,000 over 17 hours). That was a bargain I would surely accept. Unfortunately, that thought experiment was put to the test, as I believe I was awake and able to reflect on that $175 for some part of every hour of the flight. There comes a point, maybe it's around Hour # 12, though it all blurs together, when you're ready to forsake your first-born for a few hours of sleep or at least a seat that reclines more than 5 degrees.
It must be said, though, that Qantas excels at in-flight entertainment. There were about 75 movies available on each seat's personal screen, along with another 100 or so TV programs, and maybe 125 different albums to listen to. I've already picked my films for the return flight from Brisbane to L.A. I will try to charm my way into an upgrade again, but doubt it will work.
