Would you pay to upgrade?

[jamesbrown]

Airline is BA. On this particular route, economy has a reputation for being cramped.

There's no chance that client will pay. None whatsoever. Travel policies etc etc. The question is more like, would I jeopardise what's been a long and fruitful relationship with ClientCo for the sake of $1200, rather than would they jeopardise their relationship with me. So I won't even ask them.

10 hours in cramped economy is far far less than ideal, but neither is spending £800 for a flight throughout which I will (hopefully) be mostly asleep.

I'm pondering waiting to see if the price gets cheaper as the date approaches.

Worst case, 10 hours will be tulip but it's only 10 hours of my life and worse things happen at sea.

The step-up from economy to premium economy is pretty decent on BA, but it tends to be over-priced relative to other airlines. However, BA is a consistent standard. You'd never pay anything approaching $1200 for premium economy on a US carrier, but the standard varies with route. For example, I'd fly United Economy Plus to DC, because they fly triple 7s. On the other hand, I wouldn't touch United Economy Plus to Chicago because they routinely fly the old 767s with a single cabin for all economy passengers.

It may be worth waiting. Quite often the flights to the US are cheaper within 3-4 weeks of travel, but you have to be careful as they can go non-linear within 1-2 weeks depending on demand.

[Pondlife]

C'mon Platy. Just think about the money you're saving on the engagement ring you no longer have to buy.

[SimonMac]

Airline is BA. On this particular route, economy has a reputation for being cramped.

There's no chance that client will pay. None whatsoever. Travel policies etc etc. The question is more like, would I jeopardise what's been a long and fruitful relationship with ClientCo for the sake of $1200, rather than would they jeopardise their relationship with me. So I won't even ask them.

10 hours in cramped economy is far far less than ideal, but neither is spending £800 for a flight throughout which I will (hopefully) be mostly asleep.

I'm pondering waiting to see if the price gets cheaper as the date approaches.

Worst case, 10 hours will be tulip but it's only 10 hours of my life and worse things happen at sea.

Turn up early, dress smart and try to blag an upgrade on the day

[jamesbrown]

Turn up early, dress smart and try to blag an upgrade on the day

Does that still work? There was a time, I agree...

[SimonMac]

Does that still work? There was a time, I agree...

On BA yes it does, also some of the big US Airlines, the Middle East ones not so much

[jamesbrown]

On BA yes it does, also some of the big US Airlines, the Middle East ones not so much

Good to know. I've done that in the past, and it certainly used to work. More recently, it seems as though check-in staff have much less flexibility, and standards seem to have slipped across all classes of service, but perhaps I'm just getting old and whiny

[Platypus]

C'mon Platy. Just think about the money you're saving on the engagement ring you no longer have to buy.

Yeah, good point maybe I should pay for the upgrade as I'll need to relax after a week's hard shagging / / hasty exit * (delete as appropriate)

Turn up early, dress smart and try to blag an upgrade on the day

Apparently, this does not work. I read up on this recently!

[Jubber]

This.

If it's a short flight, then I wouldn't bother, but for anything over a few hours then they should stump up the cash.

Yup. I wouldn't go.

[Platypus]

Yup. I wouldn't go.

Sure-fire way for me to lose the contract by being difficult. Good luck with that strategy. Have you ever actually done this?

[Jubber]

Sure-fire way for me to lose the contract by being difficult. Good luck with that strategy. Have you ever actually done this?

Yes - was a while ago when working for Ericsson. I'm quite a laid back individual, not stroppy, but direct, so I would point out to them in a nice way that I didn't want to go / do it.

Why would you lose your contract over this? I would question why you want to work with someone who "made" you go abroad, or did you agree that you would go when you took the contract? If you agreed then I suppose you'll have to cough up for the comfort, or as you say, just be cramped for a bit.