-people who upgrade with miles or otherwise use frequent-flier-type bonuses
-people whose travel is paid for by employers
Really what I’m getting at is what premium are you willing to pay, beyond the cheapest available fare, to fly in first or business? I hate coach more than many, but y’know, champagne tastes/beer budget. I’ve gotten amazing deals occasionally, but generally the first-or-business price is orders of magnitude beyond coach, and I can’t justify it. Twice the price: I’ll think about it.
domestic flights? 0 - it’s just not worth it to me
international flights? maybe up to 50% of the cost of my coach ticket (i.e. if it costs 500, i’d pay up to 750). haven’t really thought about it that much, though.
Nowadays, the premium is many times what I would pay - it probably amounts to to $600/hr additional for First Class on many routes. I’m not sure I could justify even a small fraction of that.
I don’t find flying Coach to be all that horrible. With a couple of interesting books to read, I can sit for the required hours without much problem. I console myself with thoughts of how cheap, convenient and safe it is compared to long-distance travel in any other age.
10-15% I have never bought anything other than coach tickets and I fly about 90K miles per year - almost all of it internationally. I am not too bothered by 15 hour flights.
I’ve only upgraded to business class once, for a 1:45 flight from Atlanta to Virginia. I did it because they were announcing that it was available for $40, and the flight was going to be full of 8th graders. I wound up sitting in business class–with their teacher.
A few years ago, when I would fly regularly between Philly and Houston, Air Tran had a deal where you could upgrade to Biz class for $25 per travel leg. Basically that got you a slightly wider seat and a bigger bag of pretzels than in coach, but sometimes when I was feeling particularly worn out I’d pop for the upgrade. Other than that, I’ve never purchased a business- or first-class seat with my own money.
I fit reasonably well into the average coach seat, but I’d consider paying maybe 10-15% more for a bigger seat with a bit more legroom. I don’t care all that much about the other amenities; rattle-around space is the real luxury.
Economy flight from Venice to Manila return is about 900Euro and about 2100 Euro business. Its a 14 hour flight with 4 hour wait in Dubai and as Emirates is excellent am happy to pay the premium. I fly this about 12 times a year.