Travel Blogger's Economy Flight Strategy

A frequent flyer blogger explains he chooses economy class about 20% of the time, mainly due to high prices, short flights, and when traveling with family.

Blogger Ben Schlappig, who primarily reviews first and business class flights, still flies economy roughly 20% of the time. He revealed his booking strategy in response to a reader question on his site, One Mile at a Time.

His approach has changed over two decades and millions of miles flown. As a teenager, he was happy in economy, even on consecutive short redeye flights. Now, he values comfort more due to reduced stamina, values a proper workspace for productivity using inflight Wi-Fi, and has a greater financial willingness to pay for a better experience.

Limits to premium cabin spending

While he values premium cabins, Schlappig has strict limits on what he will pay. He would never book a "full fare" long haul business class ticket costing $10,000 or more. He stated he would rather "suffer" through economy and spend that money on the ground instead.

For domestic flights, he has a specific price threshold. He is typically willing to pay an extra $50 per hour over economy for first class, which is what he values the incremental comfort at.

For long haul travel, he almost always uses miles to redeem first or business class seats at the saver rate, leveraging his travel flexibility. He will also waitlist for upgrades using tools like American Airlines systemwide upgrades, but only if confident they will clear or if the ticket is flexible enough to cancel and rebook as an award.

Securing short haul first class

His strategy for short haul first class seats involves several methods. He may book economy and hope for a complimentary upgrade due to his elite status, though he doesn't rely on this given current difficulty. He will search for decent first class cash fares across airlines.

He frequently accepts reasonably priced cash upgrade offers, like those from American Airlines. He sometimes finds it worthwhile to redeem miles for first class, citing American AAdvantage's good redemption rates.

Situations where economy is preferred

Schlappig outlined specific scenarios where he does not bother trying for a premium cabin. He is happy to fly ultra low cost carriers for point-to-point flights within Europe due to short durations and unexciting intra-Europe business class. On short US domestic flights, like his frequent Miami-Tampa route, he books the most convenient economy flight with no upgrade consideration.

When traveling with one or both of his toddlers, he largely prefers economy because it is easier to be closer to them than in first class seats which have more distance between them.

His rough calculations for the past couple of years show economy represents about 20% of segments flown. However, in terms of distance, it accounts for only 3% of his total travel, as most economy segments were on flights under 500 miles. For travelers tracking their own patterns, reviewing stats on flight frequency and cabin choice can provide useful personal insight.

Source: One Mile at a Time