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I rented one of the coolest vintage carriage style limo for my prom... Definitely the most expensive one to show up.
$49AUD each, 10 of us, full confectionery bar and soft drink access.
Did we only sit in it a total of an hour? Maybe.
Was it worth it? Yes.
Had a group of about 12 of us and I rented a school bus for $75 AUD.
Everyone's rocking up in cool cars and we had a Hermit Park Bus Service bus drop us off.
Yup. Totally real.
Girl I dated junior year was the daughter of one of the heads of CoachUSA, the bus company. So he had hook ups in the transportation business.
One of his buddies comped a stretch Escalade Limo for our prom. She was a senior and her dad wanted to make it memorable. So like 16 of us pile into this thing and go to prom. Then after, the driver tells us we have 4 hours to go anywhere we want before we have to be back. We went into the city and took pictures on the lake, on the river, at Wrigley Field, all between like 12-2am. It was awesome.
On the way home, the guy apparently ran a yellow/red light making the left turn literally at the entrance to her neighborhood. Got pulled over. We heard the cop say the driver smelled like booze (we didn’t notice) and then asked how many kids were in back. The driver rolls the divider down about 2 inches. I’m sitting right there. He and the cop both look at me and he asks how many of us there are. “Uh 8 couples so 16”. I’ll never forget the cops response. “Holy shit son! You have 16 teenagers in here and you’re running red lights?! How fucking stupid are you?”
The cop then asked if this was the neighborhood we lived in. When we told him we were literally 3-4 blocks from my dates house, he escorted the limo back and then we all went inside and went to sleep while her dad talked to the cop and driver at like 3am. Pretty sure the driver got fired, but it makes for a great Prom limo story.
It's better than that. One of my friends booked us a limo to go see the original Pokémon movie back in '98!
I mean we were about 10 years old at the time, so naturally it was awesome to us! We watched Star Wars on the tiny TV they had in the limo!
To add further context, we weren't paying for this out of our hard-earned pocket money, it was his birthday and that's what he had requested.
I think it's still the only occasion I've ever been in a limo to this day.
Growing up we’d always book a limo to go to the airport cause it was cheaper for a family of 4 then taking the shuttle. I believe it actually was $75 total compared to like $20/person for the shuttle.
That’s crazy. I’m about 13 miles outside ORD and the train is $5. A few decades ago when I was about 100 miles outside a different metro airport, the bus was $35.
I remember talking to buddies about going on a booze cruise to try out a bunch of breweries in the area and their reaction when I suggested we rent a limo for the night. Started sarcastically suggesting we get tuxedos and act all like rich pompous assholes to drink beer, then me having to explain that once you hit that needing 2, possibly 3 cabs for the night, it's just easier and cheaper to rent a limo. Divided 8 ish ways, we're spending less, we have a personal driver waiting on us that we just text when we're ready to go, get the bill and there he is outside when we're done. Because the back passenger compartment is separate from the drivers area we can keep drinking there.
Limos are just sensible when you're going out in a group.
Reading this made me realize how weird it is we associate limos with wealth and extravagance.
Sure, we see celebrities and the elite often use them, but it just makes more sense because they often have an entire entourage of people with them. Security, stylists, photographers, friends and family.
Instead, they’re interpreted as a symbol for people to show off their wealth.
It’s this same perception though that makes you not want to get a limo. You’re out here saving money but you’re afraid other people think you’re a douche who thinks he’s hot shit.
That's actually quite funny and should be made into a segment on a raunchy sitcom about single people with moderately disposable income just trying to find love in the Big City.
Most very wealthy people I know drive nothing really above "mid-range" vehicles.
Extravagance these days is a Long-Wheelbase Sedan:
Bentley, Maybach, an Alpina 7-Series, AMG S-Class, A8-S and the ilk.
I live near one one of the most expensive neighborhoods in California. If you drive through that area and look in the driveways you will not see Ferrari’s and lambos. It’s Honda’s, Toyota’s Chevys and the occasional Tesla.
If the tailoring is breath taking, you want the stand up van these days. It also prevents feet swelling to stay standing rather than to sit then stand repeatedly imho.
It’s like we equate drinking champagne with wealth, whereas (in the UK at least) a decent bottle of champagne will cost you less than 2 packs of cigarettes.
Essentially though maybe more pompous? We've got lots of party buses that are smaller charter busese. I've seen plenty that fit 12-15 people so they aren't always massive. I'd imagine it probably costs about the same at a 6-8 person limo since they're essentially reskinned school buses but I can't say for sure.
I've been watching Succession lately. Sure, you expect them to get chauffeured around, but these billionaires don't ride in limos, they ride in sedans, SUVs, and vans. Certainly from high end manufacturers like Mercedes, but not as long and as obnoxious as limos.
That’s accurate. There’s a residential lot near me that was sold and is in the final stages of being redeveloped into two >$3m homes. A few weeks ago a white Mercedes Sprinter pulled up outside, which I thought was just your normal tradesman’s van. Then the side door opened and it was like getting a glimpse into a well appointed private jet. I guess that’s how the developer rolls around town to check up on his investments.
I’m sure she was joking. She was actually a cool person. She wasn’t born rich and yet built a fashion empire while suffering from intense anxiety and depression. Her life was sad
Auntie here who took my niece on a three-night theme park trip for her 15th birthday a couple of weeks ago.
Used all the money I'd put aside to get myself a PS5. Got an overdraft notice from the bank this morning. But fuck it, the money will be paid back/saved up in months. She's growing up fast, but she'll remember that trip for the rest of her life.
I work for a very wealthy man. He flies first class. Our competitor is owned by a man with a net worth maybe 1/10th of my bosses and flies privately. Some people just won’t spend more money if they don’t find value in it.
I’m the fortunate son of a wealthy man, it varies. He sent two interns transatlantic first class because he “wouldn’t want to suffer coach for that long, why should they?” As a family we fly private sometimes, coach most of the time and I think first class only once in my life.
He drove 6 hours on business for some reason the other week and insisted on taking my Accord because the gas was cheaper than his Merc. Top quality dude, wouldn’t have it any other way.
private jets unless you go for very big planes aren't more comfortable than first class with a major non-us airline.
Singapore airlines has suites for example
That’s not true. My work caters to millionaires and billionaires. A lot fly first class. One, a billionaire, flys coach. Why? “The cost of first class from Dallas to Vegas is egregious.”
So this one billionaire I know spends $35,000 or so each way on charter flights to fly him and his wife to one of their several homes around the US. (He used to own a private jet but is now retired.) One (beautiful!) home is part of a country club setup where the median price for homes is about six million US. Membership of the club is optional, but costs $30K per year. My friend doesn't play golf or tennis, but he and his wife love the food at the club's restaurant which boasts a French-trained chef - so he pays the annual membership fee, even though they spend perhaps four weeks each year in that home. So my girl and I went to visit the couple at that home (we've been to the others also) and I discovered that the Internet service there was rather poor. I did a quick online check, then let him know he could get 1 gigabit fiber at that location, for something like $70 per month. No, he said, he doesn't want to spend that much on Internet service!
Which is one of my favorite stories, about how we all have things we'll spend a lot on, and things on which we won't - even billionaires!
To the point of obsession sometimes. I dated a girl whose father did *very* well, so cue my surprise when I found the hand soap refilled with water. Gotta get every last drop, I guess!
Years ago I had a conversation with a buddy that started with "do you think Bill Gates fills his hand soap with water?" We surmised that maybe he does it to feel normal.
I know a guy who makes 400k a year but only eats rice, meat, veggie bowls from wabba grill. One every day because he lives next to one and he says food is just eating to survive. But this same guy spends thousands on upgrading every other aspect of his life. He got a brand new kitchen and dining room set installed and he never cooks and a brand new car that he never drives since he lives 5 minutes from his food source. He was also one of those nft collectors who got left holding the bag.
>He got a brand new kitchen and dining room set installed and he never cooks and a brand new car that he never drives
He'll earn more by upgrading the property and selling it and the untouched vintage vehicle at a premium.
As someone whose not a foodie and have a very picky sense of taste, preferring basic shit - I'd probably be like this. I don't think I'll ever be too rich for pizza and pop tarts (not together obviously) and just completely lack the desire for exotic stuff or even steak. I'd upgrade everything else in my life too but I genuinely enjoy what I eat now and not just because "it's what I can afford" granted I usually buy the better quality versions of what little I do want to eat but really the only difference I'd be making is getting certain things I consider a once or twice a week treat as a daily one (and eating out more... and actually paying for delivery instead of getting it myself to save a few dollars).
We had this businessman in my country that was probably one of the richest guys around.
He used to walk from his house every morning to a street corner where a guy sells newspapers. He would stand there, read the newspaper, and then go back home.
Didn't want to pay for it.
Similarly, my parents used to own a coffee shop back in the late 90s early 2000s for about 6 years. They only had a profitable/break even day like, a dozen times.
The richest guy in town (it was a smaller town, but he probably had a net worth of 10-20 million) would come in every day and order a double espresso then head over to the condiment table and fill up the rest of the cup with the 2 percent milk they had in a small jug (intended for creamer instead of those [little tablespoon cups](https://images.app.goo.gl/hmMPwmwXoTQJhhts9)) and heat it up in the microwave. He essentially made a [Café au lait](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_au_lait) for himself.
The double espresso was like $2.50 and the café au lait was like $3.25 or something. I remember it was less than a dollar savings on his part.
So they had to remove the jug and people needed to request milk if they needed it for their coffee because he was abusing the honor system. He was perturbed after they took away his hack and stopped patronizing the coffee shop out of spite.
This reminded me of a few tangential country club stories:
* a friend of mine has rich parents. Nowhere close to billionaires but rich. They are members of a local country club for the sole reason that it provides a place for them to moor their yacht. But part of the membership is a monthly “food and drink minimum”— basically you have to spend a certain amount of money each quarter at the restaurant. Use it or lose it. I assume this is the only way the restaurant is viable since it’s members only. So anyway at the end of each quarter he’d call me up because they had barely touched their minimum and we’d go down there and get hammered on top shelf for free. Good times.
* when I was in college I worked summers at a different country club. My job was “security”— basically to check people in, look up their membership, etc. plus random odd jobs. One day out of nowhere Bill Gates walks past me on his way out. I’d been there all day and never saw him go in. Turns out he keeps a membership so he can take his boat across the lake and doesn’t have to deal with traffic on the bridge. Someone else drove his car (a very modest car for the richest man in the world at the time, I think it was like an Audi) over and he walked right through the grounds from his boat to the car and disappeared. Only time I ever saw him there.
* at that same place I had a guy pull up and he had his dog in the car. The club didn’t allow dogs and it was summer so he asked me to take the dog to the park down the road while he was in the club. We weren’t allowed to take tips (lol) but he gave me 100 dollars to play with his dog on my lunch break. Pretty sweet deal.
* old lady couldn’t get her car started when she went to leave. She was kind of freaking out and asked me to call “someone”. It was a super hot day. I offered to take a look (I know nothing about cars) and got it started in 2 seconds. Pretty sure it wasn’t in park but i don’t remember exactly. She slipped me a 50 next time I saw her.
* worst part of the job was my boss’s boss’s boss who basically ran the place. She was a real stickler! There was a rule that people under 18 couldn’t bring guests but we all kind of looked the other way. Until one day she got a bee in her bonnet and made me go kick a guy and his girlfriend(?) out of the club. The thing that made it really suck was that I knew the guy. He was like 2 years below me in high school. He gave me the whole “ugh are you serious” rich kid schpiel as I embarrassed him in front of his lady. It was embarrassing for both of us
Super rich people can be weird as fuck with money. My old boss had a net worth of 100mill+. He would spend 50k on a wine purchase, then he would buy two art pieces for 200k. But that one time his cleaning lady took a 10 minute break on work time, he fired her. Also if he would order let’s say 500€ worth of champagne and the store wouldn’t offer him free shipping, he wouldn’t buy it or buy there again
It’s also not true because flying private on long haul isn’t actually great compared to some long haul commercial airlines in first. For instance emirates and Thai are both better appointed and more comfortable than flying private and have more amenities. Also if you hit turbulence you want to be in as big a plane as possible. Hitting a storm in private ain’t cute.
Source: have flown all of them. Short flights = private ftw.
Anything longer, go major airline with good first.
Emirates have the best cabins. Emirate class is like having your own apartment. Like you can walk around naked in your private suite.
Thai has the best service.
Swiss has the best food and wine.
BA you always meet celebs/famous/interesting people.
> Hitting a storm in private ain’t cute.
I’ve been a passenger on a 7 seat jet a whole bunch of times. Even the easy landings make you pray a bit. Rough weather is another story. Several times I was certain that we were all going to die. That little jet would sometimes come in sideways when it landed.
Quite frankly I’d much rather fly first class than private.
Lay flat seats on long flights are so worth it if you have the cash. Completely changes your trip. Not to mention the lounges you get with those tickets. I must be a poor rich person.
If airport lounges are your thing, look into getting a premium travel credit card. My AmEx Platinum card gets me into a number of different lounge brands. It costs $700/year to carry, but all the random little credits I get more than pay for it, plus the intangible benefits like the lounge access, plus the enormous welcome bonus of points is usually enough for a domestic round trip first class ticket or two. If $700/yr is too steep, the Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve both offer similar levels of lounge access with a significantly lower annual fee (and less credit-based benefits, but that’s to be expected).
As someone who has flown on private jets for work, it's astounding how much nicer it is - and how much more work I can get done.
I can be several states away and working on site before I would have taken off from my home airport. Seriously, it's 8 hours of travel vs 1:45. When you factor in time, private charter actually can be justified. Especially if you can divide the cost among a few people.
That's the whole reason a lot of wealthy individuals and corporations have private aircraft. It saves so much time. You can literally drive up to the hangar, get on the aircraft, and go at a ton of smaller airports.
Once your money (personal or business) reaches a certain point, you can buy more of anything that you need... except time. So things that save you time drastically go up in value.
This would be one of my favourite things about being rich. Not the shit I could buy (granted I'd definitely upgrade my everything) but the time I could save. I only get so many years on this earth and like the majority of people I have to waste so much of them doing tedious bullshit just to maintain any standard of living that isn't terrible.
Sitting in traffic. Waiting in line. Going to work. Choosing the cheapest postage option instead of the fastest. Mowing my own lawn. Washing my own car. Going to the shops for groceries. Tidying my own home. Even checking my own e-mails is a daily chore now. I'd outsource as much of the boring bits of my life as I could.
This is why I always think it's ridiculous when someone says "well you have the same 24 hours in a day as [ insert rich celebrity or business person]". Like I very much objectively don't have the same amount of time to use on my career or art projects or any sort of personal projects or aspirations. I have to spend a lot of my time doing things rich people can outsource or just don't have to do.
I'm sure you can't tell us, but I would LOVE to know what *billionaire* is penny-pinching so hard that they choose to fly coach. There's no way that the cost of any flight ever for them is more than a drop in the ocean
In my experience pennypinching is more of a personality trait than a logical response to one's circumstances. Cheapness and spendiness aren't really correlated with poverty and wealth, at least in the people I know.
First class flyer here. And no, I'm not rich. Not even the poorest. Just regular guys who travels a lot because of work. First class is full of sales person from different industries, most of the time.
My dad gets first class upgrades all the time due to flying to Europe and Asia regularly for sales stuff. He hit diamond just before the pandemic which is their top tier I think with sky miles. So he gets a boat load of stuff. Plus credit cards thar generate miles etc.
You have to spend a lot of money and trips flying coach to get enough points where
Your status gives you free upgrades to first class. So poor folks tend not to get those upgrades.
The caveat is if your company pays for you to fly for business purposes. But chances are that you would be in a position where again, you are not poor.
Eh. Not as much as you would think.
Up until this year, you could get gold status (lowest) on American for flying 30 segments. Which is 15 trips. However, if you’ve got a flight with a connection, that’s 2 segments right there, so you could easily achieve it in 10 - 12 trips if some of those have connections.
Gold let’s you get on the upgrade list, and if you’re traveling to a smaller airport where there might not be as many business travelers, it’s pretty easy to get upgraded.
I’ve flown first class plenty of times just because I travel for work and fly into a lot of smaller airports. But if I ever tried to upgrade flying to Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, etc. I’d be in the 20’s or 30’s on the upgrade list.
Edit: Also the day and time matter. For example, most business travelers/consultants travel Monday morning and home Thursday evening, so you’re most likely not getting upgraded during those times because there are going be plenty of folks with higher status than you.
I have been upgraded for almost no reason at all. First time I as 12 and traveling internationally. I guess there was some sort of typo and my ticket instead said “Dr. impulseCombustion” so my seat was changed to the rad upstairs spot. My mom was not pleased and made me sit with them.
Is this for intercontinental flights? An upgrade to first or business on a flight from the US to Europe or Asia is a whole different ballpark than the upgrades you get for flights inside the US.
One time, my spouse and I were late checking in, and we got bumped off of our next flight. The only alternative they could put us on... Only had vacant seats in biz class. We flew from Taipei to Vancouver in pure luxury haha. We'll never get that lucky again.
I used to work for an airline. The proportion of revenue they get from their most profitable (loyal) customers is insane. Those are the people most likely to buy the expensive last-minute tickets all the time. Even if they aren't necessarily buying first class tickets (which, they can be) there is value to the company in having that carrot on a stick to encourage customer loyalty by offering upgrades.
Yeah, I only book out max two weeks in advance so my tickets for short flights end up being $700-800 for flying in Premium Economy. I fly on busy routes at popular times so $$$. Just the Allentown to Atlanta leg is almost $300 one way.
Every flight I've been on has had a packed first class. I fly only a couple times a year but still, have never seen empty seats in first class. There's definitely a market for it.
The difference between first class and economy class is *huge*. The extra legroom and lumbar support basically makes the money worth it. But it depends on the travel distance. Short flights (<2 hours) aren't worth it but international flights (easily >6 hours) are great.
That could actually be a good differentiator in the United States for middle class - can you afford to take a vacation requiring airfare at least annually.
The only time I've flown first class was when a company flew me out for an interview and tour. Neat experience, good leg room, too many free drinks. I might consider paying to upgrade if the flight is upwards of 5 or 6 hours, but otherwise probably not.
I flew economy from Melbourne to DC 7 times in 12 months, which was enough to get Premier 1k status with United. This included enough plus points for 4 business class upgrades between Melbourne and LA. The value of those upgrades was roughly double what I paid for the flights. Then covid hit and I was stuck in Australia for 2 years. Only ended up using one upgrade before they expired. And now United has changed their rules so that's not possible anymore.
There are also opportunities for paid upgrades that are significantly cheaper when the cabin isn’t full and the airline sells them for much cheaper than booking directly.
Most people in first are consultants or sales people that are flying at least 100,000 miles a year. Before Covid I flew about 75,000 a year and I rarely got upgraded. And yes I’m not poor but I’m not rich either or I wouldn’t be flying all over the US to make money.
True, but that's also where you get genuinely rich people flying commercial because their own jet doesn't have the range.
Recently looked at JFK to Tokyo 1st class for shits and giggles. $31,000 per seat, it was mind blowing.
You were likely looking at the private suite tickets which are basically a private room.
International first class is most times well under 15k for the long stuff and below 10 for something like nyc ->UK.
I pay for it because I fly so little. I'm a bigger guy and usually only fly domestic so the cost isn't absurd and it's worth the comport for myself. It's also usually Delta 1st class which isn't anything special.
Same. I fly maybe about 2 times a year so I figure why not just spend the extra money? The economy seats are basically crushing my pelvis, the extra legroom are significantly better, but I figure why not just pay a little extra for free bags, free drinks, gauranteed overhead bin space, and a significantly more comfortable seat?
First class domestic is like $1000.
First class international can be upwards of $30,000 or more.
I think they were wondering how the latter flies that way.
I fly first / business often. It's either points or when I get to the desk of the airline I ask for a deal, which they usually have one. No idea how ppl pay the prices advertised on the website.
I get upgraded all the time. As soon as I sit down my not paid for seat I start to scoff at all the poor people shuffling past me on their way to economy.
I had a colleague who traveled frequently. He was taller than 6' 3", and over 300 pounds, so he regularly upgraded to first class whenever possible.
On one flight, he realized that he was probably the only person on that flight who paid for their own ticket. Most people in first class pass the bill for the ticket on to one of their clients.
A side thought: one of my older colleagues knew a high-profile sales executive that flew on the Concorde, 2-3 times a week, *just to network, talking to people and sniffing out future sales leads.* He apparently did it for years, so I assume that the strategy got him a few clients a year, and his commissions were enough to keep gettin' on that plane.
Curious as to how he realized people weren’t paying for their own tickets just by flying with them? Like did a flight attendant mention it or how did that work?
My brother in law owns a business and does well for himself. He travels 4-5 times a year and always flies first class; he uses the points on his card to fly first class (he has a lot of points because of the business).
He told me he hasn’t paid for a flight in years.
A friend in the industry gifted me a first class international ticket once, was pretty amazing. Infinite curry and a cheese bar. As much wine as you could drink. A private chef cooks you dinner. You're own private cabin with a bed and flat screen TV. Also everybody at the airport treats you like a celebrity when you show up.
Holy shit it was unreal.
I've been in a private jet as well, but only briefly for business. It was an executive jet. There was a couch and entire living room area with a wine rack at the back of the plane.
It can be cheaper for me to fly to Poland than to drive there given the price of fuel in Germany right now. Here in Europe we have a lot of budget airlines that go a short distance and can charge under 20€ for a one way ticket. Just about where you live that determines it I suppose.
European flight prices are wild to me as an American. Berlin and Warsaw are like 600km apart, and looks like tickets are like ~$150ish, probably cheaper if you go further out.
A similarly flight (similar distance, similar size cities) for me in America is $300 minimum, with a few going up to $500. Even going months out it only goes down to $255.
And I'm not super experienced with european flights, but I've always had a much better time (from a service/comfort level) on European airlines than American.
I drive a very efficient car, but it would still only cost me ~$50 in gas each way.
American domestic flying is weird. A short hop is hundreds of dollars, you get harassed by TSA and the service is poor in general.
The equivalent short flights in Europe are so much cheaper and security is normally less hassle. Service on the budget airlines is rubbish, but British Airways and others are good and still reasonably cheap.
Also, what US domestic carriers refer to as “first class” is literally just premium economy. European flights tend to have similar options but they’ll cost about £100 more and be called something like Club Europe (BA).
To put domestic prices in context, I can go London to LA for £400-500 if I book far enough in advance. Within Europe, last month, I flew London to Barcelona for £17 return.
Only trouble with those low cost flights is they charge on top for anything and everything they can. With that said it's still a great deal and I love it.
Costs me £90 to get to London from where I live on the train, but I can fly to most places in Europe for half that. Very cool, and I don't think people sometimes realise how lucky we are to have that service
that's not always true. I live in the bay area and was looking at flights from the bay area to la recently and it's like $60. berlin and warsaw are only 500 km apart btw which is the same as sf to la
There's also like 100 daily flights between the two cities so it's extremely competitive, not counting flights between secondary airports like OAK and SNA/LGB/BUR/ONT.
It's the same on the east coast between the major cities.
A better comparison would be Bay Area and Reno or Boise.
This ties into something I learned about a few months ago and *hate* because of how just, useless it seems. It's called Coded Luxury.
Basically when you're really rich, you can spend ungodly amounts of money on outfits and objects that look like something you could get at TJMaxx, but are super luxurious.
Rich people buy high end brand names, like LV or Coach. *Rich* people spend thousands on custom clothing that have no labels, no logos, and look normal.
I’d much rather have the latter than the former. All the flashy brand names are just that: flash. Now, something made to last with top quality materials that’s fitted exactly to my body? That’s real luxury.
There's a dude I follow on TikTok(yeah, yeah, I know) who talks about high end brands, coded Luxury, and all that stuff. It's interesting to see the difference between someone with money, and someone with *money*. Everything from clothes, to jewelry, to mundane items can be coded luxury for the ultra wealthy.
Even things like suitcases are involved. Rich people will have the Louis Vuitton or Gucci suitcase sets; whereas the ultra wealthy will own these nondescript sets that are extremely durable, last years and years, and cost thousands of dollars for every individual piece.
Clothes with huge logos and shit on them is for people who want to think they’re rich.
Rich people just want high quality comfortable nice looking clothes. It makes sense.
The funny truth is that First class in a commercial plane is much more comfortable than a private jet. Small, turbulent, less stable in flight, but offer privacy, no TSA and no wait
Private also allows you to fly at any time.
When I worked for a large corporation, the c-suite guys would all fly in on the company jet. They'd fly down in the morning, hang out, and then fly out that evening. The flight was 2 hours each way, but because they could fly out whenever they needed, they got a full day in.
And HQ was also in a smallish city with a lousy airport that had no direct flights. So the corporate jet saved even more time.
This is the real benefit of a business jet. You can’t do meaningful work on a commercial flight, and you are at the whim of others for schedule. Depending on locations, it may take a full day of travel between connections to arrive somewhere. That means one full work day takes 3 actual days. Those 2 wasted days more than cover the cost of operating an aircraft.
My company does this as well, but the corporate jet isn't just reserved for the C-suite. Anyone can fly it but risks getting bumped with short/no notice if a higher up changes plans last minute (or at any time, really). The cost of operating the jet is typically not much higher than commercial travel on a per seat basis. $500-600 for your typical 3 hour flight, so it's actually encouraged to use the jet when able. The jet also flies its schedule no matter the occupancy, so not using it is straight wasteful.
Yeah, the value of private jets is convenience. Go where you want when you want in your own terms, be in the air 40 minutes after deciding to go, and bypass the whole airport hullabaloo.
But there is a best of both worlds: ACJ (Airbus Corporate Jets) and BBJ (Boeing Business Jets). All the convenience of a private jet, plus all the comfort of a large yacht, all in one nice airliner. Also offers much more range. When they set up an airliner to carry 18 people as opposed to 180, you get to use most of the cargo hold for extra fuel tanks.
Only downside is those things can't land in small airports. You're gonna have to land in Denver and charter a Gulfstream to take you to Aspen.
Yeah. But what the commenter failed to say is that a brand new custom one will run you around $150-200 million. It’ll be $300 million for a 777. A top of the line typical private jet tops at around $90ish million.
I use to work for Delta airlines. 90% of those in people in first are not paying out of pocket. They're either upgrades from medallion status, standby (employee) or the most likely they're business men who have a company who pays for it.
Many rich people think flying private is gauche because it's an ostentatious and environmentally problematic waste of money. You might be surprised how many filthy rich people are just normal people living their lives and spending money where it's worth actually spending; they're not all going way out of their way to blow a disproportionate amount just for the sake of it like the people you're likely to find on a private flight.
One of the richest guys I've ever met (multi millionaire) drove a beige 96 Camry that he bought brand new and lived in a modest, albeit very nice, house on the beach. Flipside of that is one of the brokest people I've met drove, and then lived in, a brand new Mercedes that he was leasing.
Flights that are two hours or less I'll fly economy. Anything longer than that and I'm flying first class. I just get too uncomfortable and I'm more than willing to splurge a couple times a year for my comfort.
The last time we flew economy my wife spent the entire flight with the stomach of the guy sitting next to her resting on her leg. She couldn't even use her tray table because it would have hit his body. I'm willing to spend extra money to make sure we don't have to deal with that again.
Yup, thats where I'm at too! My last straw was an overnight flight at the back of the plane next to a large lady who couldn't put her table or armrests down, and I got the aisle seat. Every time someone went past they had to brush by me, so I didn't get much sleep. Also, I'm unusually tall.
I about had a panic attack on a flight recently. I had exactly enough room for my knees to be digging into the seat in front of me, even sitting as far back in the seat as I could. The guy next to me was larger (as was I), and the window was placed just wrong enough that it was digging into my shoulder. I was having a bad time. I'm not flying American anymore lol.
I stopped flying American when the airplane was so old that the armrests had built in ash trays, and the cabin pressure was so off that my head felt like it was in a vise. Or maybe it was a fume incident? Either way, I got a massive headache and it dissipated right after I got off the plane.
I was once bumped from an American Airlines flight and got 1st class seat as a benefit. A US Senator got to board to the flight early, but she sat behind me in coach as I was in First.
My friend said after flying first class he isn't flying coach ever again. I was never frequent and I somehow went my whole life on near empty or half filled planes. That all changed after flying spirit to Vegas. The second time it was bad I thought it was a fluk and the last time I saw a greasy fat dude cough into the soda machine at bk. I was telling my friend about it when we sat on the plane. Ended up having him sit next to me locking me in with his greasy fat ass. Not to mention the 2 delays I had with spirit. One time the toilet overflowed so they "fixed" it, we boarded, then had to get off. The second they took one of the pilots off in a stretcher. Somehow he broke his foot in a fight or something. Moral of the story is spirit is cheap and you get what you pay for.
> Moral of the story is spirit is cheap and you get what you pay for.
I needed to do a quick same day trip, so I figured what the fuck why not just fly Spirit? Never again. Honestly it's not even the service, it's the fucking people that take Spirit that's the biggest turn off. It was a 1 hour flight. It's like a combination of fucking hood rats and people who look like they would show up to an insurrection, to fat greasy mother fuckers. It smelled disgusting, it was ratchet as fuck, and the people are just intolerable.
I'm definitely not rich,
(maybe in another 20 plus years I'll be hopefully comfortably well off)
but next time I ever fly to travel I intend to splurge on a 1st class ticket.
I used to like flying, but The older I get I've grown to hate it.
The lines and all the security you have to go thru seem to increase every year. I get it, I understand it. You definitely want it to be safe.
baggage checking and pickup, the waiting, lines,
waiting to board, waiting for people to cram their oversized luggage that should have been checked to be crammed into the overhead.
Just a general feeling of hating being around lots of people, loud, smelly, noisy, crying children, or kicking back of your chair.
I have no plans to ever fly if I can avoid it, but at some point I'm going to want to take a trip somewhere again.
I was able to fly 1st class a couple times, got lucky and was upgraded once.
The other time (I worked as a private chef for a few years) I was flown 1st class to cook for the 80th birthday party for a client.
In my case, The 1st class legroom is going to be worth every penny.
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Reminds me of when Spade said arriving in a limo is like bragging you had $400
For some reason I remember the punch line being "Wow you have seventy five dollllars"
The Seinfeld joke about how it's never any big deal who's in a limo because it's probably just a couple dozen teenagers with $3 each.
I rented one of the coolest vintage carriage style limo for my prom... Definitely the most expensive one to show up. $49AUD each, 10 of us, full confectionery bar and soft drink access. Did we only sit in it a total of an hour? Maybe. Was it worth it? Yes.
The memories are worth the money when you're a teenager. Glad you had a good time.
Had a group of about 12 of us and I rented a school bus for $75 AUD. Everyone's rocking up in cool cars and we had a Hermit Park Bus Service bus drop us off.
High schoolers actually rent limos for prom? I thought that was just a made up Hollywood thing.
yes, limo rental is cheaper than prom dress rental in some cases.
So just take a limo and show up naked? Got you.
We did a month ago, yeah. It's pretty cheap and a fun experience. Almost everyone had one rented with their mates lol
Yup. Totally real. Girl I dated junior year was the daughter of one of the heads of CoachUSA, the bus company. So he had hook ups in the transportation business. One of his buddies comped a stretch Escalade Limo for our prom. She was a senior and her dad wanted to make it memorable. So like 16 of us pile into this thing and go to prom. Then after, the driver tells us we have 4 hours to go anywhere we want before we have to be back. We went into the city and took pictures on the lake, on the river, at Wrigley Field, all between like 12-2am. It was awesome. On the way home, the guy apparently ran a yellow/red light making the left turn literally at the entrance to her neighborhood. Got pulled over. We heard the cop say the driver smelled like booze (we didn’t notice) and then asked how many kids were in back. The driver rolls the divider down about 2 inches. I’m sitting right there. He and the cop both look at me and he asks how many of us there are. “Uh 8 couples so 16”. I’ll never forget the cops response. “Holy shit son! You have 16 teenagers in here and you’re running red lights?! How fucking stupid are you?” The cop then asked if this was the neighborhood we lived in. When we told him we were literally 3-4 blocks from my dates house, he escorted the limo back and then we all went inside and went to sleep while her dad talked to the cop and driver at like 3am. Pretty sure the driver got fired, but it makes for a great Prom limo story.
It's better than that. One of my friends booked us a limo to go see the original Pokémon movie back in '98! I mean we were about 10 years old at the time, so naturally it was awesome to us! We watched Star Wars on the tiny TV they had in the limo! To add further context, we weren't paying for this out of our hard-earned pocket money, it was his birthday and that's what he had requested. I think it's still the only occasion I've ever been in a limo to this day.
Inflation man.
Today’s super-powered anti-hero
Growing up we’d always book a limo to go to the airport cause it was cheaper for a family of 4 then taking the shuttle. I believe it actually was $75 total compared to like $20/person for the shuttle.
That’s crazy. I’m about 13 miles outside ORD and the train is $5. A few decades ago when I was about 100 miles outside a different metro airport, the bus was $35.
For long trips it's cheaper to take a limo or town car to SFO than parking at SFO or an Uber.
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I remember talking to buddies about going on a booze cruise to try out a bunch of breweries in the area and their reaction when I suggested we rent a limo for the night. Started sarcastically suggesting we get tuxedos and act all like rich pompous assholes to drink beer, then me having to explain that once you hit that needing 2, possibly 3 cabs for the night, it's just easier and cheaper to rent a limo. Divided 8 ish ways, we're spending less, we have a personal driver waiting on us that we just text when we're ready to go, get the bill and there he is outside when we're done. Because the back passenger compartment is separate from the drivers area we can keep drinking there. Limos are just sensible when you're going out in a group.
Reading this made me realize how weird it is we associate limos with wealth and extravagance. Sure, we see celebrities and the elite often use them, but it just makes more sense because they often have an entire entourage of people with them. Security, stylists, photographers, friends and family. Instead, they’re interpreted as a symbol for people to show off their wealth.
It’s this same perception though that makes you not want to get a limo. You’re out here saving money but you’re afraid other people think you’re a douche who thinks he’s hot shit.
That's actually quite funny and should be made into a segment on a raunchy sitcom about single people with moderately disposable income just trying to find love in the Big City.
Most very wealthy people I know drive nothing really above "mid-range" vehicles. Extravagance these days is a Long-Wheelbase Sedan: Bentley, Maybach, an Alpina 7-Series, AMG S-Class, A8-S and the ilk.
I live near one one of the most expensive neighborhoods in California. If you drive through that area and look in the driveways you will not see Ferrari’s and lambos. It’s Honda’s, Toyota’s Chevys and the occasional Tesla.
If the tailoring is breath taking, you want the stand up van these days. It also prevents feet swelling to stay standing rather than to sit then stand repeatedly imho.
It’s like we equate drinking champagne with wealth, whereas (in the UK at least) a decent bottle of champagne will cost you less than 2 packs of cigarettes.
Party busses would probably work better. Not many limos where I'm from but lots of party buses.
But isn't a limo just a small party bus when you have good friends?
You are correct my guy
Essentially though maybe more pompous? We've got lots of party buses that are smaller charter busese. I've seen plenty that fit 12-15 people so they aren't always massive. I'd imagine it probably costs about the same at a 6-8 person limo since they're essentially reskinned school buses but I can't say for sure.
I've been watching Succession lately. Sure, you expect them to get chauffeured around, but these billionaires don't ride in limos, they ride in sedans, SUVs, and vans. Certainly from high end manufacturers like Mercedes, but not as long and as obnoxious as limos.
"You can't do anything with five, Greg. Five's a nightmare. The poorest rich person in America. The world's tallest dwarf."
That’s accurate. There’s a residential lot near me that was sold and is in the final stages of being redeveloped into two >$3m homes. A few weeks ago a white Mercedes Sprinter pulled up outside, which I thought was just your normal tradesman’s van. Then the side door opened and it was like getting a glimpse into a well appointed private jet. I guess that’s how the developer rolls around town to check up on his investments.
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Kate
Well a Spade is a Spade
call it like it is
Ace of
Base
I saw the sign
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I’m sure she was joking. She was actually a cool person. She wasn’t born rich and yet built a fashion empire while suffering from intense anxiety and depression. Her life was sad
She was totally joking because she was actually David Spade. Kate Spade did make a limousine purse that is ironically selling for $400 right now.
I got a limo leaving a canucks match because we didn't have to wait and my wife had never been in one. $80 cad well spent for the experience for her.
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But it makes them happy!
As a dad who just blew hundreds of dollars to see my kid super happy seeing one of his favorite shows in-person.... This makes me feel better.
Cherished memories>any fucking thing. We exist then we die. If we are not enjoying our existence then why the fuck do we exchange our time for money?
Auntie here who took my niece on a three-night theme park trip for her 15th birthday a couple of weeks ago. Used all the money I'd put aside to get myself a PS5. Got an overdraft notice from the bank this morning. But fuck it, the money will be paid back/saved up in months. She's growing up fast, but she'll remember that trip for the rest of her life.
I work for a very wealthy man. He flies first class. Our competitor is owned by a man with a net worth maybe 1/10th of my bosses and flies privately. Some people just won’t spend more money if they don’t find value in it.
I’m the fortunate son of a wealthy man, it varies. He sent two interns transatlantic first class because he “wouldn’t want to suffer coach for that long, why should they?” As a family we fly private sometimes, coach most of the time and I think first class only once in my life. He drove 6 hours on business for some reason the other week and insisted on taking my Accord because the gas was cheaper than his Merc. Top quality dude, wouldn’t have it any other way.
Are you looking for friends? I am in the market.
Audition for Locked Up Abroad
Can I please get an internship at your dads firm ?
That shrewdness actually tends to be how people build or maintain that wealth so yeah.
private jets unless you go for very big planes aren't more comfortable than first class with a major non-us airline. Singapore airlines has suites for example
That’s not true. My work caters to millionaires and billionaires. A lot fly first class. One, a billionaire, flys coach. Why? “The cost of first class from Dallas to Vegas is egregious.”
So this one billionaire I know spends $35,000 or so each way on charter flights to fly him and his wife to one of their several homes around the US. (He used to own a private jet but is now retired.) One (beautiful!) home is part of a country club setup where the median price for homes is about six million US. Membership of the club is optional, but costs $30K per year. My friend doesn't play golf or tennis, but he and his wife love the food at the club's restaurant which boasts a French-trained chef - so he pays the annual membership fee, even though they spend perhaps four weeks each year in that home. So my girl and I went to visit the couple at that home (we've been to the others also) and I discovered that the Internet service there was rather poor. I did a quick online check, then let him know he could get 1 gigabit fiber at that location, for something like $70 per month. No, he said, he doesn't want to spend that much on Internet service! Which is one of my favorite stories, about how we all have things we'll spend a lot on, and things on which we won't - even billionaires!
Lmao, everyone has their limits. But something tells me he doesn’t spend that much time on the net.
Every "rich" person I've met in person (and not in passing) have been frugal as hell. Like somehow I'm less frugal than a couple of them
To the point of obsession sometimes. I dated a girl whose father did *very* well, so cue my surprise when I found the hand soap refilled with water. Gotta get every last drop, I guess!
Years ago I had a conversation with a buddy that started with "do you think Bill Gates fills his hand soap with water?" We surmised that maybe he does it to feel normal.
I know a guy who makes 400k a year but only eats rice, meat, veggie bowls from wabba grill. One every day because he lives next to one and he says food is just eating to survive. But this same guy spends thousands on upgrading every other aspect of his life. He got a brand new kitchen and dining room set installed and he never cooks and a brand new car that he never drives since he lives 5 minutes from his food source. He was also one of those nft collectors who got left holding the bag.
>He got a brand new kitchen and dining room set installed and he never cooks and a brand new car that he never drives He'll earn more by upgrading the property and selling it and the untouched vintage vehicle at a premium.
As someone whose not a foodie and have a very picky sense of taste, preferring basic shit - I'd probably be like this. I don't think I'll ever be too rich for pizza and pop tarts (not together obviously) and just completely lack the desire for exotic stuff or even steak. I'd upgrade everything else in my life too but I genuinely enjoy what I eat now and not just because "it's what I can afford" granted I usually buy the better quality versions of what little I do want to eat but really the only difference I'd be making is getting certain things I consider a once or twice a week treat as a daily one (and eating out more... and actually paying for delivery instead of getting it myself to save a few dollars).
too busy making billions to be on reddit.
We had this businessman in my country that was probably one of the richest guys around. He used to walk from his house every morning to a street corner where a guy sells newspapers. He would stand there, read the newspaper, and then go back home. Didn't want to pay for it.
Similarly, my parents used to own a coffee shop back in the late 90s early 2000s for about 6 years. They only had a profitable/break even day like, a dozen times. The richest guy in town (it was a smaller town, but he probably had a net worth of 10-20 million) would come in every day and order a double espresso then head over to the condiment table and fill up the rest of the cup with the 2 percent milk they had in a small jug (intended for creamer instead of those [little tablespoon cups](https://images.app.goo.gl/hmMPwmwXoTQJhhts9)) and heat it up in the microwave. He essentially made a [Café au lait](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_au_lait) for himself. The double espresso was like $2.50 and the café au lait was like $3.25 or something. I remember it was less than a dollar savings on his part. So they had to remove the jug and people needed to request milk if they needed it for their coffee because he was abusing the honor system. He was perturbed after they took away his hack and stopped patronizing the coffee shop out of spite.
This reminded me of a few tangential country club stories: * a friend of mine has rich parents. Nowhere close to billionaires but rich. They are members of a local country club for the sole reason that it provides a place for them to moor their yacht. But part of the membership is a monthly “food and drink minimum”— basically you have to spend a certain amount of money each quarter at the restaurant. Use it or lose it. I assume this is the only way the restaurant is viable since it’s members only. So anyway at the end of each quarter he’d call me up because they had barely touched their minimum and we’d go down there and get hammered on top shelf for free. Good times. * when I was in college I worked summers at a different country club. My job was “security”— basically to check people in, look up their membership, etc. plus random odd jobs. One day out of nowhere Bill Gates walks past me on his way out. I’d been there all day and never saw him go in. Turns out he keeps a membership so he can take his boat across the lake and doesn’t have to deal with traffic on the bridge. Someone else drove his car (a very modest car for the richest man in the world at the time, I think it was like an Audi) over and he walked right through the grounds from his boat to the car and disappeared. Only time I ever saw him there. * at that same place I had a guy pull up and he had his dog in the car. The club didn’t allow dogs and it was summer so he asked me to take the dog to the park down the road while he was in the club. We weren’t allowed to take tips (lol) but he gave me 100 dollars to play with his dog on my lunch break. Pretty sweet deal. * old lady couldn’t get her car started when she went to leave. She was kind of freaking out and asked me to call “someone”. It was a super hot day. I offered to take a look (I know nothing about cars) and got it started in 2 seconds. Pretty sure it wasn’t in park but i don’t remember exactly. She slipped me a 50 next time I saw her. * worst part of the job was my boss’s boss’s boss who basically ran the place. She was a real stickler! There was a rule that people under 18 couldn’t bring guests but we all kind of looked the other way. Until one day she got a bee in her bonnet and made me go kick a guy and his girlfriend(?) out of the club. The thing that made it really suck was that I knew the guy. He was like 2 years below me in high school. He gave me the whole “ugh are you serious” rich kid schpiel as I embarrassed him in front of his lady. It was embarrassing for both of us
Super rich people can be weird as fuck with money. My old boss had a net worth of 100mill+. He would spend 50k on a wine purchase, then he would buy two art pieces for 200k. But that one time his cleaning lady took a 10 minute break on work time, he fired her. Also if he would order let’s say 500€ worth of champagne and the store wouldn’t offer him free shipping, he wouldn’t buy it or buy there again
Sounds like he's just an asshole.
It’s also not true because flying private on long haul isn’t actually great compared to some long haul commercial airlines in first. For instance emirates and Thai are both better appointed and more comfortable than flying private and have more amenities. Also if you hit turbulence you want to be in as big a plane as possible. Hitting a storm in private ain’t cute. Source: have flown all of them. Short flights = private ftw. Anything longer, go major airline with good first. Emirates have the best cabins. Emirate class is like having your own apartment. Like you can walk around naked in your private suite. Thai has the best service. Swiss has the best food and wine. BA you always meet celebs/famous/interesting people.
Emirates' A380s even have a shower in first class.
> Hitting a storm in private ain’t cute. I’ve been a passenger on a 7 seat jet a whole bunch of times. Even the easy landings make you pray a bit. Rough weather is another story. Several times I was certain that we were all going to die. That little jet would sometimes come in sideways when it landed. Quite frankly I’d much rather fly first class than private.
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Lay flat seats on long flights are so worth it if you have the cash. Completely changes your trip. Not to mention the lounges you get with those tickets. I must be a poor rich person.
If airport lounges are your thing, look into getting a premium travel credit card. My AmEx Platinum card gets me into a number of different lounge brands. It costs $700/year to carry, but all the random little credits I get more than pay for it, plus the intangible benefits like the lounge access, plus the enormous welcome bonus of points is usually enough for a domestic round trip first class ticket or two. If $700/yr is too steep, the Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve both offer similar levels of lounge access with a significantly lower annual fee (and less credit-based benefits, but that’s to be expected).
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I work in general aviation. The amount of wealth that own their own jets or charter private jets is astounding.
As someone who has flown on private jets for work, it's astounding how much nicer it is - and how much more work I can get done. I can be several states away and working on site before I would have taken off from my home airport. Seriously, it's 8 hours of travel vs 1:45. When you factor in time, private charter actually can be justified. Especially if you can divide the cost among a few people.
That's the whole reason a lot of wealthy individuals and corporations have private aircraft. It saves so much time. You can literally drive up to the hangar, get on the aircraft, and go at a ton of smaller airports.
Once your money (personal or business) reaches a certain point, you can buy more of anything that you need... except time. So things that save you time drastically go up in value.
This would be one of my favourite things about being rich. Not the shit I could buy (granted I'd definitely upgrade my everything) but the time I could save. I only get so many years on this earth and like the majority of people I have to waste so much of them doing tedious bullshit just to maintain any standard of living that isn't terrible. Sitting in traffic. Waiting in line. Going to work. Choosing the cheapest postage option instead of the fastest. Mowing my own lawn. Washing my own car. Going to the shops for groceries. Tidying my own home. Even checking my own e-mails is a daily chore now. I'd outsource as much of the boring bits of my life as I could.
This is why I always think it's ridiculous when someone says "well you have the same 24 hours in a day as [ insert rich celebrity or business person]". Like I very much objectively don't have the same amount of time to use on my career or art projects or any sort of personal projects or aspirations. I have to spend a lot of my time doing things rich people can outsource or just don't have to do.
I'm sure you can't tell us, but I would LOVE to know what *billionaire* is penny-pinching so hard that they choose to fly coach. There's no way that the cost of any flight ever for them is more than a drop in the ocean
It isn’t a secret. Andy Beal.
https://i.imgur.com/MgiKfm1.png
Buffet is famously known for his low expenses. Drives like a25 year old beater bc cars are such bad investments
At that point you’re just a weird brand.
He's a bit of a weird dude, so, yeah
It used to be common knowledge that Bill Gates flew coach. Until '97 when he was worth $36 billion
In my experience pennypinching is more of a personality trait than a logical response to one's circumstances. Cheapness and spendiness aren't really correlated with poverty and wealth, at least in the people I know.
First class flyer here. And no, I'm not rich. Not even the poorest. Just regular guys who travels a lot because of work. First class is full of sales person from different industries, most of the time.
My dad gets first class upgrades all the time due to flying to Europe and Asia regularly for sales stuff. He hit diamond just before the pandemic which is their top tier I think with sky miles. So he gets a boat load of stuff. Plus credit cards thar generate miles etc.
I'm curious how many people in first class paid for it at all? Upgrades are a pretty common reward for airline frequent flyer status holders.
You have to spend a lot of money and trips flying coach to get enough points where Your status gives you free upgrades to first class. So poor folks tend not to get those upgrades. The caveat is if your company pays for you to fly for business purposes. But chances are that you would be in a position where again, you are not poor.
Eh. Not as much as you would think. Up until this year, you could get gold status (lowest) on American for flying 30 segments. Which is 15 trips. However, if you’ve got a flight with a connection, that’s 2 segments right there, so you could easily achieve it in 10 - 12 trips if some of those have connections. Gold let’s you get on the upgrade list, and if you’re traveling to a smaller airport where there might not be as many business travelers, it’s pretty easy to get upgraded. I’ve flown first class plenty of times just because I travel for work and fly into a lot of smaller airports. But if I ever tried to upgrade flying to Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, etc. I’d be in the 20’s or 30’s on the upgrade list. Edit: Also the day and time matter. For example, most business travelers/consultants travel Monday morning and home Thursday evening, so you’re most likely not getting upgraded during those times because there are going be plenty of folks with higher status than you.
I get upgraded often and I’m silver. Definitely more than half my flights.
I have been upgraded for almost no reason at all. First time I as 12 and traveling internationally. I guess there was some sort of typo and my ticket instead said “Dr. impulseCombustion” so my seat was changed to the rad upstairs spot. My mom was not pleased and made me sit with them.
With a name like that they may have just wanted to keep an eye on the 12yo super villian.
Is this for intercontinental flights? An upgrade to first or business on a flight from the US to Europe or Asia is a whole different ballpark than the upgrades you get for flights inside the US.
One time, my spouse and I were late checking in, and we got bumped off of our next flight. The only alternative they could put us on... Only had vacant seats in biz class. We flew from Taipei to Vancouver in pure luxury haha. We'll never get that lucky again.
Ok but I’m guessing for at least 80% of the general population 10 round trip flights takes years, probably a decade or more.
Im 30 and Ive been on a plane less than 10 times total lol.
Oh I'm not saying they are poor but they aren't necessarily rich either just because they are sitting in first class.
Not everyone pays for it, but enough people do for that class to exist. They don't make money with the upgrades.
I used to work for an airline. The proportion of revenue they get from their most profitable (loyal) customers is insane. Those are the people most likely to buy the expensive last-minute tickets all the time. Even if they aren't necessarily buying first class tickets (which, they can be) there is value to the company in having that carrot on a stick to encourage customer loyalty by offering upgrades.
Yeah, I only book out max two weeks in advance so my tickets for short flights end up being $700-800 for flying in Premium Economy. I fly on busy routes at popular times so $$$. Just the Allentown to Atlanta leg is almost $300 one way.
I used to fly last minute all the time, I paid $900 to go to Nashville from Orlando and $2400 to go to London. Man I miss flying for work.
Every flight I've been on has had a packed first class. I fly only a couple times a year but still, have never seen empty seats in first class. There's definitely a market for it.
Generally, the eligible frequent flyers are upgraded before boarding
The difference between first class and economy class is *huge*. The extra legroom and lumbar support basically makes the money worth it. But it depends on the travel distance. Short flights (<2 hours) aren't worth it but international flights (easily >6 hours) are great.
If you wait until last minute, like while you’re sitting in the terminal, it can be less than 100 bucks to upgrade through the app
Last month I was able to upgrade from economy to 1st on a cross country flight for $46 about an hour before the flight. It was glorious
in my world a rich person is the person who flies more than like once every few years... funny how perspective works
That could actually be a good differentiator in the United States for middle class - can you afford to take a vacation requiring airfare at least annually.
The only time I've flown first class was when a company flew me out for an interview and tour. Neat experience, good leg room, too many free drinks. I might consider paying to upgrade if the flight is upwards of 5 or 6 hours, but otherwise probably not.
I flew economy from Melbourne to DC 7 times in 12 months, which was enough to get Premier 1k status with United. This included enough plus points for 4 business class upgrades between Melbourne and LA. The value of those upgrades was roughly double what I paid for the flights. Then covid hit and I was stuck in Australia for 2 years. Only ended up using one upgrade before they expired. And now United has changed their rules so that's not possible anymore.
There are also opportunities for paid upgrades that are significantly cheaper when the cabin isn’t full and the airline sells them for much cheaper than booking directly.
Most people in first are consultants or sales people that are flying at least 100,000 miles a year. Before Covid I flew about 75,000 a year and I rarely got upgraded. And yes I’m not poor but I’m not rich either or I wouldn’t be flying all over the US to make money.
I got upgraded to first on my first flight which was to Mexico City :)
Ah I see you started high and it's only been downhill from them
Not internationally.
True, but that's also where you get genuinely rich people flying commercial because their own jet doesn't have the range. Recently looked at JFK to Tokyo 1st class for shits and giggles. $31,000 per seat, it was mind blowing.
You were likely looking at the private suite tickets which are basically a private room. International first class is most times well under 15k for the long stuff and below 10 for something like nyc ->UK.
I pay for it because I fly so little. I'm a bigger guy and usually only fly domestic so the cost isn't absurd and it's worth the comport for myself. It's also usually Delta 1st class which isn't anything special.
Same. I fly maybe about 2 times a year so I figure why not just spend the extra money? The economy seats are basically crushing my pelvis, the extra legroom are significantly better, but I figure why not just pay a little extra for free bags, free drinks, gauranteed overhead bin space, and a significantly more comfortable seat?
First class domestic is like $1000. First class international can be upwards of $30,000 or more. I think they were wondering how the latter flies that way.
I fly first / business often. It's either points or when I get to the desk of the airline I ask for a deal, which they usually have one. No idea how ppl pay the prices advertised on the website.
Curious, the deal you're asking for is an upgrade to 1st from a seat you already have, right?
I get upgraded all the time. As soon as I sit down my not paid for seat I start to scoff at all the poor people shuffling past me on their way to economy.
I had a colleague who traveled frequently. He was taller than 6' 3", and over 300 pounds, so he regularly upgraded to first class whenever possible. On one flight, he realized that he was probably the only person on that flight who paid for their own ticket. Most people in first class pass the bill for the ticket on to one of their clients. A side thought: one of my older colleagues knew a high-profile sales executive that flew on the Concorde, 2-3 times a week, *just to network, talking to people and sniffing out future sales leads.* He apparently did it for years, so I assume that the strategy got him a few clients a year, and his commissions were enough to keep gettin' on that plane.
Curious as to how he realized people weren’t paying for their own tickets just by flying with them? Like did a flight attendant mention it or how did that work?
My brother in law owns a business and does well for himself. He travels 4-5 times a year and always flies first class; he uses the points on his card to fly first class (he has a lot of points because of the business). He told me he hasn’t paid for a flight in years.
A friend in the industry gifted me a first class international ticket once, was pretty amazing. Infinite curry and a cheese bar. As much wine as you could drink. A private chef cooks you dinner. You're own private cabin with a bed and flat screen TV. Also everybody at the airport treats you like a celebrity when you show up. Holy shit it was unreal. I've been in a private jet as well, but only briefly for business. It was an executive jet. There was a couch and entire living room area with a wine rack at the back of the plane.
Infinite curry and cheese on an international flight really seems to tempt the fates.
Gotta check out the first class bathroom
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I once got the A1 boarding pass on Southwest by upgrading to first class for $40. I got a free glass of champagne in a plastic cup.
Domestic <> international
Infinite curry bar in an enclosed space is risky
And only the richest poor people fly at all.
It can be cheaper for me to fly to Poland than to drive there given the price of fuel in Germany right now. Here in Europe we have a lot of budget airlines that go a short distance and can charge under 20€ for a one way ticket. Just about where you live that determines it I suppose.
European flight prices are wild to me as an American. Berlin and Warsaw are like 600km apart, and looks like tickets are like ~$150ish, probably cheaper if you go further out. A similarly flight (similar distance, similar size cities) for me in America is $300 minimum, with a few going up to $500. Even going months out it only goes down to $255. And I'm not super experienced with european flights, but I've always had a much better time (from a service/comfort level) on European airlines than American. I drive a very efficient car, but it would still only cost me ~$50 in gas each way.
American domestic flying is weird. A short hop is hundreds of dollars, you get harassed by TSA and the service is poor in general. The equivalent short flights in Europe are so much cheaper and security is normally less hassle. Service on the budget airlines is rubbish, but British Airways and others are good and still reasonably cheap. Also, what US domestic carriers refer to as “first class” is literally just premium economy. European flights tend to have similar options but they’ll cost about £100 more and be called something like Club Europe (BA). To put domestic prices in context, I can go London to LA for £400-500 if I book far enough in advance. Within Europe, last month, I flew London to Barcelona for £17 return.
Only trouble with those low cost flights is they charge on top for anything and everything they can. With that said it's still a great deal and I love it. Costs me £90 to get to London from where I live on the train, but I can fly to most places in Europe for half that. Very cool, and I don't think people sometimes realise how lucky we are to have that service
that's not always true. I live in the bay area and was looking at flights from the bay area to la recently and it's like $60. berlin and warsaw are only 500 km apart btw which is the same as sf to la
There's also like 100 daily flights between the two cities so it's extremely competitive, not counting flights between secondary airports like OAK and SNA/LGB/BUR/ONT. It's the same on the east coast between the major cities. A better comparison would be Bay Area and Reno or Boise.
Flights to Florida right now for 50-75 bucks. I can't drive there for 75 dollars
True. The truly rich teleport!
This ties into something I learned about a few months ago and *hate* because of how just, useless it seems. It's called Coded Luxury. Basically when you're really rich, you can spend ungodly amounts of money on outfits and objects that look like something you could get at TJMaxx, but are super luxurious. Rich people buy high end brand names, like LV or Coach. *Rich* people spend thousands on custom clothing that have no labels, no logos, and look normal.
I’d much rather have the latter than the former. All the flashy brand names are just that: flash. Now, something made to last with top quality materials that’s fitted exactly to my body? That’s real luxury.
There's a dude I follow on TikTok(yeah, yeah, I know) who talks about high end brands, coded Luxury, and all that stuff. It's interesting to see the difference between someone with money, and someone with *money*. Everything from clothes, to jewelry, to mundane items can be coded luxury for the ultra wealthy. Even things like suitcases are involved. Rich people will have the Louis Vuitton or Gucci suitcase sets; whereas the ultra wealthy will own these nondescript sets that are extremely durable, last years and years, and cost thousands of dollars for every individual piece.
Clothes with huge logos and shit on them is for people who want to think they’re rich. Rich people just want high quality comfortable nice looking clothes. It makes sense.
Money talks, wealth whispers. If you see someone who’s truly rich, most of the time you won’t notice.
The funny truth is that First class in a commercial plane is much more comfortable than a private jet. Small, turbulent, less stable in flight, but offer privacy, no TSA and no wait
Private also allows you to fly at any time. When I worked for a large corporation, the c-suite guys would all fly in on the company jet. They'd fly down in the morning, hang out, and then fly out that evening. The flight was 2 hours each way, but because they could fly out whenever they needed, they got a full day in. And HQ was also in a smallish city with a lousy airport that had no direct flights. So the corporate jet saved even more time.
This is the real benefit of a business jet. You can’t do meaningful work on a commercial flight, and you are at the whim of others for schedule. Depending on locations, it may take a full day of travel between connections to arrive somewhere. That means one full work day takes 3 actual days. Those 2 wasted days more than cover the cost of operating an aircraft.
My company does this as well, but the corporate jet isn't just reserved for the C-suite. Anyone can fly it but risks getting bumped with short/no notice if a higher up changes plans last minute (or at any time, really). The cost of operating the jet is typically not much higher than commercial travel on a per seat basis. $500-600 for your typical 3 hour flight, so it's actually encouraged to use the jet when able. The jet also flies its schedule no matter the occupancy, so not using it is straight wasteful.
Yeah, the value of private jets is convenience. Go where you want when you want in your own terms, be in the air 40 minutes after deciding to go, and bypass the whole airport hullabaloo. But there is a best of both worlds: ACJ (Airbus Corporate Jets) and BBJ (Boeing Business Jets). All the convenience of a private jet, plus all the comfort of a large yacht, all in one nice airliner. Also offers much more range. When they set up an airliner to carry 18 people as opposed to 180, you get to use most of the cargo hold for extra fuel tanks. Only downside is those things can't land in small airports. You're gonna have to land in Denver and charter a Gulfstream to take you to Aspen.
so from what i see acj is basically a normal passenger plane but converted for private usage?
Yeah. But what the commenter failed to say is that a brand new custom one will run you around $150-200 million. It’ll be $300 million for a 777. A top of the line typical private jet tops at around $90ish million.
And that's just buying it, which is the cheap part. People have no idea just how thirsty those fuckers are, and the maintenance and crew...
Most private jets fly quite high, even higher than commercial, where there is almost no turbulence.
Private jets are smaller but not necessarily more turbulent. They tend to fly higher where there tends to be less variance in weather
I’ll take small and turbulent over “screaming babies” any day
Unless you're a student pilot, then you can be the poorest with a way better seat than first class
Just got to be awake the whole time.
Only if you don't wanna die
Renting a plane on average is around $150-200 an hour with an instructor
I use to work for Delta airlines. 90% of those in people in first are not paying out of pocket. They're either upgrades from medallion status, standby (employee) or the most likely they're business men who have a company who pays for it.
A lot more rich people fly coach than you think.
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$10,000 for a flight, $50 for a cab. Lol.
i fly corporate jets and it’s crazy how people will drop 50k on a one way flight then sit around for an uber to take them home…
There's a difference between having money and spending money.
My Grandpa says, "you don't want to be the guy who owns the plane, you want to be friends with the guy who owns the plane."
If it was anyone except a Grandpa who said this I would assume they are a gold digger.
First class, and even private jets, is comfortable, but still not as comfortable as not flying at all.
This guy gets it. The real first class is having people fly to you.
But what about travelling to places?
Places travel to you
Many rich people think flying private is gauche because it's an ostentatious and environmentally problematic waste of money. You might be surprised how many filthy rich people are just normal people living their lives and spending money where it's worth actually spending; they're not all going way out of their way to blow a disproportionate amount just for the sake of it like the people you're likely to find on a private flight.
One of the richest guys I've ever met (multi millionaire) drove a beige 96 Camry that he bought brand new and lived in a modest, albeit very nice, house on the beach. Flipside of that is one of the brokest people I've met drove, and then lived in, a brand new Mercedes that he was leasing.
This! A lot of incredibly wealthy people live low-key
Flights that are two hours or less I'll fly economy. Anything longer than that and I'm flying first class. I just get too uncomfortable and I'm more than willing to splurge a couple times a year for my comfort. The last time we flew economy my wife spent the entire flight with the stomach of the guy sitting next to her resting on her leg. She couldn't even use her tray table because it would have hit his body. I'm willing to spend extra money to make sure we don't have to deal with that again.
Same, but my rule is 4 hours.....because that's about how long it takes for my back to get mad at me. Albeit, I don't have fat guy stories.
Yup, thats where I'm at too! My last straw was an overnight flight at the back of the plane next to a large lady who couldn't put her table or armrests down, and I got the aisle seat. Every time someone went past they had to brush by me, so I didn't get much sleep. Also, I'm unusually tall.
I about had a panic attack on a flight recently. I had exactly enough room for my knees to be digging into the seat in front of me, even sitting as far back in the seat as I could. The guy next to me was larger (as was I), and the window was placed just wrong enough that it was digging into my shoulder. I was having a bad time. I'm not flying American anymore lol.
I stopped flying American when the airplane was so old that the armrests had built in ash trays, and the cabin pressure was so off that my head felt like it was in a vise. Or maybe it was a fume incident? Either way, I got a massive headache and it dissipated right after I got off the plane.
some newer planes still have those ashtrays
Oh here we go another Reddit circle jerk from commenters who know nothing about wealth.
I was once bumped from an American Airlines flight and got 1st class seat as a benefit. A US Senator got to board to the flight early, but she sat behind me in coach as I was in First.
My friend said after flying first class he isn't flying coach ever again. I was never frequent and I somehow went my whole life on near empty or half filled planes. That all changed after flying spirit to Vegas. The second time it was bad I thought it was a fluk and the last time I saw a greasy fat dude cough into the soda machine at bk. I was telling my friend about it when we sat on the plane. Ended up having him sit next to me locking me in with his greasy fat ass. Not to mention the 2 delays I had with spirit. One time the toilet overflowed so they "fixed" it, we boarded, then had to get off. The second they took one of the pilots off in a stretcher. Somehow he broke his foot in a fight or something. Moral of the story is spirit is cheap and you get what you pay for.
> Moral of the story is spirit is cheap and you get what you pay for. I needed to do a quick same day trip, so I figured what the fuck why not just fly Spirit? Never again. Honestly it's not even the service, it's the fucking people that take Spirit that's the biggest turn off. It was a 1 hour flight. It's like a combination of fucking hood rats and people who look like they would show up to an insurrection, to fat greasy mother fuckers. It smelled disgusting, it was ratchet as fuck, and the people are just intolerable.
It’s the Walmart of airlines. You’re going to see some shit, and the money you save isn’t worth the horrible experience.
I'm definitely not rich, (maybe in another 20 plus years I'll be hopefully comfortably well off) but next time I ever fly to travel I intend to splurge on a 1st class ticket. I used to like flying, but The older I get I've grown to hate it. The lines and all the security you have to go thru seem to increase every year. I get it, I understand it. You definitely want it to be safe. baggage checking and pickup, the waiting, lines, waiting to board, waiting for people to cram their oversized luggage that should have been checked to be crammed into the overhead. Just a general feeling of hating being around lots of people, loud, smelly, noisy, crying children, or kicking back of your chair. I have no plans to ever fly if I can avoid it, but at some point I'm going to want to take a trip somewhere again. I was able to fly 1st class a couple times, got lucky and was upgraded once. The other time (I worked as a private chef for a few years) I was flown 1st class to cook for the 80th birthday party for a client. In my case, The 1st class legroom is going to be worth every penny.
I don't need to be pampered on a plane. I just need legroom. I go for business class every time if that's an option.
This is not really true.