On a trip recently I had 2 flights to reach my destination. Total flying time.. about 2 hours. Each flight was about 1 hour long.
The first one I did in Business as I needed to prepare for an important presentation.
The second flight was in Economy. I leveraged the business class ticket to get priority through security and immigration, I got to use the quiet and well equipped lounge for 1.5 hours, plus a stop at same airline lounge in transit city for another hour. So my business class investment got me benefits in more than just the air.
I got peace and quiet to do my work for 2.5 hours in lounges, I saved 30 minutes standing in lines at immigration/security. The bonus… a great seat on board for 1 hour where I was able to keep working. So total benefit? 3.5 hours of productive time. Cost me $100 more, about $29.00/hour of benefit. Value of the 3.5 hours? A multi-year contract well prepared was presented flawlessly and accepted by receivers after the presentation. All that because I was relaxed and prepared having had a ‘working’ flight process to consolidate my time to be focused on business and not on surviving the crush of economy travel.
Length of time is not the issue and not even the cost…it is what will you do with the time that puts the value into the business class seat purchase. Is the goal for you is to be at your best and to represent your company in the best light? Then the splurge on business class answer is ‘priceless’ no matter the length of the flight.
