It’s not that simple. Business is representing an ever increasing % of travellers, so airlines are increasing the % of business class seating, leaving fewer seats for economy seating and therefore less availability in economy, so you might not even end up seeing the savings in your flight ticket since more economy passengers are competing with each other.

They're degrading economy to the point where people feel like they have to upgrade. I'm not that tall or large but I can no longer tolerate American's economy seating, my knees are jammed into the seat in front of me before they recline, it's down right painful if they choose to recline.

Live in DFW, which is an American hub and my largest option for direct flights and flight availability in general which is why I mention them

If this was true they would raise economy prices.

> Business is representing an ever increasing % of travellers

Is it? I thought that trend reversed in 2020.

I’m not sure you can accurately track any airline-related trend through the years 2021-2023, for obvious reasons.

It’s not people buying first class most of the time. It’s business travelers getting reimbursed.

Every time I've flown First/Business class, it's been out of my own pocket. Every time I've had my employer pay for a flight, it's been in cattle class.

Now I'm wondering what percentage of people in First/Business class are paying for the flight themselves.

My current employer lets me expense flights so that I book in First and they pay what it would have cost in cattle. Might be worth it?

Otoh, I have minor elite status and have gotten upgraded to cattle plus the last couple flights which might be nice enough.

I fly frequently on average more than once a month and I really don’t see the benefit of first class for domestic flights. I am short though. I’m good with exit row seats.

We aren’t budget travelers and we have been on a plane for leisure 12+ times a year since 2021. We are both Platinum Medallion on Delta and get automatic C+ upgrades at time of booking and enjoy our lounge access (via credit cards).

Domestic at least, I expect a lot is upgrades for status travelers (who have flown a lot of it on company expense accounts). At least that's my experience.

In semi-retirement, I probably do need to burn down my points though.

I think the average flyer can be pretty confident that they're saving more on the flight than the incremental addition to their grocery bills attributable to company executives' flight costs...