Should I fly first class

[Moon]

Hi
I have been reading wci for years and finally sign up because I have a burning question to ask. Please help me decide.
here is my financial status
We are dual physician household with one child.
Foreign medical graduate .
spouse1 43 yo making 850k a year ( since 2019) attending for 4
spouse 2 41 Yo hhi 300k ( just this year last year was 200k) attending for 5 years
Our income was half of that prior to 2019.

asset
liquid- total about 2..55mil here s the break down:


taxable accounts 1.6 mil
529 for a 9 yo child 200k
crypto 300k
Tax deferred : total about 450k

real estate
primary home equity 140k ( loan 480k but the house now worth about 800k to 1 mil on zestimate)
2 rental properties 200k ( remaining mortgage 100k) +60k ( remaining loan 190k) generating about 50k a year … net about 20k a year.

my question is

Should we spend 21k in first class fully recline plane ticket on a round trip 25 hours flight to south east Asia. ?
I want to sit in a fully recliner seat. I want to be able to sleep during the flight , no more neck pain, back pain .I feel like we are at this age and flying economy on a 25 h flight is like a torture at this point in life.

should 3 of us fly first class ? Can I have my 9 years old in economy?

TIA

[Lithium]

I personally wouldn’t, but it sounds like you get a lot more marginal benefit from the upgrade than I would. I don’t get the neck pain and the back pain, and I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep even in first class either.

Honestly, I’d have to get to a much higher net worth before I would fork over that much money for the flights (I’d stay home instead). But if you are that miserable flying economy, first class sounds better than 25 hours of coach each way.

[Sampter]

Yes, fly first class.

No, don't put your 9 yo alone in economy.

[CordMcNally]

What's the rest of your spending like? You could definitely do it once. Could you do it every month? No. I wouldn't get that much out of spending that money there so I would look elsewhere but that's why we're all different.

[JB14]

Can you split the difference and get business class? Most of those are now fully flat seats.

[Moon]

this is once every 1 or two years that we will be going back to our home country. I usually fly coach everywhere.
This is a delta one . The other class of delta are not fully recline. They don’t really have a business class.
Other business classes lie, Qatar , are more expensive like a few thousand dollars more.

[JBME]

yes you can. just promise to get out of crypto

[Nysoz]

Save 20+% spend the rest on whatever you want. As long as your income remains steady and you don’t splurge on similar things all the time yes you can afford it.

[Marko-ER]

this is once every 1 or two years that we will be going back to our home country. I usually fly coach everywhere.
This is a delta one . The other class of delta are not fully recline. They don’t really have a business class.
Other business classes lie, Qatar , are more expensive like a few thousand dollars more.

Agree, I am in a similar age bracket, with a kid and some back issues too. It shouldn't be a black/white distinction between first class and economy; for intercontinental flights or flights longer than 5-6 hours (like Alaska/Hawaii), I would splurge on premium with recline and much more leg room, but not necessarily first class. The premum for premium over basic economy and main cabin is around 25-50%, rather than 200%+ as it is lie-flat first or business class. That's just me.

[02Sats]

Gross HHI 1.15 million a year, NW 2.3 million combined with a 25 hour flight that causes neck and back pain? Of course I would, not even thinking twice

[Moon]

What's the rest of your spending like? You could definitely do it once. Could you do it every month? No. I wouldn't get that much out of spending that money there so I would look elsewhere but that's why we're all different.

we usually spend about 15k to17 k a month. This include mortgages for primary home and mortgage payment on rental properties.

[Moon]

yes you can. just promise to get out of crypto

Thanks lol 😆
it gave me over 100% return though. Started buying in since beginning of this year. BTC and eth mainly

[Hoopoe]

No need to buy tickets at face value. Business class is quite nice, first is marginal benefit above that since you already have the lie flat seat. Consider finding an airline that has frequent flyer seat availability and then see how many miles it would take. They will often have a purchase miles program, often with some sort of bonus going. I find that for an international business class ticket that might cost 1k in coach, 5k in business and 10k+ in first you can spend 2-3k to buy miles that will get you the ticket and save a bunch of money. Only downside is you don't get the frequent flyer miles and status for the purchase, but if you don't fly often that isn't really worth it. If you have amex platinum they also have a premium seat program that can get you 30% off or so business and first international.

Another option is get regular ticket and pay day of for upgrade to business for less if available and price is worthwhile.

Personally, I use miles for business and fly coach otherwise. It's not worth the price for 10-12 hours of slightly increased comfort. I have household income and NW similar to yours.

[Moon]

Gross HHI 1.15 million a year, NW 2.3 million combined with a 25 hour flight that causes neck and back pain? Of course I would, not even thinking twice

Thank you for your blessing.
Actually total net worth is about 3.2 mil when include real estate equity.

[Moon]

No need to buy tickets at face value. Business class is quite nice, first is marginal benefit above that since you already have the lie flat seat. Consider finding an airline that has frequent flyer seat availability and then see how many miles it would take. They will often have a purchase miles program, often with some sort of bonus going. I find that for an international business class ticket that might cost 1k in coach, 5k in business and 10k+ in first you can spend 2-3k to buy miles that will get you the ticket and save a bunch of money. Only downside is you don't get the frequent flyer miles and status for the purchase, but if you don't fly often that isn't really worth it. If you have amex platinum they also have a premium seat program that can get you 30% off or so business and first international.

Another option is get regular ticket and pay day of for upgrade to business for less if available and price is worthwhile.

Personally, I use miles for business and fly coach otherwise. It's not worth the price for 10-12 hours of slightly increased comfort. I have household income and NW similar to yours.

yes I do have Amex platinum. Thanks I ll check that out. Never try their premium programs before.( we always fly coach)