You will find two types of people flying on business class – those who are used to flying business class, and they only fly in it because they consider Economy Class beneath their status. The other category is one who are used to flying in economy but have got an upgrade to business class or have purchased a business class ticket for the first time.

For someone who is very new to business class, the amenities will fascinate him. Leave aside sleeping, they won’t rest for a single second. They will go through the amenity bag, enjoy unlimited food, dry fruits, cheese, and alcohol, watch movies on the screen, and play with the seat recline. Everything is so new to them that they are busy exploring them.

However, people who are now used to flying in business class only want a comfortable sleep before arriving at their destination. The food or the amenity kit no longer interests them. They eat the food, take a drink, recline the bed and doze off. The main purpose of booking a business class seat for these people is the added comfort that allows them to arrive fresh at the destination and not be exhausted and sleep deprived like those in the economy who can barely get some sleep.

It was over 20 years ago that I first went to Peru and we flew business class. The flight took all day and we had a stopover in Dallas or Miami when departing from Canada.

Once we arrived, we were expected to depart for our client’s sites the next day – mine sites in excess of 3,000 AMSL. That was also a 6-hour (or more) drive on dirt roads. The day after that we were expected to be working, providing construction and installation supervision.

I was not the highest paid person in the world, but the client was paying about $150 USD for my services. If I flew regular class, I would have to take a day to recover. Not a vacation day , but a paid day off where I could stay in a hotel, maybe do some written work, and rest. That cost the client $1200 USD plus hotel and meals and so on.

The client found it more economical to have us fly business class. It was their choice.

Because there are more benefits than just being able to sleep comfortably.

I justified the cost of flying business class as buying for the space. Last year , I sat in a new business class seat of a non-US airline and roughly estimated that my seat was occupied a space as big as could occupied by four economy class seats. my ticket was not four time of an economy tickets so to me it’s worth it. Not only I could sleep good for 7 hours of a 12 hour flight, I also enjoyed two good meals, snacks and drinks, and did not have to suffer squeezing myself into a small ball so I would not get in contact with somebody else body if I was unlucky to have a large seat mate with his or her flesh spilling over my seat.

In economy, during a long flight, you either had to ask somebody to let you get out to use the bathroom or somebody may wake you up so they can go to the bathroom.

I don’t have any corporation to pay for my tickets but if the flight is longer than 7 hours, and I cannot afford the business class, I just stay home.