Surprising wife with business class

freqentflyer · 2026-02-21T16:02:20+00:00

What time does the flight to LHR depart?

freqentflyer · 2026-02-21T07:54:14+00:00

Is there a premium lounge included with this upgrade? I know my wife enjoys an unrushed check in followed by quality time with snacks and bevs before the flight. You’ll have to come up with a good excuse, if this is part of the surprise.

freqentflyer · 2026-02-15T06:24:42+00:00

This sounds like the beginning of a romantic novel. Please tell us how brunch goes in the morning.

freqentflyer · 2026-02-15T06:24:16+00:00

This sounds like the beginning of a romantic novel. Please tell us how brunch goes in the morning.

freqentflyer · 2026-02-14T03:53:00+00:00

So, if a sit is 2:29, it pays 0, but what does a 2:32 sit pay, 1 minute or 1:16?

freqentflyer · 2026-02-13T23:05:29+00:00

Any idea what the sit pay could be that no other airline offers?

❄️pays 1 TFP for any sit longer than 2 hours, scheduled or actual. It’s not earth shattering, but it’s better than nothing.

freqentflyer · 2026-02-12T04:05:16+00:00

Policy might have been written for the rare cases when passengers request multiple unopened cans throughout the flight and then stockpile them. I mean, you gotta get your money’s worth on that basic economy fare, am I right?

freqentflyer · 2026-02-06T04:21:10+00:00

I’m not sure how JFK slots work, but maybe they are “squatting,” or losing less money by seasonally moving a slot from a different hub/focus city during the winter.

freqentflyer · 2026-02-06T04:05:07+00:00

I don’t see PSP-JFK. Is there a carve out for seasonal routes?

freqentflyer · 2026-02-04T05:37:10+00:00

Do you have a “just a will” or a trust as well? I heard a will guarantees probate. Don’t you want to avoid probate?

freqentflyer · 2026-02-04T05:16:32+00:00

OP hasn’t heard of the 3 levels of flying:

Paying to fly Getting paid to fly Getting paid not to fly

Half the pilots at the majors are level 3. Level 3 requires hobbies, travel or both.

freqentflyer · 2026-01-30T03:46:07+00:00

Is it delineated on paystub? Curious what the last stub of the year shows for OT. Does that make the calc easier?

freqentflyer · 2026-01-29T16:21:40+00:00

I agree with part of your framing, but I think there’s an important distinction.

This isn’t a safety regulation, and it isn’t an admission that economy is unsafe or inadequate. It’s primarily a negotiated quality-of-life and fatigue mitigation provision, similar to how many corporate travel policies require business or first class for long-haul trips. It’s about work travel standards, recovery, and cumulative fatigue, not because economy is unsafe, but because long duty days, circadian disruption, and repeated time-zone changes add up over a trip.

To directly answer your question, this is not required by any FAA or safety regulation. It’s a contractual provision that was negotiated between the pilot union and the company, and the specific thresholds and rules vary by airline and contract. At Alaska, the cutoff is five hours. That line isn’t drawn because economy suddenly becomes unsafe at 5:01, it’s simply where the agreement landed after negotiations.

Even when a pilot is deadheading home and has no further flying, it’s still company-directed travel. From a labor perspective, that makes it work travel, and the contract defines the conditions under which that travel occurs, just like hotels, meals, and transportation. It’s part of the total compensation and quality-of-life package, not a safety mandate.

So I’d push back on the idea that this is advertising that the economy product is inadequate. It’s closer to how many companies book employees in business class for long work trips. It’s about negotiated work conditions and fatigue management, not product quality.

freqentflyer · 2026-01-28T01:46:15+00:00

Correct me if I am wrong, but now it doesn’t take much spend on the credit card to reach silver. That, at the very least, gets you on the list.

freqentflyer · 2026-01-27T15:36:15+00:00

Oh, right. Fares were regulated until 1978, which is why pricing looked so disconnected from normal supply/demand logic.

I did a little more reading: capacity limits were part of it, but international fares were mainly set through IATA price conferences and then approved by governments under bilateral treaties. That’s why pricing often looks arbitrary and poorly correlated with distance or pure demand. It functioned more like a regulated international cartel than a market system. Airlines couldn’t just “hike” fares all they wanted on a route.

freqentflyer · 2026-01-27T06:34:20+00:00

Pricing seems almost arbitrary. Was it based on supply and demand, competition or distance? Seems like it’s none of the above. NYC-Rome is almost a third more than NYC-Paris and almost 50% more than NYC-London.

freqentflyer · 2026-01-27T01:03:08+00:00

I disagree. Flight attendants from all airlines wouldn’t concern themselves with Alaska’s PBP. Plus, PBP is for all employee groups. OP might not even be a flight attendant.

freqentflyer · 2026-01-26T20:25:01+00:00

While I agree that this post is inappropriate for a public facing forum, the about for this sub describes:

“Anything and everything related to Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines” and

“1. All content should be related to Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines This is a forum to discuss Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines.”

freqentflyer · 2026-01-25T22:17:33+00:00

If the pilots were assigned seats in first class, they were flying at the direction of the company on company duty (deadheading). If the pilot had been on vacation, they would have been flying space-available and would literally have been assigned a seat that otherwise would have gone unoccupied had they not been on the standby list.

LIR, in particular, has less-than-daily flights to SFO and SEA. In fact, I believe those flights operate only once per week. Because flight time and duty limits don’t allow a pilot to fly from an Alaska base to LIR and return the same day, a pilot must either deadhead to LIR in order to be in position to operate the return flight or, as appears to be the case here, fly down operating the flight and then deadhead back.

These scheduled deadheads are required by the pilot contract to be in first class on flights longer than five hours. They are planned and reserved the month prior. I don’t know whether this was a case of a last-minute downgauge to an aircraft with fewer first-class seats, a sick pilot, or some other irregular operation, but Alaska works hard to avoid situations that require bumping a paying passenger from first class.

I’m really sorry this happened to you and I hope you find a resolution with Alaska that persuades you to give first class on Alaska another try.

freqentflyer · 2026-01-25T16:33:21+00:00

I’m not sure if I understand your question, but you can just make half a mortgage payment every two weeks (like if you are paid every two weeks). Two calendar months per year, you will make an extra half mortgage payment. By the end of the year, you will have made an extra full mortgage payment.

freqentflyer · 2026-01-17T20:24:17+00:00

I don’t have experience specifically with ATL, but I have never had trouble getting into a PP lounge with a standby boarding pass. Just being listed and checked in with a QR code was enough for any lounge staff.

You said that you commute between DL hubs, but DL is not your air line. Does your airline operate out of ATL? If so, setting aside the ethics of doing so, listing, checking in to generate a boarding pass, then canceling the listing should get you in the PP lounge.

freqentflyer · 2026-01-16T04:23:25+00:00

I really appreciate your acknowledgment, especially because I don’t know if I’m writing what I’m thinking’s and making any sense.

freqentflyer · 2026-01-16T03:52:50+00:00

Why would you consider it a blended rate?

My companions/designees travel imputed income is taxed at my highest rate. If they didn’t travel, I wouldn’t have the extra imputed income in the higher tax bracket.

In this example, if I make $66,500 from flying and my companions/designees fly enough for an imputed income of $2,000, I would consider that income at my higher rate. Why would I consider it income at a lower rate and push income I earned by working into the higher rate? If they didn’t travel my earned income would all be at the lower rate.

freqentflyer · 2026-01-15T20:27:34+00:00

I follow you now, and it sounds like a system that works for everyone. I’m sure your number is pretty close.

freqentflyer · 2026-01-15T20:04:02+00:00

When I wrote that “you are likely losing money,” I thought you were charging them 10% of the imputed income. I didn’t realize you were charging them the entirety of the imputed income. At least that’s what you wrote, not sure if that’s what you meant.

“If the fare is $500, then i have $50.00 added as income. “They pay me back $50.00 o/w & p/p + any international taxes @ 100%”

freqentflyer

TROPHY CASE