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I just got off of a flight, it was about 40 minutes in the air, and there were people who paid to upgrade to 'first class' for a 40 minute flight.
I'd rather be peasant class than so weak that I couldn't stand 40 minutes sitting 6 inches closer to the person next to me.
How do you know they paid? When I was a frequent flier I'd always get upgraded on short flights because... No one paid for first class on those flights but the airline could consume an upgrade.
Plus iirc it looks better to the airline to have first filled up, so the cattle class see it as something to aspire to
If you have a long layover, flying business or first on any leg gives you (or used to) access to the premium lounge, so sometimes you can recover what you pay for the upgrade, but most of the time they give them to the gold or whatever members who are flying
They give out money in the lounge?
They give food, beverages and comfortable chairs
That's not enough to make up for the difference in price
Upgrading on those short flights is usually less than $40. If you have a long layover you can definitely get your money back. Even just being able to sit in a comfortable chair adds some value
wow, 40$. Upgrading on my flight home was 800€ (which I did not take obviously). It's a long distance but still
I've never seen an upgrade that cheap, but the shortest flight I've ever taken (and actually frequently take) is 90 minutes - and the upgrade cost is still an order of magnitude over $40.
But yeah, that would be worth $40.
I've seen $40 a few times with Delta during check in on flights of less than 2 hours. I guess it's like a last minute deal trying to sell the upgrade instead of giving it to someone with premium status
If you had chronic back pain, you might consider paying for that upgrade. Normal plane seats are painful.
Hell, some airlines have seat pitches so low that I can't even fit in the seat.