Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone! I’m spending the week with my parents on Oahu and wanted to share my latest travel adventure. Personally, I can’t stand flying – especially in America – because something always seems to go wrong.
Just as I shared about my transition to paying 30% to 50% more for premium economy tickets to Honolulu, Hawaii, my family and I ended up downgrading to economy. Not only that, we were placed last in line! Oh, I gotta love having a bunch of people constantly hovering over you, occasionally farting, waiting to use the bathroom.
So how did we get stuck in the last row of economy class after paying for premium economy class seats? United Airlines happened, just like that!
Our streak of bad luck continues with United Airlines
Of the last five United Airlines flights my extended family and I have taken, there have always been issues.
My poor parents were delayed 18 hours flying from Honolulu to San Francisco. My father-in-law was late for 7 hours, and he finally gave in and paid for a hotel at the airport. Then my mother-in-law also experienced an overnight travel delay from Charlottesville, Virginia. Meanwhile, our last flight to Honolulu was delayed by three hours.
Why can’t United Airlines get it together? I’m not sure. At least my parents and in-laws got some travel vouchers. This time, United texted us the night before our flight, letting us know they had to switch planes. Fortunately, the 11:10am departure time was not affected. However, for some reason, we had to rebook all four seats!
By the time we checked in an hour after receiving the text, the only three seats left together were at the back of the plane. sigh. Wanting to stick to our planned departure time, we took them. We then reserved another economy seat several rows up, as there was not a single seat across the aisle, in the front row, or in the back row. We were on a plane with three seats on each side.
Economy class felt great to fly and save money
Before the seat change, we paid $3,000 for four Economy Plus tickets from San Francisco to Honolulu during Christmas week. It’s a lot of money, but we used some of our stock market returns to cover it. However, since all that was left were economy seats, we ended up with $190 x 4 back – $760 in our pockets!
Suddenly, we felt great about saving money again. Economy provides plenty of room for a 7.5 year old and a 5 year old. Additionally, my wife is smaller than average, and I am average height and size. For the parent sitting in class with two kids, being next to our little ones was much better than playing roulette and risking sitting next to an adult sitting in your seat.
I was the strange parent, sitting in a window seat next to two strangers. Fortunately, the person sitting next to me only extended into my space by about a centimeter. Yes, it was annoying to have to occasionally brush your teeth while typing, watching a show, or sleeping, but it wasn’t bad for a 5.5-hour flight. Of course, I gave the woman in the middle seat an armrest.
Truth be told, my wife was initially not happy about sitting in the back seat in economy class with the kids. But once I told her that we now had $760 to spend on everything we wanted during our vacation, she got excited. I also told her that I would gladly take turns swapping seats, especially if the kids got unruly. Fortunately, they were behaving well.
Spending our saved money on trips and food
The first thing we put our $760 savings toward was a dolphin adventure at Sea Life Park with the kids. It cost the four of us $600, and our kids loved it last time. hooray! A relatively pleasant economy class flight allowed us to spend an afternoon with one of our favorite mammals.
The second thing we planned was to buy $160 worth of fresh fruit from Fresh Catch and Tamura Market in Kaimuki. Hawaiian Bouquet blows all other areas out of the water! It’s my number one passion for food every time I return to the islands. We also decided to eat at Ono Hawaiian Foods because I love it Lao Lao And watercress soup with salted meat.
Instead, we thought about using the savings from traveling economy class to buy new iPhones from Apple. Our current iPhones are about five years old, and purchasing them in Hawaii will save us 4% — about $48 on every $1,200 purchase. not bad! Plus, as a long-time Apple shareholder, it’s great to support the company by using its products.
Every time my Apple stock returns at least 10 times the cost of a new phone or laptop, I get the green light to buy a new product. This methodology recreates the magic of home ownership, where you can live for free when your home is appreciated. But I usually wait five years before upgrading any Apple product.
Related: Follow the 10X Investing Depreciation Rule to Fix Bad Spending Habits
Saving money is a great feeling
After this experience, I may need to downgrade all of our family flights to economy from now on. Our first family trip ever in Economy Plus was good, but this second trip in Economy was good too. I prefer to save money, especially since at least three family members are guaranteed to sit next to people they know and whose seats fit.
Part of the downside of flying in America is the risk of sitting next to someone taking up your space. Seat sizes have stayed the same — or gotten smaller — while Americans have gotten larger. But even if I was a little stressed out, it wouldn’t be bad if the flight was less than six hours. I can always get up and stretch my legs for a timeout.
From now on, I will calculate the cost difference between flying Premium Economy or First Class and flying Economy, and then make a list of things we will buy with the money saved by choosing the cheapest option.
But just making a list of potential purchases isn’t enough, we’ll actually be spending money! This way, every trip feels like a reward for being frugal.
Final point: kudos for not being tall!
Finally, if you’re petite and short, feel blessed! When you travel, sitting in economy class may feel similar to how a larger person feels sitting in first class. This fact becomes clear when traveling with young children. If paying for first class seems like a waste of money for adults, it certainly is for kids!
Just as it’s best to delay giving your kids phones as long as possible to protect their mental health, it’s also a good idea to delay the experience of flying in a classroom that only the wealthy can comfortably afford.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it felt to fly economy again, even though I paid for premium economy tickets. Usually, it’s easy to be disappointed when expectations aren’t met, but not this time. This time, I realized we were an economy class family and we enjoyed it!
Here’s to saving money while traveling and using those savings to spend on a better vacation adventure.
Related: A Vacationer’s Guide to Enjoying Your Vacation Time Responsibly
ReadersDo any of you who can afford Economy Plus or First Class actually enjoy flying economy and saving money? How much do you think you need to earn to justify splurging on upgraded seats for your kids? Isn’t sitting in economy class and watching a movie one of the easiest ways to save or earn money?
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