Continental First Class?

[General Panic]

Hi all
I'm flying over from Scotland into Newark then onto Orlando this September ,all on Continental Economy/Coach class.

I have it seems enough points accrued to let me upgrade my Newark onto Orlando flight from Coach to First with a fee of $75 plus my points.

Never had the pleasure to use this and just wonder if any can recomend it for a 2 and bit hour flight?.
To complicate it a bit more there will be 3 off us ( i have enough points myself for all 3) and i was going to treat my 2 brothers to this and not let on till we board the aircraft , so my cost becomes $225 , still worth it maybe?

Or should i keep my $225 and buy something nice in Disney?

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

I have flown Continental first class a number of times, although always between Washington DC and Houston. I would say it's fairly standard for first class - bigger seat, more leg room, early boarding privileges, some type of meal, free headphones for the TV. I've never had a meal I would consider anything better than OK on one of these flights. Washington to Houston is a bit longer (3.5 hours), but I've never found the extra benefits to be particularly extravagant. And the times I haven't been in first class, I never found coach to be that big of a deal. The biggest thing for me, always, is getting to board the plane early enough to have overhead space for my bag, which may not be an issue for you coming from over seas.

I guess my recommendation is, no, it's not worth it, unless you just want to live it up a little bit with your brothers, in which case you are buying the upgrade just to have it more than for any actual benefit you will receive.

Now if you could upgrade the overseas flight, then you'd be talking, but I suspect that costs a whole lot more points.

 

[prncess674]

No way would I blow 45,000 (15,000 * 3 people) miles and $225 for a mediocre seat and a few free alcoholic drinks. For 50K (so only needing to collect 5K more in miles) you could get a free roundtrip ticket London to Orlando in coach.

 

[deegack]

We upgrade when we can but dh is 6'7" so coach can sometimes be painful for him. However, we usually wait until we check in 24 hours in advance of the flight and see if they are offering any deals to upgrade. We paid around $60 each last time (one way) and no points.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

For domestic US first class, I'd be hard pressed to use that amount of points, plus the fee.

 

[DebbieB]

Unless you have alot of miles to burn, I would not do it for a short flight. I have done it in the past from Pittsburgh to LAX but that was 5 hours. It was USAirways, it was awhile ago and there was not a cash payment, I think it was 10,000 miles at the time. At the time I was traveling alot for work and accumulating alot of miles.

 

[General Panic]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I don't exarctly have points to burn , i actually have almost exactly the amount needed for this particular exercise but it doesn't sound like it's going to be worth it.

I've been saving these points for years. Did try to use them last year but although they say it's a free flight in Economy you have to pay the tax , currently £310 and i was getting sent round the town to get to Orlando. Edinburgh via Frankfurt to Newark onto Orlando , bit more direct on the way home but a 12 hour lay over in Newark. This was booking 9 months ahead for travel in September!

So i thought i'd try and find another way to spend my miles

Back to the drawing board.

Thanks anyhoo peeps.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I agree - it's a waste to use these points and money to upgrade for such a short flight, unless you have no other use for the points. As someone else already stated, it's almost always worth it to upgrade for an international flight.