I Downgraded Myself To Economy, On Purpose
- Konrad Tillman
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
Intro
Most of the time in the frequent flyer world, one becomes happy when a complimentary upgrade comes across your plate. However, last week I happened to be flying from San Diego to Chicago, and I decided to downgrade myself midflight.
Why Would I Do This?
Ask yourself this question: if someone offered you a lie-flat seat, instead of a recliner, which one would you choose?
As I headed down to San Diego in the early evening, I was monitoring the seat map and came across the fact that the whole upgrade list had cleared, nobody was on standby, and economy was 2/3 empty.
So as I arrived at the United Club in San Diego, I thought to myself 🤔, do you think it would be possible to have my meal, and then go lie down in the back as this is a redeye?
Following a lovely visit (people are so nice in San Diego), I headed off on board this 3-year-old 737 Max 8 and took my seat in Domestic First, thanks to the CPU clearing 99 hours in advance.
Yada yada yada, takeoff was normal and all of that, until the cabin crew brought out my meal 30 minutes after takeoff. Scoffling it down, I grabbed my stuff, headed up to the front, and asked if I could take up one of the empty rows in economy. Without hesitation, the lovely flight attendant said, "No problem," and I was on my way back to economy.
In all the years of hoping for a free upgrade to First Class, I never once thought I'd want to move back to economy 😅. Obviously, once you move back, you can't move forward again due to being annoying to the seatmate... Maybe you could, but you shouldn't.
I ended up getting about 2.5 hours of sleep, and we touched down in Chicago well ahead of schedule at 3:30 am local time (what a horrible redeye).
What Would You Have Done?
So now I beg the question: if you were in this situation, what would you have done?
I know that many people sleep well in those recliner seats, but in my non-professional opinion, some sort of lying down will always outweigh the recliner experience, regardless of whether you don't get free-flowing drinks on the flight.
Adding on, it made me wonder: if someone offered me a free row in economy on a 4-hour flight (guaranteed) or a seat in a completely full Domestic First Class Cabin, I would probably choose the economy row. What are your thoughts, since I am guessing most of you fly A LOT?
Final Thoughts
Last week, I was on a flight from San Diego to Chicago and cleared a CPU to Domestic First Class on United. While usually I would be over the moon, I decided to move back to economy to a full row after scoffing down my delicious chicken breast. It makes me wonder if a full row in economy or a single seat in Domestic First is better 🤔.
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