Flight Upgrades-When it's actually worth paying the Extra!

 This is probably stating the obvious:  Flying is no fun.  I could go on and on about the seat comfort, stale air, bathrooms, general feeling of being treated like cattle (at best...often, the treatment make me feel like  a criminal), and so on.  These things are all particularly (and painfully!) true when sitting in Coach.

I'm starting to reach that point-especially on longer flights-where I no longer can deal with Coach, and find myself gazing longingly at Premium Economy or Business class and wondering if I should have made the outright purchase-or at the least, purchased the upgrade.

It got me thinking about when it's worth the extra cost-and in particular, when is the extra cost a good deal.  Sometimes, it's a no-brainer (American Airlines used to offer on the day upgrades from London to the US for $300  the actual definition of 'no-brainer').  Other times, unless your finances are truly unlimited, there is an internal debate to be had-where you likely have to balance the flying time versus the cost.  Yes, there are other things to contemplate (like the aforementioned seat comfort and bathrooms), but even these functions ultimately come down to flying time-there is a biiig difference between sitting in a Coach seat for two hours versus 7.  There's a biiig difference between squeezing into a Coach bathroom once during your flight versus 3 times.  So, for ease of simplicity-and decision making-I tend to look at the basic math of cost of the upgrade divided by flying time. 

In my research, the general consensus of proper travel/frequent flyer writers (of which I am not one) is that if the upgrade costs less than $100 for each hour of travel, then it's worth the cost.  Anything more than $100 and unless you've just got some spare cash sitting around (Other than the Billionaires, does anyone have that these days?!?), don't do it.   Anything less than $100 (and assuming you have the cash to spend), then jump on the offer ASAP.

If you're looking to just outright purchase a Business Class seat (or even Premium Economy) during the initial booking, then the judgement becomes a bit less formulaic-you really have to look at the total travel experience versus the cost and make a decision.  Sometimes, it's an easy decision-last year, I only paid $500 more each way to purchase a Business class flight from the US to London compared to the Economy seat.  A no-brainer to me.  That extra $500 cost was going to allow me to land and hit the ground running (both going and coming home)-which was important to me given a whole host of circumstances.  But, if all I was going to do once I got to my destination was find a beach and relax for a week (OK.  Probably not in London, but you get the idea...), then perhaps the $500 would be better spent on food/drinks/a fun excursion when at said beach.

Anyway, I've started to apply the $100 per hour/upgrade rule to my current travel offers when I fly, and it's nice to take the debate out of the equation in terms of whether or not it's a good offer.  My brain like this!

I should also say that formula aside, the reasons for the better seat are just my own personal opinion.  But, what about you?  What is your 'formula' for making upgrade decisions for flights?  Sound off in the comments below!