People never cease to surprise me. Take Gordon_R for example.

Gordon_R and his traveling partner booked an economy-class ticket on Austrian Airlines from London to Vienna. They had a short connection time between flights and so decided to take Austrian up on an offer to upgrade to business class for just €129 each, as due to the short connection time they wouldn’t have time for a pre-flight meal at the airport and so would instead enjoy the business-class meal.

So, they purchased economy-class originally, then spent €258 on intra-European business-class upgrades primarily so they could get the better in-flight meal. And that intra-European business-class distinction is important because, as you may or may not be aware, intra-European business-class typically entails putting the middle seat down to use as a table and calling it an upgrade.

Reminds me of the old saying about peeing on my leg and telling me it’s raining.

Now Gordon_R, I’m not picking on you here. I have made similarly odd choices in my life, especially on long trips back to my home – I think it’s something to do with feeling like “I’m tired and I just want to be home already so yeah, if XYZ will make the remainder of this trip even slightly more bearable I’ll pay whatever you want.”

And judging by the comments, it seems other travelers can commiserate as well, as the advice is doled with a light touch.

I would never bother to pay to upgrade to business class on such a short flight, unless there is a good reason for it. ~Odin

It sounds like your primary reason for upgrading was to have a good meal on the plane and 129 euros each is a heck of a lot of money for that. I know this advice comes too late but I would grab a sandwich to go at the airport and eat it on the plane. … I’m glad check in and the lounge were OK, at least you got something for your money. Thanks for the warning. ~P_M

Thanks for the warning! Pity you didn’t just grab something at the airport! ~JAGIRL

So often we see people lamenting the state of online forums. They are full of jargon, they aren’t well organized/it’s too hard to find information, the people can be so mean. And all of these criticisms are valid to some degree.

But I would argue that more often, in the majority of travel forums at least, you will find threads like this one where fellow travelers commiserate, console, joke and offer helpful advice.

Thank you for sharing Gordon_R. And thank you for not riding him too hard Odin, P_M and JAGIRL.

Read the thread in its entirety: Austrian Airlines Business Class “Upgrade” – avoid