Well said. I have a brother who does a lot of international flying for business and to this day can't figure out why people would waste money and/or miles on first class. (Aside from the extremely wealthy who have more money than they know what to do with of course.) Business has been and always will be perfectly fine for him.

I think your wife and my wife think very much the same when it comes to travel! I have never been on int 1st so will wait till next year to see if I agree with you there but have a feeling I will (you tend to be right about stuff). But you have to agree that service in biz or better is 10x the service "behind the curtain" or? At least on my dear DELTA that is the case.

I can't disagree with you more. 12,500 miles to move from business to first? A pittance.
And not everyone lives or travels to some backwoods town and has to book expensive coach domestic tickets.
To fly Cathay Pacific First Bali/SFO for 75k British pesos instead of an inferior seat in Business for 50k is a spectacular treat. But I would never upgrade from coach to first on a domestic flight, but I will buy an exit row.
And I bought my first new car at 53, use Slingbox instead of cable, and use a space heater in my bedroom instead of heating the whole house at night, so frugality isn't a foreign concept to me.
Viva la Internacional First class experiencia!

To each their own.

…shouldn't the point really be that the best use of miles is the one that makes the most sense for you personally? Some people are fine with coach, some people like international FC, etc.
As long the person is happy with their redemption and they're not blowing 40000 miles on a toaster, then I'm cool with it.

I'm still somewhat amazed that this whole issue turned into a debate/disagreement about how to redeem miles. If it makes sense for a person to redeem domestically, then they should go for it. If it makes sense for them to redeem for international first, they should go for it. We are all here to help people earn and redeem miles however it makes sense for them. Sometimes that will mean a 500 mile flight in coach and sometimes it will be a flight around the world in first (or business in your case!).

You will always find me on the "side" of do what works for you.

I think it depends on the redemption rate as a few others mentioned. If it's a 17.5K difference between Business and First then I'd go with First. There are some award tickets that have a 30K+ difference and that is understandable. I don't think it's even worth spending miles for F during domestic flights unless there are no Saver Economy tickets left but there are Saver First. Since Anytime Economy and Saver First require the same amount of miles then it's understandable. If you have a lot of miles and are flying JFK-SFO/LAX then it's worth doling out miles for F for the PS flight as well otherwise it's not worth it.

BTW on the good points raised above regarding domestic F… well I agree but this is why I also love Delta. As you can upgrade even on award reservations. On certain routes like anywhere to CUN for example chances of upgrades are real high so this is a very nice bene.

My wife and I's motto is Go, See, Do. And it's not that important to us to be pampered on the way. We like to spend our capital, miles, points or dollars, at our destination, seeing and doing. And if anyone would like to get rid of their Avios 'Pesos', I'm here. Taking my wife to the Smokey Mountains for a weekend right before Christmas. Total r/t points for two on AA via Avios? 18k from DFW to BNA. That's for TWO ROUND TRIPS!! That's pretty good value my friend. Thanks for your blog. I enjoy it and profit from it.

I fully understand your position although it´s not my personal choice ( and in the end the best use of FF miles comes down to personal choices ).

One thing that bothers me in your argument, is the difference you mention returning from China of 55K miles in business vs. 67.5K in F.

If, as you state, your accumulating miles at under .2cents per mile the 12.5K miles difference is 25 bucks !???

Who, in a sane mind, wouldn´t fork out $25 for an upgrade from J to F on a 12 hour + flight ?

From my view that´s the major fault in your reasoning.

P.S. Even if that´s a typo I would still pay $250 for an up on such a long flight.

I agree 100%.
My first summer vacation choices are places with good camping resorts (BC, Alberta). It's not that I can't afford it, or use points for a nice hotel. I just like sleeping in my OWN bed (sleeping bag) and in my own room (tent). Just the thought of sharing the same mattress with a 1000 other people makes me queasy…

I have beef with the people who respond to posts like this with the "Do whatever works for you and stop judging people" statement. Man, I like the fact that you have an opinion on this website. I may, at times, disagree with you, but I think its great that you have a perspective on this issue. Maybe for the softies you can throw in the preceding phrase "[You may feel differently, but] I think F is a waste of miles."

Thanks for being your own advocate. That's why I read your site! Don't ever feel bad for having an opinion!

Last year I used 135k AA for RDU-LGA-YYR-HKG, BKK-HKG-YYR-RDU Cathay Pacific First Class. I could not imagine having to sit in coach for this itinerary, the YYR-HKG was 14 hrs! not to mention the travel time to RDU, stress of possible cancelled flight because of ice, layover in LGA, long layover in YYR. Needless to say by the time I got to HKG I was ready for that arrival lounge shower.

What if my home airport was JFK and I had acquired the nonstop JFK-HKG on CX, and wasn't my first time flying CX, then I could see myself in J and save those 25k miles.

Visiting various travel blogs made me appreciate the luxury of first class travel and experiencing something that others dream of.

I splurged one domestic trip to vegas in F, the only way I would ever do that again is if all saver economy awards were taken. Just not big enough difference between domestic coach / F on a 4 hr flight. imho

Great discussion

What a lively discussion across the blogospere. After reading all the comments and posts from other bloggers I can make the statement clearly again that I initially made. "International Business Class is good enough for me"

For you? Well, that is your own personal decision and after all, that is what is important. With the tips and tricks we all share, now at least you have a choice.

I heard about this blog and the genius behind it, tonight on the news. I have a problem and want to know if maybe the Travel Guy has my solution. My friend and I are taking a week vacation in Anaheim, California for spring break in March and still need our plane tickets. Could I use your plan, apply for a credit card or something, to get our tickets? If not do you maybe have another plot for two collage girls and their California getaway?