Airline Flying Versus Actual Life

Just last week I was heading down to Brazil for an Embraer press event, and the good news was, thanks to some quirk of fortune, Continental had oversold its coach class seats on my nine-hour overnight flight from Houston to Sao Paulo, Brazil, so I was upgraded to Business/First. I was and remain happy for the fact. It meant that I didn't have to try sleeping bolt upright while being lulled sweetly by my neighbor's elbow searching for a home between my fourth and fifth ribs. First class would be a life saver.

And it was. Up to a point, that is.

By the 17th time the flight attendant had come by to offer me some little luxury--a hot towel, a linen napkin, a little all-in-one travel packet courtesy of Continental--I'd gotten to the point where I felt as though I was a player in a little pageant designed to teach everyone, especially those plebes back in coach, just how wonderful a thing it was to simply pay three times your coach ticket value to be treated like a human being. The nice folks at Continental were going to drive home the point that we lucky few were exceedingly well taken care of regardless of how annoying it was to us. And believe me, it was plenty annoying.

I don't know about you, but I like to be left alone when I don't have any compelling needs, even when that risks sending the message to any prying coach-class eyes that I'm not at that very second being pampered into a coma.

The good news was, they eventually left me alone and let me go to sleep. And the even better news was, the big seats reclined quite nicely, and I was actually able to sleep for several hours. Don't get me wrong: it wasn't anything remotely resembling a bed, but it was sleep of a sort. And I sorely needed it, as when I arrived in Sao Paulo, I had to hit the ground running.  I had a full day after an airline night's sleep in first class. Not ideal, but doable.

As it turned out, on my Brazil trip I got the chance to sample three distinctly different modes of air travel: the aforementioned first class method; bizjet flying, and coach. They were, in fact, so different from each other that it seems an accident of fate that they're all referred to as "flying."

As everybody with a pulse and an internet connection knows, there's been a huge backlash among lawmakers and in the general media over the use of business jets for, er, well . . . conducting business. Frankly, the concept seems uncontroversial, kind of like using a car to drive or a fishing boat to fish. But much to my amazement, there remains a sense that airlines are a reasonable alternative to bizjet travel. They aren't.

My bizjet travel opportunity came the very afternoon that I arrived in Sao Paulo. After a harrowing hour-long ride in a limo (well, actually a Brazilian-made Chevy compact of some kind) from the big airport to Embraer's factory in San Jose' dos Campos, I settled into a series of great briefings on everything from Embraer's progress on its Phenom 300 light jet progress to its use of 3-D virtual reality to pre-test prototypes before they actually build them. My confession: my eyes closed briefly during the presentations. Not that they weren't interesting. Quite the opposite. It was just that I hadn't really slept normally, I hadn't showered, I'd changed into fresh clothes in the airport bathroom and been subjected to an hour of Sao Paulo's traffic.

Following a quick lunch, we shuttled out to the runway there at San Jose' and climbed into a company Legacy 600, the bizjet version of Embraer's uber popular ERJ 145 regional jet.

The hour-long trip felt as thought it took about ten minutes. I grabbed a captain's seat and simply rested. The flight attendant came by and offered me a drink and a Brazilian chocolate, but other than that pretty much left me alone. It was heavenly.  The alternative? Well, other than a five-hour drive, there was no alternative.

Embraer doesn't have a jet that will make the trip from my home base of Austin to Sao Paulo non-stop. For that, you'd need an ultra-long-range airplane from Gulfstream, Falcon, Bombardier or, dare I say it, a Boeing BBJ or Airbus ACJ, all of which cost north of $45 million, in some cases, well north. 

Are they worth it? 

You bet. Had I flown a G550 non-stop from Austin to
San Jose' (no need to stop in Sao Paulo), I'd have arrived fully rested, showered, well fed and ready to do business. And I could have been back in the USA the very next morning, again, ready to work. The savings in time spent on such a trip is measured in days not hours. 

This lesson was driven home to me on my return flight on Continental when I was not upgraded to first class. It was a brutal experience, for me and my 200 fellow steerage-class passengers, and by the time I made it home to Austin--following a four-hour layover in Houston, I was done. In fact, a day later, I'm still recovering. It was much worse than my first-class trip down to Brazil, which itself had been less than ideal.

The trip gave me new insights into just how valuable bizjets are to the people who fly on them. Are they a huge perk? Sure. But they're a perk that pays for itself in productivity, flexibility and time saved.

Pols and pundits might bash them, but believe me, you won't be seeing Nancy Pelosi settling in next to you in the middle seat of the coach section on your trip from D.C. to LA.

She'll be taking the company jet.

Comments

[S. Thomas Still]

The rest of us are wondering if the choice was there to fly back to Austin on an Embraer jet with perhaps a fuel stop in Mexico City. As an avid supporter of the Brazilian jets I would hope and pray that somewhere a completed Embraer jet would be being delivered about the same time that the return trip was necessary. Perhaps some delicate inquiries and a simple agreement to tell the rest of the world of the experience could be a powerful tool to promote their aircraft. Of course Embraer is probably selling every airplane they can get off the manufacturing line and don't need the promotion but the rest of us would sure enjoy knowing what it's like to make that flight. We could compare it to a certain Boeing 737 that Southwest took delivery of a few years ago, written by another fine Flying writer. Anything to avoid 'coach'.

[Ken Pruyn]

Re: Pelosi -- Times do change. Back in the late 60s I commuted often twixt BOS and DCA on American's all coach BAC-111s. On one flight home the passenger across the aisle from me was Senator Edward M. Kennedy. He spent the entire trip reading "papers", not of the "news" variety, and writing furiously on his legal pad.

[pkatt]

This article needs to be in the Washington Post! This is like preaching to the choir.

[Dennis]

I feel your pain. I recently retired after 35 years as an aerospace engineer, manager and project manager for NASA and DoD. I've also been a flying reader since 1958. I was a frequent "road warrior" and often felt like I lived "in the back of the bus." Government employees have to fly coach, so I did. I got the job done, often to the detriment of my sleep. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the flying public cannot justify the extra cost of a bizjet, or they aren't allowed to do so. Given the constraints, my worst complaints were lack of legroom and getting stuck in a middle seat. On trips of about 400 miles or less it is easier to drive, so I often did. The total travel time is about the same, and I had control.

[Ben Caldwell]

My question would be "Is two days of your time worth the cost differential of commercial airline vs bus jet?" Obviously, you think it is. I doubt it.

[Kevin]

Ben - You have to consider who is flying in bizjets. For you and me, clearly the cost differential doesn't match. But when you're paying a CEO $50MM per year, that comes out to be almost $140K per day! So buying 2 days on a trip saves at best $280K (of course factor in that they'll get some work done on the plane, so say a net benefit/savings of $150K). Do 10 trips in a year and company saves $1.5M, on ONE executive! Add in more executives and the savings start piling up. Offset fuel, lease payment and pilot salaries, I'd bet you'd see bizjet flying still coming up economical.

Not to mention when bizjets aren't flying for their corporations, they are VERY often being donated out for flights with organizations like Make-a-wish, Angel Flight, etc..., doing good around world.

I think the case is strong that the cost differential is in favor of bizjets in many instances.

[Doug R]

As a 30 year commercial pilot and business owner I've looked at the business jet equation from all sides. There is no denying it, Business jets are the ultimate form of travel and the ultimate luxury for any business. Flying, you are missing the point as usual in your perpetual excitement over private jets. You are justifying all your numbers on a salary no one is worth; our current economy is proof of that.

[Rob Mc]

All of us pilots have strong sympathies with the usefulness of GA. But we need to remember that in these times, with companies trying to achieve "a black zero" on the profit side and with workers everywhere loosing their jobs, Bizjets are a huge source of social jealousy. Our company has a Gulfstream based in Germany and during these times the only sensible way to use it is like a commercial flight. If you know where it is going and you are headed in the same direction, you can make a few phonecalls and get on if there is a seat available. But you'd better be able to explain to Mr. Board Member why you really need to travel!

[John K.]

Something to think about....out of all of the Fortune 100 or 500 companies that operate corporate aircraft (80% +), do they own or operate these because they are successful or is a big part of their success due to the fact that they utilize this option for travel?

Yes, I'm a corp. pilot (22 years). There will always be something to be said for "known" safety, comfort and efficiency for any business traveler......the airlines will try to convince you otherwise. You cannot put a price on any of this and like Kevin pointed out above, when the math is done RIGHT, there isn't that much of a difference on a per/seat cost basis.

[Greg]

I'm a pilot and I aspire to have my own jet one day, even if it be a Diamond, Eclipse, Mustang, or the like. Possibly larger. Do I care what people who fly airlines think? Nope. It's my dollar, it's my choice. Every dollar of that choice goes back into an industry and economy I love and support. Pumping money into companies and industries that obviously can't manage their business properly is not something I like my tax dollars going towards. I have had the opportunity to fly coach, first class and in bizjets. I'll take the bizjet/personal aircraft over the airline anytime. Sure some trips may cost more and take a little longer (depending on the plane I'm in), but the experience of flying and being able to determine my own schedule is worth every cent. For those who complain about the cost of flying I ask you this: Since your life is finite, and the time you lose in a day cannot be reocovered, what value do you place on your time?? Is it $20 and hour? $50 an hour? If that is how you value your time, then you are deeply discounting it.

[Windtee.com®]

Bizjets... like jetliners, are mission critical.

Those who have the resources to afford the flexibility and convenience of personal jet-transportation should fly outside the limiting constraints of the airlines. Those who cannot, will continue with airline travel.

A business person who relies heavily upon air-travel for negotiations, can avail themselves to the large selection of landing sites and arrival & departure times of jet general aviation.

[toff linsmayer]

As a cost conscious operator, I tell my partners (family members) how much the100LL is going to cost for the mission and the relatve depreciation, verses the time lost, but money saved by utilizing discounted airline tickets. That varys with each mission. Next week we will loose 10 hrs. of convience over an 8 day period by not flying the Baron58, However we will save over $ 1.5K. Last month we saved$200, had an extra 3 hrs to enjoy in our private lives verses the humiliation of airline abuse and for those of us who love flight, the satisfaction of another great mission!

[r. Sheridan]

What a load of crap. All about the writer's personal comfort, not to mention your finicky needs to be left alone while in the lap of luxury. This is exactly the article you don't want in the Washington Post, because itt's all about a spoiled person's need for a $40 million dollar jet so they can sit in captain's chairs.

Grow up. For the first 10 years of Microsoft, Bill Gates flew coach. I know. I was often on the Seattle to NY flight. Somehow, just somehow, he apparently managed to grow a company and be productive.