On Saturday morning I put to you, my readers, a poll asking if I should take a ridiculously early 6:30am transcon in United’s p.s. Business Class (confirmed upgrade at time of booking) or a later flight allowing me to sleep a full night in my own bed but where I likely would be in coach (albeit with extra legroom). I cannot really say I’m surprised with the results of the poll – well over half voted for the early flight – but that’s not what I’m going to fly on. I made my choice on being most comfortable for the trip. That’s different (slightly, but still) than most comfortable just for the flight.
Here’s the thing: I sleep better at home than on a plane. My bed is more comfortable than any on a plane. Quieter, with more space and less noise. Yes, the business class seat is nicer than the economy class one, but both are well below the comfort level of being asleep at home rather than getting a great nap on the plane, which is what many suggested in recommending the early flight. I will be more rested in California having a full night’s sleep in my own bed. And, at the end of the day, feeling good for the week of conference is what is important to me, not the in-flight experience.
Once I decided to sleep in rather than be up early the choices became a bit muddied. My event is actually in Anaheim so I chose to skip LAX completely and fly in to either SNA or LGB to save some time on arrival and to avoid the crazy that is LAX and at least some of the freeway driving. Plus it should save me a bit of cash with the transfer costs down to Disney. Connecting flights were about the same price as the non-stop on JetBlue and there’s no real reason I could come up with to do a connection over the non-stop. Again, the focus on getting where I need to be and doing so reasonably comfortably.
So I’m flying JetBlue. It is a Sunday afternoon so I’ll have live football on the TVs in flight to keep me distracted if need be. And maybe even the FlyFi in-flight internet service will show up on my flight.
Sorry to disappoint you.
As for the RPU winner, Carsten’s was the comment selected at random. And it happened to be a vote in line with my actual plan:
The 4:30am wakeup call is ridiculous; don’t do it (1:30 SoCal time). You can get plenty of work done or rest in an economy plus seat on the 6 hour flight.
I’ve already sent an email with prize claim details.
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I agree with your decision, but it does seem a wee bit odd to make a poll asking what to do and then do something different.
Why? It’s an opinion poll, not an “I’ll do whatever the majority votes” poll.
Great idea for the poll, just to see what others think.
And any reason to fly into LGB is perfect, the airport was fun before and now is stunning.
Totally agree with this decision.
So you asked for our input and then disregarded it? I don’t know who’s worse off, all of us that wasted time reading and voting or you? Silly.
No, he followed the input of those of us who suggested it made more sense to sleep in his own bed and try for an upgrade later in the morning. I felt like my input was regarded 😛