Why is a Self Funded Flight Different?

[TonyHancock]

I'm trying to get my head around the whole "self funded" flight scenario that appears to be so important to many on AFF. :?:

Last year I timed both my self funded and business flights to the UK and within a few minutes they were pretty much the same. The mileage was exactly the same according to cabin crew and pilots. Yet it appears that on AFF the flights paid for by the business I work for are substantially different than the flights I paid for myself. At best I can be oblivious to all that goes on around me but try as hard as I could I was unable to detect any difference. My treatment on board was identical, I was flying BA so was treated with complete indifference whether my company had paid or not.

Is there a difference between "self funded" First Class, "self funded" Business Class and "self funded" Economy Class? In the world of the "self funded" is a flight paid for with points of less or more value than a flight paid for by cash? Is there an etiquette I need to be aware of?

To me a flight is a flight however it is paid for, yet there is a consistent undercurrent here that those who are "self funded" are in some way superior to those who aren't. It really is quite baffling.

Please, please can someone explain the differences? It is tearing my inner self apart as I ruminate on the subject whilst flying. ([-]750 hours[/-] errr........errr.....36.5 hours last year, I almost forgot to take away the business travel.)

 

[Boca68]

Well, there is a difference.

You are correct, that a flight is a flight, no matter how it is paid for. But, I would say many (not all) look at a flight paid for by the company as not quite the same. I think , its an envy thing mostly. Its a situation that not too many enjoy. Perhaps in your life experience, you have become complacent about the privileges your work has given you. But, then again, you may be the CEO or owner and having to pay for it, in the final analysis. I don't know.

I feel, the self funded flyer, has a different perspective, in that they feel they have truly worked for it. Rather than being handed it. I'm loathed to draw an analogy, but think public school Vs private school. Its like Daddy bought it for you. Ok, you can say you worked hard and studied hard for elevated position you have as a counter argument. And I know you most likely have. I have been in the corporate game before and did quite a lot of flying for the company. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of the advantages it could have given me at that time. So, truly didn't care. I look back now and think what I missed. It would have been 600 SC a year without even trying. Basically free! Even better, I would have been paid to do it!

But, that been said, its not a question that I worry about. I'm happy with my lot now. I'm not sure the perception amongst many will change about the corporate flyer chasing 'status' . Is it different for the FIFO flyer than MEL-SYD shuttle flyer? Probably not. But, I have seen the disdain that is attributed to the FIFO flyer before on AFF.

Its just human nature, unfortunately.

I'm mostly self funded nowadays (90% approx)

P.S- if you need a PA on your work trips....send me a PM..

 

[Pushka]

Ask Griselda.

 

[defurax]

I'm trying to get my head around the whole "self funded" flight scenario that appears to be so important to many on AFF. :?:

Last year I timed both my self funded and business flights to the UK and within a few minutes they were pretty much the same. The mileage was exactly the same according to cabin crew and pilots. Yet it appears that on AFF the flights paid for by the business I work for are substantially different than the flights I paid for myself. At best I can be oblivious to all that goes on around me but try as hard as I could I was unable to detect any difference. My treatment on board was identical, I was flying BA so was treated with complete indifference whether my company had paid or not.

Is there a difference between "self funded" First Class, "self funded" Business Class and "self funded" Economy Class? In the world of the "self funded" is a flight paid for with points of less or more value than a flight paid for by cash? Is there an etiquette I need to be aware of?

To me a flight is a flight however it is paid for, yet there is a consistent undercurrent here that those who are "self funded" are in some way superior to those who aren't. It really is quite baffling.

Please, please can someone explain the differences? It is tearing my inner self apart as I ruminate on the subject whilst flying. ([-]750 hours[/-] errr........errr.....36.5 hours last year, I almost forgot to take away the business travel.)

Lol, after seeing "self funded" written in so many posts yesterday I almost started the exact same thread. Thanks for writing it more eloquently

 

[Happy Dude]

Ok I'll bite.

On points of pedantic technicalities, you are, of course, correct. A flight is a flight, after all. But what you need to hear is that if you're travelling on the company dime and you have a cough flight (say, a J/F flight ruined by a snoring fatso or a screaming infant), all you're really left with is bad experience which, ironically, will make great fodder for the next AFF forum topic or water cooler chat. However if you're taking that same flight that may be part of some bucket list, once in a lifetime experience that you've fished dimes out of a sewer to afford, and the same thing happens, then you're left with the same bad experience but also a perception that you didn't get particularly good value for money. You can't say that if it isn't your money. The same argument applies to losses involving time.

Hence it is reasonable to conclude that, when things go wrong at least, company-fundeds suffer less than self-fundeds. Any notion of superiority, or otherwise, is your own.

 

[TonyHancock]

Well, there is a difference.

I must confess I did not expect such a reasoned response to my somewhat mad ramblings!!!

Flying is and always has been an occupational hazard for me. It gets me to where I need to be to do....well......stuff or even less if I can help it. No privilege, no enjoyment for me, just 750 hours, or for shock factor 31 days, sitting in a tube last year. I'm neither proud or pleased it was just a something I needed to do. Sure I could change jobs but I chose not to. I enjoyed the stuff I did at the other end. I don't believe I have worked any harder than anyone else in my life. ([-]Some[/-] Most might say I have worked considerably less than the vast majority!!!)

There has always been a bit of what I call, rightly or wrongly, "Self Funded Snobbery", on AFF whether it is at the expense of the business traveller or the child whose parents pay for them to travel in premium cabins. You used the word envy and you may well be correct.

I'd like to think I don't have a flyer related snobbery, but I do. :shock: I'm a strong believer that politicians should just be caged and air freighted.

I have another question for those in the self funded flyer community............."Is there a difference between say a minimum wage self funded flyer and the millionaire self funded flyer?"

 

[TonyHancock]

Any notion of superiority, or otherwise, is your own.

Pfffft well obviously I am superior, that's why it is frustrating to see so many posts from those claiming "self funded" status as if it is something of note.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Bit bored today Tone?

 

[samh004]

The difference between self-funded and any other funding is that with something that you funded yourself, you naturally appreciate it more, because it cost you money. If someone else bought it for you, you'd appreciate it less – not to say you wouldn't appreciate it, though – as you have less investment in it.

All of my SC runs have been torture, but I have appreciated them. If someone else has been flying me on them I feel like I may have just looked at them as a chore instead.

 

[get me outta here]

Tony, it is all in the mind.

 

[TonyHancock]

The difference between self-funded and any other funding is that with something that you funded yourself, you naturally appreciate it more, because it cost you money. If someone else bought it for you, you'd appreciate it less – not to say you wouldn't appreciate it, though – as you have less investment in it.

I think this is where I am going wrong. I didn't feel any different about my self funded First Class trip to the UK than I did about my business paid for trip with the free upgrades to First Class. In both cases they were just a means of transport to a destination where I was going to do "stuff". I think the differences are more subtle than I first thought. This is about me not seeing flying as something potentially pleasurable

of my SC runs have been torture, but I have appreciated them. If someone else has been flying me on them I feel like I may have just looked at them as a chore instead.

My self funded status runs, yes I have completed status runs, have also been torture and you won't be surprised to know that I saw them as a chore.

Tony, it is all in the mind.

...yes but my mind is very small so I need everything explained in words of four letters or less.

 

[TomVexille]

Certainly it's a "I earned this shiny plastic card with my own money and I was clever to do it!" vs "my company paid and I got this shiny plastic card in the mail"

 

[TonyHancock]

Certainly it's a "I earned this shiny plastic card with my own money and I was clever to do it!" vs "my company paid and I got this shiny plastic card in the mail"

How strange.........time to get the abridged Freud out me thinks.

So.....does that mean I need to get the part of my shiny card I earned with self funded travel produced in a different colour to the rest of the card?

 

[Deleted member]

At the risk of adding more of the same, there are people here who fly for work, whether that be FIFO, or capital city commute (Dom or Intl), a good number of them are able to achieve status that they might not otherwise achieve were they to have to "self Fund" the travel. ALL of my "funded" travel is "self Funded" so I rely on careful fare selection (specials and the like) status credit promotions etc, and so far (touch wood) have been able achieve and retain WP status for a few years (4 going for 5) now. FWIW, in spite of not being self funded, those "commuters / FIFO workers etc" spend way more time on planes than I could tolerate, so they're welcome to their status, its well earned!

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Please, please can someone explain the differences?

Well both Self-Funded and Company Funded can if they choose have chips on their shoulders.




PS: I have been both Self-Funded and Company-Funded at various points in my life and now am also Company-Funded but Self-Funded as I own the company ! Does this now make me some form of weird-hybrid now?

PSS: Back when I used have an annual personal travel budget of what was then about double the average wage, yes I used to get some lurks and perks. But equally I was often flying in my own time rather than the companies time and my social and family life was hugely disrupted. Was it fun for a while = Yes. Do I miss it now? = No not in the slightest.

 

[browski]

There are a few other differences as well.
1. Many self-funded flyers would not fly Business class or First Class on Qantas/Emirates to the UK/Europe/US. They would fly Business Class on an airline with a better (cheaper) price, or they would fly Economy. I have so many colleagues who fly Business Class for work, but when they go on a vacation on their own dime.......it is in Economy. Once you are self-funded you pick the best value Business Class fare. When you are on the company dime, you only pay lip-service to the flight costs; if you are made to have a flight on a non-QFF earning airlines, then you tend to whinge and have a face like a cat's bum.
2. Flyers on the company dime, tend to make flight costs more expensive for the rest of us.

 

[kpc]

I take great satisfaction that I qualify and requalify QF plat each year on someone's else's dime (only partly true)! So there....!! ....then I get to enjoy my status on my self funded trips

 

[TonyHancock]

1..........(snip)...When you are on the company dime, you only pay lip-service to the flight costs; if you are made to have a flight on a non-QFF earning airlines, then you tend to whinge and have a face like a cat's bum.

2. Flyers on the company dime, tend to make flight costs more expensive for the rest of us.

Our business has two parts to it's travel policy

1. Use your best judgement
2. Spend like it is your own money

Now I am actually exempt from number 2 because I spend more on my personal travel!!!!!

I try to find the cheapest means of achieving my travel requirements each year - it is why I spend an awful lot of Saturdays and Sundays in Norway. Whilst it has oft been said that I am no Cary Grant it has never been said of me that I have a face like a "cat's bum."

Moving on......What I would really like to know about is the hierarchy in the self funded flyer community. This is where I think it all falls down

Is a minimum wage self funded flyer who gets a shiny status card (I am deducing that this is an important thing in the self funded frequent flyer world) higher or lower in the hierarchy to say a multimillionaire?

Is a self made self funded multi millionaire frequent flyer higher or lower in the hierarchy than a self funded multi millionaire that has inherited his/her wealth?

Finally where does the frequent flyer who has maybe earned 65% of his/her status from self funded flying and the other 35% from business funded frequent flying sit?

I think I may have to create a quiz!!

 

[serfty]

...
Finally where does the frequent flyer who has maybe earned 65% of his/her status from self funded flying and the other 35% from business funded frequent flying sit?
...

Hopefully both in First Class ...

 

[moa999]

Lol, after seeing "self funded" written in so many posts yesterday I almost started the exact same thread. Thanks for writing it more eloquently

Which thread has raised​ this??

A flight is a flight.