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discount travel

but still travel in luxury

Never in the history of airline travel has the term cattle class been so appropriate.

Getting there is so unpleasant but who would want to miss colourful sights like this one in Bangkok.

Starting from the UK which must be one of the worst countries to fly from, the pack 'em in, herd 'em through and generally treat 'em like shit begins just as you walk through the airport doors. Much of the time people are treated in ways that european legislation would forbid the treatment of animals being transported to our butchers. The people who want to travel have pretty much no choice but to stand in line like sheep and suffer whatever poking and prodding comes their way.

So much for the airport. Once you board everything gets better, right? Well no, not much. In the tiniest space they can squeeze you in, most airlines will avoid giving you any water for as long as they can get away with, get the throwing of a meal at you out of the way with the least possible inconvenience to staff and then try and force you to sleep with a dull movie and by turning all the lights out when your body says it's the middle of the day.

To save on cost air is recirculated so that every bacteria and virus carried by every other person on the plane is mixed up and fed to your ever more weary lungs and immune system.

All this is bearable and worth the compensations when flying five or six hours to sunnier climes in the South of Europe. However once flights are any longer than about 10 hours, the door to door journey will be well over 14 or 15 hours and for me invariably results in several days of extreme tiredness if I'm lucky or a weeks flu - cold - bronchitis and asthma if I'm not.

OK, grumpy old man mode off. I like visiting differrerent countries, seeing other cultures and meeting different people. It's an important part of my life and not something I want or intend to give up.

What are we going to do about it? Ever the optimist looking for alternatives.

• The best alternative in this case seems to be break an odious long haul journey into two shorter trips. Whenever a convenient and interesting place can be found on the way, you get an extra holiday on the way. With shorter trips there's no need to spend large amounts for a tiny improvement in standards. You can go for the rock bottom cheapest option and get much better value for money by booking a nice hotel instead.
  
• Second best if you are time poor but cash rich will be direct non-stop flights.Everyone prefers these so they are usually more expensive. Usually but not always. An important question is how do you find the days with availability of non-stop flights at the lowest fare.
  
• Better still business class. So on our lowcostlux long haul routes we will also look at who is offerring the best deals on business class, when is premium economy available, is it worth it and
  
• Upgrade for free. Only for those who frequently travel on the same airline or network. Even here there are deals to be had and offers to be found if you sniff around a little.
  
• Choose your dates. So you bite the bullet and figure the pain of that journey is worth the joy of arrival and all those new discoveries. You've compared the non stop options and possible stopovers. Going for a long non-stop anyway. It can get a whole lot more luxurious simply by choosing the right dates and days. And the least unpleasant times to travel on this cattle class network is also the cheapest.