Multimillionaire ‘Shark Tank’ star Barbara Cocoran says she only flies in economy and makes better use of her free miles

• Multimillionaire “Shark Tank” star Barbara Corcoran says she prefers flying economy to first class.
• She said she would rather accumulate her free miles and give them to her family for free vacations.
• Airfares are lower now compared to the past, but many Americans still feel they’re not getting good deals.

“Shark Tank” star Barbara Cocoran may be a multimillionaire, but she still prefers to fly in economy.

On Tuesday’s episode of “The Jamie Kern Lima Show” podcast, the entrepreneur spoke about her flying preferences and why she doesn’t think the more expensive cabins are worth it.

“Do you know what a first-class ticket costs?” Cocoran told podcast host Jamie Kern Lima. “Listen, the way I figure it is, a coach ticket is about 25% of a first-class ticket. I get the free miles and I can give them away. I have everybody in my family flying on my free miles.”

To her, that’s a better way for her to spend her airline miles because it means her family can enjoy free trips.

“What’s more important — that everybody gets free vacations, or that I’m comfortable in first class?” she said. “I guess I could afford to do both, but I won’t because I’ll be in coach feeling really smug because I know I have three plane tickets that could take somebody somewhere. It accumulates, you know?”

And it’s not just Cocoran who feels that way.

Even though airfares are more affordable now compared to three decades ago — when adjusted for inflation — many Americans still don’t feel like they’re getting a good deal.

“Airfare is the single most confusing and volatile purchase we regularly make,” Scott Keyes, an airline industry expert told Business Insider previously. “Combine that with negativity bias and it’s no surprise that even as airfare hits historic lows, people are more likely to think it’s at historic highs.”

BI’s Monica Humphries reviewed the business class cabin aboard an Air New Zealand flight from Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand, in summer of 2022. The ticket cost $6,000, and even though it was the best flight of her life, she said she wouldn’t do it again.

“For the same price as a round-trip flight, in theory, I could’ve paid for another three weeks in New Zealand, covered months of rent, or put a down payment on a new car,” she wrote in her review. The cost of a one-way ticket for the same flight for summer next year is still around $6,000, according to Air New Zealand’s website.

In order to save money on airfare, travel hacks like “skiplagging” — which involves booking a flight with a layover in the intended destination and then bailing on the second leg of the journey — have gained immense popularity in the past year. However, many airlines have taken a stance against the practice.

In an essay for BI, travel writer Jonathan DeLise wrote that his favorite way of saving money on airfare involves taking “positioning” flights instead of direct ones. First, he flies to an intermediary airport with better ticket deals, and then he starts his journey to his destination. While this method allows him to save on flights, it doesn’t save him time.

A representative for Cocoran did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by BI outside regular hours.