Multimillionaire Barbara Corcoran Will Only Fly Coach — Here’s the Generous Reason Why

Barbara Corcoran’s preferred seating on an airplane may come as a surprise to fans of the Shark Tank star.

The multimillionaire real estate maven, 75, opened up about how she always flies in the regular economy cabin despite being able to afford first class during a Dec. 10 appearance on The Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast.

“Do you know what a first class ticket costs?” she asks Kern Lima, who is an entrepreneur and author, and was a Guest Shark on Season 16. “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.”

Corcoran continues, “What’s more important — that everybody gets free vacations, or that I’m comfortable in first class? 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?” 

In addition to offering all her miles to her loved ones, Corcoran is generous when it comes to sharing her multiple homes. 

During the episode, host Jamie Kern Lima asks her about the “scheduling system” that she has for her different properties so that “they’re all being used all the time.” 

Corcoran responds, “There’s not a single bed in any of my homes that’s ever empty. What is more satisfying than someone saying, ‘Thank you, we had a blast.’ Extended family, they’re family, whatever. ‘We had a blast.’”

The real estate mogul and her husband of 35 years, Bill Higgins, share two children, son Tom and daughter Kate.

She then gets into more detail about how each of her homes serve a purpose, even if she’s not there to enjoy them herself.

“People have a blast in my ski chalet — it’s big, it fits a lot of people. They go to my beach house, I don’t mean to brag . . . They come to New York City. Where I live, never an empty bed and boy, is that satisfying.”

She concludes, “I mean what really happens is, the more money you have, the less you use your homes. That’s the truth. You sleep there very few nights, and they go to waste. What a shame.”

Parts one and two of art Barbara Corcoran’s interview with Jamie Kern Lima are out now.