[Question] Air Travel, specifically flying first class

[Gared]

Ok, here's the deal. I used to love flying - like, absolutely loved it. Considered a career as a pilot before my eyesight went to hell. Then all of a sudden when I was flying to various places, I dreaded it. Nothing happened in between going from loving flying to "rather drive to Wisconsin than fly" level of dread. Couldn't explain it to save my life. Until this past week. Flew first class - it was comfortable, the food was edible, I had room to stretch out, and they treated us like people instead of cattle.

All of that in mind, I would very much rather not fly economy class again. But - I've only flown first class on Delta. Has anyone else flown multiple airlines' first class that can compare them, before I get an airline specific credit card so I can start racking up airline miles and upgrade privileges (and just buy tickets on credit)?

 

[SpecialKO]

I find Delta, United, and American to have pretty similar 1st-class experiences, at least domestically. International (meaning outside US-Canada-Mexico) carriers for international flights tend to have far superior 1st-class than any American carrier, but they also tend to tie themselves to an alliance that partners with some of the US carriers.

Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue have all-around great experiences, but no international benefits whatsoever beyond mileage accreditation.

Delta and United don't offer complimentary upgrades for JFK to LAX-SFO-SEA, but that may not affect you if you don't take those (or just spend miles to get upgraded).


Also keep in mind, airline-specific credit cards will get you additional miles but almost never get you qualifying miles, and it is qualifying mile that get you real status (beyond the low tier status you get for having the credit card in the first place).

Ex. you mentioned Delta, and so you get an American Express Delta card.

You buy a round-trip flight from Boston to LA (approximately 5200 miles total), and also put $1000 worth of total expenses on the same credit card that month including the flight fee (let's say that's $500).

You will receive 5200 MQMs (Delta-speak for qualifying miles) towards your next status tier, $500 MQDs contributing towards the spending minimum for your next status tier, and 6700 miles to use on whatever you like. So yes, you get miles for expenses on your card, and that's great, but those miles do not actually contribute towards getting to the next tier where you are more likely to get complimentary upgrades.

 

[Espy]

Meh, First Class on Delta and most of the non-international flights serviced by US Carriers is fine, but unless you are getting it via miles I don't think it's worth the cash. And from what I've heard the mile programs from most of the US Carriers are crap now.

Now International First Class… thats a whole other story. It's like being king. And it costs a kings ransom. So it helps to have clients who will pay for it.

 

[Jay]

Flew first class once, it was amazing. Yet, I find the concept absolutely outdated. The privileged few get are the perks and the rest are treated like cattle. /charlie

I wouldn't have done it but I was offered it for a special price since we were late and they had available 1st class seats. It cost us barely 200$ more each for a transatlantic flight. Usually 1st class is close to twice the price. Wine, better food, TLC, private washroom, huge SPACIOUS CHAIR and leg room, private TV. The works. You're a king.

If I didn't opt for it I would be 20 feet behind these people with barely any legroom (I'm 6'4 FFS, make better plane designs already assholes!) with a community movie, shit plastic tasting food, washroom line-ups. Pure ridiculousness.

I try to fly Swiss Air, they have a modern fleet though they are about 15% more expensive than the cheaper airline but the chairs are more comfortable, a bit of leg room, my own fucking TV with 30+ movies and 30+ sitcoms to watch. It makes for a much more enjoyable 6+ hours flights.

 

[tegid]

Hm, the only transatlantic flight I've taken was with Delta, and I had my own TV with a reasonable selection of things to watch. I thought that was standard already for long flights (They were 9-10h flights I think)
Never have flown first class. Flying is expensive enough without it...

 

[Dave]

I've never flown first class because I can't justify the expense for a little luxury. Having said that, I've always wanted to.

 

[Gared]

Meh, First Class on Delta and most of the non-international flights serviced by US Carriers is fine, but unless you are getting it via miles I don't think it's worth the cash. And from what I've heard the mile programs from most of the US Carriers are crap now.

Now International First Class… thats a whole other story. It's like being king. And it costs a kings ransom. So it helps to have clients who will pay for it.

As a purchaser for a commercial casework company, chances are my clients (who are all internal) are never going to pay for first class. On the other hand, they're never going to send me overseas either. Now, my dad's company, who keeps sending him to Prague, has occasionally sent him international first class, and he loved it.

Regardless, at the very least I will never fly Southwest again <shudder>. I think they're going to be the budget airline from the joking headline from Plague, Inc "Budget airline removes seats to save cost."

 

[Espy]

As a purchaser for a commercial casework company, chances are my clients (who are all internal) are never going to pay for first class. On the other hand, they're never going to send me overseas either. Now, my dad's company, who keeps sending him to Prague, has occasionally sent him international first class, and he loved it.

Regardless, at the very least I will never fly Southwest again <shudder>. I think they're going to be the budget airline from the joking headline from Plague, Inc "Budget airline removes seats to save cost."

We just told clients they had to fly us at least business class if it was over "x" miles. They never said no. That was nice. It really makes you wonder when a company will not even blink at dropping 10,000 bucks just to fly the guy running the computers over seas.

 

[Dirona]

I've done the business class thing a few times for 7+ hour flights. Totally worth it. (That said, my family was paying for it, not me.)
Got a random free upgrade to first once for the flight from London to Toronto, which was lovely, except the lay flat bed seats that British Airways have are way way too short for me, so still couldn't really sleep, but it was glorious none the less.

Is it worth the price? Meh. For the long flights, I do like bussines class. It's not as horrifyingly expensive, and it results in at least a bit of comfort.

Cattle class sucks, as does Southwest. And really, just flying in the states in general.

 

[Dei]

I don't really mind cattle class, then again, I am 5'2" and always sit next to two skinny kids who are mesmerized by electronics and are old enough to use the bathroom on their own.

 

[Dirona]

At 5'10" with a 6'7" partner, and neither of us are svelte by any definition. Cattle class is unpleasant to say the least.

 

[Gared]

At 5'10" with a 6'7" partner, and neither of us are svelte by any definition. Cattle class is unpleasant to say the least.

This is the biggest problem my wife and I have flying cattle class. Neither of us are slim and while I don't quite measure up to Jay's 6'4", the two inches I'm shy don't make up for the complete lack of leg room. The really sad thing is I read a business book written by a former head of Swedish Air (I think it was Swedish, it may have been Swiss, whichever is SAS), and he and some of his top company engineers actually worked with Boeing and Airbus to help design more economical wide-body planes specifically so passengers could have more comfort, but all that the American carriers care about is more passengers and more money, so they keep adding seats and filling in that space. Of course, if I'm not mistaken those two planes are the 787 and the A380, so they're still a bit new to have widespread fleet usage.

How about international carriers for international flights? Is there a big difference between, say, British Airways and Lufthansa? If I want to visit Southeast Asia (I very much do want to visit Vietnam, Thailand, maybe Laos) should I go with Air China over Korean Air or JAL? I've hated flying for so long that the idea of actually visiting anywhere other than the continental US has been completely anathema to me.

 

[Dirona]

To and around Europe I've only ever flown BA, and they've been consistently good. Though Lufthansa has a good reputation if I recall correctly.

In my various trips west I've used JAL both times for the flight accross the pacific, and regional carriers while over there. It was all steerage, but I don't recall any major issues. Cozy certainly, but there was leg room. This was also some time ago.

For Eriol and I we've started to pay the extra to pre-book him an exit row seat for in-Canada flights. It really helps with the leg room issue. We also tend to go with aisle seats across from each other when possible. It means that my arthiric sholder can take up the space necessary (in the aisle) so as to not cause massive amounts of pain from being contorted forward.

I've heard that some airlines actually post their plane layouts and dimensions on-line, but I've never looked it up. If the information is available, that may also help you make decisions.

 

[drifter]

I can't vouch for it personally, but I've heard if you're flying to Asia, Singapore Airlines is the way to go.

 

[Gared]

Ooh... I've never considered that idea for shoulder room. I've had shoulder and neck problems for years.

 

[blotsfan]

If I didn't opt for it I would be 20 feet behind these people with barely any legroom (I'm 6'4 FFS, make better plane designs already assholes!) with a community movie, shit plastic tasting food, washroom line-ups. Pure ridiculousness.

When was this? I can't think of the last time I flew on a big international flight and didn't get a private tv.

 

[Jay]

I guess you never flew with air transat

 

[SpecialKO]

Is there a big difference between, say, British Airways and Lufthansa? If I want to visit Southeast Asia (I very much do want to visit Vietnam, Thailand, maybe Laos) should I go with Air China over Korean Air or JAL? I've hated flying for so long that the idea of actually visiting anywhere other than the continental US has been completely anathema to me.

International depends somewhat on if you want to tie yourself to an international carrier alliance. Both British Airways (OneWorld, which includes American) and Lufthansa (Star Alliance, which includes United) are part of good ones. It limits your choices a little, but it can pay off down the road if you have high status with one of their partner airlines. For example, because I fly Delta a lot for work, I got upgraded when I flew Air France to Europe for vacation because they're both part of SkyTeam.

As far as the individual airlines themselves, I've never had a bad experience on Lufthansa ever, and Star Alliance means they're partners with ANA, Austrian, and Singapore, which are all top class international carriers.

British Airways is definitely not bad though, and being part of OneWorld gives you access to JAL and Cathay Pacific, which is generally considered to be one of the absolute best.

SkyTeam is decent, though not quite in the same league. They have Air France at least, which is very good, Garuda Indonesia is supposed to be very good (if small) and KLM is okay.

 

[blotsfan]

I guess you never flew with air transat

No, I haven't and I'll make sure to avoid it. That sounds awful. I did fly Air Canada a few months ago and got the personal tv FYI.

 

[WasabiPoptart]

Our flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu did not include a personal tv. I forget which airline it was with now. I want to say it was US Airways.

I've never flown first class. I haven't had the money for it. My parents have and they tell me it's nice.

 

[Gared]

The only reason we were able to fly first class on our most recent trip was because my parents were footing the bill and my dad felt especially bad, both about us having to fly out and take care of my mother and about being stuck in Prague for the majority of the time. But, if I can find a way to afford first class, I will definitely do so for long flights from now on. Short hops, like SEA to SFO-LAX-LAS, I can probably handle, so long as I don't fly Southwest.

 

[Jay]

No, I haven't and I'll make sure to avoid it. That sounds awful. I did fly Air Canada a few months ago and got the personal tv FYI.

When one books a flight and the median cost for it is about $1000 and Transat is about 900 and Air Canada is 1300, you tend to make some sacrifices. We won't fly as cheap anymore, at this point, it's getting ridiculous.

 

[blotsfan]

Yeah I don't blame you. Air Canada was the cheapest for me. I guess I just got lucky.

 

[PatrThom]

I only flew first one time, and it was because I was "promoted" to 1st due to seating issues. I don't remember the airline, though. Continental, maybe?
It was nicer and a bit quieter, sure. The food options were better. But what I remember most was the late 20-something/early 30-something guy sitting next to me who made a point of staring out the window and generally pretending I didn't exist for the entire trip. I got the feeling he was either offended to be sitting next to a Coacher, or else he had made plans for my empty seat and they were dashed when I filled it.

--Patrick

 

[Terrik]

I get to fly Business class w/Delta on Standby (thanks pilot dad). Although even economy class on 777s is decent, nothing beats being able to actually make your seat into a bed and sleep for 10 of those awful 14 hours from Shanghai-Detroit.