yeah, the thing is, it’s even more of a revealed preference than you’re implying, you can actually do that, you can buy first class, and it’s actually not that expensive if you’re buying it in advance, it’s probably cheaper than coach was back in the “good old days” (airlines figured out they’d rather sell those seats to the tourists for a few bucks than give them away to elites for free).
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Yes, that’s exactly what I meant - people (like me!) make these broad statements about their preferences, but when they could actually satisfy those preferences, they choose not to.
I think a lot of people are unaware of how much cheaper first class has gotten over the last five years or so
the food sucks tho
I occasionally pay cash for first class and always just feel like a sucker. I was on like a 4.5 hour fight from Atlanta to Vegas and they passed around Cheetos and pretzels, just pathetic.
@pvn I know you travel a lot,
Do you have any life hacks for travelling or improving the airline experience that you could share?
I’m flying to Vegas for my first flight in 2 years… sucks that I moved away from the Atlanta airport with direct flights everywhere, I gotta go Raleigh → Dallas → Vegas, and Vegas → Chicago → Raleigh on the way back. ~8 hours travel time each way, not looking forward to it.
Business class is indeed a better experience. Or perhaps more accurately it is less bad. But if you have a BC ticket you can skip some lines, wait in a less shitty lounge, not have to do the the “bum rush the stage at boarding” thing, etc. It seems like a big splurge at booking but I’ve never regretted it.
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Flying first class with lay flat seats on my upcoming cross country red eye. Looking forward to that one
delta has been particularly bad about returning meal service domestically post-covid, before covid it was on flights over 900miles, just recently they’ve restored it on flights over 1500 miles but it’s mostly just boxed lunch type shit unless you’re on the premium transcon flights (JFK-SFO/LAX)
no, it sucks. pack less stuff, don’t check a bag. if you can do it, try to use a backpack that can fit under the seat, so you can board last and minimize the time you spend on the plane, drink a lot of water but not too much.
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Alcohol
Flying to Spain, got a flat for three months
Party like it’s 2019
This is basically true. As @Riverman points out above, even if you splurge for business class it still objectively sucks because its really a premiocre service where you are paying for a shitty version of an actual good thing. The actual good thing is an actual private jet. That is literally the only “good” version of air travel.
I really enjoy flying and miss doing it. I almost always fly coach and request a window seat despite having long legs because I think it is fun. Also you can cross an ocean in like 6 hours which is pretty nifty.
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I used points for transatlantic business class for a trip next year. I think it’s Swiss Air. I have high hopes for a non-US airline.
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My brother in law said the best cup of coffee he ever had was in business class on Swiss Air. Report back to the coffee thread!
I think Lufthansa has the best first class service in the business, at least best out of what I’ve flown. (I usually only get to fly first class when going overseas so not much experience with domestic except short connectors where the only real difference is legroom/comfort.)
Never paid for 1st class but my wife gets upgraded frequently so I’ve experienced it a few times with her. As a very tall person it’s nice but I always try to get an exit row in coach and those seats probably offer more legroom than 1st class. The laydown seats are a big plus though. Regular seats really suck for long legs, the seat cushion is usually too short and it cuts off way up by my ass, no quad support.
best coach travel experience i’ve had were transatlantic flights on air france and klm. best biz class was when our work delegation got upgraded on a flight to beijing, costing the company close to $100k probably. it was some asian airline going there, and delta going back. asian airline >>> delta, although both had fully reclined seats, served good food and liquor.
I’ve done it once and try to forget about it as much as possible. Cause it was fucking sweet.
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I flew back and forth from Beijing with the full laydown seats and basically my own little pod if I pulled the curtains. It was great. I can’t recall the airline but it was one of the Asian owned ones.
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They key to business class for me I can cross and uncross my legs whenever I want. That makes the difference between feeling ok when I get to where I’m going and having back issues for a couple of days.
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