Why First Class?

Why First Class? What sets it apart?

I've never flown first class in my whole life. Just reading the no first class article for CX and wanted to ask those who have flown before about the allure of first class travel. I've read reviews but I stil wanted to ask.

Is first class worth the ridiculous amount of money that it costs?

Is it really that special?

What sets it apart from business?

Any memorable experiences?

Hi Aldrigsomandre, 

Some of my thoughts below. I have been lucky enough to fly F with Etihad, Emirates, Qantas and BA and J with about 12 airlines.

Is first class worth the ridiculous amount of money that it costs?

If you have that kind of money then my call is yes. Personally I would normally either upgrade from J, have reward flights or find a day where J and F are almost the same price. I think there is a huge difference in Economy and Business, there is not as much a difference between Business and First.

Is it really that special?

My experiences of First have all been amazing, everything is just that bit nicer in F. Nicer champagne, food, aminity kits, service etc.

What sets it apart from business?

I think the more exclusive service and the hard/doft products. All my F flights have been brilliant so perhaps If I had a bad experience i would thnk differently.

Any memorable experiences?

All my flights have been great. One experience I liked was flying from LJR to Sydney with BA I was in the line with Borris Johnstone the London Mayor. Got to the door and he turned right and I went left, was a bit of a kick.

The only real difference is the space and the bed.  

The food is still aeroplane food heated up at 35,000 feet.  I did a points upgrade to First with Qantas last year and the food was good, but nothing better than a good cafe meal.  It wasn't akin to the likes of a $250/head top class restaurant which one would expect flying First Class.

The real benefit was the First Class seat/suite.  When converted to a bed it actually felt like a proper bed (compare to Qantas Business Class Skybed Mk2 which is reasonably comfortable, but nothing like an actual bed).

It's both the cabin and the service.  Regards the service, it's individual because the staff/pax ratio is more than double what it is in Business.  On QF in F it's a ratio of 3 to 14 pax whilst in J it's a ratio of 5 to 64 pax.  That means that you can eat when you want, and as quickly or as slowly as you like.  The service is prompt because they've got the staff to provide it.

Is it worth it?

is a bmw worth more than a toyota?

it depends on whom you ask

the best things are the beds and privacy. I cannot sleep properly in older J perhaps the new cx and qf products are better. The lounge is a bonus esp qf in syd. The airline also bends over backwards to help. Last time into syd the flight was delayed with only 45 mins to make a domestic qf connection. A first host met me at the plane escorted me through the airport, collected my bags and I made my flight with 5 to spare! QF have also often waived change fees when I am in F and need to change ticket.

Others comments about the food are correct, the wine is a bit hit and miss, I have found better on EK than QF.

I usually fly f for business on my own but J when I am with the family as  I cannot afford F for everyone!

There's a limit to the amount of "service" flight attendants can give you.  Even if there are more flight attendants, it's not like they're washing your feet and massaging your hands.  Yes you can get food and drinks faster.  But on my flight last year in Qantas First, I had a very odd thing happen:

I ordered the proscuito as my entree.  About 10 minutes after I ordered, the cabin manager came over to me and said "I'm sorry Sir, you ordered the bruschetta - we don't have bruschetta".  I said "I didn't order bruschetta - it's not on the menu".  And he said "yes you're right" and walked off.  Something odd happened there.  Maybe the flight attendant wrote down bruschetta instead of proscuito.  

And, throughout the entire dinner service I was not offered wine.  I tested this to see if I would ever be offered wine, and I never was.  It didn't really bother me as I'm not much of a wine drinker, but I was thinking how utterly p*ssed off I would have been if I paid full First Class price and didn't get offered wine and had to ding my call bell to ask for wine.

All in all a very odd experience on Qantas First Class.

Ah, the great Qantas inconsistency at work.

I have upgrade to First and it better in all bits than J, but I concluded that I would not pay my own money for it. Even if I hit jackpot in tattslotto. Modern J is plenty good enough to survive 20-something hours to Europe.

Business class today on some airlines is as good if not better than first class was a few years ago. Don't knock first, though unless money really is no object, use points for it, get lucky enough to be upgraded or find a really unbeatable deal. There are still Wow factors - Emirates showers, Eithad Suites, but equally there are more and more perks in business, with lounges getting better all the time and beds more condusive to sleeping in.

Memorable first class Experiences:-

Bar on Continental DC-10 behind first class (ages ago!)

Five glasses of DP on CX prior to take off (in younger days)

Chef and silver dome service on Ansett Boeing 747 fying to HK

Emirates Shower

Royal Brunei gold loos!

Sabena DC-10 (albeit in 1983) offering "Singing in the Rain' as its only film offering!

Caviar and smoked salmon servce on CX

Ice cream sundaes on United!

Finding ones reserved seat occupied by BA staff on a jolly, when boarding flirst class from KL to Sydney (again, the route dates me!). Thankfully they were made to move fairly quickly!

None of these justify the extra expense, but all contribute to life's little pleasures and give something to talk about.

My tuppence worth.

Having First Class available is a bonus once you start racking up a lot of FF points and need to do something with them.  Credit Cards, services, tax bill paying etc etc all means its pretty easy to rack up a lot of points - even if you're not flying. I fly at least 4 business class flights from Perth to Dallas and beyond every year + 2-3 within Oz and another to the UK.  I pay for flights with Amex and also get the FF from the flights themselves so it reaches a point where you're banking more than you can possible use (at this stage of life).  

So an upgrade to First for 40K or 50K from SYD to Dallas or LAX becomes the ONLY realistic way to use them up. 

Is it worth the money? I've never paid actualy $$$ so can't comment. I wouldn't pay cash. But FF points - definately worth it.

Food is good, space is good, service is better, tv screen a bit bigger. General ground service is better. First Class lounge in Sydney is World Class No 1 in my view. So you do get treated a bit better.

Sometimes get to sit near or meet 'celebrity' - good to tell the kids. I once flew with One Direction and got CDs and posters for the kids (they offered, i didn't ask).

In summary, its a nice way to travel on ultra long haul and worth it if you have the FF points 'in the bank'.