First Class Flying

[LauraY]

Hi all,

I am doing some research on First Class travel and was just wondering about services/products that you can get when you travel in First Class that perhaps aren't obvious or always advertised? Things that you wouldn't necessarily realise that you could get that are actually worth a fair bit of money.

Any help would be very much appreciated :)

Many thanks.

[vctenderness]

Well one of the best things is a fully flexible ticket. This means if you don't turn up for your booked flight you just book another one.

Use of lounge without having to be a member of the airlines frequent flier club. Some facilities in the First class Lounge are pretty good too. The champagne bar in BA T5 is spectacular. Plus being able to 'fine dine' prior to flight. Also arrivals lounges are good.


Some airlines to some destinations provide a limo to and from airport. Separate check in facilities usually without a que.


The fact you are usually treated as a VIP rather than a bit of livestock is good too.


Extra baggage allowances, flat beds, better food and wine etc.

[proudprivate]

I guess it strongly depends on the airline.

What I found excellent was that you could tell the air-hostess when you wanted dinner served, so that I could finish up the last alterations to a presentation I had to give the next morning and then have dinner (as opposed to getting interupted by dinner in business class).

And premium lounge access, but I guess that one is usually well advertised.

From (limited) experience, it only justifies the ticket price when doing multiple long or medium haul trip legs with relatively short (1-2 day) stopovers.

[LauraY]

Thank you very much! This is all great info.......

[ottergirl]

I'm sure you've already found this but here is a link to the BA First experience
British Airways - First (http://www.britishairways.com/travel/first/public/en_gb)
it tells you everything that we offer and I expect most airlines have one on their website! Happy researching.

[Ancient Observer]

As a customer, I wouldadd the following points.
1. The "million dollar door" at T5. Google that one! (Or search the threads here). Only first class passengers can use that one.
2. Space. Personal space. On the plane and on the ground
3. With the space on the plane comes the opportunity to have a more personal feel about the relationship with the CC. They may or may not like you, and vice-versa, and that doesn't matter most of the time, but at least you feel that they are doing what they do for you on a personal basis.
4. Lounge access and quality. Generally (but not always) much better. e.g. BA at JFK.

[The Grim EPR]

1. The "million dollar door" at T5. Google that one! (Or search the threads here). Only first class passengers can use that one.

I'm intrigued. I have googled it and found nothing. Is it a classified door??

[Exascot]

New Private Suites | First Class | Cabin Features | Flying with Emirates | Emirates (http://www.emirates.com/english/flying/cabin_features/first_class/new_private_suites.aspx)

This is about as close as you can get to having your own private jet. I don't understand the Emirates pricing system but we fly ATH-DXB-JNB and 1st class costs just 500€ more than business class return. There is a big difference in service and comfort in 1st.

Also on the A380 you have a bar to lean on:ok: The Emirates 1st Class lounge at DXB is outstanding. Proper restaurants not just a finger buffet.

Premier wines on board and in the DXB lounge.

Tip: Go easy on the champagne on boarding and taxi. The vintage is only opened after T/O. However they will insist on changing the ground champers for the airborne vintage once Biggles has the jet off the deck :)

[Ancient Observer]

I googled million dollar and million pound door. It was million pound door.


http://www.pprune.org/passengers-slf-self-loading-freight/407254-look-what-ba-up-3.html
(Radeng, 3/8/2010)

"I was told (by BA ground staff) that internally and informally, the Concorde door is referred to as the 'million pound door', as BA have to pay an extortionate amount to BAA to have that door and not have F class pax walk past the shops."

[Peter47]

You might find reading some Flyertalk trip reports interesting. The contributors all seem to fly F or J generally on frequent flyer awards. (I read them for escapism.)

Trip Reports - FlyerTalk Forums (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports-177/)

[radeng]

In the US, domestic flight First Class is similar to Business Class on European flights, except I don't know of any that have champagne.

Transatlantic, I've flown BA and American. As usual with American, not impressed: the CC are slightly more attentive than in economy, the champagne is there, but you can have problems getting it - seems there's a limited amount. The food is so-so.

BA is very different. In 2008, Mrs radeng and I had a holiday in Australia and New Zealand, and I splurged a load of miles to First on BA. As Mrs radeng settled into her seat on the way out, she said 'I could get used to flying like this!' Result was that after getting on for 24 hours of flying, arriving in Sydney about 0600, we were refreshed enough to spend the day sightseeing. Couldn't have done that flying economy!

Also went on holiday to the US in 2010 using miles to go First on BA. Again, superb.

It's the general ambience, the greater space, the better food, the attention. But you gets what you pay for, although I don't feel that you do with the US carriers on long haul.

[redsnail]

We now fly Virgin Atlantic "Upper Class" when going long haul. It's a blend of first and business class. As radeng has said, you arrive refreshed and in good shape so you don't "waste" that day recovering from the flight.

I've flown long haul biz recently with Swiss and BA. Swiss was better and Virgin is better again.

Yes it's expensive, but for us, it's worth it. :D

[tezzer]

"Tip: Go easy on the champagne on boarding and taxi. The vintage is only opened after T/O. However they will insist on changing the ground champers for the airborne vintage once Biggles has the jet off the deck "

Wrong, they serve the Dom Perignon 2002 after boarding, and on the ground, with as many top ups as required !

[RevMan2]

This series in USA Today gives you as good an idea as any
Chasing the A380: ANA First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita, Lufthansa A380 First Class Tokyo to Frankfurt - One Mile at a Time (http://bit.ly/yTB8ya)

[strake]

Undeniably, flying First is the best way to deal with long-haul commercial travel if you can.
However, as with a lot of things in life, familiarity breeds contempt.

When I were a lad and starting out on my pax'ing "career" back in the mid-eighties, I recall the excitement of getting ready to go to the airport for a flight to the States. Maybe BA, or AA out of Heathrow and God knows, how many stops on the way. It was an adventure, full of new sights, sounds and experiences. As I climbed the slippery pole, the Middle East and Australia beckoned and I started managing to get a few Club flights. At that point I was ready, as our cousins would say, to give my right nut not to have to go back to Economy travel. Over the next ten years, Club or UC became the norm then, in the early noughties, First became my home. And do you know what? None of it was as exciting as those wondrous early days full of new experiences and people. When I look back at the photo's I took, the memories of flight deck visits, hotel cars picking you up at the airport as a matter of course and almost empty 747's crossing the pond (unsustainable I know) bring back some real feelings of nostalgia. I was also able to eat and drink whatever fast food was served in the airport stopovers without putting on an ounce in weight.

In the end, First, UC or whatever, became boring. I guess I just got older and tired :)

My son and grandson started counting some of the old ticket stubs I kept along the way a few months back. They stopped at seven hundred and so have I. I'm elsewhere in the world doing something very different now and haven't been on an aircraft for six months - I don't miss it but I'm happy to have done it.
To answer the original question, First class and to be fair, flying in general, gave me great memories - that's probably worth something.

[tezzer]

Strake,

I can relate to that and shudder at the very thought of having to travel down the back, even Business is a chore, and having been lucky enough to experience Emirates first on quite a few of my flights in the last few years, I find myself arranging my trips to suit the timetable and price grid, to allow me to justify comfy seats, but no longer, even in EK's private suites does it excite or interest me, which is very very sad.

[dwshimoda]

In answer to your original question about perks not necessarily advertised, one of those is that you and your luggage is always the first of the aircraft so you can jump the immigration queue and jump the queue for luggage reclaim.

And sitting at the bar is amazing - Virgin Upper Class rocks...

[Businesstraveller]

Further to dwshimoda's point, I've found that your F class ticket often gets you through immigration pronto as the ground crew who meet F class passengers (1 crew member per passenger) will often take you through the diplomatic channel at immigration.
Aside from that, Thai Airways will ferry you from plane to lounge to plane in golf buggies - so you end up walking little further than the length of the airbridge.

[vctenderness]

Aside from that, Thai Airways will ferry you from plane to lounge to plane in golf buggies - so you end up walking little further than the length of the airbridge.


You lazy little blighter

[LondonPax]

Most of the above you can get with business/upper class, depending on airline.

The bar on Virgin upper class is great unless your seat happens to be within about 5 rows of it (or further, if the real :mad: are out) and you're trying to sleep. The crew seem reluctant to put a damper on it.

Interesting about the million pound door at T5. It p1sses me off hugely that to get to the lounge from security you have to go down one floor and drag through the nightmarish retail experience to get to the BA business class lounge even though there is a door right there. Gets the BA experience off to a bad start.

[Exascot]

Wrong, they serve the Dom Perignon 2002 after boarding, and on the ground, with as many top ups as required

Must only apply to me then :sad:

I will make a note when we fly back north in April.