Once my dad got a free upgrade to first class and I had to walk past him comfortably sitting in his cushy leather seat with plenty of leg room on my way to a middle seat. I think I actually hated him for about 15 seconds lol.
Was once on the road in the middle of NY State with a couple of workmates, and we stopped at Ruby Tuesdays for a quick lunch. The menu had a "sirloin burger" for like $9.50, and an "angus sirloin burger" for a dollar more. The descriptions on the laminated menu were identical. So, I asked the waitress: "Is the only difference between these burgers the quality of meat?" And she said, yes, that the angus was better meat. So, I had to ask: "Who comes to Ruby Tuesdays for a meal, but tries to save a dollar by skimping and buying the lower quality beef?" She looked at me like I was the one who is crazy. Yeah, Singapore airlines... take the all-biz non-stop from Newark... that's the flight you want to be on. But then again, I am crazy... I pay the extra $25 for the "more leg room" seats on JetBlue. I hate the balding dweeb who reclines his seat all the way back in my face immediately after takeoff. Plus, he is never satisfied with the max recline... he always rocks back a few times while holding the recline button down to make sure he isn't missing an extra centimeter of recline. Was on American Airlines coach last week... what a crap experience. There was this one flight attendant with her airline ID hanging off her neck on a lanyard... the lanyard was bright red with "AFL-CIO" and "Union Yes!" printed loudly and repeatedly on it. Thanks for the free union zealotry, lady.
here's the reasons i fly first: 1) i like to get on the plane first. why? a) so i can put my bags on the plane without having to worry about a plane full of mooks filling up every single overhead space and then being forced to ship my bag or cram it under the seat in front and kill my leg space. b) so i can avoid having to stand in line and jockey to avoid (a). c) because the whole idea of competing for overhead space is sooo gay. 2) i like to pull out my 18 inch laptop, get work done, and not have to play the elbow jockey games. 3) i can actually expect to eat a decent meal. 4) international, i can lay allll the way back flat and get a good nights sleep waking up rested and not waste a day wherever i end up. 5) i get to bring on 2 or more bags, so no shipping things. which leads to things like, flying through customs. 6) i get to relax/work in the lounge during layovers instead of wandering around like a zombie looking for a 'hotspot'. 7) no check-in lines. 8) no security lines. 9) etc. so, moral of the story: if you're productive, make decent money, and your time is valuable, it's worth the extra money. if you're a non-productive socialist professor who has to pull out his tampon to dry his tears at the sight of inequality, coach is for you.
getting some work done on laptop and being able to recline to max to sleep on 'nearly a bed' are the two biggest advantages and especially for those whose each single hour is worth $5000. Have been in the business class and surely meals and attention is much better than coach. The only difference between business and first is the angle of recline of the seats.........rest is just waste of money.
Here is a typical itinerary with Emirates (Airbus A380): From: Toronto, Canada (YYZ) To: Dubai, United Arab Emirates (DXB) Departing Wednesday, 18 August, 2010 Passengers 1 Adult Returning Wednesday, 25 August, 2010 Cabin: Economy: around $2,300 Business: around $6,500 ($4,200 more) First: around $15,300 ($13,000 more) see how expensive and out of whack is the first-class.
Isn't that the truth. Although I heard the first dog had his own plane for their vacation trip to Maine. And then there is Pelosi who needed a bigger plane. She costs us almost half a million dollars a month for her air travel. Arggggg.
You should also know that almost nobody pays for full-fare first. Many companies get a percentage discount off of full-fare if they have a large travel budget and spend most of it on one airline. This is why they can't lower the list price easily because all the discounts key off of it. There seem to a lot of threads here about stuff like this. Are there no rich people on this site? A guy with 100x the average ET income can afford to pay 100x for his plane tickets and not miss it. He might even feel like he's being frugal to fly commercial instead of dropping 100k to fly private on an international trip. Oh, and for the record, I don't pay either. If you work all the frequent flyer angles you can usually fly first class on a coach budget pretty easily.
I disagree with your moral of the story. Buying the coach/economy ticket doesn't mean one can't afford the first class, their time is not valuable, they are non-productive, socialist, and feel bad at the sight of inequality. It just means they are wise and know how and where to spend their money.
Sorry, but I have to fly coach, I won't fly. I just don't like squishing in like a sardine next to some jerk. 1st class is worth every penny to me. It just depends on what you value, and I value my elbow room, and I like to be treated with a smile. It also makes it a lot easier to get the flight attendants phone number.