That's a trick question for me and I expect many other airline employees and spouses of airline employees who will be able to chime in with similar stories! I flew "First Class" once when my husband was working for an airline and we had a pass that allowed us to get on any flight that had available seats and fly free. If there were seats in First Class, we could be put in First Class. On a memorable flight from New York to Bermuda the steward came, put down my tray of china and silverware, served everyone dinner, and then cleared away my tray...still empty. Obviously there had not been enough food for all the people in First Class. (My husband got to eat.) I acted like a perfect lady as I represented the airline, pretending that the dishes being cleared away had been used and that all was well. In reality, I was wishing that I had been in Coach where I would undoubtedly have gotten a hot meal (people did in those days) served on little plastic plates!
Before kids, DH and I flew first class all the time. If we fly as a family, we typically all sit in coach, but if DH or I fly solo, we typically fly first class. I just purchased a first class ticket for a flight that I have coming up in September
Domestically or short flights we fly coach (economy), unless we get complimentary upgrades, internationally for 8 hours or more business class usually. If we all go then we buy the initial ticket and upgrade via points. My husband once got a complementary upgrade to 1st when we were both in business class but I didn't get upgraded as well as his name is in the system and my surname is different to his, so he let them give it to the next person on their upgrade list and sat next to me.
We got an upgrade once randomly. My husband REALLY appreciated the legroom. But I've never paid for it, so that was the only time. Our most recent flight back from DFW on Southwest might as well have been First class. We managed to get the entire three seat row of Emergency Exit to ourselves on an otherwise packed flight because no one wanted to sit with two fatsos. It was awesome.
I flew first class all the time with my ex-fiancé but I can't stand airline food (not even the so-called posh first class meal) and I'm 5' tall. Absolutely wasted on me, so now that I have to pay for my own trips I just stick to economy.
I have several years of pretty much all first class service becuase I took two to four flights a week so it was all upgrades due to status. Of course the few times I really hoped for an upgrade (red-eye from LA to Chicago for a whole day of meetings, that sort of thing) I would never get it. I rarely fly for work now so I've lost all my status on both United and American--back of the bus for me again!
I've gone FC a few times, but only when the trips were really long. If the flight is less than 4 hours I usually don't mind going coach, unless they have an inexpensive upgrade. To me it's the leg room, and the comfort of the seats. If I sit to long cramped I get nerve pain down both my legs and can't walk for awhile, so I almost have to get FC when I travel for longer flights then 4 hours.
I fly a lot for work... Therefore I get upgraded about 35% of my flights so says the account statements. I haven't purchased a first class ticket...ever except with points.
I dislike flying so rarely do it these days. But when I do I prefer first class or business class. To me it is worth the extra money. I am not tall per se (5'6") but have long legs and feel squeezed in coach and since I don't enjoy flying going first or business class makes it much more tolerable for me.
Fortunately I don't have to fly and don't foresee doing so anytime soon so YAY.
Because if it's between flying first class or not flying I pick NOT flying every day of the week.
I've never flown first class or business class. Actually, when I was little (maybe 6 or so), we were flying somewhere and we got to sit up front while my dad spent some time in the cockpit with the pilot. He used to work for the FAA and he had some type of privilege back then I guess. I don't really count that though because I was so little and the experience meant nothing to me.
Never for me. I used to fly business class with my parents when I was little but as an adult I don't bother spending the money. I also don't fly anything over 4 hours, it's about all I can stand. I don't know if I'll ever make it oversees with my hatred for flying. I'm more likely to do a transatlantic cruise than fly.
Hubby is a Concierge Key member with American. He has over 4 million miles with them. We always fly 1st class. We usually get met at the plane and are escorted on early and sometimes met at our destination and taken out by cart. There are very few perks left for flying so much.
Me neither. Hundreds of flights, always coach. It's never been a priority for me (rather use the savings to travel longer), but just ONCE I'd love my 14.5 hour trip between LAX and SYD to be in the fancy pants section of the plane.
Never flown first class. I just cannot justify spending four times the price on a ticket. It would be really nice especially those overnight flights to Europe but I guess we are too cheap.
I try to tell myself "we all get there at the same time so why spend the money". It helps a little.
Years ago the planes were half empty and flying coach wasn't too bad. The last couple of years almost every flight is packed. Flying coach in a packed plane is truly hell but I guess not hell enough to fork out the dough for first class. Actually a lot of the airlines we fly don't even have first class, they have "club class" which is really very little difference than coach class.
I've been upgraded a few times, both as a teenager flying overseas and as an adult when I was consulting for a big company and flew out every Sunday and home every Friday. Nowadays, we fly coach. DH still travels a bit but we can barely get 4 coach tickets with his miles these days!
When I was still working full time and taking 6-8 flights a week, I flew 1st Class most of the time. We've also used air miles and flown internationally 1st Class a couple of times. First class in an international flight is where it's at! Too bad we can't afford that and I'm out of miles!!