I’m flying with my son to Maine this summer to visit my mother. My cousins and several other relatives are all going out. She has a big house with my stepfather, and some of us are staying there while others are staying in an hotel.
My husband isn’t able to go, but that’s neither here nor there-- I was worried about getting separated from my son on the plane, and having him get upset. He’s worried about flying. He has flown before, but was only two the last time, and doesn’t remember it. I’m surprised he’s having so much anxiety, and I’m thinking of giving him Dramamine, or even asking the doctor about a prescription, but at any rate, he’s usually not high-strung. I guess Fear of Flying is a thing unto itself, though.
Anyway, so my mother is very generously giving me the difference so that I can fly first class. She says they suck up to first class passengers more, and also, are less likely to sell it out. She also paid some sum that is supposed to give us guaranteed seats.
I’ve flown a lot, but never first class-- always coach. What can I expect in first class? I know the seats are leather, and so I’m bringing a blanket to sit on. But what else? Is it really like the movies where they make a fuss over you? Do you get food if you ask for it? Do you have movies?
Are the bathrooms any bigger, so if my son freaks out if I leave him alone to go to the bathroom, is there a possibility that I can take him with me? Or would a flight attendant stay with him? I’m seriously worried about this one, and thinking of wearing an adult diaper. No lie.
It depends entirely on the route and the airline. First class to a little New England airport on a small plane is going to be a slightly bigger seat, plus free cocktails and a choice from the snack basket.
when i’ve flown first class, the “fuss” the attendants made over us was, while more than in coach, not all that much. what i liked was the free checked bags, priority through security, priority boarding, and (most of all!!) the room: wide seats with no shared armrest and plenty of legroom! restrooms are the same size. have fun!
Seats are bigger and more comfortable with more room to recline and stretch out.
If it’s a longer flight with time for meal service, the food is often better.
Bathrooms are generally the same size as coach, unfortunately.
I bet a crew member would keep an eye on your son if you give them a heads up when you board the flight. Unless you’re flying United. Then I’d just go with the adult diaper option.
But you’re sharing it (or them) with far fewer people, so less likely to have to wait in line.
Just keep in mind that First Class domestic is (usually) pretty much like Business Class international. It’s good, but not to best. You should get a warm towel, better food and free drinks, as already said.
I have been bumped to first twice when my daughter was younger.
To answer your questions: seats are bigger and more roomy, but not that much more.
The bathrooms are the exact same - no room for more than one person. You do get a meal but it’s your typical airline meal. It’s at a set time but you can probably ask for it at any time. We had a small serving of nuts when we boarded. Free drinks.
There is not a lot of fuss and aside from the bigger seats, I didn’t think it would be worth the price it costs. International flights perhaps, but she be never had problems flying coach.
I used to fly a lot internationally and business class was so much nicer because it’s such a pain being in cattle class for 12 plus hours. Having extra room is nice, being able to get up and go to the bathroom without bothering someone else or having someone else bother you is really nice.
International first class on a Transpacific flight is really nice and you do get taken care of quite well. Domestic first class isn’t so much, but at least there isn’t any hostility by the attendants.
Either way, it’s not really something to freak out about. You’ll be OK.
Last time I flew first class was on Pan Am back in the 80s, going overseas. They treated us like royalty. I imagine things have gone downhill considerably since then.
Where are you flying from? (Is this a short, domestic flight, a long domestic flight or an international flight, IOW) Your experience will be different in each situation.
Is your child special needs? if so, you should absolutely call the airline (call-and-talk-to-a-real-person call) and make sure that his status, and yours as his caregiver is noted in the record.
Talk to your son’s doctor about your son’s flight anxiety and whether medication would be appropriate. There are good anxiety medications that may be appropriate for use in this situation. I use one myself when flying. You can use something like Benadryl or Dramamine, but I’d go with the prescription option myself. The others just make you drowsy.
In general, you should expect an assigned seat that should not change. Larger seats. Food of some kind. Gracious service. Free beverages. From there, what you get depends on the length of the flight. Short flights might only include a snack and the larger seat. Longer flights will include a meal and quite often an entertainment system. The longer the flight, the more you can expect. There might be 2 meals. You might have a menu or be able to order when you’re hungry. Your seat might recline or lay flat, and so on.
Expect to board first, or almost first, to get served drinks while the other passengers are still boarding, wide seats. Don’t bring a blanket, they’ll give you one–also, a pillow, and probably a bottle of water. The drinks are free. You’ll have more legroom and instead of being separated from the passenger beside you by only an armrest, there’s probably going to be a whole console thing. (And it’s probably going to be occupied by your son, right?)
I never noticed the flight attendants fussing over first class, and IME the first class restroom is not any bigger.
If they’re serving a meal I think you’ll get the same meal. But sooner.
Someone across the aisle from me once asked for, and got, a warm washcloth (or towel). I know that some airlines routinely hand warm washcloths out to first class but I don’t know why, and also, never happened on one I was on.
Going bankrupt and ceasing to exist for 25 years will do that to you
I haven’t flown first class internationally, but from what I see I’d be surprised if what you are saying is true. My impression is that it still is very nice (and still very expensive) to fly internationally first class.
Its economy that perhaps has become a lot more cattle class over the years. Although this comes with what I think is a halving in inflation adjusted price over 30 years, so it seems to me its a case of the airlines giving people what they actually care about (not necessarily what they say they care about).
How old is your son? It never happened to me personally even though we flew many overseas flights in business class with our son when he ranged in age from about 0 to 5, but I know from others that sometimes other first class/business class passengers can be openly hostile to the idea of a child in “their” space.
Hopefully that won’t happen to you, but it’s best to be prepared for a few evil stares.
Been twice.
Once on Singapore Airlines from Singapore to HK. Great experience and great food.
Once on Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Dubai. I’d of rather been in cattle where they leave you alone. I wanted to sleep, but couldn’t pass up the potential dinner service, so stayed up for that. 2 fricken hours! The guy next to me was trying to make up for the cost of his ticket as he ordered everything on the menu twice. During the cheese and cracker part of the service the waitress spent 5 minutes just trying to scrape the gooey cheese off of the knife to get it on the plate. Why wasn’t the cheese cut (heh) before they brought it out?!
Business class is the best of both worlds. Good service, but not overboard. Room enough to stretch out and sleep if needed.
Most flights to Maine are going to be on regional jets, where first class will mean a larger seat and a wider offering of refreshments. The entertainment options will range from nothing to some audio channels. Edit: Depending on the airline and plane, you might be able to bring a device and get movies for free on their in-flight wifi.
This assumes that first class is even an option. The smallest airliners only have economy seats.
That was my experience with domestic first class (got bumped up once when we got involuntarily bumped off a flight about 15 years ago on a flight from Chicago to Sacramento.) The main difference I saw was the food was slightly better (I think we even got a menu), we got drinks as the cattle class was still boarding, and the seats were a bit bigger. That’s about it. It really didn’t feel all that fancy to me.
Now, I used to fly a bit internationally. That first class looks crazy nice to me, with some airlines even having freaking beds or chairs that fold out into beds on them!
I haven’t flown first class, only business, but in my experience business/first is so much smaller that the toilet is quite close to all the seats. So it’s not like cattle car where, if you went to the toilet, you might be fifteen or twenty rows away from your son; you’ll be close to him the whole time. And you’re unlikely to have to queue, so you won’t have to be away from him for long. That might help.
There’s also a way better ratio of flight attendants to passengers, so it shouldn’t be a problem for someone to stay with him while you go to the toilet. And they pay sharp attention to any passengers who might need extra taking care of - I flew international business class with a three-year-old (who was angelic, by the way, with the help of an ipad, a laptop, a set of headphones and an endless supply of Peppa Pig DVDs) and they kept bringing her colouring stuff and extra snacks.
If he’s really anxious, though, and if he’s old enough, I’d just take him to the doctor for a prescription relaxant of some kind. Why suffer?
In international business class they have individual entertainment systems - each seat has a screen that folds out, and you can pick your movie/TV show/cartoon from a selection of channels. I can’t remember if they had that in domestic, though.