That’s why I always flew 1st class. You had a big seat, priority boarding, drinks, food and no worries about luggage.
Yeah it was more expensive, or would have been, if I ever actually had to pay for a ticket. That was one of the sweet little perks of being a corporate travel consultant.
Of course now, I don’t fly, hard with a wheelchair.
Nope, it won’t. I was just flabbergasted - we’d booked the tickets really early, and every other leg of the flight (four legs in all) we had seats together. Just…bwuh?
Even before airlines started charging for checked luggage there were a lot of people who didn’t like to check bags: there are people like Kaio who don’t trust them not to lose their bags, others have tight connections and know there’s a good chance a checked bag won’t make it, still others just don’t like having to go to the carousel and wait for their bag. Finding a spot for your carry on has been an issue for years.
Then there’s the general impulse to do something, anything, when you’re tired of waiting. You’ve checked in at least an hour ago, waited for the flight, and it’s finally time to board. You want to do something already!
And there’s always the chance that someone will be sitting in your seat, and you’ll be stuck with a suckier seat (like the couple who tells you “we’re together” and asks you to sit in some sucky middle seat in the back–and even though you really don’t want that sucky middle seat in the back, neither do you want to get into it with some strangers and possibly delay the flight). It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen and the memory sticks with you.
I’m still trying to figure out the people sitting in the back of a bus that fight past the rear exit, through a crowd of standing people, so they can exit through the front door :smack:
Yeah- you do it cause you get a free drink in your hand the minute you sit down, and can watch tv on your own screen as you do- the only time I flew first class, I slammed three jack and cokes and then laid back the full extension recliner and napped for six hours. I was asleep before takeoff!
Same here!
(only my favorite flying beverage is gin & tonic)
I’ve had times when I’ve bought a plane ticket months in advanced, pre-selected a seat assignment…and then the airline changed the seat assignment arbitrarily just before the flight. (I suspect that, in many of these cases, it’s due to changing the airplane type.)
What really ticks me off is when you buy the ticket in advance, and the airline won’t let you make a seat selection. Then, you get to the airport, check in at the front of the terminal, and they won’t let you pick a seat there, either…they make you wait until you get to the gate, and only there will they assign a seat. I can think of no good reason for that, and it’s very frustrating (especially when traveling with my wife).
Right.
That and I hate, hate hate sitting next to the morbidly obese. In early boarding I can kinda get a sense of whether or not I’m screwed sitting next to one of them. I’m talking the fat-spilling-into-my-seat kind. After enduring that on my last flight, I’ll never do it again. I’ll ask to be reassigned and if that’s refused, offer $20 to the whole plane to whoever will switch seats with me. I’m done with PC bullshit.
I love Southwest because the whole process is done in 1/3rd the time.
A scientist has studied boarding patterns and found that random boarding is one of the most efficient ways to do it (alternating rows was the most efficient method), while the traditional back-to-front or front-to-back method took the longest.
I’ve often thought about this as well, and I’m very happy to be among the last to board (as long as I actually get a seat on the flight I’ve booked). The first class passengers wait just as long for everyone to board and the doors to close as I do if I’m the last person to board. And it’s not as if first class gets to their destination any faster than coach (although you can argue it’s more comfortable, but you still can’t leave until they open the doors).
Fine for you, but I don’t drink. 
No problem.
Some of the other advantages of 1st class are you don’t pay any extra for any luggage. I took an enormous box home with me from California last year and were I flying coach, it would have cost hundreds of dollars.
Also luggage related, your bags are unloaded first. When you show up at the carasel, there they are.
In addition to the larger more comfortable seat, there is a full meal served.
Plus your ticket is completely refundable and changable with no fees whatsoever. Which came in handy for me last year, on a ticket that I did, in fact, purchase.