Nobody who flies domestic first class in the United States gets lounge access from their ticket. You have to pay for a yearly lounge membership, buy a day pass, have an expensive airline credit card, or have status on that airline from flying it repeatedly. In any case, you didn’t miss much. Domestic airport lounges are generally not worth the effort.
Generally speaking, I also don’t find domestic first class to be worth the upcharge – the seats aren’t that much better, the flights are shorter, and as you learned, the service isn’t that great.
Traveling transatlantic, my prejudice is that foreign carriers give you better service. Nevertheless, the lie-flat seat in international business on American or United compares well to the same hardware on, say, Virgin Atlantic. And I certainly rather be in business on Delta than couch on KLM.
In any case, aren’t you comparing apples and oranges? Any flight crew is going to seem to give better service on a relatively short DC-Amsterdam overnight flight when passengers are asleep much of the time, vs. a daytime flight Amsterdam-Seattle that is several hours longer?
Possibly depends on the carrier. I’ve never flown an American carrier overseas, but the 3 times I’ve flown out of the US, 2 were on cheap airlines that didn’t offer much in the way of legroom or free food (or even booze which I heard is de riguer on transatlantic flights). But the other time I flew on British Airways not even in business class and I had lots and lots of legroom – as much legroom as I would have expected had I flown in a specially-marked “extra legroom” seat on an American carrier. Plus the best food I’ve had on an airplane in years and slightly more drinks service than I’ve experienced on other carriers.
I’ve never seen much difference between discount American, traditional American, and discount overseas carriers: the discount carriers if anything are more efficient with fewer snafus and sometimes better entertainment.
I’ve flown on a few European carriers, and they cover the whole range of comfort levels. A few were just barely adequate, with old planes and few amenities. Others have had brand new planes, good legroom, and excellent food. It also depends on the routes; from the US to Europe we usually have better service. On the legs from Europe to India I’ve had some cramped and difficult flights. I’ve had some flights to Asia on Cathay Pacific and JAL that were very nice even in coach.
The worst flight was probably Alitalia to Rome, on an antiquated plane that wasn’t clean, the seats were partially broken, and the entertainment system barely worked. We feared we’d be on the same plane for the return flight but instead we got a brand new Airbus and that flight was a delight. We flew a budget carrier (Air Berlin) that was competent if bland, but it was better than that first Alitalia flight.
I’ve only flown US domestic First Class once, due to a snow storm, cancelled flights, and missed connections. It was a delight, with very comfortable seats, amazing food, and plenty of wine during the long delay. I’ve flown FC from the US to the Dominican Republic on a US airline and it was nicer than coach but not by much. The advantage was that it allowed us to put our mountain bikes in luggage for no extra cost which made it cost the same. The seats and food were nicer, but without the bikes it wouldn’t have been worth it.
Truly. The big three U.S. airlines (United, American, and Delta) don’t operate that way, at least not domestically. They all have their club / lounge programs, but generally restrict access to them to members of their clubs (though I’ve been in a few lounges as a “plus-one” to a colleague who had a membership), or those who buy a day pass. First class / business class tickets, in and of themselves, don’t include access to them, IME.
My experience in coach is pretty much the same as yours. Sitting there I choose by price, because the product is very similar. In the front of the plane I think that non-American airlines do better in service, though not in the physical product. FWIW, I’m taking Air Canada to Europe on my next trip, returning on SAS. That was dictated by what flights I could get in business class with the frequent flyer miles I have.
Oh, one difference between European business class and American domestic first class. In the U.S. you actually get a different, wider seat with better legroom. In Europe, at least in my experience, “business class” is a coach seat where they don’t sell the middle seat in a row of three. This allows those airlines greater flexibility in expanding or contracting the business class cabin.