I flew (with the LSW to verify this) first class exactly one time in my life. Denver to Philly. To this day I am sure it was an accident on the part of the airline. They gave me the boarding pass and I noticed is was a low number. When we got on the aircraft I breezed right through first and looked for that number. No soap. The stew gently guided us back up front.
Sure that it was a mistake we kept looking around, waiting for an alarm to go off, declaring us as imposters and throwing us out on the wing where we belonged.
The only problem was we were dog tired (I had worked almost 24/7 the week we stayed in Denver) that we couldn’t enjoy the free drinks and such. But those seats! Man that was heaven. Wide and comfy. Two to a row.
We slept for thousands of miles.
Nothing like this of course.
The gap between first class and coach has never been so wide.
United’s intimate first class cabins and flat-bed seats can cost up to 20 times as much as coach.
Carriers on international flights are offering private suites for first-class passengers, three-star meals and personal service once found only on corporate jets. They provide massages before takeoff, whisk passengers through special customs lanes and drive them in a private limousine right to the plane. Some have bars. One airline has installed showers onboard.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/21/business/taking-first-class-coddling-above-and-beyond.html
