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Comment by chrissnell | Hacker News Reader

To experience them at their best, you have to fly international first class. I've had the fortune of doing this a number of times on the 747. I've sat upstairs (which is typically business class) and at the very front, which is usually first class. It's fantastic. You have room to stretch and you're treated very well.

Here are a few photos from my Lufthansa first class experience.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B00TFMcHA4a/?igshid=caikqjatjldk

The photos are:

- the famous rubber duckies from the Lufthansa First Class lounge in Frankfurt. They have private bathrooms with full baths that you can use.

- the obligatory outside-by-the-jet photo that you can take when they pick you up in a luxury car on the tarmac (not that white one)

- Seat 1K on a LH 747-800

- The Porsche that they pick you up in when you're changing flights or going to the lounge.

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I flew business class with BA five years ago as it was cheaper than economy on my usual airline at the time (EK) - mainly as it was a last minute booking. I flew two intercontinental legs (Middle East -> Europe -> North America) and both aircraft were on old 747s that looked like they hadn't been cleaned for a week or more. The infotainment system felt just as old, with a choice of maybe 20 movies on the 8" display where the touch screen barely functioned. The lie flat bed wasn't bad (they had an interesting layout where one seat faces foward and the next faces backward), and the food was just regular reheated meals with slightly nicer silverware than economy.

Now I understand some other airlines have better offerings than BA, and if you fly first class (I think for the same flight it was roughly 8x more) it's going to be a different story, but at the end of the day you are still just flying A to B.

The best part was probably the lounge where I had the connection, but I only had 1 1/2 hours so didn't get to experience it much. However it wasn't really much more than a 4* hotel buffet.

If I could afford to drop $20k to fly first class whenever I feel like it, would I? Probably. Do I feel like I'm missing out on anything by not doing that? Nope.

How much more is it to fly in a private jet? I feel that would be a different story, given you can schedule it so it picks you up whenever is convenient for you.

>How much more is it to fly in a private jet? I feel that would be a different story, given you can schedule it so it picks you up whenever is convenient for you.

In a recent hn thread about private jets, someone was saying that unless you go all out on a private jet, the experience is almost certainly going to be worse than flying commercial. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23732841

This, definitely. I've flown Emirates A380 first class a few times and done the onboard shower thing. You're drinking $1500/bottle booze and taking a shower on a plane. You're not going to do that on a private jet unless you're the cofounder of Google or an oligarch or a head of (a large) state.

...but, for about $3000-5000, you can experience this on a transatlantic flight. Where else can someone in the upper middle class save their pennies and get to live like royalty for a day? It's a pretty amazing thing.

Well, it _was_ an amazing thing. It's possible that the era of showers and A380s and maybe even international first class as we knew it is gone forever.

Here's what you could get for $3000 if you are ready to be flexible on travel dates and have a knack for obsessive pouring-over of schedules:

https://flickr.com/photos/69697531@N00/sets/7215770666398705...

Wait, transatlantic first class is only $3000? I paid that for my last (allegedly “premium”) economy ticket on virgin to heathrow.

I’m missing out.

LHR to JFK is $3k to $20k. Usually you'll be lucky to get a $3k flight, but they do exist.

First class is on the way out on many international routes since all the demand and money is in biz class. Ya, you can get your own private cabin with big screen tv and full sized bed (on a Singapore 380 if they still fly those), but most aren’t going to pay for it and are flying on an upgrade (business class is full, bump someone to first!).

Business class is nice because you can sleep on a lie flat, which is the only thing I care about on an 11 hour flight.

With Qatar you now can get your own suite in business.

Personally I hope I'll never have to fly across planet in economy, but also wouldn't mind flying in bunk bed either. It's sitting up for 26-30 hours or so that kills me.

I used to take hard sleepers across China with that theory, but two and a half days between Urumqi and Shanghai is still a struggle. I imagine kiwis and Australians have to suffer this much more than us northern hemisphere folk, I hardly ever have to suffer a flight that is longer than 11-12 hours for one leg, and business class is expensive if I’m paying myself.

I’m looking forward to configurations where you can book a coffin to sleep in for 6 hours on your flight once at altitude.

Air NZ announced theirs right at the start of the pandemic.

6 bunks are not going to be enough for 300-400 passengers tho.

I haven't flown BA long haul (in any class) but unfortunately from what I hear they are generally not very well regarded for any of their products (especially premium) and haven't been for quite some time.

Ooh, how nice for <0.1% of humanity.

I think you overestimate the high end of that bound.

International first class is accessible to anyone with a decent US credit history, a somewhat flexible schedule, & an interest in figuring out semi-complex systems. I flew Cathay Pacific first class Toronto => Hong Kong as a recent college grad on a teacher's salary.

Any tips for these systems? I'm imagine you are navigating deals and points systems but I dont have much travel expirance yet.

so... what percentage of humanity are you purporting your description there covers ;p

Let's say about 7 million people

I remain unimpressed by such 'first class' gimmicks.

A full bath? Wow, English public housing units commonly include a full bath (and 'private bathroom').

Ride in a Porsche? Truly not a big deal.

Air travel should be treated with a Spartan mindset in my opinion. Forget all the fake trappings of luxury which are much better supplied (and enjoyed) on the ground. Forget the fake 'fine dining' which again is easily surpassed in any half decent restaurant on the ground. Easy to go that length of time without needing to eat. The only focus you should have with air travel is safety, environmental comfort (quality of air supply, air pressure, noise) and non-crowdedness. All the rest is, frankly, performance art to distract the easily distracted.

Meh it depends how much you fly. Until covid hit I was flying longhaul about twice a month for work, it's very nice to be pampered a bit when you've got to start your week at 5.30am, leave your family for 3 days, and hit the ground running when you arrive

Exactly. I have no illusions that the food is better than something on the ground but it's really not bad at all. Flying first class on ANA, it's actually fantastic. However, that's not why you fly first. You fly first because it's completely stress-free from the moment they pick you up at your house until the moment they drop you off at your hotel halfway around the globe. You arrive rested, clean, fed, and relaxed. All problems get magically taken care of.

That Porsche that picked me up? I landed late and was about to miss my connection to Italy. No problem. The driver told me he could hold the flight or reschedule me for later and bring me to the First Class lounge to pass the time. He picked up his phone and everything was handled. Zero stress.

Clearing EU immigration was a cinch. When I flew biz class into Lisbon the previous summer, I waited 4 hours in line in a sweltering terminal to clear. With Lufthansa First, the Porsche driver drove me to what looked like a security kiosk. We got out of the car, a woman stamped my passport, and we were back in the car in seconds. That's what you pay for, not the champagne and caviar.

Somewhat related to your points, I found that a lie-flat bed is highly beneficial for long haul flights, such as US <-> Asia, especially as you get older and your body can't take the punishment of sitting in economy for 13 hours. I would lose a day upon landing when flying economy from being too exhausted and needing to crash, which was greatly mitigated by getting a good sleep lying down. Lie-flat beds are available in business class, so it's much less cost prohibitive.

Yes, lie-flat beds make great sense. And bunks in economy class would make sense too. I'm not talking about giving customers space and real comfort. I'm talking about the 'luxury' pantomime.

Man that Lufthansa pod look cheap. You should try Emirates

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