Well, I did it. I bought a 1st class airline ticket.
 

Normally I'm a cheap ass and just take economy. I don't hesitate to spend on great hotel rooms, limos, or general fun stuff to do (like McDonalds drive throughs) but I've always cheaped out on airfare mostly cause it usually costs (and I always check) about 3-4X more for first-class. I was never in my mind able to justify that arriving at the same time as economy. This time it wasn't even double so I said fuck it and bought a first class ticket to vegas from winnipeg to vegas for internext. I hope it was worth it.

Economy is for commoners.

I heard the stewardesses give you blowjobs in first class. Good choice. :thumbsup

sad part is I've met a lot of very wealthy people sitting in economy. I always seem to see 3/4 of the first class section full of airline employees.

McDonalds dirve through rules! As far as first class I have only been there once and that was walking to my seat in the very last row of the plane. I suppose if you have the money to spend it would be nice however I prefer to save and sit with the common folk. :glugglug

good idea to not risk the chance of that rule some airlines have about weight challenged people needing to buy two tickets.

i usually perfer squishing them.

i only fly 1st class domestic. edmonton to calgary at least 10 times so far. i did edmonton to toronto once.

it's just such a crazy amount of money for long flights, that i won't do it. definitely a great way to travel though.

i also took my dad on the concorde for a new years celebration a couple of years back. that was extremely cool.

just a question cause I've only been there once, but with edmonton's airport about an hour outa town and the waiting to get on and off a plane wouldn't it be just as fast to DRIVE as it's only about 3 hours between cities.........

edmonton airport is about 20 minutes from where i live. the flight is 25 minutes or so (usually).

much easier than driving (about a 3 hour drive). very boring drive as well.

sorry, but i have to laugh, hour out of town? no.

I'm not one to drive - but I've always kinda considered the cross over point where one needs to fly at about a 3-4 hour drive. Maybe I just like having my truck with me, I like being bigger than most anyone else on the road and renting a car is a pain in the ass.

I'm flying economy this time out just because the cheap sluts (insert: 'females') will be in that section.

Hey, don't forget us paupers!

Well you do arrive before the guys in the back technically, so now you can justify it

Tthose that have flown 1st class and economy tell me that 1st class is well worth it.

1st class is sweet

the hot towels are a bit much

:Graucho

1st class rocks. but i still don't think it's justified.

the concorde flight i took - that was crazy. but still not justifiable.

I can comfort myself knowing I paid $900 extra for 4 flights (layover in minnapolis) for some ass room, a little booze and a hot towel.

$900/4 = $225 extra per flight. that's $100 per flight for ass room, $75 for a beer and $50 for a warm towel per flight. bargain don't you think?

and that's canadian dollars so it's about $600 US extra.

one hour to minnapolis and about 3 hours to vegas from there.

I racked up 350,000 miles in the air from 1999 to 2001, and once I hit Gold Medallion with Delta, I flew First Class for free consistently, and I hate flying coach now.

It sucks ass. First class is very relaxing, laid back, and you are waited on consistently.

The alcohol is free in 1st! Always a Plus!

Enjoy the First Class Flight.

I look forward to meeting everyone in Vegas!!

Macro

you got a great deal overall

I flew first class from Atlanta to Hollywood during the Internext convention (Atlanta was a stopover). Anyways, Delta had this really good way to sell off first class fares, during the one hour stop over, first class tickets pricing was dropping by the minute as we got closer to take off time. Eventually there were only 2 seats left and it was $34 for the upgrade. I don't know why anybody else didn't take it but for $34, sure! I'll get enough liquor during the flight to justify the bump! It was the best flight of my life, but I usually won't bother flying first class, not worth the 3-4X upgrade fee.

WG

word. free alcohol, lots of room, and you basically have your own private attendant. food is very good too.

did you know you can sell your miles?

http://www.awardtraveler.com/

Hey Sleazy - You can usually upgrade at the airport for pennies to First Class.

Here are some upgrades I've realized:

SF to Kauai - Domestic RT was $500 (Northwest), Upgrade to First Class at counter was $88 bucks one way.

SF to Honolulu - Domestic RT was $800 (United), Upgrade to First Class at counter was $125 bucks one way.

SF to NY - Domestic RT was $600 (United), Upgrade to First Class at counter was $66 bucks one way.

I shit you not.

If you book far in advance, and have a good travel agent, he or she will shop your airfare around and get you a great rate.

My Wife and I flew Round Trip on Virgin to London from SF, plus a limo, plus first class airfare from London to Rome and Athens (to and from) all for $10K. Retail was $26,000. It pays to have a great travel agent and some time.

that's a killer deal.

Yes,

But I keep them, as I have family in Memphis, Tenn that I visit, and I just started my own biz (Non Adult) and I am meeting with some Casino's next month and a few other larger corporations as well, so the miles help out a lot.

If I knew I wasn't going to use them, I would sell them

Macro

fuck - last time I was in vegas I won about $4K US so i went to the ticket booth and asked for an upgrade. they had space but when they looked at my ticket they said they couldn't upgrade them. I begged them to take my money but theysaid no. FUCK was I mad.

I think it should be mandatory for ALL fat bastards to pay for a first class ticket. I don't want your fat, smelly carcass making my flight in economy more difficult.

please tell this nosey jew me about your new biz

I usually don't have a probelm with ignorant little pissants like you. I just keep my arms over my head and enjoy watching your little punny twig arms try and plug your nose while every one else on the plane laughs at you for being an ass. I'm quite obnoxious about it to whenever a twerp like you gives me any attitude in person.

That's really BS. An airline who's smart will not give a shit about a change to an upgrade on an airline ticket. I mean, they're gonna make more money and they'd turn your away? Whichever airline that is was being stupid, or the teller you had was just being a bitch :-)

WG

now, where did i put my popcorn...?

If you really want to network hop on the Concorde.

On commercial business class you usually make some good contacts also.

Northwest air - they told me that I had some sort of super discount ticket and that it couldn't be upgraded. I thought it was total bullshit but that's what they said.

You have a few ICQ messages from me talking about it. Don't want to put the others to sleep about it.

Nothing glamourous, wish it was though.

Macro

I'm trying to do that this December as my ticket home is coach.

However when I go back to Hawai'i it's first class and only cost $1200!

Thats my ploy too. All you have to do is fly at times & days when the 1st class section isn't going to be booked. Last 3 times I've gone to Vegas I've been able to upgrade to 1st at the airport for less than $50.

the concorde is the most amazing plane i've ever been on. my dad has always been obsessed with jets, and always wanted to go supersonic. so we went on a 3 hour flight to no where (ended up in the same place we took off from).

very cool. very expensive :glugglug

what are the times and days that the 1st class section isn't busy?

what did it cost?


I'm such a cheap bastard that i always stuff my parents into economy when i buy them tickets. I'm even sending them a day earlier to vegas than me cause it was cheaper that day.

(my mom works for me and she wants to come to the party)

My last flight was a monday evening redeye from Seattle to SFO. There were 6 passengers on the plane including myself.

So I take redeyes alot of the time. Also, it just happens that I prefer Vegas & Hawaii in the off seasons... and I always do working vacations in Vegas during the week so I can stay longer for the same $$

Haven't flown alot lately tho. Last time I rented a convertible mustang and drove to Vegas from the Bay Area. 9 hours from my doorstep to the Mandalay Bay lobby.

How are Friday's?

reno air was pretty cool about this. i dunno if they still do it.

when i was flying to the bay area once (from seattle) i had a seat way in the back. reno has this deal where, if there's room at the time of the flight, you pay $30 and you can get a first class seat.

that's the one and only time i've flown first class. oh, and i'm seriously cheap about hotels thanks to priceline. :) (i pay less than 25% hotel list prices).

First class used to be worth it, but since last fall the asinine attitude of most flight crews on US airlines doesn't justify it. The ones that do serve food serve the crap they used to have in coach as well.

Just like my little Vegas hotel rant I have some airline preferences lol...

Continental is good in both coach and first -- so is Air Canada. USAirways used to be great, but I havent lived on the east coast in a long time so I dunno any more.

American sucks ass and I'd rather fly on sorry ass America Worst than take AA out of DFW (oh wait, did that today...)

KLM just plain blows, I don't care for them at all, I'd rather swim to Holland if that was the choice. I have heard horror stories about Northwest, but never needed to fly them.

Delta is still pretty cool, they put my kid in first class for one leg of a flight last month where he was traveling alone, so he really likes them.

Southwest, for flights of an hour and a half or less rock pretty much, unless it's Phoenix to Vegas on Friday afternoon when the drunks are on board... you get on the plane, find a fucking seat and then you go. Cheaply.

For long flights, first class is still the best - not for the amenities but for the legroom and the recline angle on the seats.

I want to take the Concorde to Europe, that is my idea of a fun flight. I also want to try Qantas and Virgin Atlantic since I've heard good things about both.

And the kicker, I finally get to book a flight to Vegas on National, home of the really cheap first class upgrades and they stop flying two days later lol ;)

it was for the year 2000 new years. dom, crystal - the whole works. basically a complete party, with us passing the speed of sound at midnight. it was something like 15000 CAD (for two).

obviously not something you do every day. i did it, because my dad had always talked about flying on the concorde (and going supersonic) since i can remember. i'm glad we did it.

i flew from Seattle to Tokyo (about 10 hours) on a 767 in the middle of the row (5 seats across) and noone was in the whole row and the arm rests went up so I got to lie down and sleep during the flight. Wish I could say the same for the return flight.

Couldn't tell ya.. the only time i can remember departing on a friday was SFO -> Heathrow a few years ago. I wasn't even thinking 1st class upgrades back then.

very cool

That's a great gift to give your father, one of those things that someone has always wanted to do their entire lives and you made it a reality for him. Good for you. Sounds really cool too and not that bad a price, I heard it was about $25k CAD for NYC-London on the concord (for one).

WG