May 03 2007
Flying First Class On British Airways – Wicked Good!
[Thursday April 26, 2007]
This is my first time on British Airways and whee! First Class!
I get such a thrill out of flying first class – if I ever get jaded, smack me upside the head with an open palm and tell me to freakin’-get-a-grip-your-farts-don’t-smell-like-roses-sweetie.
Anyway, I enter the first class cabin. Whoaaa.
The plane is a Boeing 747-400 and has maybe a dozen seats in first class. They are more pods than seats. The cockpit is not ahead of us. Maybe it’s below us. You can’t see it from the photo but my seating area extends, oh, another 3 feet or so.
Of course I check out the other first class passengers. I’m wondering who actually paid for their seat.
I am the only four-foot-ten-and-three-quarter-inch Chinese woman in the cabin. I am flying to South Africa as opposed to Asia so this is not so unusual I am sure.
There is only one other woman and she’s tall and not a person of color. She’s traveling with a male counterpart so I’m guessing that’s her husband. The rest of the passengers are equally color-free, all male, and range in age from late 30s to early 60s.
I check out my pod. Oohh…Nice Travel Booty!
The “free gifts” (aka Travel Booty) are very nice – nice enough that they make me wonder how much these tickets would have cost me if I hadn’t cashed in on a gazillion miles.
The Booty:
- Pajamas. Yes. PAJAMAS. Navy Blue 100% cotton pajamas folded and tied with a gold ribbon. The top is a long-sleeved vee-neck shirt with gold trim at the neckline. The pants have an elastic waist.
- Slippers. Slippers are standard on international flights. However, these aren’t your standard terry slip on booties. Nope. These are padded navy velour with gold trim.
- Travel Case. This thing is something special. It’s a small brown velour zippered case that contains toiletries by Kiehl. I have heard of Kiehl and I have the vague idea that they make chi-chi high-end lotions and stuff. There are lotions and toothpaste and all that. The kit also includes socks, eyeshade and even earplugs.
It’s late – we were supposed to take off around 7:20pm and we have delays leaving the gate and have to queue for takeoff. I’m sleepy and doze until we finally climb into the air. We aren’t in the air until almost 9pm and then dinner begins.
I can chose from several entrees and there is a salad and appetizer course. I can select from several red wines. I chose a red from South Africa.
I enjoy wine and bread and salad and appetizer and select the lamb entree.
I answer a resounding YES when asked if I want the dessert, a chocolate torte. Wouldn’t you?
Yes my wine glass was refilled. Wouldn’t you do the same? I mean, this is freakin’ FIRST CLASS!
I was beginning to soften. I wasn’t just relaxed and in Vacation Mode. I was actually softening.
I had spent the last day doing nothing but sitting and eating and eating and sitting and drinking and sitting.
I felt like pudding.
After dinner, the cabin is darkened. Most passengers changed into their pjs and are settling in for the night; they are washing up, reclining the seats, and laying out the bedding. Yes. We get bedding. A padded roll, a duvet, a wool blanket.
I decide to cozy myself in my seat and watch a movie. Part of me didn’t want to go to sleep – I mean, wow! Let’s squeeze the juice out of this First Class grape and make a heady wine!
I do realize that I have to get some sleep. I wash up. I don’t change into my generic medium pajamas, as I’d look like a kid playing dress up.
Around 1am CST push some buttons to fully recline my seat, buckle myself in with the belt above the covers and lay my head down.
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The “chow” looks as good as John Chow’s entre snapshots but not as many.
I sooooo need to get rich so I can travel like this. And also to pay my bills.
esofthub: Yes, pretty good grub in first class. I can’t say that it’s fantastic – I’ve had better food in restaurants – but it’s kinda like when you go camping – food tastes better because it’s part of a bigger experience. It’s so great to be flying and having real dishes of normal size (not dollhouse sized) where you don’t have to open a vacuum pack of sauce which sprays your chest due to the cabin pressure.
Kristi: I need to find out how much these tickets would have cost me! I will be flying coach on the way back (no first class seats available) so it’ll be interesting to compare. Nail-in-the-eye interesting, I’m sure.
Traveling like this has been such a treat!
Hey there!
Did you get pictures of the bedding/pajamas too? That kicks but… was there also a changing room/cabana? Was there a privacy curtain that was drawn around your sleeping area? That is some top flight travel!
I was traveling around Europe on my first big trip after college, and we stayed in the sleeping cars – some were very nice with fresh sheets/blankets/pillows on fold down beds with actual matresses. Other trains the seats all folded down to make one huge king size bed. Some of the best sleep we got during the whole trip, with the rocking of the train and the click click of rims on the tracks. On the Russian trains, they had the equivalent of a matron/attendant for each train car and she would provide sheets and slippers (but you wouldn’t want to try the restrooms so better off staying in the rooms).
Did you have any amenities on a train rides or cruise in Africa?
PhillyReader: Nope, no changing rooms – you had to change in the bathroom. I did take photos of the first class bathrooms – I’ll have to put together a new post with more of the BA cabin – I see a lot of google searches for ‘british airway first class” that leads them here. I have more photos, just didn’t think to post all of them.
I didn’t take photos of the jammies – I already gave them away as they were a bit big for me.
No privacy curtain. The seat flattened out nicely and you can see that the chair curls around a bit to hide you.
I was kind of curious how much the ticket must have cost and did a search on a first class ticket on BA from O’Hare to Heathrow – it was about $7K!! Yow!
I didn’t go on train rides in South Africa or any cruises.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your European train experience!