There are many advantages to flying at the pointy end of the plane. Legroom, the ability to lie down flat (in most cases), champagne.
But there is one often forgotten perk – the personal feeling that comes with there being fewer passengers for flight attendants to contend with.
This doesn’t guarantee everything will always run smoothly (see: First-Class Passenger Rant Sparks Flight Attendant Fury). But when it does, it helps the thousands of extra dollars (or masses of points) you’ve lumped over for your ticket feel a little more worth it.
RELATED: Why Flying First Class Is More Stressful Than Flying Business Class
Frequent first and business class flyer, and the youngest male to visit all 196 countries, James Asquith, recently took to Instagram to make this point, showing flying first class isn’t all about ergonomics and chicken edamame salad.
“It was American Airlines transcon First yesterday, not bad, nothing special, but a great flight because of Kim – a fantastic FA who has been at AA for 33 years – and goes to show that a friendly and good crew member can make an average product feel great, thanks for a wonderful flight!”
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Asquith added: “It’s been non-stop for 4 years with the company working now. That’s 7 days a week, 12-16 hours a day and a lot of work behind the scenes that you don’t see on social media. Living in airports and flying means working on weird time zones all the time – and still I love it.”
“Anyone that knows me and spends time with me, sees away from first class flights and a bit of fun (booked super cheap May I add, miles, weird routings etc), that I’m always working – the dedication to something you love will get results, but the online flexers tend to be BS so don’t feel bad about where you are – do the hard work behind the scenes!”
With a schedule like Asquith’s (he later shared some of the details of his next four days, which he said would take him through 22 of the 24 world time zones), you can see why flying at the front might be useful for helping him keep it all up.
We’ll drink a champagne slammer to that…