[etothepii]

The sleepwear in First Class is by far the most bizarre thing about the whole experience.

I've never understood why First and Business Class that are so clearly mainly used by people travelling for work don't focus more on the business aspect. British Airways call it "Club" which I'm sure can only make it harder to be approved by finance. American call it "First".

In the main lounges provided by American Airlines there is often a person whose job it is to provide unlimited champagne but not a comfortable place to respond to emails.

[cobolcomesback]

I travel for work often (used to do it every week but now it’s once-ish a month), and fly business every now and then. I don’t think I’ve ever met any fellow work flyers who wanted the flying experience to be more focused on the “business aspect”. The lounge is for relaxing, and the comfortable seat on the plane is so I can sleep and not be a zombie when I land. I’ll work when I get to the destination, not while traveling.

[bombcar]

Exactly. When I’ve flown first for business it’s because it’s the cheapest way to get the luggage, or they need me to arrive rested and ready to go.

[lysace]

Sleepwear: yes, weird archaic thing.

US "First class" is typically a misnomer.

I spent so much much time, money and effort abusing mileage programs between like 2009-2016. I think the the whole thing started with the oil glut following the 2008 crisis.

E.g. US Airways Dividend Miles (USDM) was a goldmine. They kept having these sales where you could buy "miles" for extremely advantageous rates. You could then redeem those "miles" in their partner airlines' flights. They were buttering themselves up to be bought by AA. This went on for years.

End result: You'd pay maybe 1400USD for a return first class ticket on e.g. Qatar Airlines between Copenhagen-Doha-Tokyo, or something similar. If you'd buy a ticket it would be 3-5x more.