I was lucky enough to get bumped up to first class twice. Once, my boss made a big enough a$$ of himself with the station manager in Rio that the guy put us both in first class just to shut him up. A couple of months later, I was coming back from N’Djamena, Chad, to JFK via Paris. A guy was in line in front of me, and he didn’t have enough for his ticket to Tel Aviv. I ponied up about $20 in Francs and he got his ticket. I stepped up to the counter and the beautiful Parisian lady said to me in that delightful accent, “you, M’sieur, are going first class.” Immediate gratification. First Class really is the only way to travel.
In 1995 I took my wife to the Mayo Clinic; she suffered from MS and had difficulty walking. When we got to the terminal for the return flight, I seated her in a wheelchair and we reached the USAir desk in much less time than if she had walked the distance.
When the USAir people saw the wheelchair, they quickly ushered us past the boarding line and into first class, next to the cockpit (which was unlocked for the entire flight). We were served an excellent inflight meal with real flatware (I kept a spoon), china, and cloth napkins.
USAir showed real class that day. Of course, everything’s changed now.