The Jet Set

Abstract:
Cindy and I were upgraded to Business Class between Washington and Paris. It was fantastic!

Long version:
Cindy and I have been doing a lot of travelling and were pleased when we earnt Premier status with United earlier this year. This doesn't change much but it means that you get to board the plane sooner and if there's space in Economy Plus, you get upgraded for free. I was a bit excited about this the first time we got it coming back from Australia. Then we realised that Economy Plus just means 2cm extra room. It's imperceptible sitting up but when everyone pushes their seats back that little bit does make a difference.

Then we found out about domestic upgrade credits. Because Cindy had flown enough miles after earning Premier status, she had a number of credits on her account with which she could request an upgrade on a domestic flight. We were kicking ourselves that we hadn't used this last time on the flight from LA to Indy but we figured that we'd try to use one for the Indiana to Washington leg of this flight. There was a bit of mucking around trying to get her to sponsor an upgrade for me (we paid separately so we were on separate itineraries) but it turned out that only she was on the waiting list.

We were even more disappointed when we reserved our seats for the long trans-Atlantic leg and couldn't get any in Economy Plus. I mentioned this when we checked in our bags and she had a look but said that it was full, leaving us at the very back of the plane. There were enough paying First Class passengers on the flight to Washington that Cindy didn't get off the waitlist. But that didn't matter because on a flight of one and a half hours they don't feed you so it makes no real difference.

When we got to Washington we had to rush a bit to find the gate. They were still using those bizarre shuttles to get between terminals. They started boarding just after we got there. We went up but when Cindy handed over her boarding pass there was a negative-sounding beep and a red light. But they didn't stop her, they just handed her a different boarding pass that had already been printed. The same thing happened to me. As we walked down the ramp checking to see if we were still seated together, we realised that they'd put us both in Business!!

The first thing you notice is the size of the chairs. As you can see from the pic, there's a leg-rest. We spent the first 15 min working out what all the buttons did. There was electric lumbar support and under that button another with a cycle symbol. That slowly hardens and softens the back, forcing you to change your position slightly and stopping you from getting bed sores. The only problem is that it's a bit too strong, I could only take it for a few minutes at a time. Every seat has its own screen but on a 777 there's only a 8 or 9 film channels to choose from.

We also got a pencil-case sized pouch with: an eye mask, socks, ear plugs, toothbrush and toothpaste, a pen, tissues and a moisturiser.

Yes, they do bring you a glass of champagne before take off and offer you a choice of newspapers (French and American). Then for the aperitif after take-off, alcohol is free, including things that can't even be bought in Economy, like Glenlivet single malt, which I ordered. Cindy had a Kahlua and milk; when she asked to keep the little bottle, the stewardess replied, 'This one's empty now. Here, have a full one.' The same thing happened later when she ordered a Baileys! Yes, all drinks come in real glass glasses. And instead of little sachets of peanuts, we got little ceramic bowls of warm mixed nuts. They tasted much better warm, or maybe everything just tastes better when you're sitting in Business!

For dinner, it was much better quality and there was more of it. They gave us a big printed menu and took our orders well before; then they laid out white linen tablecloths on every tray and gave us real metal cutlery wrapped in linen napkin. There was salad (Cindy got my cherry tomatoes and olives) and a smallgoods and raw vege entrée. For main I had braised beef and potatoes gratin while Cindy had a spinach lasagne. For dessert we both had tiramisu, which they served with port.

Here's a picture of the breakfast. A raspberry yoghurt came soon after.
Cindy said that it was the best day of our lives. But maybe when we go back to Economy we'll think that it was the worst day of our lives!