What's the Big Deal About First Class?

I have been concentrating my business travel to one airline: Delta. That way I can get my frequent flyer points to rack up faster than by spreading the miles around between airlines. On my recent trip to NYC, I decided to cash in some of those frequent flyer miles to upgrade to first class on all four flights. The cost/reward seemed equitable: the cost wasn't extravagant and it didn't bankrupt my points balance. And having taken admittedly short flights in flirst class, here are the benefits:

1. Early boarding, although by the time the pre-boards and jump-seat crew members get on, this is not as big a deal as you might think.
2. Leg room - the 757 pods was nice; on the other flights the room didn't seem all that much less expensive comfort class.

Yup, that's it.

Of the four flights, only one (Atlanta to JFK) had a meal service. The crew member got to me last, so my only choice was a cold Asian salad. I passed. On one flight, the only snack offered was the same peanuts and pretzels served everywhere else in the plane. Buying a first class ticket does not give you access to the Premier Club.

The first half of my trip was marred from the start. As usual, I checked in online 24 hours prior to my first flight and printed my boarding passes. I got to the airport early and waited patiently at the gate. When I was called to board, my boarding pass wouldn't scan. I was held aside and asked if my company re-booked my itinerary or if I did. As it turned out, Delta cancelled my flight from Detroit to JFK and rebooked my flights. I had no advance notification and my rebooked flight (to Atlanta) was two hours later. Morning wasted.

Oh, I finally got a text notification of the change 15 minutes after my original flight to Detroit left the gate.

So, rather that arriving in NYC around 3:30 and having plenty of time to drive to my hotel and find the location for the training I was delivering, I arrived after 11:00 and finally got settled into my hotel room after midnight. Fun.

The trip home was uneventful. I got done much earlier than expected and was unable to rebook anything earlier, so I sat at JFK for four hours. My flight into Atlanta arrived at Terminal A and my connection flight was scheduled to depart from Terminal B. I took the "PlaneTrain" to that terminal and waited at the gate for an hour. Of course, the gate was changed to... you guessed it, Terminal A. But these are the realities of air travel. No big deal. Even the cancelled flight was pretty routine -- it was the lack of notification that ticked me off.

Me and Delta are having a rough patch in our relationship. We'll see if we can last.