Accidentally got upgraded to business class about six years ago, and have found it quite an addictive experience. Trouble is, it’s very expensive, and with a CME balance in the negative thousands, it’s a rarer treat these days. I also found out recently that business class has a larger carbon footprint than economy, which makes sense if you think about it. After all, if you had the whole plane to yourself then the entire carbon footprint would be yours.
However, after my arduous experience flying from LAX to Paris at the start of this trip a fortnight ago, when I found out that I was going to be squeezed between two other people in the middle of a row on the 11 hour flight from Paris to China, I decided to pay the extra 229 euro to upgrade to premium economy. I had no access to the lounge, but I have no regrets for upgrading. I had a great window seat just behind the bulkhead (is that what it’s called when you’re right at the front of the cabin and you can stretch your legs right out in front of you?) I think the man in the ticketing office at Charles De Gaulle deliberately gave me a nice seat because we shared the last name, which seemed to excite him. Of course, it sounds better in French.
The penultimate leg of my trip was the flight from Shanghai to Auckland. I decided when I booked my trip a couple of months ago to try the skycouch for this last long haul flight. It wasn’t that much more expensive, certainly cheaper than business but also premium economy I think, and there’s plenty of room for those of a more compact stature such as myself, although it does give you the rather disturbing sensation of having hundreds of strange people in your bedroom while you’re trying to sleep.
Of course, you don’t get the multiple course meals back in economy, but actually I’m happy with whatever I get in the way of airplane food. I remember when we moved back to New Zealand from England when I was seven. I thought the food on the plane flight was amazing. Everything was wrapped up in its own little package on the tray, and we even got an individual chocolate each. It was a meal fit for a king. Maybe it was overindulgence that made me fall down the airplane stairs when we landed in Auckland. I seem to remember everyone having to wait behind me while I tried desperately to pick up all my spilled jigsaw puzzle pieces, but this could be an implanted memory.
Anyway, in summary: premium economy for long haul, with consideration of skycouch for overnight flights if you aren’t too tall.
And now I have just arrived back in Wellington. Home again, home again, jiggety jig (yes I am sleep deprived).