My virgin business experience

So I'm back in York. I came back mainly to rid myself of distractions so I could focus on (finally) get myself working on the final year project, so who could have foreseen the incredible luck I'd have on the journey here?



As could be guessed by the title of this post, basically I got bumped into business class for the flight here. I'm guessing that it was a full flight, and I was the passenger with the most airline miles on board (or simply very lucky, somehow, but I like to think that all those accumulated miles have finally come in useful)...

What happened was that when I stepped into the waiting area at the boarding gate, I was asked to 'step aside'. At first I'd thought I was being singled out for more security checks or something, but instead I was given this replacement handwritten boarding pass stub. I was really shocked but managed to figure out what was happening (having heard that it happens, though never really expecting to be in such a situation myself).



So inside the plane I went a little crazy with the photos. I tried to be discreet, but I'm pretty sure the stewardess serving us noticed and was probably rather tickled (and perhaps disdainful) of the whole thing. Anyway, the seat is definitely a lot more luxurious than what we get in economy class - the screen's a lot bigger, we're given noise-cancelling headphones, there's a lot more legroom, and the seat even transforms into a flat (though slanted) bed. Amazing stuff.



The food is also a lot better. It's not like FWOAH restaurant standard, but definitely much better than what's served in Economy class. The way it's served is also a lot better - there's a lot of individual attention, with the staff knowing each passenger's name (I was 'Mr Tan' for the whole trip) and laying tablecloths and stuff on the tray.

It was actually a really pleasant experience, and I came out of the flight feeling quite refreshed, actually. In fact I would personally shell out a couple hundred dollars for the extra comfort - something like paying to stay in a hotel room during the flight. Since the business ticket is more than triple the price of an economy ticket though (For a Singapore-Manchester return ticket, the SQ website quotes S$2100 for economy and S$7709 for business), I doubt I will ever be paying for a business ticket - I will probably redeem my miles for upgrades rather than free flights though. It's a little wasteful since I don't actually need the luxury, but after this experience I've decided that it's worth the opportunity cost of a few hundred dollars (that could have been saved on an economy class ticket).