Partly due to fortuitous (for us) misinformation. Based on the fact that journalists usually quote the most expensive price they can find, most people believe you can't travel in First without splashing out around £8,000 on a ticket. Those of us on here know better. I'm not saying F is a realistic option for the backpacker on a shoestring, so to speak, but it's within reach of many who think it isn't.

I hate travelling longhaul Y so much that I had enough motivation to enable me to discover for myself how to get into the C cabin (initially on United - this was years back) without too much of a financial outlay . But I think reading FlyerTalk has made me travel in F much more than I otherwise would.