My first flight(s) in first were as a 19 year old college student. I had a friend who worked in Special Services for Delta and he would always upgrade me when I was flying between Lubbock and DFW for school holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, Easter, etc). I always took this for granted and never realized how lucky I was until I started flying for business.

I used to love the look of envy when my school friends (and invariably, the flights to and from Lubbock around school breaks were all Texas Tech students) would board to see me sitting in F. As a typical college student, I always managed to find a way to consume as many drinks as possible on the flight.

It was truly a sad day for me when American, Delta, and Continental all quit flying jets to Lubbock... Southwest was the only carrier left. That was when I started making the five hour drive home instead of flying.