I had a business class ticket paid by a client from Hong Kong to SFO and thought maybe I would upgrade myself with miles and quite a bit of $$s to fly Global First for the experience. What a joke.

This was no better than business class and in some cases worse. First of all, it appeared (from the online upgrade list) that I was the only one who stupidly paid for my upgrade. Everyone else in the section got upgraded from business for free.

Anyway, upon arrival, it was discovered that the overhead bins are smaller than business class. There was no space for my single carry on. Eventually the flight attendant found a space way back in business class. So I had to walk back there everytime I needed something.

Second, I saw that they had an excellent French champagne they were pouring. I waited my turn until the flight attendant came to me and asked for a glass. By then the bottle was empty. She said they only had one bottle and that if I wanted champagne I could have some from the business class champagne - which was far inferior. Nice.

I observed a French gentleman next to me request that his beef tenderloin be served "rare". The flight attendant said she would do her best but all the food was "precooked". When the dish came the poor man couldn't stomach it and got nothing else in its place.

A lady near me traveling with a small infant asked for some soft food for her child and was told that they had none. She was then informed that if she used up her breakfast congee then she could have nothing for breakfast.

When I asked for slippers I was told United only has that on the Tokyo routes.

In all, this is far away from what one would expect for a first class experience on a major international flight. Its a big mistake to ever pay for it.