Mixed experience in First
HKG-LHR, First, A380, seat 4K.
The in-flight entertainment for my seat was broken. To their credit, the crew tried resetting both the system and the controller several times but to no avail. There were no spare First seats that they could move me to. They were apologetic and immediately offered a bottle of champagne, which I declined as I'm not a drinker and didn't want the hassle of carrying it around after the flight, but I appreciated and acknowledged the gesture. At the end of the flight, the CSD approached me to offer 10,000 avios, which I accepted.
The lack of IFE was annoying (I'd paid for it and did want to enjoy some entertainment during meal times) but not a huge deal for me as I mostly wanted to sleep during the flight, which I did. I was kicking myself as I had brought my iPad with me but hadn't thought to load it up with my own videos before the flight. Note to self for future flights!
The other weird thing on this flight was during breakfast service. For the dinner service, the crew had come round to take orders, written them down, and service was very smooth. At breakfast, it was the complete opposite and a bit shambolic, with the crew on my side forgetting who'd ordered what and repeatedly taking orders, then returning to ask again, then bringing the wrong orders to the wrong people, etc. I wondered why they weren't more methodical and didn't write things down as they had done with the dinner orders. In general, the crew seemed a bit flustered in the morning.
The kicker was then when the CSD approached the passenger in front of me in 3K to apologise profusely for the IFE being out of order, only to be told after her heartfelt apology that she'd got the wrong passenger, so then she had to go through the whole routine again with me.
To be clear, I still enjoyed the flight: the seat was cosy and comfortable, I slept well, the food was tasty, and crew were generally friendly and helpful. It was still a very comfortable way to travel. But it wasn't entirely a "first class" experience and, at times, I did wonder if I was in an episode of "First-y Towers" or something.