Your First Time in First Upgrade
 

Not necessarily a Delta-centric thread, but one many of you might enjoy:

Do you remember the first time you flew in First Class?

My very first I was so proud of myself. I was flying United (coach) on a Regional Jet a few years back, and I had used their website to scope out the seat map in First.

I noted where the empty First Class seats were. Then during the boarding process got on about half-way through and plunked down and one of the wide seats at the front. Immediately offered a beverage (orange juice or water) and was so enjoyable, and peaceful.

I was a little worried I'd taken someone else's seat, but if I remember correctly there were a few other First Class seats not taken.

The first time I legitimately flew in First, was on Delta with a ticket I booked through a 3rd party. The outbound fare bucket was ineligible for upgrades, but the return was better (I don't recall one, but I think a travel industry fare) with only 1 of 3 segments on a 2-cabin aircraft. I called Delta requesting an upgrade, and they immediately upgraded me CVG to SLC, 10 days out--no co-pay, no miles, no status no nothing.

My theory is some airlines handle upgrades like drug dealers:
The first hit is free, but after that it's gonna cost you.

I remember it was on either a 757 or 767, and I sat down and not only couldn't believe how much legroom I had--it almost pained me how wide I had to spread my 5'6" frame to use the arm rests. I enjoyed a few libations, despite having already having a headache that put a slight damper on things


Anyway, I have been hooked on flying First ever since. I have even resulted to some crazy....shenanigans to do so a few times.

I, and I am sure many others want to hear more stories. So what was your first time in First Class (or Business for that matter) and how elated you were at the time?

I smell Travelbuzz :)

My first was on a flight ~24 December 2009. I had just made FO, and got the email on Friday in Shanghai that my DTW-MCI segment was upgraded :) I have been pretty spoiled since, but none of my FC segments were particularly long. I've used an SWU and paid for FC on DL/AA/MU since then, but my first UDU was special. My first Op-Up was ICN-HKG on a brand new A388 on KE. THAT (and an op-up as an FO on PVG-DTW) have kept me accumulating on SkyTeam even though the RDM are not that valuable.

My first time in first was actually on Delta. I was 13 or 14 years (1965 or 1966?) old and was going to visit a friend for new years eve, flying from New Orleans to Montgomery, Ala. The weather all over the southeast didn't cooperate so ended up spending new years eve by myself in Jackson, Miss. (Well before the unaccompanied minor days -- I was on my own.) Delta put me up for the night in Jackson, first time checking in to a hotel on my own, too. New Years morning I made my way back to the Jackson airport where it seemed that most of the planes in the SE had landed the night before. I was put on the PanAm/Delta interchange flight (I think the actual route was MSY-ATL or IAD-CDG and vv) and flown to New Orleans -- I think there were two passengers on the plane and we were both seated in FC. Missed New Years eve completely.
And got my money back -- flight in vain, before anyone knew what that language meant.

My first flight in F was on United shortly after graduating from college. Got drunk and passed out.

You are correct! :)

RSSrsvp - Moderator

First time was in AirTran's BizClass from ATL to MCO. Don't know if they still offer them but I took advantage of AirTran's $35 upgrades. I was only 18 at the time so I didn't get to enjoy any adult beverages but the bigger seat and extra legroom was nice.

My next upgrade was on AA about one year later on MIA-MCO. They asked for volunteers to bump for the next flight. I offered to and the agent took my boarding pass. We started boarding and she called me up to the podium, where she handed me a seat in F, saying "We didn't need you to bump but thanks for being willing!"

First time I booked a ticket in F was 2009 over New Years. Flew to the LA from Florida to visit a friend using Skymiles. First class seats were only a few thousand more miles than the coach reward tickets so I said "Why not?" Got the 777-200LR on LAX-ATL with the full lie-flat seats coming back. Very nice on the 4 hour flight from LAX back to ATL.

And the first time I've paid the listed cash price for a First Class ticket was actually last night (not miles and not upgrading at the airport). Booked the honeymoon tickets to Hawaii for myself and the future wife, taking advantage of AA's "Instant Upgrade" fares and a voucher I have with AA from a bump. Managed to get a very reasonable price for a First Class and am looking forward to experience First Class for more than a few hours. :)

It was in the mid-90's and I was flying FLL-NYC (don't recall which airport) on US. I was upgraded to F on an A320 (I think) at check-in due to the plane being oversold, even though I had no status. I felt like the king of the world watching everyone walk by me on their way to Coach :cool:. Plus, the lasagne they served us for lunch was delicious :D!

"Well, we had a choice of steak or fish."
"Yes, yes, I remember, I had lasagna."

:D

No one is going to comment on the original poster's despicable behavior in stealing an F seat?

29 Dec 1972

YZ "youth fare" was 50% of Y; FN "night class" was the same as daytime Y

DL sold seats on the ATL-IAD segment of their PA interchange flight (that continued to LHR) at about half of their regular ATL-DCA fares

I had a MIA-DCA Y ticket (returning from a trip with my college soccer team) that I exchanged at the city ticket office for FN(YZ) MIA-ATL at 230am and F ATL-IAD at 3pm ... as I recall, it cost me about $20 out of pocket (not an insubstantial amount for a 19-year-old, but the opportunity to ride up front on two really cool jets was worth it to me)

MIA-ATL DL982 was my first Convair 880 (N8809E, later acquired by Elvis Presley, re-registered N880EP and now residing at Graceland)
ATL-IAD DL/PA106 was my first 747 (N739PA, which sadly was destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie Scotland in 1988)

when the FA on 106 came around to take PDB orders, I asked for a gin and tonic; she asked if I was 21, and I replied that I was a student in New York State where the drinking age at the time was 18 ... she smiled, said "I won't tell anyone if you won't!" and brought me my drink (plus another in flight) ... having been up for about 36 hrs straight, I fell asleep after the refill (and actually slept thru landing, which I can't recall ever doing since) ... the FA awakened me when we shut down with a tap on the shoulder and a very polite "Sir, this is Washington," to which I replied "I won't tell anyone if you won't!"

Yeah, I was going to say that's a pretty crappy memory of 1st if you were there under false pretenses. But, that's US domestic 1st which is really just E+. ;)

My favorite flying-F story (not my first time in F but whatever) happened at almost the same time (Christmas '72).

I was a college freshman flying MSP-PHL on NW to be with the family for the holidays. Three of us in the dorm managed to miss a taxi, then found someone with a VW Beetle who was willing to drive us to MSP. The two of us going to PHL were pretty close to departure time, so we practically threw our suitcases at the TA and headed to the gate. We ran to the gate and got there within a few minutes of door closing. The GA looked at our tickets (youth reservation and not standby, thank you NW), said "Oh, I'm sorry, coach is booked solid." Downcast eyes on our part. "You'll have to fly in first tonight!"

As soon as we sat down the FA took our drink orders. I asked what was the drinking age, and she answered, "Twenty-one, but I won't tell if you don't", so I ordered a whiskey sour. In those days NW didn't collect PDB cups before takeoff, so I savored my sour through the taxi and takeoff.

A pretty decent steak dinner and a couple of whiskey sours later we arrived in PHL, and my parents were a little taken aback by my willingness to let Dad drive home that night.

Now, as far as my first flight in F, I was 14 and flying PHL-PIT to visit my sister's family over the Washington's birthday holiday. It snowed in Philly overnight, but Dad got me up to catch a fairly early flight. Just as we arrived at the airport we heard on the radio that PHL was closed. Dad asked if I wanted to go through with it and I said sure, so he dropped me off.

Inside, I pulled up a section of windowsill to wait out the storm, and found my neighbors were newlyweds trying to get to BDA for their honeymoon. We agreed to watch each others' suitcases while we went to check flight statuses and get something to eat. Finally, about mid-afternoon, I heard the announcement that TW pax for PIT should report to gate A something or other. Once there, we found a standby lottery for those of us on the earlier flights. We threw our ticket jackets into a bin, and the first x drawn from the bin got on the first flight out.

I was one of the lucky ones, and by the time I boarded Y was full and the FA was saying, "Just find an empty seat", so I sat in one of the seats in the four-seat lounge that was a feature of TW F on 707s and 880s (this flight was an 880 - my only).

No food on a short flight in mid-afternoon, and I was too young to partake of the adult beverages, but I enjoyed having a seat in which I could stretch out, even if only for an hour.

The first time I flew in Business was also I think my first flight into Tokyo. I was travelling on company business on United, flying on the 747 direct flight, this is well before they had flat-bed seating or anything like that.

I had no elite status but a few miles earned, so I called them and asked about how to upgrade it with miles. At the time, I guess, only certain fare classes were upgradeable, so they said I could pay the different in fare class to get to an upgradeable fare, and I think the fare-up was like $500 or so. Seemed like a bargain.

To further date just how long ago this was, United still had a remote ticketing office close to my work, so I went over lunch and upgraded the fare and applied the upgrade remotely. I guess it cleared right away, because I don't remember sweating out any sort of waitlist.

The feeling of scaling the staircase on the 747 to get to the upperdeck was priceless, with all my co-workers down in the lower deck without any personal-screen entertainment (actually, UA still doesn't have personal screens in 747, so some things never change).

I couldn't resist going downstairs a couple times during the flight just to "check in".

It was not until several years later that I resolved to never go long-haul economy, but the was definitely the trip that started the addiction.