I've flown overseas a couple of times, once in first class. I have to say that if I have a choice, I would fly first class every time; the experience is so much better in almost every respect. It was made even better that I didn't have to pay for the upgrade. I'm too poor (or cheap) to pay for it myself.

How did that happen?, you might wonder. Well, I was travelling with my partner at the time, who is 6'2". When we approached the check-in agent, we asked very nicely of him whether any bulk-head seating was available to accommodate long legs. The agent, who was "family," if you get my drift, looked us both over and said coyly, "Oh, I can do better than that." And thus we were upgraded coming and going from Newark to Heathrow.

On the way over, my cocktail glass was never empty (OK, so that turned out to be a mistake, as I learned on the descent), and on the way off the plane, our attendant, who was also "family," handed us a nice bottle of champaign carefully wrapped in a first-class cloth napkin.

The rest of our tour group sat and seethed in steerage - er - I mean coach. On the ground, one of them praised the quality of the food, even for coach. She asked if we had the chicken or the steak. "Oh, I had the squab and he had the filet mignon." She didn't speak to us the rest of the trip.

What can I say? Sometimes membership has its privileges (but not often).

Regards,
Rex.