I flew First Class on a four-class A380 for a round-trip that I took a few weeks ago. It was amazing, everything that I hoped it would be and then some. I ate a fantastic meal, drank top-shelf whiskey and champagne, and then crashed out on my seat, which the FA made into a bed (duvet, comforter, and all) while I changed into the provided pajamas in the lavatory. I got a solid four hours of sleep on my 8-hour flight and then woke up for a proper breakfast. It was expensive but I really do feel that I got my money's worth, especially considering the international first class lounges that I used before the flight, which included a fine dining five-course meal and private bathrooms with showers.

Some pics: https://instagram.com/p/BmCjI2yAdPA/

https://instagram.com/p/BmCidHZgztX/

https://instagram.com/p/BmDpgtPAgIp/

Enjoying a plane ride? I have yet to experience that. Although Virgin Airlines was always delightful.

How much did it set you back (ballpark), I'm curious? It's something I've been meaning to try.

OP probably used miles, that's what I do.

I managed to use AA miles to fly Eithad's first class apartment from Abu Dhabi to JFK.

http://zooxel.com/etihad_new/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/resi...

The sofa on the left side of that photo converts into a bed.

In the last six years I've earned and redeemed about 2.5 million frequent flyer points, so I've managed to fly first or business class around the world several times over. Beds in flight, top-shelf champagne, 21 year old Japanese whiskey, caviar, showers in the sky, complimentary limos to and from the airport, free massages at the airport. When I flew first class on Lufthansa out of Frankfurt they drove me across the tarmac to my plane in a Porsche.

Last year I flew to New Zealand and back via Asia in first class. Outbound I flew Cathay Pacific in first via Hong Kong, then returned using Air New Zealand business class, Singapore Airlines first class and All Nippon first class via Sydney, Singapore and Tokyo. All told about 180k miles and a couple hundred bucks in taxes and fees.

I paid cash for this one. I don't have status or miles on AA or BA and probably wouldn't have burned them on BA First if I did. My miles are with another alliance and I'm saving them up for an around-the-world trip with an Asian airline. Cathay/Singapore/Emirates/Etihad are the only first class products worth blowing miles on, IMHO.

I've flown pretty much every single first class long-haul product. There are some great first on non-Asian airlines too. You name Emirates / Etihad. I'd say my all time favorite first class is Swiss, and Lufthansa is great too.

Here's the full list I'd consider aspirational and worth flying in long-haul first: - Swiss - Lufthansa - Air France - Garuda Indonesia - Singapore - Emirates - Etihad - Korean Air (on 748i and 77W only) - Thai

Not quite at the same level but still great: - JAL - ANA - Qatar - Asiana - Cathay Pacific

The rest are not as good.

As a drinks nerd, it always kinda annoys me that so much of the good/rare stuff gets drunk in airplane where due to the pressurization your since of taste is considerably altered/decreased. But good gig if you can get it, I suppose...

Wow! How did you manage to accumulate so many miles?

Mostly churning credit cards. Some manufactured spending.

any specific advice for others who want to accumulate so many points

It usually doubles per class from economy, premium economy, business to first class (for the cheapest tickets). But then of course there is more variance between airlines when it comes to business and first. A cheap first class intercontinental return ticket might be 2000€. More realistically you are looking at 3000€ to 4000€. If you have somewhere to go or a time to be there it can of course be a lot more.

British Airways runs about $7,000-$15,000 per round-trip depending on when and where you fly. It's a relative bargain. You probably won't do a long-haul flight on Emirates for anywhere south of $10K, and probably quite a bit more.

BA is terrible. When I was flying to the Far East regularly they would charge more for premium than finnair or Qatar charged for business. Qatar business on the planes on that route (787/a350) is way better than BA first on any plane.

#anyoneButBA - and I say that as a former top tier BA frequent flyer

Even business class is outstanding on the A380.

On some planes, and not others. There's huge seat variation from airline to airline.

Definitely. JAL's business class is a cubicle with a full bed. https://www.jal.co.jp/en/inter/service/business/seat/skysuit...

Ah ha, the lovely Apex Suite, also available on Gulf, Oman, and Korean. It's very comfortable, and it's what BA's seats should have been.

I am not so sure. The problem is that you probably would have to rearrange the entire airline industry. You could for instance just run long haul flights from a few places per continent. Then you could engineer an airplane model to just go back and forth in comfort between two places in the middle of nowhere and optimize the hell out of everything. Today everything is so "unorganized" that airline can't even offer a good experience on the ground, which would be the far easiest innovation you could make.