First Class Flights - so excited!

[WingingIt101]

DH and I have worked really hard over the last year to take control of our finances and make our money work for us.
One of the things we did was take out a credit card with Avios points as I already had a fair chunk of points from previous work travel and we pay off the card every month.

We have just managed to book first class return flights to New York! I can't believe it. I never in my life thought I'd be able to fly in first class. I've done business through work but quite a long time ago now - pre covid.

I'm just so excited - I have a rough idea what to expect; different check in and security, lounge, big comfy seats - but what else?!

It's London to New York, British airways.
Tips to get the absolute best experience please!

@WingingIt101 oh I see! Thanks for letting me know...I'll be back In January... 😁 The Knicks game sounds a perfect present, well done!

My parents went recently and was £18k first class return 🤔

I hope you didn't have Penny in the cabin...

I’m back!!

I promised to come back and update afterwards so here I am - happy to answer any questions if it’s interesting?!

we arrived at Heathrow and used the special first class check in area. Excellent service, quick and has its own special security area so there’s just no waiting and queuing

from there we were straight into the lounge but our first class tickets meant we walked straight back out and across the hall to Concorde lounge. Full table service and just all round wonderful service. Had a delicious full English breakfast with a few glasses of champagne. Then managed to get a private cabana which was super cool - private room with massive tv, a call bell for whatever food / drink / amenities you needed. A full private bathroom. Sat watching trashy tv and drinking champagne. Heaven.

flight itself was really turbulent due to storms. First class had just 8 seats in and we were so well looked after. Anyone that says “it’s just not possible to do airplane food well” has never been in first because the food was restaurant worthy. More champagne. Temperley loungewear and toiletry bag with Elemis goodies. Eat what you want when you want.
chatted with our crew and explained how we got our tickets and how it was such a huge treat. They were so excited for us and then made sure we knew all the things available to us so we didn’t miss out on anything. We also mentioned it was our ten year wedding anniversary later this year so this trip was really our treat to celebrate that. They then had all the crew sign us a card and gifted us a bottle of champagne to take off the flight with us.

afternoon tea before landing was 10/10.

lovely break in NY before flying home!

newark airport doesn’t have a dedicated 1st lounge but in the normal lounge they had buffet food and then a separate à la carte area with table service for first class ticket holders. Had an excellent dinner there before our night flight home - again restaurant standard. Tried caviar for the first time! It was nice enough but I absolutely didn’t get what the fuss was about 🙈 oh and it was served on lobster arancini. With more champagne to wash it down!!
DH was able to go for a shower in the lounge too.
plane home was clearly a little older but it was all still fantastic. I popped to the loo and came back to find the crew had turned my pod into a lovely bed with proper bedding (they check if you want this at the start of the flight) and it was perfect as I’d taken a melatonin washed down with champagne so was asleep within minutes.
slept like a baby and they woke me as requested about 40 mins out from London with a great breakfast and lovely pot of tea. Again chatting I explained our trip had been a treat for our anniversary and they appeared with two different bottles of champagne to take off the plane with us and a big box of Lindt chocolates.

the staff could not have been lovelier - dh and I have said we don’t know how we will ever be able to go on holiday and turn right ever again 🤣🤣

It sounds marvellous. What a fantastic time youve had!
Im glad its been a great experience.

Sounds like you had a brilliant time. Thanks for the update. I'd love to experience it one day.

It sounds amazing, I now want lobster arancini and caviar.

Sounds fab thanks for the update.

Sounds amazing and is challenging me to spend my points more wisely! What did you do when you were in NY? How cold was it? Any recommendations or highlights?

It sounds lovely. I wonder who can afford the paper price of 30K though!

I hope you kept the pyjamas! My mother just flew back first on BA and they’re bloody lovely

You have no idea how rich some people are.

I think most are closer to £5k a ticket - we were pretty gobsmacked to see the price end up at 30k!!

@WingingIt101very late to this thread but rally enjoyed reading it.

Curious to find out how easy it was to book with the Avios points - did you have to meticulously plan to be aware of when reward flights became available for the dates you wanted to go ?

Or did you just go into the BA website and look to see what was available and choose a date based on that ?

We had actually “done” NY ten years ago in our honeymoon so didn’t need to do the big landmarks.
we actually have friends and my sil lives out there so we spent time visiting them, did a lot of shopping and had a car so explored areas like Princeton which was lovely (very preppy and like being in England in many ways!!)

it was absolutely biting cold - minus ten at its lowest. Very cold wind chill. But we had excellent coats and boots which kept us cosy and they are well set up for it - roads and paths are cleared and cafes etc always warm - ended up being annoying as we then had these enormous coats to carry / find a space for!!

in terms of recommendations- we like to visit the 9/11 memorial, it’s incredibly moving and a sobering reminder of the reality of that day. There’s a beautiful little church just around the corner where the firefighters would go for sleep between attempts to help - they still operate as a church but have a small area where they’ve saved the pews the firefighters slept on - it’s incredible to see.

Rockefeller centre is great. As is the New York public library!
time square for a photo op and if you can see something at the theatre then do! Off broadway has some excellent and slightly cheaper options.
would highly recommend watching the basketball if it’s on whilst you are there. Excellent fun and lots of atmosphere - no need to have any clue what the rules are!!

we took the ferry to Ellis island rather than lady liberty. It’s great because you sail right past her for the best photo op but you get off at Ellis which is so interesting as the museum for all the immigration arrivals to nyc back in the day!

The booking was the most frustrating part.

they only release very few reward seats on each route (I believe 2 in first, 4 in business and then a few more in economy / PE - someone more knowledgeable than me may be along to confirm!) - ultimately those who do it a lot are good at knowing how to nab them!
we ended up being really flexible with our dates and essentially looking at when we could get the flight and seeing if we could make annual leave / childcare etc work around it.

we also paid a nominal fee for a seat finder site (I can’t remember the name as DH took charge of this bit!!) - it was a mixed bag. It found some seats to give us a guide but often we would find it then wasn’t accurate when we searched for it on The BA website.
I think in the end we called BA and pretty much said “we want to go first class, to New York but not fussy about jfk or ewr, from London for around 4-5 days, avoid Christmas and one other date.
the chap then helped us find some options and we then went away and booked on our laptop.

all in all a bit of a palaver but I would say now having done it it was absolutely worth the fuss!

How do you get advios points?

We have an Amex which we put all our spend through and pay an annual fee for

Sounds like you had an incredible experience! BA get slated so much but when it goes right, it's fantastic.

We use a companion voucher every year and it's hard to imagine going long haul in anything other than business or first now. Totally ruined air travel 😂

If you're not already, make sure you use the avios website to shop through. Helps rack the points up a bit more quickly...you'll be on your next First flight before you know it.

Thank you @WingingIt101 . I am off there soon and have also been a few times and the most recent also 10 years ago! But the ££ ask on any flights with Avios when I I looked to go were the same as I paid for the flights! As I wasn’t at all flex with my dates….. have used my points / companion voucher for later in the year to go somewhere else but now wondering if we should change card as ours limits us to just economy flights…. So glad you enjoyed it !

Thanks @WingingIt101

We're prepping to book with Avios and companion voucher for flights that become available in 3 months time, but am pessimistic about managing to get them.

Everyone i do a trial search on the BA website it always seems that I cant get both outwards and return flights, or if I can only for one of us

Check in at the First Wing.
You enter the First Lounge from the First Wing. Exit immediately and cross the lobby to the Concorde Room.
Leave yourself enough time to enjoy a proper meal and some drinks in the Concorde Room. Two hours is enough but you might feel a bit rushed.
You are entitled to board in Group 1 but I wouldn’t rush as BA boarding is always a shambles.
Tell the crew its your first time in First and hopefully they will spoil you.
You may have to request PJs and slippers as its a day flight.
Sit near the front of the cabin for your best chance of getting the meal choice you want. BA under cater and really have enough of the most popular options.
Sit back and enjoy.

Next time I’ll RTFT before responding. Glad you had a great time.

It's what @Ferro says..

Once upon a time you'd have odd instances of pretty much the whole of F class being bought out by an individual to accomodate themselves plus entourage.

These days that cohort increasing travel on their own business jet.

So glad it went well for you. I’m ex BA crew and worked in first a lot. We adored having people like yourselves who were really enjoying the product and flight. A lot of first class passengers were so used to it and just bedded down straight away. I’m happy they spoiled you and explained everything.