Friday, October 3, 2008

A magic carpet ride (with wine)

Business class rocks. Especially when somebody else is picking up the tab. As part of the relocation package, B's employer, henceforth known as "The Company," rolled out the red carpet and plunked down for business class seats to Germany. Being something of a hairshirt/dirtbag, this was an extravagance beyond compare-- my previous trips on First/Business Class (all 2 of them, including a 1-hour flight from Phoenix to Denver) were the direct result of the airline totally screwing me over, me being cool about it, and their ticket agents bumping me up as a result. But these seats... my word, we're talking about motorized, all-singing, all-dancing Recaros that could double as narrow Barcaloungers, had a massage function, could extend in any position, had legroom aplenty, with individual movie screens complete access to ALL of Lufthansa's movies, not just the "Kung Fu Panda" that those poor mopes in steerage were suffering through.  I saw a heavily edited "The Bank Job" and, as a nod to my new address, and a biopic  of 80's Austrian synth pop flash in the pan Falco (hey, I liked the original "Der Kommissar"). But as a connoisseur of sleep, it was the seat's ability to achieve fully reclined position that made the trip so much easier-- and time pass more quickly. Would I front the money myself to do this again? Frankly, no-- Ambien, red wine and earplugs usually do the trick for me, and I'd save about $3100 doing so-- but I really can't fault anyone who chooses to fly on the other side of that curtain. In the end, our entire journey from the time we left for the Portland airport to the time we walked into our German hotel room took 22 hours. So those 3+ hours of sleep I managed to catch on the plane were most welcome. 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

ahhh, biz class. yes indeed. how the 'other half lives'. glad you got to enjoy it, g. People ask me if I could/would fly around a lot if required by my job. My answer: only if I'm flyin biz class, biznatch! ;)

Kris K said...

I'm so jealous! That sounds like heaven!! Good for you guys!! : )