I got an amazing Christmas present this year! On December 25th I was scheduled to fly out from Incheon Airport on my way home for the holidays. I was bummed I had to fly on Christmas but was happy that when I arrived back in St. Louis, 16 hours later, it would still be 1pm Christmas day.  The math is crazy.

I did the computerized check in and noticed immediately my seat numbers were not the seat numbers I had picked out myself several months ago. There was a wave of annoyance until I realized that my seat number was 4. Four! My seat had originally been in the fifties and here I was about to fly BusinessElite back to America per an automated system.  I was certain it was a mistake, that some human would come tell me there was a problem, but I just kind of went with it. Even as I was sitting in the seat, waiting for take off, I was wondering if someone was going to come tell me it was a mistake. 😀  But, I could tell many people had been upgraded and that made me feel better. We were the lucky chosen ones, traveling alone on a busy day!

I am definitely not a first class person. I am coach all the way. So it was an amazing opportunity to get to see how the 2% actually travel long distances.  I had an incredibly stressful past couple of months with many personal and professional challenges and obstacles. I felt like I had really paid my dues and was being rewarded, hah. And now I’ll share it with you. It certainly made the flight back in economy just a bit disappointing, lol.

Some of the most notable differences right away:

1. There’s an actual closet to hang your coat and you get an entire overhead bin to yourself.
2. A flight purser comes to talk to you about the menu.
3. They offer you champagne immediately on board.
4. One of the captains personally walks to the cabin, introduces himself and thanks you for being there .
5. First ones off means you get to the immigration people fast.
6. And many other little differences shown in these pictures.

While I waited for someone to kick me back to coach, I snacked on orange juice and amazing almonds.

Fly Kit: my grab bag of gifts.

So many soft things!

A much larger TV than in economy.

I don’t even have to touch the screen, all remote, all the time.

The panel on the right controls the ahhmazing seat that turns it into a bed or basically any type of configuration. I could probably hang upside down if I wanted.

All the space!

Sound dampening headphones.

Thought I’d get caught up on my Christmas card writing.

Is the view better from up here too??

And then we started the food.

Apps

Vegetable wrap

Asparagus with prosciutto

Salad course

Salad was frozen…so…there was that.

Chicken with gnocchi and vegetables.

Sauce was too sweet and there was no crispy skin…otherwise edible.

Just like Seinfeld!

A sundae with EVERYTHING please.

Last meal on the flight.

Quiche Lorraine and roasted tomato

I have a strict no alcohol or soda rule on these long haul flights. I kind of wish now I had gone ahead and broke it just this once. Ugh. Dehydration issues.