This week we are taking a walk down memory lane with a vintage first class trip report. I’m sharing photos and brief commentary from a trip I took in the final days of 2010 and first days of 2011 that included many first class flights from five Star Alliance carriers. As we enter a new decade, the goal of this trip report is to examine how airlines have changed over the last one. Although this trip report has never been published, I will not be publishing a detailed, word-heavy review as I do for current trip reports. Instead, commentary will be limited and the focus will be on photos. For the final post, I will summarize, as generally as I can, how premium products have changed over the last decade.
Flight #1: United Airlines 757-200 First Class Los Angeles to Chicago
- Since we were connecting in Chicago to First Class on Lufthansa, we had access to the old International First Class Lounge at LAX
- It was in the location of the current Polaris Lounge
- While quiet, it was nothing special, with a better buffet than the Red Carpet Club, but no a la carte dining or bartender like the current premium cabin lounge
- The water bottle pictured next to the nuts was from the first class lounge
- I had pre-ordered an Indian vegetarian meal, which proved to be far better than the sandwich or salad served with soup onboard – even 10 years ago I knew to order the Indian choice.
- I just love Gulab Jamun, those sweet brown balls that took the place of dessert
- But I received a chocolate chip cookie as well, hot from the oven – double dessert is another reason to order special meals
- The overhead videos are gone, but seats now have power ports and wi-fi plus streaming IFE is available
- I do miss those old cloth seats, though (on this flight, they had just been replaced to leather ones; I preferred the old cloth ones with the little pocket for the ticket stubs)
- All United 757-200s now have lie-flat seats
- A perfectly satisfactory, on-time domestic flight
Next up: Chicago to Munich in Lufthansa First Class
These are fun to look back on. Love the Delta 747-400 in the background as a further reminder of time passing.
That’s so cool kiddo! I remember you mentioning a 3 class bird in another post. What’s old is new (at AA).
+1
Your last bullet point: what really matters!
(But I LOVVVE the vintage photos. Great that you’re doing these TRs.)
“Since we were connecting in Chicago to First Class on Lufthansa, we had access to the old International First Class Lounge at LAX”
Back then, were the lounge access rules based on a same-day *A departure? Obviously, now it depends on your flight out of the local airport (unless it’s an all-UA itinerary), but I can’t remember when they made the change (for the worse)…
“The water bottle pictured next too the nuts was from the first class lounge”
“I do miss those old cloth seats, through”
*to and *though 😉 I miss those cloth seats, too!
In any case, I remember that the LAX IFL had the best employees. They more than made up for the dumpy facilities.
Fixed the errors! Thanks.
Indeed, the old International First Class lounge access rules allowed for access at downline airports as well.
Who auth9rized the water bottle labels with a logo that hadn’t been used in 15 years – it was long gone before the website
Cool that they had them though – was their best logo the original Saul Bass rendition
Thanks for sharing Matthew. I miss the old tulip logo!
@Stuart – Your comment about the DL 744 really makes me feel old. I recall about 15 years ago seeing a photo of DCA with an AA 727 and thinking the same thing. And I remember thinking man, I wish I’d been able to ride that 727 (I never did get the opportunity). Luckily I had multiple rides on the 744, but I know that an entire generation will most likely miss out on a ride on the 744.
God, old? I flew so many 727’s back in the day. Now I feel OLD!
I still remember the last time….Delta from ATL to somewhere. It was just after 9/11 and they had a few still around used for fill in moments when aircraft went offline. It even had the old colorful interior with the multi color and patterned seats. I thought it was a fitting end to my 727 days.
I miss it though, seeing the flight engineer in the cockpit, the quirky way it always seemed to take off and after 20-30 seconds would sort of level to gather speed to climb more, and the incredible noise in the back rows.
Was the gulab jamun warm? They are even better like that!