Flying Business Class

This is what "first class" looks like on our drives to school.

 Princess Julia, Olivia and Veronica occasionally enjoy rides to school in the glass carriage (my van) and they're often treated to "first class" service on their "flights" there. The photo above illustrates one of those rides: blanket, pillow and bottled water on seat is often accompanied by a piece of chocolate and, on cold days, a thermos of hot chocolate or tea.

On my flights to and from China, I enjoyed seating in "business class." So I thought it would be fun to show the princesses what types of things I enjoyed. (Missing is a photo of my meals.) For each of these 10-hour flights, I was given all of the amenities above, as well as a small case of amenities (two of which I brought back as souvenirs), a menu detailing the two multi-course meals, several small snacks and even warm towels.

Most interesting on the flights were the spray cans of air freshener/sanitizer that were sprayed throughout the cabin prior to takeoff. It was a very interesting thing. The TVs on both Air France flights (which provide me mileage through my Delta Skymiles account) were not as nice as those on Delta and United. While I had a choice of more than 50 movies, the navigation system to choose them and other programs and music was a bit archaic. I chalk that up to the plane being a bit old. But it was all good in the end.

Here's the chaos outside the terminal before boarding.

That's BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Max Sciandri and to his right, Taylor Phinney and Steve Cummings. The middle seat pictured was empty. Note the coat hanger, which is labeled by seat number.

These are the seat controls which allow you to recline in a number of ways.

The TV control hides in the air rest.

The pillow, blanket and coat hanger are all seat-belted in.

Here's the view of the TV screens. Note the ample leg room below.

The other arm rest contains the fold out lap table.

Mathias Frank was seated across the aisle from me.

Check out the Chinese newspaper with Steve Cummings on the front cover.