Very often you hear people complain that style and glamour have long left air travel. What they prefer to forget is that if you fly across the Atlantic twice for less than four hundred euros, you can hardly expect much more than the smallest amount of space allowed by the Geneva convention and a nondescript blob of biomass for food. What they also forget is that if you are willing to shell out the relative amount that a trip cost back in the days of style and glamour, you can still have them. Alternatively, collect enough frequent flyer miles and you can have them, too.

The enterprise is called First Class and a return ticket from Frankfurt to San Francisco sets you back eleven thousand euros. So, what do you get in return?

It starts long before the flight. Lufthansa’s First Class Lounge is so special, it is actually in a separate building half a mile away from the terminal. Once you arrive, someone will be assigned to your case and will look after you for your entire stay. The lounge has its own security checkpoint, so don’t expect any queues. Thereafter follows a bar, an a-la-carte restaurant, a buffet, and the usual amenities of a lounge, such as office rooms, newspapers, comfy chairs and soft cushions.

Once your flight starts boarding, you are guided downstairs and asked into one of these Porsche SUV chimeras and driven to the plane. Now follows the altogether best part: You are taken upstairs to the boarding area and walked straight through the hordes of lowly economy passengers. Great feeling. Must. Resist. To. Stick. Out. Tongue.

Inside the aircraft the most remarkable thing is space. Lots of it. Whereas in economy you have usually a bit more than one window, in first you have four. In Lufthansa’s 747, First Class is in the upper deck, safely away from all the riff-raff. You, on the other hand, are important enough that first the Captain and then the head purser make their rounds to greet you personally.

Afterwards, things are so subtly different from business class that you only notice them in direct comparison. Everything is just this little extra bit nicer. Your seat is a little bit more comfortable – while both form a flat bed, the business class seat is tilted whereas the First class seat is horizontal. The small number of fellow passengers ensures that there is no annoying business people nearby or giddy upgraders trying to get the most out of the experience. The restroom is of a proper size, more like the ones you always see in the movies and wonder where they get the idea from. The wine list is longer, the food is better – looks, feels, and tastes like food cooked by actual humans. It is served off a real cart decked in linen, not a galley cart. Not a single aluminium container anywhere in sight. You get proper porcelain tableware and normal size cutlery. And as the little extra, your table is decorated with a real rose.

In essence, everything is as it should be. Somehow, you forget how long haul flights usually are. Even in business class, you always remember that you are on an aeroplane and that everything is a compromise. Not so in First. There are no compromises in First.

The jump from economy to business is the jump from bare survival to civilization – to be done whenever remotely possible. Going First is the step from civilization to culture. Is it worth the extra dough or raiding your mileage account? Rationally: Certainly not. But where it matters: Totally.