Some airlines give you the pjs in business too. Virgin upper class and EVA business among them.
I fly a mix internationally depending on whether I find special offers, use miles and/or get upgraded or fly for business (latter is infrequent but is business class when it happens).
Hawaiian 1st class SFO to HNL had so much pepper on my salmon I couldn’t eat it—way too spicy. Oh well, they made me a great hot fudge sundae.
Back in 1981, we flew United from O’Hare to Seattle on our way to an Alaska escorted tour. For some reason, we got upgraded to first class. This was on one of the luxury 747’s with the spiral staircase and upstairs lounge. That was a treat!
I never flew in a plane with upstairs or staircase. sounds fancy.
No reply from head of operations today. Maybe he’s checking things out 1st.
Not sure of current configuration as I know they have changed it in the last couple of years, but there was a BA plane with an upstairs which had a HUGE restroom at the front. So different to normal.
This is my husband in the business class bar upstairs on emirates, some years back
I was flying with my 5 year old; he was in the window seat, I was in the middle seat, and a woman was in the aisle seat (she didn’t speak to us the entire trip- I thought nothing of it). As we were descending my son was so excited he kept repeating “we’re going down, we’re going down!”. Little did I know the woman on the aisle was terrified of flying and she finally yelled at him to stop. The flight attendant came to calm her down. I felt bad because I honestly didn’t think how “we’re going down” sounded to others.
That’s the A380. Still available on several US routes (including SFO) at least until they upgrade those planes next year and put first at the front of upstairs instead of business class. The reason it’s so big is that’s where the shower goes on those airlines that chose to install it.
One time I was on a flight and a guy in the row ahead of me was pointing out that there was a liquid leaking from the engine outside our window. I was a frequent flyer for a few years and I told him I had noticed the same thing a couple of times, and that it was probably nothing to worry about.
He wasn’t convinced and continued to be concerned, so I rang for the flight attendant and pointed it out to her and she said she’d ask the pilot about it. She came back and said the pilot said it was normal - that the engine shed a certain amount of oil on every flight.
Then the guy in front of me blurted out “I wasn’t worried at all, it was her (Pointing at me like I was a criminal) that was scared!” Everyone in our rows was like what? You were the one who was freaking out! Then he sees our incredulous faces and says “Oh, I was just kidding!”
Jeez, that’s what you get trying to help someone. Male pride! 
Male insecurity, more like.
Whenever I travel for work I would fly business, and sometimes got upgraded to first. When I go to Europe I would fly from NYC to Europe Economy plus and business back. The way back is longer and it is usually during the day. D1 would say you get more bang for the buck.
I used to pay for 4 tickets and now I only pay for one, and that’s how I justify for paying up for nicer seats. 
A few years back, we found ourselves stuck at FLL (Fort Lauderdale). We were on our way home from St. John. When we arrived at FLL, it was like 6pm, and we had a couple hours before our connecting flight to ORD (Chicago). So we made our way over to the gate to chill out.
When we get to the gate, it is absolutely packed. We soon find out that several departures have been delayed, including ours. (by a couple hours)
Well, a couple of frustrated young ladies up near the departure desk started shouting. Every waking eye turned to the building conflagration. We were about a hundred feet from this scene, but we could still make out some of what was being shouted: “We’ve been here for six hours and I need to get home to go to work tomorrow…” was the gist of it. In-between loud bursts of shouting by the complainants, I strained to make out the much more calm and quiet responses of the airline staff. This did nothing to comfort the afflicted, and they kept shouting, and eventually the airport cops were called and finally they got a grip and sat down.
We ended up getting to O’Hare around midnight, then took 30-45 minutes to find our car, and made it home around 3:30am to find that my new pup had eaten all of my shoes. So I just decided to not go to sleep and went in to work wearing the least-damaged shoes. I spent my lunch hour buying new ones. lol
I flew business class on British Airlines to London in the mid 1990’s (probably based on an upgrade). They were serving Perrier Jouet Champagne. I mentioned to the flight attendant that I had something to celebrate because my newborn baby had just been declared healthy after recent surgery. The movie was a cute family movie that featured babies, so I got a bit teary eyed. The flight attendants gave me a bottle of Perrier Jouet Flower Bottle Champagne to take home to my wife to celebrate.
There is a small chance that I might be mis-remembering, and I might have had a business class ticket and been upgraded to first class based on miles. This was a while ago.
My best upgrade was when D2 and I were flying to Milan on Emirate, at the counter I asked if they had upgrades available and was told I could do it for $200/person for business class. They had a standup bar and they served veuve cliquer champagne. Too bad we slept most of the way.
The funny thing was the lady behind me was trying to do the same, but she was so obnoxious that the agent told her there were no more seats available. i knew better when i got onboard (they had seats). i always try to be nice when i am asking for an upgrade.
Virgin once upgraded me on a fare that wasn’t supposed to be eligible for upgrade (it was one of those premium economy seats that’s cheaper than economy that sometimes pop up). I was checking in (pre internet check in days I guess) and said something about upgrading with my hardly-any air miles and then realized the fare class. The agent said - i can’t do it for you but go ask, it’s the desk right next to this one, GO, it doesn’t hurt to ask!” So I did and that agent made a call and then said to me “we have one seat left in upper, it’s yours”! Flying 12 hours overnight from LHR, that was a blessing for sure. It took all my few hundred miles which I wasn’t using for anything else anyway as I rarely fly virgin.
I once got an unexpected upgrade to premium economy on United, even though I was only a general member of the United frequent flyer program. The route apparently had mostly people who had not even signed up for the frequent flyer program, and had overbooked regular economy but had some premium seats available (they presumably upgraded those with status first).
But the “upgrade” was not good, since the adjacent passenger was slightly overflowing the seat (with the armrest down).
True! Back in the days when planes weren’t always full, I asked the flight attendant if I could relocate if there were better available seats once we were in the air. She said yes, but you have to wait for the no seatbelts sign. So I was waiting, and when it went off, she hurries to me to tell me there was a whole row in the next section open! I’ve never moved so fast!
Other than the luxury of being able to lie down in a row of seats then, and on a few other occasions, the only luxury I’ve experienced other than coach on Singapore Airlines, was the early snack boxes that SW used to hand out, lol. They were great.
I remember those snack boxes. I don’t need a hot meal, just give me a snack box!!
Asking for upgrades pretty much never works anymore (unless you have elite status), because airline staff have much less autonomy now. Nor do they bump you up to the next class because they’re overbooked in coach — instead, you are offered a voucher and bumped off the flight.
Funny moment about Southwest. Flew to Phoenix with little kid. I think it was her second airplane trip. She was very excited when the flight attendant gave her a choice of snacks and then said she could have one of each! It was back then when SW had snacks, even peanuts! At the end of the flight, the same FA came by and gave kid a box of leftover snacks! Stuff we normally wouldn’t have at home! Whatever his reason was, no idea. He was very impressed that kid was very polite and excited about being on a plane! 
Mr. and I disposed of the unneeded snacks by taking them to our workplaces. Hungry scientists mowed them down in no time!
