My daughter and I just got back from a week in Taiwan and China. While my wife and I try to do 1 on 1 travel dates with each of our kids, this was the first time we had gone to Asia on one of these dates and so the first time my daughter had flown business class. So I thought I’d have her write down some of her reactions to her first time in business class.
Recently I had the privilege of going to Taiwan and China. Before I went on this trip I had never flown business class, So I had a lot to learn.
- Bathroom – If you need to go to the bathroom while you’re eating you either just have to hold it or ask a flight attendant to take the food away.
- Buttons, Buttons, Buttons! When we first got on the plane, I saw that there were buttons next to my seat and I was like “What the heck do those buttons do?” So I tried them out and I realized that they turn my seat to a bed.
- SO! LOUD! – The noise on the plane makes it really hard to sleep. I guess that’s why they give you earplugs.
- Which way to the bathroom? Usually when I fly on planes, the plane is just a straight line. But this plane was like a maze! There were so many twists and turns that I once got lost trying to get back from the bathroom!
- What the heck is that? The food was exotic. Half of the time I didn’t know what I was eating! I mean I had seaweed potato chips!
- OK, I’m done eating. The flight attendants kept bringing me more and more food, until I was like “OK I’m done.”
- So many movie options! When I have flights with TVs there are usually like 2 or 3 options for kids but in business class there are like 10!
- Boarding from the lounge – Until then I had never been on a flight where you could board from the lounge. (PWaC: We boarded directly from the Air France ORD Priority Pass lounge)
- Pajamas – I didn’t know that the flight attendants gave you pajamas – it made it much more comfortable to sleep!
- Watching TV – It’s so much easier to watch TV when you’re leaning back with a blanket and with no shoes on.
- Business class is the BEST! – It’s so much easier to endure a long flight when you’re in business class.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Sounds like Eva Airlines. Now she’s hooked.
Yes – it was EVA Air ORD-TPE. It was SUPPOSED to be the Hello Kitty plane but somehow I screwed up the booking 🙁
Your daughter is soo cute !! I think any 11 year old should just be excited flying to such exotic places, but I guess bloggers daughters get special treats… enjoy lucky girl !!
very sweet post…she will not like going back to coach…but what a great dad-daughter experience!
This is a second time today reading people saying you are stuck while eating because of the table can’t be moved. but from my own experience, every type of business class seats… be it a reverse herringbone(Eva, AA), staggered (Asiana Etihad, Emirates), herringbone (Delta 777) or forgot the name (Jal777 Korea 777er), I was able to move the table, swing forward or slide forward and get out to go to the bathroom. Often time, there is a little lever at the hinge that you have to press to move the table out. I think some are not aware of that and thought they are stuck while food is on the table.
Great post!
what do the words endure and exotic mean?
Great article! I’m building up to taking my wife and son on their first business class flights and enjoyed reading her experience.
You mention boarding from the lounge. Being fairly new to lounges and flying business – how do you know that is available and set it up? Do they call you and escort you directly to the plane?
I flew business on Qatar coming back from Kenya last year and I’m pretty sure I missed that opportunity because I was (and apparently still am) clueless on the topic.
I didn’t know until we got to the lounge, though one clue was that it was boarding out of the gate right next to the lounge :-). They told us when we checked into the lounge that we’d be boarding from the lounge
Poor kid. She’s screwed up forever now that she’s flown upfront. 😉
I know! My other kids are all bummed because they went to Europe and so I made them fly economy 🙂
Love hearing her perspective.
This is great! I was 10 when I first flew business class (my dad was an expat in Asia and part of the perk was flying back to the USA once a year with the entire family via business class) … but flying back in the 90s was sooo different from today.
I hope she enjoyed it and as what I always say, the only way to truly appreciate flying in premium cabins is by flying in coach. 😉 hehe
Nowadays I prefer to fly economy to the destination (since I’ll be excited anyway just to go on vacation) and fly back home in business class (or first!)
I hope you guys enjoy Asia!
OK, now its time for her field trip report on Asia! Extra credit if she is logging her travels on MTP, NM, FlightMemory, Mob-rule, a personal atlas or travel diary.
Don’t worry, she isn’t spoiled forever. I flew my 4 girls business class from when the youngest was 7 (and the oldest 13). We flew Orlando to Frankfurt to London and return from Frankfurt. We flew Orlando to Athens and return from Istanbul when they were 8-14 and we flew from Orlando to Hong Kong (through Chicago) and return from Beijing (through Taipei and Los Angeles, also on EVA from Taipei to LAX) when they were 9-15. We also flew from Edmonton to Lima return (through Houston) when they were 11-17. Although they loved it and the littlest ones still claim business class among the highlights of their trips, with them now older (12-18) we recently put them in economy (we were in business class) from Edmonton to Reykjavik return (about 6 and a half hours each way) and they had no complaints (even on a redeye on the outbound), so it is possible to break them of the habit! Turns out, they actually do appreciate the destination as well as the journey!
I love her freshness and excitement. No criticism. Everything was new and super-duper!
We should all revert to 10 years old periodically to appreciate things with fresh eyes.
We just took grandkids on trip to Europe in biz, youngest-age 9- was so fascinated with seats that she managed to shut down both her seat and Nana’s by playing with buttons non stop. It was a 1 week in service LH 350! Luckily it was prior to door close and maintenance rebooted it rather quickly altho somewhat grumpily! Lots of great memories and they all kept a travel diary
Great report by your daughter! We took our then 11-year old son to Japan in 2014 to meet the Japanese half of the family. The trans-Pacific legs were on a UA B787 in Business. He marveled at all the buttons and entertainment options just like your daughter. I don’t know if he slept much on that flight or the return flight.
Those were the only flights on which he ever had a lie-flat seat. He doesn’t seem bothered to sit in coach since that experience. Though he gets excited if we score a domestic CPU due to my status. He enjoyed having Silver status for 2015 after all that flying. He must be closing in on 200,000 lifetime UA miles at 16 years old.
I hope you have a lifetime of fun and experiential travel experiences with your daughter.