The lady on my left is a far more seasoned traveller - it is she who told me about the term "bumped up". "Thats what we call it," she says. Who's "we", I ask. "The frequent flyer community." I wonder what it takes to join. She casually mentions having Platinum Elite status on Delta, and complains that thus far, Air France's business class is not that impressive. Later in the flight it turns out that her video unit is not working well, and he seat is being leaked on by some condensation from the AC. "Please tell them to fix it," she requests. "I'm in the same seat on the way back." Good luck.
They have a full blown coat check here in business. Attendants take your coat, give you a ticket, then bring it back before landing.
The seats in business cabin are ludicrously roomier than economy where Yasha and Borya are. Instead of sitting with my knees pressed up in my face, I can hardly reach the seat in front of me with fully stretched out feet. There's so much room, in fact, that I have trouble sleeping, even with my sure-fire sleep aid of Nyquil and vodka. The chairs are motorized recliners - they are slow, taking about 40 seconds to go from upright to almost horizontal.
The food is actually quite good. Though even though there's a fancy menu, the choice is still down to "meat or fish". Though the meat in this case is filet mignon.
Despite a week of worrying whether we'd be allowed to fly at all, or be ridiculously late if we do, the plane lands exactly on time.