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Many, many years ago, I was returning home from a trip to Japan. Upon arriving at Osaka Kansai International Airport, I checked in at the United Airlines counter for flight 878 to Chicago O'Hare. I still have the boarding stub from that flight; it's printed on blue paper stock with "Seat 39D, Y-Cabin" written on the bottom. Of course, none of this meant anything to me at the time; I was exhausted and wanted to go home. Patiently waiting for my seating area to be called at the gate, I boarded the plane, a Boeing 777, trudged my way to the back to row 39, and settled into the aisle seat where I would be sitting for the next twelve hours. Or so I thought.

Two minutes later, a woman tapped on my shoulder and said, "Sir, you're in my seat." I said, "Are you sure?" Turns out her seat, the one in which I was sitting, was 39G; my seat, 39D, is three seats down, a middle seat.

I thought to myself, "This can't be possible. When I made my booking, the travel agent asked if I wanted an aisle or window seat. I said aisle. Why am I stuck in the middle?" I pulled over the nearest flight attendant and asked what the deal was. I asked for a window seat but I ended up with a middle. The flight attendant merely said she's not responsible for seat assignments and continued her work. And thus began my first true experience with airline discomfort, stuck in a middle seat in coach for 12 hours with no legroom or elbow space.

Upon exiting plane after this tortuous flight, I passed through the Business and First class cabins. I hadn't paid much attention to those seats before, but I paused for a moment and noticed just how big and comfortable looking those seats here. Especially first class; it looked liked the seat reclined into a bed. But I also knew how much airlines charged for these seats, sometimes as much as $15,000 round trip. But surely not everybody who flies in these seats is that rich! I thought to myself, "There must be some way to fly up there."

In the months that followed, I did some exhaustive research, and learned that flying in first or business class is not only possible for someone on a limited budget, but incredibly easy if you know what you're doing. It's now 2009; I've flown in the first and business class cabins at least 100 different times, and the days in which I was some naive traveller boarding a jumbo jet to a middle seat in economy are a distant memory.

In fact, I now use the following motto to govern my air travels: "Never Fly in Coach".

Yes, "Never Fly in Coach". Which brings me to this blog.

I started this blog primarily because I obviously do travel quite a bit, but my friends tell me I never write enough about my adventures. Still, I find most travel blogs to be pretentious and incredibly boring, and the last thing I want to do here is fill this blog with pictures of me in front of the Eiffel Tower and muses about how I'm enthralled with French culture. At the same time, I don't want this to be a news site, talking about all the latest developments in airline frequent flyer programs. I see this as my own little outlet in the internet; whenever something comes to mind related to travel, I am posting it here. This includes travel tips, thoughts on the airline or hotel industries, places I want to visit, and yes, travel photos and musings as well. I am, however, keeping most of my posts in line with the theme of "Never Fly in Coach". Because really, it's a lot like that Seinfeld episode in which Jerry got to fly in first class: Once you've experienced it, you can't go back, because you'd know what you're missing.

One more thing: The title "Never Fly in Coach" is a bit of a misnomer. As a grad student who currently travels exclusively for leisure, I actually fly in coach quite often. Or, I should say, I only purchase economy class tickets. Whenever I do fly in first or business class it's because I've either upgraded that economy ticket, or I'm on an award itinerary. In fact, given the sheer price of a first class ticket (which could be as much as ten times that of economy) I don't think I would ever foot the cash to buy a first class ticket outright. Unless of course it's a mistake fare, but that's for another post. And whenever I do fly in coach, 99% of the time I'm in an exit or something just as comfortable. Be patient with me here; if you continue reading this blog, you'll be an expert at all this too!