I generally fly first class and have done so for more than 60 years.
I don’t do it for the wines and foods I cannot consume. I have done so for the comfort and quiet and ability to get work done.
In the 80s I flew about a half million miles per year with bi-weekly trips to Europe. I would leave my office here at 5pm, make a 8 pm TWA flight to London or Paris. I would work most of the night preparing for meetings that began at 9am soon after my arrival. I also made a half dozen flights each year to EY, South Africa and Brazil plus an annual flight to Australia.
By the 90s I was flying to China each month. My clients paid these costs but it was important to arrive fresh and ready for business.
That said, I do not like the modern pods that isolate First Class (and business class) travelers from each other. The pods defeat the ability for two of us to work together on a long flight. I really miss the days of an upstairs lounge in early B747s where we could spread papers out on a table and sit facing each other and plan strategies.
Nowadays, if three or more of us from the CTL law firm are flying together on business, we are likely to fly private. It is not much more expensive than first (for our clients) and they are not paying for us yk have to arrive at the airport hours early and pay X hundreds of dollars per hour for non-productive time. It also allows us to fly into smaller airports that may be closer to our destination and that also saves time and money.
If I am working on a 14 hour flight I do not want to be disturbed by children or bumped by people trying to get through the aisle to reach a lavatory or food service carts. Lastly, I need to protect the privacy of my work.
BTW, when I went to Budapest this month for my dental work, I flew premium economy (using miles). I was not doing any work and didn’t need the privacy and space. I flew home in a private jet that belongs to a client. His wife and children had been dropped off in Vienna and it was returning to Teterboro empty.