First Class Miles

February 28th: Today I acquired a first class ticket to Boston for a trip I’m taking in a few months with my brother and sister-in-law.  We’re taking my father’s ashes home and following the path of his youth.

First class on a coast to coast flight is a rare luxury.  Back in the day I traveled regularly for business.  My frequency occasionally earned me a first class upgrade; my accumulated miles earned my husband and I once in a lifetime first class tickets to Europe for our 20th wedding anniversary.  I tasted the life.  I enjoyed the early boarding, the elbow and leg room, the warm towels before meal time, the decent meals, the drinks served while others were boarding, the blankets, the movie selection, the personal service.  I once sat behind Marisa Tormei.

First class tickets are impossible to come by these days.  I don’t travel much for work anymore.  Tickets are too expensive or require too many miles.  But today I stumbled on a deal, a shockingly good deal.  Almost half the miles required for coach seats to Hawaii on another airline.  But my good fortune is really my husband.  The airline is one my husband flies often and he generously gifted me miles for this trip.

Thanks to my husband I’ll fly in comfort and have a little extra money in my pocket for other travel expenses.  With any luck I’ll sit behind Casey Affleck.  Why not.  Stranger things have happened.  Casey won Best Actor for a movie named after and filmed in my father’s hometown.  The film was released the year my father died.