Now that I am highest status for multiple years on Delta, I mainly fly first class because I am fortunate enough to get the free upgrades.
Here are some reasons I can think of:
- Guaranteed overhead bin space
- Pre-flight beverage
- No standing in frozen/hot jetway
- Ease of boarding process (essentially the cheapest tickets board last but it's not more efficient)
- Get the boarding process over with. Some people find it very stressful to fly and getting into your seat, you can finally relax and be done with the most stressful part
- Seat is more comfortable than gate seating (usually) and includes that beverage I mentioned earlier, maybe a snack, in flight entertainment etc
- And yes there is some of the "I am better than you" attitude and the airlines play into it a ton. Particularly if you're a high status. For example every flight, the head flight attendant hands me a personal handwritten thank you note signed by the crew for being a loyal member. Another example is if I have an extremely tight connection for whatever reason, I will get escorted out of the plane, off the jetway onto the tarmac and put into a car and driven to my plane directly.
Frankly it's hard not to be smug about it when they treat you well and it makes flying not really suck
at all. I hate the looks I get and vice versa when I sit up front but you just learn to ignore it.
But since I was in the expenses app I looked how much "I" spent on flights with my job this fiscal year (July2017-June2018) and it was just shy of $90k, holy **** that's disgusting.