In a 1992 episode of Seinfeld, Jerry argues with Elaine about why he should get the one first-class ticket on offer. “You won’t know what you’re missing,” he says. “I’ve flown first class, Elaine, I can’t go back to coach.”

That piece of cod psychology still holds true, even if times have changed. In that episode Seinfeld gets a bigger seat, more legroom and free cookies, but these days first class offers much more, especially on long-haul international flights. While lie-flat beds are a minimum, some of the big global carriers offer hotel-style suites with showers, double beds and menus by famous chefs. Singapore Airlines’ A380 Suites, for example, were created by luxury yacht designer Jean-Jacques Coste, and come with Ferragamo amenity kits and hand-stitched leather armchairs by Italian furniture makers Poltrona Frau.   

But while first class has improved, demand for it has been in marked decline. According to figures from aviation consultancy OAG, there were a total of 8.46m seats in first-class cabins on scheduled flights in 2019 (excluding US and Chinese domestic flights, where the term first applies to what would be called business elsewhere). That was a 45 per cent drop since 2010 while, over the same period, the number of business-class seats grew 42 per cent to 184.48m. Carriers such as Air New Zealand, KLM and Turkish Airlines had ditched first well before the pandemic, but the disruption of the past year has further reduced the number of first-class seats in the air. Currently first is unavailable on airlines including Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Qantas.