Couple of European flights on BA.
Main perk was fast track security, and lounge access/freebies. I can see why people can get used to that...
No.
However, I would point out that there's no standard definition of first class. On an Aegean European flight the seat size is exactly the same in economy and first. The difference is in first the middle seat is replaced with a table, there's extra leg room and the on board catering service is also different. I actually looked at it in detail when Aegean sent me an email saying I could 'bid' for an upgrade. I also observed in my case the relevant first class lounge at Manchester Airport would have been closed at the time I was travelling!
Domestic US a few times, all pretty 'meh' to be honest. Internationally, just once. Did BA from Austin to London last year on what turned out to be the final night of 747 service on the route, and way closer to their general demise with BA than anyone anticipated. For whatever reason the first class seat was cheaper than Club so I went with it. It was a decent experience but at regular prices it's not one I'd regularly choose over business class. Keeping that seat 2A paper ticket for posterity though!
Thats Aegean calling business class first class and cannot be compared to long haul first or business.
Domestic US first is more or less equivalent to premium economy on long-haul flights - bigger seats and the slop they call food comes in a bigger bucket. I'd do it in preference to cramping my legs up in economy, but it's not an experience.
I have used Virgin's "Upper Class" on many occasions - mostly with miles upgrades but some paid for (at discounted rates). Virgin pitch "Upper Class" (which is the best they offer) as, really, a business class offering rather than true First. As others have said - it's a lot more civilized than Economy (or Premium Economy for that matter) with dedicated check-in areas, lounge access (esp. at LHR which is outstanding) and a high degree of comfort and service onboard. UC seats recline fully into a flat bed and a duvet, pillow and "sleep suit" are all provided. Ends with priority egress and priority baggage handling. Worth it? Depends on the price differential (which varies hugely) vs. your budget. If you can totally spare the cost without it impacting on other aspects of your trip then, I'd say yes.
This is one of the other issues; what airlines call their classes and what passengers understand by them is also wildly variable, or vague, or misunderstood.
What used to be shorthaul Business Class in Europe and Asia is what North American carriers tend to refer to as their First Class.
In Europe nowadays, with the exception probably of Turkish only, shorthaul Business Class utilises the same seats and, often, the same pitch as Economy Class, but with the middle or adjacent seat blocked.
In Asia, a number of airlines have gone the other way and upgraded their shorthaul Business Class seats to cocooned angled lie flat products. On the face of it, that's good, but in practice it's driven by their fleets being wide body aircraft that regularly get switched on to midhaul and even the odd longhaul route. In the round then, shorthaul passengers do well, but longer-distance travellers can sometimes find themselves short-changed versus their expectations.
The North Americans, however, almost universally (with the notable exception of jetBlue Mint and a few other Trans Continental products) have stuck with the old Euro/Asian shorthaul Business Class format of a larger, wider, more reclining armchair. And they call it First Class.
jetBlue Mint is, by any measure, better than domestic North American First Class, but uses seats found in other airlines' longhaul business classes, and jetBlue doesn't have airport lounges.
Virgin (never knowingly under self-promoted) Atlantic Upper Class is a business class product, despite their inferences. Up until the latest embodiments, their seat was (and still is on older aircraft) the same as the Air New Zealand business class seat, which they call Business Premier.
Aegean Airlines does not operate First Class; their service offer is Economy or Business Class, and they are a shorthaul carrier only, so that's a case of the user potentially not being aware of what a First Class product really is. Likewise, British Airways does not operate a shorthaul First Class; it's Economy or Business - titled EuroTraveller and Club Europe.
It's not an uncommon misconception to refer to anything other than Economy as First Class; indeed it's been common in the past for some folks to report having travelled First Class from Orlando to Manchester, when in fact they've actually been on a Thomas Cook A330 in their front seats, which roughly compared to network airlines' Premium Economy.
The full list of longhaul airlines operating First Class on selected services at the moment is, I think:
Air China
Air France
Air India
All Nippon Airways
American Airlines (Entitled Flagship First to differentiate from domestic)
Bamboo Airways
British Airways
Cathay Pacific
China Eastern Airlines
China Southern Airlines
El Al
Emirates
Etihad Airways
Garuda Indonesia
Japan Airlines
Korean AirKuwait Airways
Lufthansa
Oman Aviation
Qantas
Qatar Airways
Saudia
Shanghai Airlines
Singapore Airlines
SWISS
TAAG Angola Airlines
Thai Airways
XiamenAir
Apologies if I have missed any, but assuming that the above is exhaustive, then any other airline's 'top' product is a version of Business Class, rather than First Class.