When social media stars fly first class

Last week, a video went viral, of what it’s like to be upgraded to Emirates first class on a flight from Dubai to New York. The maker of the video wasn’t exactly unknown. Casey Owen Neistat, vlogger, with his 741,000 followers on Twitter is a YouTube star, filmmaker, and co-founder of a social media company. He’s made films with his brother, and he’s exposed Apple’s lack of iPod batteries in the past. He’s quite a phenomenon. And on the widely-shared nine-minute video, Neistat documented his experiences: He got served caviar (he called it “salty” on camera), said the shower in the flight was a dream — it was also temperature-controlled. Neistat ranked the first class upgrade as one of the greatest days of his life —after the birth of his children, and after his son having graduated high school (something the social media star himself hasn’t managed).

Neistat, who has over 2 million views on YouTube, said he got booked on Emirates first class using frequent-flyermiles. It’s well known that the price of tickets changes every week. In this case, the difference between first and business class (Dubai- New York leg) was about $3,000 (about $5,000 for business, $8,000 for first). But in peak season, one-way tickets on first class can cost as much as $21,000, and above ($21,000 is also the monthly rent Brangelina were paying for the Surrey flat “in happier times”). Last-minute flight bookings can cross that figure easily. Ask anyone who was granted leave last minute on the Eid weekend! Luxury travel has always been around, but with the prominence of social media stars and social media at large, it gives those who might never take a first class flight, or have the luck to get bumped up to first find out what the first fuss is about (and get a peek at the in flight ‘sleep-kit’ and Bvlgari toiletries).