The most expensive airline ticket for domestic travel right now will cost you around $8,000 to fly first class on American Airlines from New York City to Los Angeles. And for all that extra cash, you apparently get some better food and the opportunity to nap in the equivalent of a tiny office cubicle.

The airline has tricked out some of its Airbus NV A321 to each include 10 First Class seats that are intended to provide the ultimate in privacy during the six-hour flight.

The costly cubicles mean you get the privilege of not having to sit next to anyone (though that other lottery winner across the aisle from you might be a loudmouth jerk).

It also includes a three-course meal, which apparently includes shrimp scampi. So basically you’re getting a meal that countless college sophomores make every weekend when trying to impress someone on a dinner date.

Oh, and you get cucumber-infused water. Yes, dropping a couple slices of a food item you can buy at the supermarket for a few cents into cold tap water really makes the difference, and is really worth paying about 10 times the economy fare and double what competitors charge for First Class.

But wait, there’s more — you also get noise-canceling headphones, which you could have purchased for significantly less money than what your ticket costs, even if you paid top-dollar at some airport electronics kiosk right before boarding.

As much as we understand the desire to fly in comfort, we also know that it’s only six hours out our lives, and that we’d rather spend those several thousand dollars on something other than a lay-flat seat on a flying tube.

After all, flying First Class doesn’t immunize you from delays, emergency landings, rude staff, lost luggage, or missed connections.

And yet we know that $8,000 is pocket change to some people, and that these people might pay that extra money to be less uncomfortable during the flight (and to be gawked at by the rest of us as we make our way to steerage).

[via Bloomberg]

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