Steve Harvey: Fly First Class, Be First Class

Steve Harvey offers life advice. If you go through life without knowing what’s possible you aren’t going have anything to strive for. You’ll be satisfied where you are.

If you expand your horizons, watch what successful people do, and change your behavior. Part of that is.. flying first class.

You ever notice when you get on an airplane and walk past first class, everybody in first class got gray hair … They all 50 and up, especially during the week. Them businessmen. They earned the right. You go in the back, it’s young people back there. You back there.

He says “you’ve got your iPhone out” you’re playing games, wasting time, watch the people in first class working.

And he says that kind of work pays off, “That’s why they close that curtain. See, they can’t have yo ass in the back of that plane with that curtain open. You ain’t gon’ believe what’s going on up there.”

They bringing hot wash cloth, you can wash up.

They giving out, passing out menus.

Everybody gets hot nuts.

You get all you want to drink.

You ain’t got to pay for the headsets. You get to watch the movies free.

You get a choice of what you want to eat.

Harvey’s suggestion is to upgrade to first class. Ask how much an upgrade is. Pay the $75 one time. Once you sit in first class “the game changes.”

Growing up I never thought I would be the kind of person who flew first class and then I learned it wasn’t as tough to get up there as I had assumed. I also wasn’t the kind of person who would travel all over the world, until I was, and I realized the world was a lot smaller than I thought.

Once you do it you understand how it can be done, and you become the kind of person for whom it’s possible.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. Additional life advice is to speak proper English. It will get you a lot further in life than sitting in first class will.

  2. Yeah… Steve Harvey is an embarrassment to black people. He’s a bigoted anti-LGBT religious conservative. I’d take advice from him with the same amount of seriousness I’d take from Kanye.

  3. I think it is fine content for a Friday. Harvey is a comedian, and i’m sure his audience enjoyed this

  4. The logic doesn’t work anyway. Yeah could pay 600 bucks buy straight into domestic first but if you are paying that to go 2 and a half hours domestically for vacation then you could spend that to go to Europe or Asia instead, and appear less flash but experience far more

  5. @Ray, your second sentence is spot on, but your first sentence is racist. Steve Harvey isn’t an embarrassment to black people, he’s an embarrassment to all people.

  6. Wait till a viewer pays $75 for that BOS-NY flight and finds out there are no hot towels, menus, or meals, and maybe no time for drinks.

    Once you’re up there it changes you for sure – to realize what value you are and aren’t getting.

  7. He’s not an ass.

    He’s talking about opportunity cost and how to get into the mindset of raising expectations for a trip and for oneself.

    He suggests a $75 upgradeX something I just did on an IAH-LAX 777 flight on UA and he’s talking to people that, under the right circumstances, it can worth it to expose yourself to success.

    While the game is harder, it still can be beat and you can enjoy luxury travel at low cost. Nothing wrong with that – and it certainly DOES change one’s perspective flying in front of the curtain

  8. Pay the upgrade so you can read plus watch people read and work? Are you not able to work from coach? Are nuts and a drink worth the money? What about all the successful people who DON’T fly first class?

    He seems to be saying that it’s old business people who are always working and that’s why they’re in first-class. If that’s the case the message should be work harder, not pay the upgrade so other people think that you work hard and can afford to blow money on a crappy meal and a hot towel.

  9. Sheesh lighten up all 🙂
    I found it very interesting to read even though When Steve Harvey comes on TV it guarantees a channel change or shutting off the television
    The game shows he’s been on sends a chill up my spine
    Not sure why but I think I feel like I’m being worked by fake emotion
    like a desperate preacher
    Personally I find Gary amazing and his information he has shared generously on his blog and years ago on Flyertalk extremely beneficial through the years
    If I find a post not to my interest I skip it and wait for the next 50 I like
    But being a great blogger is about variety and nobody can please everyone all the time not even god 😉 I suppose if nothing else Gary has been lucky to develop a thick skin
    all these years! Or I doubt he would still be here
    Happy upcoming holidays all and don’t sweat the small stuff we have bigger fish to fry in the world
    Cheers

  10. Breathtaking arrogance from another uneducated jerk. Why would anyone possibly listen to him? Because he hosts a game show? God help us all.

  11. Dwondermeant: Nicely said. Good to see some sensible comments. A lot of bitter, cynical people respond to this blog.

    I’m fortunate enough to always fly first class. Frankly, for me it’s worth it just in terms of one’s frame of mind. You leave the plane feeling rested, relaxed, and satisfied – and in a great mood for the work at hand.

    Thanks Gary for you usually great material. When you write something not of interest to me I just close the page – I don’t write nasty accusatory stuff. I hope some of your cantankerous readers will do the same.

  12. Gary, I like your overall point, nice post. Its unfortunate this came out of the mouth of Steve Harvey. It would be more credible from, well, almost anyone else.

  13. Ladies and gents, people you dislike are still capable of giving good advice.

    I’m not saying this is necessarily it… maybe it is, maybe it isn’t… but a lot of you are saying that it isn’t worth listening to simply because of who it comes from, rather than arguing for or against what he’s saying. That’s about as foolish as it gets.

  14. I disagree with Harvey’s assumption. He is the kind of person who is impressed by appearance rather than substance. That’s why he was happy to go to Trump Tower. I don’t think the people up front are any better or necessarily more successful than those in the back. Many of themvwould be in the back except for ff programs.

  15. I don’t know anything about Steve Harvey, other than he’s a game show host. But listening to what he said, I like it. I really doubt he’s speaking to the people that have the time to follow blogs about credit card perks… I assume he’s speaking to people that are just trying to get by and I think it’s good advice. Expose yourself to the world, see what’s out there and strive for it. What’s to criticize about that mindset?

  16. I’m supposed to take lifestyle advice from somebody that doesn’t have a basic command of the English language? If I saw or heard Mr. Harvey’s communication I would immediately conclude that Mr. Harvey is functionally illiterate and not capable of functioning in a proper business environment.

    Before Johnny SJW jumps in, we are talking about basic competency in the English language.

    If you can’t be bothered to construct a proper sentence, I can’t be bothered to hire you.

  17. I think it’s good advice. I didn’t used to like Steve Harvey, but since I saw him on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, I like him. He came across as humble and much more funny than usual.

  18. Harvey’s advice won’t necessarily make you a Davos or Jackson Hole billionaire, but it’s decent advice for a lot of millennials. His point that folks in First Class are older and more likely to be working on the flight probably holds true.

  19. You “ain’t” gonna be no fursss class if yo talk like an ignorant moron.
    I’d love to sit next to him in first class…. just so I could eat “dem” nuts “dat dey bringin’ yo azz” and drink and then throw up all over his pimp suit.

  20. I really enjoy Steve Harvey, but he does appear to be rather racist on his game show. He always congratulates and honors the black guests as his “people” and “doing a great job” every single episode, but treats white guests as the pestilence and plague.

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