What do first class passengers do for a living? After spending nearly $5,000 on a first class ticket from Austin to Barcelona, I made it my mission to find out. I sat down — or got rejected by — every person willing to talk in the lounge, on the plane, and at baggage claim. The answers were far more surprising than I expected. We're not just talking about Wall Street bankers. We're talking about dog breeders, yoga instructors, nurses, and sign makers. Here's everything they told me.
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Complimentary champagne and luxury food options inside the American Airlines Flagship Lounge
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What Do First Class Passengers Actually Do for a Living?
The honest answer: almost everything. Over the course of one round trip from Austin to Barcelona, I spoke with a retired orthodontist, a futures trader, a franchise owner who also runs North America's largest private helicopter facility, a TV network professional, a yoga instructor, a travel nurse, a commercial real estate developer, a sign company owner, and a guy who made $65,000 off a single litter of French bulldogs. That last one still blows my mind.
What was consistent across almost all of them wasn't their industry — it was their mindset. Every single one of them worked hard, started somewhere unglamorous, and built income streams over time. Nobody handed them a first class seat. They earned it. Here's a breakdown of the most interesting careers I encountered and what they actually told me.
How Much Do Orthodontists Really Make?
One of the most grounded conversations I had was with a retired orthodontist I met during a layover. He was relaxed, well-traveled, and completely unpretentious about his success. When I asked what orthodontists make, he didn't hesitate.
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Rocco explains how his family went from chemist and teacher to franchise empire and helicopter facility
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"Anywhere between half a million and three-quarters of a million dollars a year," he said.
That's a wide range, but even at the lower end, it's serious money. And his advice for anyone early in their career? Classic, but it hit different coming from a guy who'd lived it: "If you find something you like, you won't work a day in your life." He clearly loved his work, built a successful practice, retired comfortably, and was now flying first class to wherever he pleased. Not a bad outcome.
The takeaway here is that high-skill service careers — especially in healthcare — remain one of the most reliable paths to significant wealth. Orthodontistry in particular benefits from predictable demand, repeat customers (aka patients), and the ability to own your own practice rather than working for someone else forever.
Can You Get Rich Owning a Franchise Business?
Rocco was one of the most fascinating people I met on the entire trip. I bumped into him as I was settling into my seat, and he didn't look like a typical businessman — he just looked like a guy who had figured things out. His family owns franchises in Sbarro Pizza, Dave's Hot Chicken, and Freshii. But that's not the wildest part.
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Gustavo leads an impromptu yoga session in the first class airplane aisle at 35,000 feet
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Rocco and his partners also built North America's largest private helicopter facility in downtown Chicago. His parents started out as an industrial chemist and a schoolteacher. They wanted more money, so they got into franchising — and they made their kids work every weekend and every free moment they had.
"You have to be prepared to really work a lot," Rocco told me — while simultaneously sending out work emails before we even took off.
- Franchising gives you a proven system without building from scratch
- Multiple franchise locations multiply income significantly
- Pairing franchises with asset-heavy businesses (like real estate or aviation) creates diversified wealth
- Starting as a family business builds equity across generations
The helicopter business alone signals something important: once you build capital through cash-flowing businesses like franchises, you can make bigger, bolder bets. Rocco's family didn't start with helicopters. They started with pizza.
Is Futures Trading a Lucrative Career?
I met a futures trader on my Chicago-to-Barcelona leg who works on the Chicago Board of Trade. He trades corn, oil, soybeans, platinum, palladium — commodities that most people never think about as investment vehicles. And the swings, he told me, are absolutely wild.
"It's like trading stocks but a little different — and it can turn against you really quick."
He told me about a local trader — not a hedge fund guy, just a regular person trading his own money — who held positions overnight and woke up to a loss of $800,000 in a single morning. That's not a typo. Eight hundred thousand dollars, gone before breakfast.
But the upside? Traders can make enormous amounts. The volatility cuts both ways. His best advice for getting started was surprisingly simple: "Everything is on YouTube. If you want to learn futures trading, the resources are there — and a lot of the people teaching aren't trying to scam you, they actually want to help." Not the advice you'd expect from someone on the trading floor, but it's honest.
How Do Yoga Instructors Afford First Class Travel?
Gustavo might have been my favorite encounter of the whole trip. He's a yoga instructor who's been teaching for nearly 14 years. He teaches online for brands like Yoga Glow and Yoga Works, which means he can work from anywhere in the world. And he does.
He charges between $500 and $700 for a single class. One. Class. That's not a typo either. When you're that good at what you do, when you've niched down and built a reputation, and when you've transitioned your skill set to a scalable digital model — flying first class stops being a luxury and starts being a practical choice for someone who travels constantly for work.
We even did a quick yoga session in the aisle of the plane. Down dog at 35,000 feet. I can confirm it is significantly harder than it looks.
Gustavo's story is a great reminder that creative and wellness careers can be extremely lucrative — especially once you move beyond trading time for money and start leveraging platforms, brand partnerships, and online teaching to multiply your income without multiplying your hours.
Can You Really Get Rich Owning a Sign Company?
Short answer: apparently yes, if you work hard enough. I met a man wearing an AP watch — and for those who don't know, Audemars Piguet watches typically start around $20,000 and go up from there — whose family has owned a sign company called The Alphabet Shop since 1963.
They make illuminated signs, exterior building signs, interior signs, ADA-compliant signs — basically every sign you walk past and never notice. And they've been doing it for over 60 years. His advice for anyone wanting to start their own business? "You can do all right if you work hard." Understated, sure. But look at the watch. Look at the first class seat. The results speak for themselves.
The lesson here is that boring, essential businesses compound over time. Signs aren't glamorous. But every new building, every restaurant, every hospital needs them. And a family that's been serving that need for six decades has built something genuinely valuable.
How Does Networking Actually Get You Into a New Career?
The woman I spoke with who works behind the scenes at a television network had one of the simplest but most powerful answers of anyone I talked to. When I asked how she got into TV, she said one word: networking.
Not a degree. Not a lucky break. Not a famous parent. Networking. "Who you know really is what gets you anywhere you want to be in the world," she told me. And her tip for actually doing it? Don't hesitate to ask for help. When you meet someone, follow up. Be gracious, be kind, and ask if they'll talk to you — because most people actually like talking about themselves.
That hit home for me, because I experienced it firsthand on this trip. Yes, a few people shut me down immediately. But the overwhelming majority of first class passengers I approached were friendly, generous with their time, and genuinely happy to share what they'd learned. We build up these narratives in our heads that people will say no, that they'll be annoyed, that we'll be rejected. But if you're kind and curious? You'd be surprised how often the answer is yes.
The Real Takeaway From Flying First Class
The people sitting in first class aren't a monolith. They're not all hedge fund managers or tech founders. They're orthodontists who loved their work, parents who made their kids work every weekend, nurses who pick up overtime shifts, dog breeders who hit it big on one litter, and yoga instructors who figured out how to teach online and see the world.
What they share is simpler than you'd think: they found something that worked, they worked hard at it, and they kept going through the downs to enjoy the ups. The first class seat is just the scoreboard. The game happened long before they boarded.
