News out today about the dire state of airline passenger figures could be one of the best things to happen to the business for quite some time.

British Airways has reported the main reason for their £50 million loss in the last quarter was the 8% drop in passenger numbers. It didn't help that the Big Freeze saw so many flights scrapped altogether. There's only one thing for it then, cut prices and lure people back onto the planes.

So as the airlines compete with each other for market share then there could be more great deals coming our way, like BA's First Class to Los Angeles for £2,997.

I have to admit right here that I am a huge fan of flying First Class, Platinum Club, Upper Class, whatever you want to call it, on a long-haul flight. Forget about short-haul to Europe, there's no point. But when you're traversing the time zones and your body clock is all over the place then a little luxury goes a long way to taking the sting out of travel.

Let's face it, there's nothing worse than landing at your destination and spending three days wanting all the wrong meals at all the wrong times and looking around for entertainment at 4am when everything is shut.

My best First Class experience was to Australia with Emirates. En route we stopped over at Dubai and I showered while my clothes were ironed and sat in a big fluffy gown in the First Class lounge enjoying a lavish meal while the plane was refuelled.

I lost count of the number of dishes I was served on board – though one did comprise solely of Iranian caviar and vodka – but it was definitely 26-plus hours spent in pure comfort and it was much easier to adjust to local time at the other end.

Even if I wasn't quite sure what day it was!