A perk with a first-class pass not mentioned nor promised is that on long distance trains you inevitably get free snacks and beverages - constant 'tea or coffee' being asked and on Virgin Trains a complete meal practically - and not chump snacks but hot-cooked food.

And more about the First Class you get with the pass - it is really a Gold First Class pass - letting you, without formality, into the Gold section of first class, where you get all the comp food on say Virgin Trains - IME of several trips on Virgin and the East Coast mainline - formerly Great Northern East Coast- there are also 'first class' cars that are typically stuffed full and do not get the Raj treatment you do in the Gold section - those first-class cars i think must be full of folks who buy advance discounted first class tickets online - yeh the seats themselves are first classbut IMO they are really 2nd class 1st class since every seat invariable seems full - negating to me the ability to just put my luggage on an adjoining empty seat like in proper first class and not getting the comp food. Now this is just on two lines but i think typical of most long-distance trains. So when boarding with a first-class pass do not automatically bypass the cars that look so plush you think they must be reserved for business types, etc., who mainly use them and pay obscene prices for the privelege.

PalQ recommends BritRail passes (not, BTW, something with any connection to Britain's railway companies) so often he might reasonably be thought to have some connection to the French-owned US business himself.>

French-owned? Where did you get that misinformation from. Or did you mean French-Canadian owned - BritRail North America at least is wholly owned, i believe, by ACP Rail, Quebec.