Written by Matthew @ Live and Let's Fly
I give a lot of credit to EasyJet for helping me get to Paris quickly and cheaply after being stranded by Air France. The moment I noticed that my Air France flight was cancelled, I sprung into action. EasyJet had a flight leaving at precisely the same time, only arriving in Orly (ORY) instead of […]
The post EasyJet Saves the Day appeared first on Live and Let’s Fly.
Read MoreWritten by jeffrey @ Weekend Blitz
This post is continued from Etihad A380 First Apartment – Flight EY 460 Abu Dhabi-AUH to Melbourne-MEL – Part 1. Check it out to see the first half of the review.
BATHROOM
Proving size was really the theme of the experience, even the bathroom was huge:
I took a quick glimpse of the stairs, just to confirm that we were, in fact, on the 2nd floor:
ON-BOARD BAR
Before turning in for the night, we walked around the cabin to explore the on-board bar.
The bar is situated on the top deck of the A380 aircraft, in-between First and Business class:
It was completely empty when we made our way over.
We were a bit dismayed to find that the bar wasn’t stocked as it normally is due to Ramadan, but you can certainly lounge in the area. A flight attendant came over and said that she’d be happy to discreetly make us a drink of our choice in the galley and then bring it in.
The bone-dry bar
The sitting/lounging area was very nice and had seating for 6. We took a few pictures and then headed back to our seats for bed.
THE SEAT – SLEEPING CONVERSION
Having had plenty of food and drinks for one day, we decided it was time to catch a few zzzzs. The flight attendant swiftly converted the suite to sleeping mode while we got ready for bed in the bathroom.
We returned to find the sofa portion of the seat folded down and nicely made up with comfortable sheets and pillows. One of the coolest parts is that, if the divider between the apartments is lowered, our beds were basically touching, so we had the illusion of sleeping in the same bed, which is a nice option if you’re traveling together.
While in the bathroom, we took the opportunity to change into the provided pajamas which was the perfect decision before hopping into the lavish bed.
Pajama time!
The bed is huge and is advertised as 6 feet 10 inches long!
SHOWER
About 3.5 hours before departure, the flight attendants realized that I was awake and came by to announce that I could have a shower whenever I wanted. I let her know soon after and she set off to prepare it. If one is offered the opportunity to shower at 6+ miles high in the sky, there is no choice but to take advantage.
The shower area was loaded down with Bergamote amenities:
Here are a few poor quality photos, sorry in advance:
Pretty crazy and surreal to shower in the sky. The bathroom is large enough to change in and there’s a hairdryer stocked there, too, so the shower is a comfortable experience.
INTERNET
After taking a refreshing shower, I enjoyed a cappuccino and did a bit of computer work.
I purchased Internet for the entire flight for $21.95 and found it to be quite fast and very usable! A quick speed test rendered download speeds of ~4.5 Mbps but upload speeds of only 0.17 Mbps, good thing sending emails and browsing the internet mostly relies on the download speed.
The sun was up […]
Read MoreWritten by jeffrey @ Weekend Blitz
After spending a very enjoyable and luxurious 3+ hours in the Etihad Airways Flagship First Class Lounge – Abu Dhabi-AUH, it was time for the main event: The Etihad First Apartment!
BOOKING
We booked this bucket list flight using American Airlines AAdvantage miles for a total of 60,000 miles; this was before a major AAdvantage devaluation and now the flight would cost you 100,000 miles for the one-way route from the “Middle East” region to the “South Pacific” region. Furthermore, since we both have the Barclay AA credit card, we got a 10% rebate, driving the total price down to 54,000 miles + ~$79 in taxes each for the ~$6,300+ flight. We got even more value than that though since we arranged a 23 hours stopover in Melbourne-MEL before continuing on to Townsville, Australia-TSV in Qantas Business Class.
CHECK-IN
We were able to take advantage of the free Etihad Chauffeur Service from the Park Hyatt Dubai to Abu Dhabi International Airport for our Etihad flight.
Our (free!) chauffeur service
The trip took about 1.5 hours total.
The airport has a dedicated First & Business class check-in area.
And so the experience begins!
First Class check-in desks
We left the lounge and made the (extremely) long trek to Gate 61 in Terminal 3, literally the furthest away from the Lounge.
As we approached the gate area, they were doing a secondary document check:
BOARDING
Knowing it would be dark at the time of boarding, we snuck a few pictures before hopping in the lounge:
Etihad A6-APG sitting at the gate
We made our way down (ok, more so really up since we were on top deck) of the long jet bridge to board the flight.
We took a left after boarding to find the First Class cabin:
While I didn’t necessarily need to be shown to my seat since I’d studied it online numerous times and been counting down the days to this moment, a flight attendant escorted us anyway. She showed us to our seats, 3K and 4K:
Of the 9 First Class seats (well, 10 if you include The Residence), there were just 2 other passengers aboard, so 4 of us total.
SEAT
The seat was, well, let me just type a direct quote from McCown as we got settled it: “OMG. There was what I expected and anticipated from reading many, many reviews and then there’s the real thing. And let me just say, OMG.”
The sheer size and space and privacy are unprecedented and staggering.
The big, leather seat is luxurious and makes you feel like you’re visiting your grandfather instead of couped up on a plane.
The couch is perfect for having company over in your apartment. And then switched into a bed when you’re ready to sleep.
I mean, it’s realistically closer to a throne than a seat:
The empty neighboring suite
View from seat 4K
View of IFE and sofa (that converts to a bed)
The actual seat featured a few tactile buttons as well as a touchscreen for a variety of controls.
It was all really a sensory overload. The tiny compartments, sliding doors and gadgets and gizmos […]
Read MoreWritten by jeffrey @ Weekend Blitz
Aerolíneas Argentinas
Flight # AR 1413
Mendoza-MDZ to Buenos Aires-AEP
Dept 11:25 am
Arrv 1:01 pm
Mendoza is quite a small, mostly domestic, airport. They have a few international flights, but mainly just to Santiago, Chile-SCL, just on the other side of the mountains. Our hotel advised us that arriving appx 1 hour before departure is more than enough time to check-in with bags when traveling to Buenos Aires.
BOOKING
We booked this segment as part of a larger Delta SkyMiles award ticket. Finding and adding Aerolíneas Argentinas award space to a Delta award reservation can be a bit tricky, so check out our guides here: Booking an Awesome Argentina Itinerary with Delta SkyMiles + Other SkyTeam Partners and All about our South American trip to Chile and Argentina: Santiago, Mendoza and Buenos Aires.
CHECK-IN
We arrived right at 10:25 am, one hour in advance, and made our way up to the Aerolíneas Argentinas check-in counter. There were only about 3 people in line with plenty of agents available to help. We handed over our passports and checked our 3 bags without any trouble.
BOARDING
There seem to be very few gates and waiting areas, so they had us wait until the small post-security gate was clear. Once we got on the other side of security, the waiting area was virtually empty:
Boarding, from what I could gather, started with rows 22-15 and then everyone else. This makes total sense: let those in the very back board first which, in theory, should speed up the boarding process.
SEAT
Our aircraft was a Boeing 737-700, in a 3 x 3 configuration with appx 22 rows of 6 across in economy + a 1st class cabin with 2 rows of 2 x 2:
We made it to our seats near the back of the plane:
The plane is noticeably older but still in fine shape with cloth seats. The pitch of the seats seemed quite small. It seemed like tighter legroom than most domestic Delta flights, probably more in line with AirAsia or Spirit Airlines.
The plane was only about 1/2 to 2/3 full with lots of empty seats. This might explain why they had already canceled a few of the flights before us in the morning: cancel one and just move those passengers to the later flight.
Seated by the window and ready to take off!
After a quick safety demonstration, we were airborne!
MEAL SERVICE
The drink and snack service was started promptly upon reaching cruising altitude so as to try and serve everyone on the relatively short flight.
While no choice was given, we were handed snack boxes with mini alfajores, cheese crackers, and another small pastry.
If nothing else, the boxes were cool and celebrated the history of flight and the airline
After a short flight, we began our descent into Buenos Aires.
Touchdown at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, Buenos Aires!
After deplaning, we rushed off to baggage claim and then into the city to start our few days in Buenos Aires!
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Written by jeffrey @ Weekend Blitz
After touching down a bit late from our inbound flight from Charlotte, we scurried from Terminal H to L by taking a short train. We were assigned gate L13 and, fortunately, the Lufthansa Lounge was directly across the hall. This allowed us about 45 mins to get showers and freshen up for the next 7-8 hour flight.
BOOKING
We booked this flight using United MileagePlus Miles. We spent a total of 90,000 miles each for the Business Class award, including:
Lufthansa Business Class Charlotte-CLT to Munich-MUC
Lufthansa Business Class Munich-MUC to Delhi-DEL
Air India Business Class Delhi-DEL to Colombo-CMB
United Economy Class Charleston-CHS to Newark-EWR
We purposely switched our flights around to have the opportunity to fly Lufthansa’s first A350 since it was a bit of a novelty and was still basically brand new.
CHECK-IN
Although most of the check-in was performed in Charlotte-CLT the day before, the gate agent was checking visas before boarding and marking boarding passes to help speed up the process later.
Boarding and visa check prior to boarding
LH D-AIXA waiting at the gate
BOARDING
Boarding was, as I’m sure we’ll be used to soon once in India, disorganized and very pushy. Quite crazy that people are in such a hurry to get on a plane that isn’t going to leave anyone behind.
Instead of breaking the boarding up by class or zone, they had priority boarding of wheelchairs and babies. But, that’s all the announcements they seemed to make as business class travelers just sort of started going through. Then, people were jumping lines; it was confusing and we didn’t know what to do next. Plus, while the priority boarders were still waiting on the elevator to take them downstairs, the business class travelers were streaming past them to get to the stairs….beating the priority boarders onto the plane. A bit odd…especially since this was Lufthansa.
Business Class boarding area, the calm before the storm of pushy people
Once past the gates, the jet bridge had 2 boarding doors, one for Economy and another for just Business Class (well also for First but the A350 is 3 cabin, not 4).
Rounding the corner, we found the bright, new and clean cabin:
Right after boarding we were offered a welcome drink:
SEAT
We quickly got situated into seats 5A and 5C.
The seats on this A350 are nothing new; it’s the same exact Business Class seat you’ll find on their A330s, A340s, A380s, 747-8s, etc.
It is, by all means, a great product, but it is quickly getting outdated as many other airlines have already switched to an all-aisle access Business Class cabin– that is to say: 1 x 2 x 1 as a seating configuration. Lufthansa, by contrast, has installed their standard (and relatively new) 2 x 2 x 2 seating configuration on this brand new plane.
Here’s the seating chart from Lufthansa’s A350s:
The Business class section (split up by a galley and lavatories) has 8 rows x 6 seats for a total of 48 seats.
And, here’s the seating chart for a bunch of other airlines that have received the A350; all of their cabins feature the 1-2-1 […]
Read MoreWritten by jeffrey @ Weekend Blitz
Vietnam Airlines
Flight # VN 602
Bangkok-BKK to Ho Chi Minh-SGN
Dept: 7:35 pm Arr: 9:05 pm
Duration: 1 hr 30 min
445 miles (716 km)
Airbus A321
Economy Class: Seats 36E and 36G
Here’s a map of our route:
Taxi and takeoff from runway 19R at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport
BOOKING
We booked our flight as part of a multi-city itinerary that included the following flights:
ANA Flight NH1011 – Chicago-ORD to Tokyo-NRT – B777-300ER
ANA Flight NH 913 – Tokyo-NRT to Yangon-RGN – B767-300
It was a bit bizarre that we were flying Vietnam Airlines to begin with as we booked our ticket via United Airlines, a Star Alliance member, and Vietnam Airlines is a member of SkyTeam. I’m actually not sure why this was even a choice on the United website.
CHECK-IN
We made it to the airport about 2 hours before our scheduled departure and quickly found the check-in lanes assigned to our flight.
Off to Check-In row L!
Never a dull moment at BKK!
They even had a representative waiting to greet us, although she lacked personality and kept staring at us
We made our way to the Economy Class check-in lanes with all the other peasants:
After checking in and clearing security, we wandered to the nearest Priority Pass eligible lounge.
We settled on the Louis’ Tavern CIP Lounge in Concourse G.
The Bangkok-BKK airport is pretty awesome, some of the levels, like Level 2 and 3 looked somewhat dated but it’s clear that they just dumped a ton of money into the 4th level and have it looking world class.
Huge statue near the departure gates entrance
Plenty of Thai themed art in the airport
BOARDING
After relaxing in the lounge, we proceeded to our gate: F3.
Tickets were checked and we found a seat.
After a few minutes, boarding was announced and we scurried to the plane.
SEAT
We passed by the Business Class section and made our way to our seats near the back.
Business Class
Business Class
The first thing we were struck by is how dated the plane seemed, there certainly wasn’t going to be any fancy new in-flight entertainment equipment here today.
Seating was 3×3 and we had 36E and 36G
As boarding continued, the plane ended up being nearly full.
MEAL SERVICE
After taking off, meal service began and “dinner” was served. It really ended up being a small snack and was all around decent given that they had less than 1.5 hours to serve ~175 people.
The meal consisted of salami and other cold cuts with pasta salad, olives and a small salad with dressing. There was also fresh cut fruit pineapple and watermelon and a warm-ish dinner roll with unsalted butter.
For a drink, I tried the Bia Hà Nôi which was all around pretty tasteless and probably the worst I’d sampled in the past few weeks visiting Myanmar and Thailand.
The flight was uneventful and we reached our destination in no time.
Landing on runway 07R at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Once we landed in Ho Chi Minh, we queued up in the Visa line, hoping that the visa we applied for online was actually legit!
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Written by jeffrey @ Weekend Blitz
Singapore Airlines
Flight # SQ 953
Jakarta-CGK to Singapore-SIN
Dept: 8:25 am Arr: 11:00 am
Duration: 1 hr 35 min
546 miles (879 km)
Boeing 777-200
First Class: Seats 1E and 1F
Our trip continued with an early morning departure from the Keraton at The Plaza Hotel in Jakarta to the Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. The departure time was 8:25 am so we found ourselves up and out of the door at a dreadfully early hour. The good news is that we were in the car on the way out by 5:15 am and made it to the airport in record time since there was no traffic!
Our driver was waiting for us by 5 am!
The Keraton at the Plaza hotel prepared some to-go breakfast for us since the restaurant was not yet open
Flying through Jakarta–no traffic this early!
BOOKING
We booked our ticket using United MileagePlus miles and, since it was a First Class award, we were eligible to take this flight in the premium cabin as well, even though it was quite short. Here are the other flights we had taken as part of this award:
Lufthansa Boeing 747 First Class – New York JFK to Frankfurt FRA (LH 405)
Thai Airways A380 Royal First Class – TG 921 Frankfurt-FRA to Bangkok-BKK
Thai Airways B772 Royal Silk Class – TG 431 Bangkok-BKK to Denpasar, Bali-DPS
CHECK-IN
Our driver dropped us on the curb and we made our way into the check-in counters:
The security was quite thorough and had a few stages, the first was just a quick scan to get into the check-in area:
The first security screen
The First Class cabin had a dedicated lane and we made our way to the very friendly and helpful Singapore Airlines agents:
With boarding passes issued and bags checked, we headed through a 2nd and quite thorough security check.
The airport’s check-in area
After security, we cleared immigration and had to pay the 150,000 IDR departure tax (~$11.26 US). This is no longer necessary, beginning Feb 2015 airlines have been required to include this tax in their ticket prices.
Making our way through the airport, we found the lounge:
We were entitled to use the Esplanade Lounge, you can find our full review of it here: Esplanade Lounge – Jakarta-CGK International Airport.
The lounge was exclusively for Singapore Airlines customers:
BOARDING
Around 7:30 am we made our way to the boarding gates. There was a ticket and passport check before gaining entry to the waiting area.
We enjoyed a dedicated boarding door and for just the First and Business Class passengers.
A neighboring, but virtually identical plane
SEAT
We entered the cabin and found quite an ancient interior but quickly settled into our seats, 1F and 1E:
The cabin had certainly seen better days and was far from anything nice or exciting. There was a nice festive touch as they had installed Christmas wreaths throughout the cabin.
The seat had some pretty serious 1980s throwback mechanical adjustment levers:
Although the seat is listed as fully flat, it was far from it when we tried it. Although it did end up being a decent cradle style angled flat seat and certainly did the trick for […]
Read MoreWritten by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
Hello from Paris, where my business-and-vacation trip is coming to a close. Vinay is in KUL on work, an Sam has been largely incommunicado. And I’ve had a fabulous week in Paris, the weather being fantastic (coming here from a rather long Indian summer)!!!
Meanwhile, here’s a round up of the week that was – a summary of posts on this blog as also other things travel, aviation, points and miles that we found interesting.Hope you had a great week, and here’s wishing you the very best in the next one!
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
Written by jeffrey @ Weekend Blitz
As part of our quest to fly on Etihad’s A380 in their “First Apartment” from Abu Dhabi-AUH to Melbourne-MEL, we had to find a way to position to AUH for the flight over. We decided it would be fun to spend some time in the UAE (we quickly regretted this decision as soon as we stepped into the desert in 117°F heat) and found award availability from Washington-IAD direct to Abu Dhabi-AUH. Best of all, it was operated by one of their new 787s and featured their “Business Studio” class of service.
Here’s a map of our route for the 13 hr 10 min flight that covers a distance of 7,088 miles (11,407 km):
CHECK-IN
We landed on our American Airlines connecting flight at Washington’s Reagan-DCA airport, quickly grabbed our bags and then called an Uber to make the trek over to Washington Dulles-IAD. We decided to try UberPOOL for the first time as it was offering a flat rate of just $28 to transfer between the airports.
We stopped about half way and picked up a man and his daughter who were headed to the airport to get a rental car. While it was a bit crammed in the Honda sedan, it was certainly interesting chatting with our co-commuters.
Fortunately, we didn’t hit any Friday afternoon D.C. traffic and made it to Dulles in under 45 mins!
First time trying UberPOOL and it was a success!
When we got to Terminal A it seemed rather deserted (a bit like the D.C. area traffic).
Following the signs for Etihad, we looped back around to the rear lobby.
We found a completely empty check-in area and soon learned that the Etihad counters don’t open up until 4 hours before departure (their website says 3 hours, but we confirmed it was 4 hours from a volunteer at IAD). That meant that we’d have a bit of time to kill until 6:05pm when we could check-in for our 10:05pm departure.
We were the 2nd Business/First passengers to check-in, although there was already a decent line of people waiting for economy.
Check-in was a breeze with very friendly service. I seem to think they were actually a bit surprised that our final destination was Abu Dhabi. Maybe they’re used to people that look like us just connecting through on the way to the Maldives or something?
We went through security to spend a bit of time in the lounge: Etihad First and Business Class Lounge Washington, DC-IAD.
Here’s a shot of the main boarding area:
BOARDING
Boarding was quietly announced in the lounge around 9:05 so there wasn’t a mad rush but people were able to casually get up and board as they desired. We jumped up pretty quickly to make sure we could get a few shots of the cabin before the masses piled in.
They held off general boarding for a few minutes to give first/business a head start. The single boarding door on the 787 was just aft of the first class cabin, which also has 1 row of business class. We took a right at the gallery and entered […]
Read MoreWritten by flyfromscratch @ Miles & Even More
AI’s uses their Dreamliners on their most long haul routes like DEL-MEL-SYD, DEL-SIN, DEL-EWR and also on some domestic routes, which are more of a positioning flight. And a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to fly DEL-DXB on AI Dreamliner Business Class, which is the subject of this post.
AI 787 business class interior – Pic courtesy Traveller.com
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles & Even More
I visited the Etihad Airways Premium Lounge – accessible to passengers with lounge access who are unable to access the Etihad First Class Lounge & Spa – on my layover heading back to Chennai. I could’ve easily accessed the First Class lounge, but I haven’t reviewed this other lounge earlier (though I spent a fair bit of time here last year en route to London, but that was during my hiatus from blogging). So here, let’s take a peek at the Etihad Premium Lounge in Abu Dhabi.
Written by jeffrey @ Weekend Blitz
After a great time spent exploring the thousands (literally!) of temples of Bagan, it was time for our first domestic flight within Myanmar. Although the Nyaung U-NYU airport that serves Bagan is only about a 15-20 minute drive (and cost us 6,500 MMK in a taxi, ~$6.40 US)…
