This is just a mini-rant. Not even a rant, more of an annoyance. Recently, on a number of social media outlets, I have noticed the trend of airline, travel, etc. rants. I have a few searches set up to see what people are saying about different travel companies and I am used to the normal “such and such sucks” and “I’ll never fly DeltAmericUnited” but recently there has been an uptick of supposed “frequent flyers” who are posting full out rants on Twitter or Facebook.
One example happened this past week during American Airlines pilot work slow-down. A complaint was made on Twitter by someone who in their own words “flies a lot”. At first, it looked like a normal release of frustration about a delay on American, but as this person’s delay went on, the rant became more inflamed. At one point the frequent flyer insisted that they would go out of their way to fly Southwest. Then, somehow, United was dragged into the fray and thrown under the bus.
I do not expect frequent flyers to know everything about an airline, but if you’re a frequent traveler and watch the news, you knew about the problems American Airlines was having. American even put out a press release giving passengers alternatives if their flights were delayed.
The traveler in question told me that this all happened after they were already on board and after a 2.5 hour delay, they were finally on their way. 2.5 hours?! While that is a terrible delay, why did no one speak up and ask to be let off the plane (especially our frequent flyer)?
At some point, if you’re going to give yourself the title of frequent traveler, you need to own up to taking responsibility for fixing your own situation when things go pear-shaped. This is not to say you should not vent frustrations on social media, it’s just a plea for folks to be a little more rational when doing so.
The title says it all. I have been researching resort type destinations in southeast Asia and have come up with very few that interest me. Maybe it’s that my requirements that the destination:
Has a beach.
Has other activities away from the beach (preferably in a town)
Is relatively easy to get to from Bangkok, Singapore, or Kuala Lumpur.
Right now I am focused on Langkawi, Malaysia due to its large rain forest and some activities around the island, but I am open to suggestions. If you have visited or heard of somewhere in southeast Asia that is a relaxing resort environment with other off-property activities, please share.
There is something about Berlin and I have yet to put my finger on it. It is hip, peaceful, busy, and reserved all at the same time. From walking through Tiergarten to exploring the neighborhoods in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, the city has something interesting from block to block. All I am sure of is that when I leave, I want to return. That says a lot about a city and its people.
How can you say “no” to random strangers enjoying great weather, great beer, and each other’s company?
As the unidentified passenger points out in commentary posted with his video to YouTube, the liquid testing is being done “well beyond the security check” and on liquids that passengers have purchased inside the security perimeter after they already passed through security screening and threw out any drinks they might have brought with them to the airport.
As expected, thousands of stranded passengers were none too pleased by the first strike on Friday at Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s busiest. Lufthansa had to cancel nearly half of the 360 flights scheduled to take off on Friday morning, and the airport almost ground to a complete halt until 2 p.m. Lines of waiting passengers in Terminal 1 wound their way through several parts of the building.
There was even uproar in the luxurious and normally serene first-class terminal, as furious frequent fliers ranted at Lufthansa staff. To add to the disarray, flight crews waved placards with anti-Franz slogans directly opposite, at one of the entrances to the airport site.
Things are kind of getting back to normal but Tuesday’s A380 flight from Frankfurt to Houston was canceled due to the strike and the effects of the strike will probably roll into next week. All of this stemming from the flight attendant’s union wanting an increase in pay and the same group being disenfranchised by the prospects of cost cutting by Lufthansa.
The Gulf-state carriers (Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad, etc.) are a real source of “hard to beat” competition due to their seemingly bottomless coffers and their willingness to go into a new market and take it by storm. Lufthansa is attempting to cut costs to compete on lower fares. It’s just a question of how far are they going to take that.
On my recent flight between Washington-Dulles and Tokyo’s Narita airport I encountered something that I do not completely understand. The flight arrives into Tokyo at 3:25pm, 13 hours after leaving Washington. About an hour and a half before arrival a meal is served. In business class it looks like this:
It’s a not so appetizing breakfast (more on the not so appetizing part at a later date).
What I don’t get is why United is serving breakfast for a middle of the day arrival. Sure, most people sleep for part of the flight, but I find breakfast when I’m arriving a few hours before dinner to be a bit odd. Even more strange is that Seth, who was on the same flight, said they received a noodle lunch dish in coach.
Any ideas on why United does this? Do other airlines serve breakfast on USA-Asia flights that arrive in the middle of the day?
The plan for my Monday is usually pretty simple, get to the airport, get on the plane, fly somewhere, and get to work. Today was not much different, right up until the point where we passed up our destination, New York’s LaGuardia airport, did a 180 degree turn over Connecticut, then started our approach to the airport. That’s when things got really interesting.
As we approached LaGuardia, I looked out the window and saw what looked like a wall of water in front of us. The captain had informed us that there was weather in the area but that they were still taking arrivals so I thought the rain may have been isolated off our left side. On final approach, right around 200 feet, all hell broke loose. Day turned to night and our plane dropped suddenly. I heard the engines spool up and felt the plane’s nose go up. We made a sharp left turn over the main terminal building and continued climbing.
Ten minutes later and the pilot announced that due to our long approach, the plane’s fuel was low and we would not be able make another attempt at landing at LaGuardia. Instead, we would be diverting to Newburgh’s Stewart International Airport. That landing was normal and we taxied to the FBO (fixed-base operator) that United contracts with at Stewart Airport where we sat and sat and sat. Eventually the weather at LaGuardia cleared and our plane was refueled and we were on our way back to New York City.
The view of Newburgh - Stewart International Airport from my window
Almost three hours later and we landed at LaGuardia. In the United States I have never experienced people clapping after a landing, but they did after this touch down. Can’t say I blame them; That missed approach was one of the more hair raising flying experiences I have ever had, but it did my make Monday interesting.
I should add that the United crew did a great job keeping everyone informed of what was going on and at Stewart Airport they walked around handing out drinks and giving free access to DirecTV. They were even letting people who wanted to deplane and drive to NYC from Newburgh do that. So, my hat is off to the crew of United 1280. You handled a less than ideal situation professionally and with a lot of courtesy and I appreciate that.
In a couple of weeks I will be flying Houston to Singapore via Washington-Dulles and Tokyo-Narita. The one-way journey takes 27 hours and puts me into Singapore a full day and a half after I leave. The departure time from Dulles is 1:15pm and arrival into Singapore is 11:55pm (Day+1). My strategy for fighting jet lag on this journey is to take a 5-6 hour nap on the Dulles-Tokyo segment, arriving into Tokyo around 3:35pm. Then, from Tokyo to Singapore, I will try to stay awake the entire time so that I am sleepy on arrival into Singapore. The return flights via Hong Kong and Chicago don’t have me nearly as worried as I’m sure I’ll be worn out when I return to Houston no matter when I choose to sleep.
My time in Singapore is limited and I am torn as to shift my body clock on to Singaporean time or just sleep when tired and explore the city when wide-awake. What would you do?
I have never been much of a writer of airline trip reports. Most flights, I end up not keeping track of a lot of the details, food options, and interesting tidbits. However, on my most recent trip to Prague and Berlin, I decided to take a few pictures and keep a few notes from the experience. The trip was done in United’s recently revamped BusinessFirst cabin as well as their domestic first class cabin and Brussels Airline’s economy cabin.
Austin-Chicago
The first segment of the trip was Austin to Chicago on a United Express CRJ-700 (operated by GoJet Airlines). These aircraft feature a small first class section as well as Economy Plus. These aircraft do not have any entertainment so I spent the flight reading and watching a couple of shows on my phone. They also do not have ovens so the crews do not serve meals in first class. Instead, first class customers are given a snack box that contains things like Rondele Spreadable Cheese and Milano cookies.
We actually ended up arriving in Chicago about 30 minutes early, but things went downhill from there. I knew something was up when we taxied to the “penalty box” and sat for about ten minutes. The pilot announced that we were a little too early and were just waiting for a gate to open up. These kinds of things happen and I was not too worried since we still had a decent amount of time to make our connection. But we sat. And sat. And sat. Over an hour later we made it to a gate and were deplaned. While I stood on the jetway waiting for the gate check bags to arrive I overheard our pilot talking to the rest of the crew about the plane that was occupying our gate and the circumstances for our delay. Apparently, the previous aircraft’s pilot was claiming a maintenance issue as a form of protest against a new pilot contract with United. Whatever it was, it forced us to run to our next gate and come very close to missing our connection.
Chicago-Brussels
Our Chicago-Brussels segment was operated by a pre-merger United 767-300. We were seated in the business class cabin which features lie-flat seats in a forward/backward configuration. United has recently renamed business class “BusinessFirst” which is what business was called on Continental Airlines. I had picked the backwards facing 6A and 6B because the reviews I had read stated that they were fairly quiet, being just behind first class and the furthest seats from the mid-cabin galley. The first thing I noticed when I walked on-board was the attitude of the crew. Every single crew member had a smile on their face and were greeting each passenger as they boarded. That was a good sign of things to come.
United BusinessFirst on the 767-300
After settling in, the flight attendant offered us champagne, water, or orange juice and handed us each an amenity kit and a dinner menu. The new United amenity kits are slightly smaller than what Continental provided but bigger (and better) than what pre-merger United offered. The skin care products are by philosophy and are a welcome change.
My expectations for plane food, even in business class, are relatively low. I know that making a gourmet meal at 35,000 is a near impossibility and do not keep any illusions that the meal will be amazing. What I do look for is something that is edible, fills me up, and has some element of flavor. The main courses for this flight was as follows:
Grilled Pork Chop – Green peppercorn sauce, shiitake mushroom bread pudding, white asparagus, and broccolini
Osso Bucco-style Breast of Chicken – Chanterelle mushroom ragout, garlic polenta cake, and broccolini
San Francisco-style Cioppino – Seared hake and grilled shrimp in tomato-seafood sauce with mixed vegetables
Spinach Cannelloni – Four cheese sauce and roasted tomatoes with Parmesan cheese
None of the options really jumped out at me so I decided on the grilled pork chop. The quality was about what I expected. The meat was a little overcooked but the sides were quite good, particularly the mushroom bread pudding. I had trouble taking pictures of the food due to the low light in the cabin, so I have not uploaded a lot for this part of the trip.
United Airlines BusinessFirst Pork Chop
After finishing the main course, the flight attendants came around with the cheese carts. The selection was ok and I picked a few that looked good. Looking at my watch I realized that service was going on hour three and I really needed to get some sleep since we would be landing in five and a half hours. I passed on the ice cream sundae service, made my way to the restroom, and changed into my Lufthansa pajamas from our trip to Germany a couple of years ago. I converted the United seat to a bed, put in my earplugs and pulled on my eyeshades, and slept for close to five hours.
When I woke up the crew was preparing to serve breakfast so I changed back into my jeans and shirt and prepared all of my carry-on stuff for arrival. When the breakfast tray came it consisted of the normal transatlantic breakfast, yogurt, some fruit, and what was essentially a plate of cold cuts. I think this is really where United could improve its BusinessFirst service. First, the fruit was close to being inedible. The pineapple was turning brown and the rest of the fruit was melon. Throw some strawberries or grapes in there. Second, why serve cold cuts? I know it’s more substantial than the croissant that used to be served but it’s just as underwhelming. I just decided to eat the yogurt and pass on everything else.
Before we had left Chicago I had spoken with the purser about arrival service in Brussels. He let me know that he would contact the airport staff there and ask that they meet me when we deplaned. When we arrived, there was a United employee waiting at the aircraft door. He asked what it was we needed and when told about the shower quite bluntly said, “we only sometimes provide that to United Global Services members” but added that I could talk to the United employees at the ticketing desk. I knew we had to exit security anyway to make our connection so I told the employee thank you and walked to the ticketing desk.
I greeted the ladies working the ticketing desk and described what I was looking for, the arrival shower service that United offered to their business class customers. At first I received a couple of weird looks, then they told me that this was a service that they only offered to Global Services members and even then it was rare. Now, I had spoken with a couple of United employees before the trip and both had assured me that there was arrival service for BusinessFirst travelers. Since this trip, I’ve been told that Brussels screwed up and I should have been given a room at the Sheraton across the street from the airport.
Anyway, back to the trip. Since it was now clear that getting a shower would be a near impossibility, we looked for a deserted restroom, gave ourselves a “sink bath”, changed, then found the luggage lockers and locked up our bags, and headed into Brussels via the train.
Four Hours in Brussels
When I booked this trip, the most desirable connections to Prague were also the most expensive, leaving us with a six hour connection in Brussels. Not wanting to spending that time hanging out in the airport, we paid the 10 Euros each to take the train into town.
We visited the Grand Place and the Mannequin Pis (who, oddly, was dressed up for the Fourth of July), but most importantly, we paid a visit to Poechenellekelder, a great little beer hall with outdoor seating. We enjoyed a couple of Belgian beers before realizing how tired we were from only five hours of sleep and decided to head back to the airport.
Mannequin Pis - Dressed up for the 4th
Brussels-Prague
We knew that we would have to check our remaining carry-on due to European carriers being much more stringent regarding the size of luggage brought on-board. After the most efficient check-in and security experience I have ever had, we were walking to the Brussels Airlines lounge in the “domestic” Terminal A. There are a number of lounges, including an SAS lounge, controlled by a single access point. We were given the option of visiting any of the Star Alliance lounges and opted for the Brussels Airlines one just to see what it was like. On entry we were handed two WiFi cards that were good for one hour of access each. Besides the great tarmac views, the lounge was rather stagnant. All of the lounges share a bathroom located near the security desk. After reading other reports on the lounge, it definitely seems that the SAS lounge would have been a better choice.
About ten minutes before boarding, we walked to the gate and waited. Being in coach on this segment, I figured it would be the normal boarding scrum that we have experienced on carriers like Lufthansa and Austrian. Surprisingly, Brussels Airlines made a call for business class passengers and Star Golds. We made our way to the gate and were allowed to board before the rest of the plane. Nicely done Brussels Airlines!
The flight itself was uneventful. Brussels Airlines charges for just about anything, including water, unless you are in one of their two premium products (Economy.Flex and Business). We landed in Prague a few minutes early and received our bags at baggage claim and start our adventure in Prague.
Up Next…
In the next installment I’ll give you a quick tour of Prague, express my love of Berlin, and show you what the BusinessFirst product looks like on United’s Boeing 757-200s.
When I checked into my hotel this week I was told that Hilton has moved to “providing the paper in digital format”. I inquired as to what this meant and the person working the check-in desk said, “we are no longer delivering newspapers to rooms”. I then wanted to know what the digital version was, only to be told, “well, you go to usatoday.com”. Thanks. I was thinking that maybe Hilton had worked out an agreement with a paper like the NY Times or the Wall Street Journal to provide a customized digital version.
Now, I cannot find anything on the Hilton website about this policy but the front desk insists that this is a new Hilton policy/program. Does anyone out there have any further information regarding this policy?
