Flights | Jason Around the World

Washington DC to Johannesburg, South Africa…the long way!

Airports, Flights, Germany, South Africa, South Africa Milage Run 2013 8 Responses »

Apr 182013

A couple months ago, people were posting about a fare from DC to Johannesburg, mentioning that while it was a great fare in business class, it wasn’t really cheap enough to be considered a “milage run.” Well, I like to be comfortable, and with business fares earning 1.5 times the elite miles it was a no brainer for me. I tend to think if I can buy a business fare for less than 10 cents per elite mile I’m doing well, and with the limited time off I have it made this a no-brainer. The kicker was that my friend Dewon was already headed back to South Africa to renew a visa, and I could fly the outbound with him. A few days after booking, my friend Phil wanted to join me for the crazy milage run from DC, and we had the makings of an adventure!

Of course, since this was largely for the miles I devised the most insane routing I could to maximize the miles, and it went off without a hitch! All told, it would be around 33,000 elite miles earned, at the cost of only one day of leave…can’t complain too much! Soon, the day of the trip was here and it was time to go. I’m going to break this into three parts…. (1) the trip to South Africa aka this post, (2) our 1.5 days in South Africa, and (3) the trip back from South Africa. Warning, this part of the post will be extremely picture heavy!

Got to National Airport, check-in was fairly efficient, TSA was a non-event due to TSA Pre-Check, and soon we were in the United Club. I love the historic club at National Airport, not to mention the awesome bartender who makes the most amazing spicy bloody mary…perfect start to a big adventure!

United (operated by Shuttle America) flight 3523
Washington DC, National (DCA) to Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
Depart 10:35, Arrive 11:44, Flight Time 2:09
Embraer E-170, Registration N638RW, Manufactured 2004, Seat 2F

Not too much to say about this flight…it was a pretty generic express flight. One more drink, some “gourmet snack mix,” some crossword puzzles, and soon we were in Chicago.

Whenever I have time, it’s become an O’Hare ritual for me to swing by Chilis for some Tex Mex Eggrolls and a Platinum Presidente Margarita…couldn’t resist this time either. We had plenty of time, and the other option was to sit in a crowded United Club, so the choice was obvious!

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Aguas Calientes to DC via Cuzco, Lima, and New York

Airports, Flights, hotels, Peru, Peru 2013 No Responses »

Mar 262013

Fortunately our train out of Aguas Calientes was in the afternoon, so we had a chance to sleep in and take it easy in Aguas Calientes before we had to be at the train station for the ride back. We grabbed a casual lunch near the train station as I mentioned in another post, and then it was back to Cuzco first by train, then by shuttle bus, and finally a taxi to our hotel. We’d decided to stay at the Hotel Monasterio again, and they had our driver waiting at the train/shuttle station and our stored bags already in our new room. Absolutely perfect.

One last dinner in Cuzco, and it was up early for our series of flights back home. One last breakfast at the hotel, and they arranged a taxi for us to the airport. Once again, everything at this hotel was flawless, and geared towards people visiting Cuzco and/or Machu Picchu. A very early breakfast before our taxi, taxi to the airport arranged and on time…it was excellent.

The Cuzco airport is relatively small, and the business class/Star Alliance Gold line had a 15-20 minute line before we could check in. However, when we did, we were surprised to hear the agent say “I am adding your name to the list, you can ask about an upgrade at the gate.” I didn’t question her, but why was this? Are Star Alliance Gold members (and companions!) automatically upgraded space available at the gate on TACA?!

Immigration and security were maybe a 10 minute affair, and soon we were in the very congested departures area for our flight.

TACA Peru flight 830
Cuzco, Peru (CUZ) to Lima, Peru (LIM)
Depart 8:05, Arrive 9:30, Flight Time 1:25
Airbus A320, Registration N498TA, Manufactured 2008, Seat 2K

About two minutes before boarding, the gate agent called our names, and wrote new seat numbers on our boarding passes…upgrade confirmed! I still don’t know why, since coach was only about 75% full, and we were two of four in business, but I’m not complaining at all!

It was a pretty routine flight, with a small meal offered. Seats were typical US-style up-front seats, so nothing special, but it was nice having all sorts of extra room! A shot of the meal:

DC to Lima, Peru on US Airways Shuttle and COPA

Airports, Flights, Peru, Peru 2013 1 Response »

Mar 052013

Last fall when I was working in Senegal there were posts on Flyertalk about a great fare on COPA in Business Class from JFK to Lima, Peru for around $800. I mentioned it to a few friends, not really expecting anyone to bite, and I was prepared to book and do the trip alone when a friend of mine got really excited about joining me. We booked, and soon added a US Airways Shuttle ticket to New York, and we were all set!

The plan was to spend a few days each in Lima, Cuzco, and finally Machu Picchu before heading home. Time flew by, and soon it was time to leave. The trip started in DC from the airport I still refuse to call Ronald Reagan National Airport – it shall always be just National Airport to me. US Airways was asking well over $300 for these flights when we booked, but the same flights purchased at united.com were under $150. The only complication was that because we had the United codeshare flight numbers US Airways wouldn’t offer complimentary upgrades with my platinum status. However, at 24 hours before the flight when we checked in, it let me choose seats in first. Who knows if this is supposed to be how it works, but it did….

Check-in was simple with maybe a five minute wait, we dropped of a couple bags with the TSA, and headed to the US Airways Club to get some water before boarding. It was pretty empty mid-morning, and soon it was time to board.

US Airways Shuttle flight 2164
Washington DC, National (DCA) to New York, Laguardia (LGA)
Depart 9:00, Arrive 10:17, Flight Time 1:17
Airbus A319, Registration N732US, Manufactured 2000, Seats 2D and 2F

The flight was pretty uneventful. Economy looked to be about 75% full, and every seat in first was taken. Pre-departure drinks were offered, and in-flight there was one round of drinks along with the typical US Airways snack basket full of munchies. Nothing special, but completely solid for a 45 minute flight. Of course, there was time for a morning wake-up…after all, this was the start of a big adventure!

Guest Blog: Air Canada 839, Frankfurt to Ottawa

Airports, Canada, Countries, Flights, Germany, Guest Blogs 1 Response »

Mar 012013

Decided to try something new, and asked one of my frequent-traveling friends, John Chamberlin, to write a guest blog on one of his recent flights. I thought it would be interesting to people to read, since I’ve yet to travel Air Canada outside North America, so I thought the perspective would be interesting. Feedback welcome…and hopefully more guest blogs soon!

**********************************************************************************************

Greetings from the great white north of Ottawa, Canada readers! Having been a friend Jason’s well over 10 years now, I owe my obsession and hoarding habits of airline miles all to him pretty much. Most of my friends will joke that I’m the real life George Clooney from the movie “Up In The Air”. When I fly or stay somewhere, if it doesn’t involve me earning miles or points, I just don’t do it!

I’m a Youngstown, Ohio native, and have worked in IP or telecom engineering now well over 15 years now. In 2007, I was presented the opportunity to make a large career change and go to work for a telecom OEM in Ottawa, Ontario. Six weeks later I was settled and starting my new life in Canada. Since telecom is pretty “wrapped up” in most of the modern developed world, my company finds itself working in emerging markets and many developing nations. Azerbaijan, Fiji, Nigeria, Ghana, Republic of Benin, Korea, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Sri Lanka just to name a few. So I am not stranger to long haul routes to say the least.

Jason scolded me early on while flying Air Canada and BMI on a YOW-LHR-GYD routing to Baku, Azerbaijan- and not even fully aware of WHAT or WHO the Star Alliance was. The rest, as they say, is history. Since 2008, I have banked approximately 350,000 EQM and flown well over 750,000 in combined reward travel. In 2008 I easily tiered into Star Gold status for 2009, as AC only required 35,000 EQM to make the alliance status back then. In 2010 and 2011 I tiered in to Air Canada “Super Elite” status, which is their 100k program. AC’s rewards programs are administered by a spin off company called Aeroplan. Reward miles on AC are typically worth a tad more that of your standard UA or US levels. Fares on AC are a bit higher in Canada given the industry structure, and I’ve commonly found that my miles are worth as much as $.06 each. In 2011, I booked two business class tickets from YOW-YVR via YYZ for 100,000 Aeroplan miles- a website booking fare of $6300.00 that same day when I checked! The taxes and fuel are the only gotcha in Aeroplan. You have to pay them, unlike that of programs with UA or US. On the other hand, they also allow regional reward fares. I fly YOW-PIT via YYZ for 15,000 miles + $173.00 in taxes etc on a very regular basis. That fare is typically $600.00+. So it’s a bittersweet relationship.

Now onto the good stuff! When Jason asked me to review and guest write for his quite well known blog, I was pretty stoked. A good bit of him has rubbed off on me, and I take note of the smallest things anymore regarding air travel. I fly the Air Canada metallic baby blue as my mainline carrier. Air Canada has been voted the #1 Full Service North American Airline for 3 straight years including 2012 by the Sky Traxx reader survey. I have to admit, Air Canada goes above and beyond the call of duty many days in handling passenger issues and giving a custom touch to their Super Elite fliers. Even Jason has been witness and first hand helped by Super Elite representatives in a pinch! They have a one of a kind top tier system, in that Super Elite members also have access to EVERY single open seat on an AC route.

Air Canada maintains a “Super Elite Concierge Desk”, both virtually via phone and in all their main Canadian/International points of presence. These Super Elite representatives work in private unmarked offices and function to personally handle all their top tier customers. When I arrive at YOW, I go directly downstairs outside of CATSA security to this unmarked office. Inside the ladies or gents happily greet you by name (they DO remember you), print your boarding passes, tag any luggage and then walk it back upstairs to the belt, while you continue into priority screening. It’s a service that I have come to respect and love so much, that the mere thought of losing it makes me wanna cry! These folks accomplish miracles in a pinch and they have helped me SO many times in international connection situations. Their admin levels to the AC reservation systems seem to be at “Super Concierge” levels. Ok ok, bad joke.

Now- on to our flight! Today, we’re on board:

Flight: AC839, FRA-YOW

Equip: B767-300

Tail: C-FMWU, Manufactured 1995

Nose: 633

Gate to Gate: 8hrs 15mins

Distance: 3916 miles

Seat: 01F

Skopje, FYR Macedonia to Washington on Turkish, Lufthansa, and United

Airports, Flights, Germany, hotels, Kosovo and Macedonia, Macedonia, Turkey No Responses »

Feb 282013

Not too many details on this part of the trip, so I’ll keep it pretty simple.

We took a late evening taxi to Skopje airport after dinner and coffee, and arrived around 7pm, in plenty of time for our 8:45pm flight to Istanbul where we were planning to overnight. Check-in was quick and efficient, as was passport control and security. The airport was small, but quite modern, and overall quite efficient. There was a shared lounge which we were allowed to use as United Star Alliance Gold members, complete with plenty of beer and wine, and some small snacks – mainly cookies and crackers. Nothing impressive, but it had wifi, drinks, and was quiet so it did the job.

Drama started (see drama cafe reference in previous post) when we got to the gate. We were paged to the podium, and informed that our seats were being changed. We had exit row aisle seats across from each other, and were moved forward a few rows to an aisle and middle. No, there was nothing they could or would do about it, nor would they tell us why. GRRRR. It worked out in the end when after lots of prodding the agent managed to find us a full row in row 21 with the middle seat empty. All’s well that ends well!

Turkish flight 1006
Skopje, FYR Macedonia (SKP) to Istanbuk, Turkey (IST)
Depart 20:45, Arrive 23:05, Flight Time 1:20
Airbus A319, Registration TC-JLV, Manufactured 2011, Seat 21C

Flight was probably 95% full, but since we were proactive we ended up with one of the few empty middle seats in between us. There was a cold snack which was mostly edible, and drinks were free even in economy with one catch – you could have beer, but could not choose what kind. We ended up with one Heineken and one Efes – go figure! Other than that, flight was perfectly on time, and no drama whatsoever.

The same cannot be said for passport control in Istanbul where we’d have a very short overnight. Visa on arrival is available for US citizens, but my friend was traveling on a South African passport which is supposed to receive a free visa on arrival. Catch is, there’s only (apparently) one immigration desk in the whole airport that can issue this, and it’s not really marked. We spent over an hour getting through passport control, complete with a planeful of very rude Ukrainians shoving and pushing in line. There’s something deeply satisfying where when you deny someone the chance to sneak in front of you, and they curse you out in Russian thinking you don’t understand, when you can curse them even stronger right back. Score Jason 1, International Relations 0. Mr Gorbachev may have, in the infamaous words of the Gipper “torn down that wall” but I did my best to put it right back up 😉

Waited another 30 minutes for the aiport hotel shuttle, and it was almost 1am by the time we got to the hotel. With a 620am flight, I was beginning to wonder why we’d even bothered for just over three hours of sleep. The Istanbul Airport Radisson Blu? Well, check-in was efficient, the room was an inferno around 25C in temp, but the beds were ok and we were exhausted so we got three good hours of sleep along with a shower. For that alone, it was worth it.

Off to the airport, check-in and immigration took all of five minutes, leaving us time for Heaven. I mean Starbucks. Same difference – good strong espresso was exactly what I needed, and combined with some turkish coffee in the Turkish Airlines lounge I was ready to go. Oh, about that lounge…in this direction it was not terribly full at all, and they had a huge breakfast spread out! This has to be one of the best business class lounges in the world, at least as far as food goes.

Boarding was right on time, and business and star gold passengers got their own bus to the plane. Can’t complain about that! The load today was only about 50%, so there was plenty of room to spread out.

Lufthansa flight 1775
Istanbuk, Turkey (IST) to Munich, Germany (MUC()
Depart 6:20, Arrive 8:05, Flight Time 2:45
Airbus A320, Registration D-AIPH, Manufactured 1989, Seat 12C

Not too much to say – light breakfast served, crew was efficient, and there was plenty of room to spread out. As far as Lufthansa economy goes, it was a pretty good day. Except…we were held on the ground in Istanbul for over an hour due to fog in Munich, which I understand is very common at this time of year. We were looking at a 15 minute connection in Munich at best…this was going to be interesting. For some reason, it seems every time I connect through Munich I run into this issue.

We made up a bit of time in flight, and we landed 22 minutes before our flight to Newark was bound to leave. Fortunately, we were already “outside Schengen” for passport control, so that was one less line to deal with. We actually managed to get a real gate too, so a quick dash through security, and we made it with just minutes to spare.

United flight 969
Munich, Germany (MUC) to Newark, New Jersey (EWR)
Depart 9:20, Arrive 12:45, Flight Time 9:25
Boeing 767-300, Registration N651UA, Manufactured 1992, Seat 6H

This was a former-United three class 767, with a rather surly crew. There were several empty seats in Business class, and when we moved from window seats to centre seats we got admonished, even though we’d asked one of the flight attendants if it was ok. Other than that, things were fine – meal was pretty typical for these days, crew was not very friendly and below average, but the comfortable seats allowed us to catch up on sleep so that’s good.

My friend was leaving in Newark, so it was through Global Entry quickly (we actually arrived Terminal B of Newark – is that common these days? It was a first for me) and a tram to terminal A for my connecting flight to DC.

United Express (operated by ExpressJet) flight 4372
Newark, New Jersey (EWR) to Washington DC, National (DCA)
Depart 14:37, Arrive 15:47, Flight Time 1:10
Embraer ERJ-145, Registration N12160, Manufactured 2004, Seat 12A

Only 8 people on this flight – the lightest load I’ve seen on a DC-Newark flight ever. Not sure the reason – it was mid-afternoon on a Monday, but I wasn’t complaining. We were almost 20 minutes early on arrival.

Overall it was a great trip. Nowhere near long enough, but when I’m presented to join a friend on a trip to see new countries I’m never going to turn it down! I feel like we really maximized our time there, and I’d love to return now and see more of the smaller towns and countryside in the region. I still have to get to Macedonia, Bosnia, and Serbia in the region so I definitely have an incentive now to go back for an extended trip!

Kosovo and FYR Macedonia – Milage Run in United Business and the longest route from DC to NY

Airports, Flights, Germany, Kosovo, Kosovo and Macedonia, Turkey No Responses »

Feb 122013

So, it was October. It was getting cold in Washington DC. A friend from NY I’ve been trying to hang out recently messaged me that he’d be in Germany for work, and would have a free long weekend. I was about 10,000 miles short of hitting 100,000 on United for the year…I started to play around. Things got ugly. Naturally, DC and NY are so far apart that you can’t manage the trip up I-95 to visit each other because you travel so much that you should meet in Europe…right?

He told me to pick anywhere in Europe I hadn’t been yet. New countries are getting difficult to come by for me in Europe, especially taking into account the friend travels on a South African passport and wouldn’t have time to get visas. Kosovo? They seem to be nice to just about anyone who is nice to them…but can I count it as a country? More than half of UN members recognize them, and I justified it as “even if I can’t…I can count it as Serbia which I haven’t been to!”

Then…I found out MYR Macedonia was next door, an easy train or bus ride away, and as long as you had a valid Schengen Visa, you were in. Score! Two countries…done! Now, how to milk this for 10,000 miles. United had some great B/Z fares to Istanbul, and I had one Systemwide Upgrade left for the year, so the choice was easy. Book Z one direction, and the direction that had confirmable upgrade space…book B. It would get me just over the top…100,606 elite miles for the year! DONE!

I’m going to break this report into roughly three parts:

1) Washington to Pristina, Kosovo on United, Lufthansa, and Turkish
2) Evening and Day in Pristina, and travel to Skopje, FYR Macedonia
3) Evening and Day in Skopje, Macedonia
4) Skopje, FYR Macedonia to Washington on Turkish, Lufthansa, and United

With that said, time to get off and running on part one!

United Express (Operated by ExpressJet) flight 4129
Washington DC, National (DCA) to Newark, NJ (EWR)
Depart 14:36, Arrive 15:49, Flight Time 1:13
Embraer ERJ-145, Registration N11551, Manufactured 2000, Seat 12A

Check-in at DCA was completely uneventful, there wasn’t a single person in line to get groped by the TSA, and I think I was metrorail to Presidents Club…I mean United Club…in 10 minutes tops. This is how an airport should function. I think one of the best things to come from this merger is that it reminded me how much I love DCA. I’d grown resigned to the fact I could go nonstop to just about anywhere from Dulles on United, and had just gotten in the habit. No more…I’ll even risk Newark connections to Europe now to leave from DCA – it’s just that much superior.

A few bricks of pre-packaged pepperjack cheese, a few glasses of Two Buck Jeff (aka Chateau le Plonk) red wine, and it was time to board. The club was empty this afternoon, and I had amusing conversations with both of the folks working this afternoon – both who came up to me, sat down, and just started chatting. The ex-United agent telling me all the stupid things Continental was doing to ruin United, and the ex-Continental agent, well, you guessed it, complaining about all things United. It was lighthearted, not really complaining, and since I’d met both of them several times it was nice to hear their perspectives on what was working and what wasn’t. It seems one of the biggest issue is United cabbing crews back and forth from National to Dulles when irrops happen, causing enormous delays. Hopefully that’s in the past now.

Can’t say anything about this flight. Took off on time, landed on time, had the solo seat in the exit row, and life was good. Only complaint is the usual about Newark…landing in Terminal A and having to take the shuttle bus to Terminal C. Even that wasn’t too bad. Hit up the central United Club, more pepperjack, more Chateau le Jeff, and lots of news watching. Sandy was about to strike the east coast, and it was really interesting sitting at the bar listening to folks from up and down the coast discuss what they thought would happen.

Got to the gate about 45 minutes prior to departure, and they were just about to board. First one on the plane, and based on the seatmap it was a very light load today, so it really wouldn’t matter.

United flight 956
Newark, NJ (EWR) to Geneva, Switzerland (GVA)
Depart 17:40, Arrive 7:25, Flight Time 7:45
Boeing 767-300 Registration N674UA, Manufactured 2010, Seat 6L

Originally I had picked seat 2D on this plane, but there were several empty seats in business, including 6K and 6L by the window. I asked the flight attendant about it, and she went to check with someone, and then told me I could have it…so I moved. A few minutes later, the purser stormed up to me and demanded to know who gave me permission to sit there. “These are OUR seats – you can’t sit here.” Well ok then…but your colleague told me I could. I could see her arguing with the other crew in the galley, and eventually came back, apologized, and told me it was ok. Very random…but fortunately the tension was diffused pretty quickly and service was great the rest of the flight. Very random!

This plane was a former United “domestic” 767, which had recently been converted for international service. Standard old Continental interior, which was very comfortable having two seats to myself. Easy to sleep in as I learnt earlier in the year on the way to India, and that held true again. I always hate 5pm transatlantic departures, because they leave me wondering if I’ll be able to sleep since we arrive at like 2am body clock time in Europe. This was a good flight, and I was out cold after dinner and wine.

Yangon to Washington DC via Singapore

Airports, Flights, hotels, Japan, Myanmar, New Years 2012-2013, Restaurants, Singapore, United States No Responses »

Feb 072013

Was up early the next morning, and had the hotel arrange a taxi to Yangon airport. Driver easily agreed on $10 or 800 Kyat, which seemed to be the going rate. I’m sure I could have knocked a dollar or two off, but… check-in was quick and easy, and soon I was waiting for immigration. Took maybe five minutes total to clear immigration, and soon I was in the contract lounge that Thai uses in Yangon.

Now, here, I have to make a confession. I’d gotten going too early to get caffeine or breakfast, so I had to survive on what I found in the lounge. Hey, don’t judge, but sometimes a breakfast of Pringles and Diet Coke is just what you need. My mother would be mortified. WiFi in the lounge was just fast enough to do e-mail, but that’s honestly about it. Managed to kill the hour or so I had before the flight, and from there it was maybe a two minute walk to the gate.

Thai flight 304
Yangon, Myanmar (RGN) to Bangkok, Thailand (BKK)
Depart 9:50, Arrive 11:45, Flight Time 1:25
Airbus A330-300, Registration HS-TED, Manufactured 1994, Seat 24A

Flight was maybe 2/3 full in business, and I moved from my centre seat to the last row where the pair of seats next to the window was available. Space and a view! Nothing too remarkable about this flight – the typical friendly Thai service, a small snack that I just picked at (but way more than you’d see on a similar flight in North America) and we landed right on time.

I had a bit over an hour to kill before heading to the next flight, so headed to the Thai business lounge, where much Diet Coke was consumed, along with a fair amount of dim sim – especially BBQ pork buns – YUM! Internet was nice and speedy, and I managed to Skype several calls and get a few things sorted, so it was time will used.

Thai flight 407
Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) to Singapore (SIN)
Depart 13:50, Arrive 17:10, Flight Time 2:20
Airbus A330-300, Registration HS-TET, Manufactured 2010, Seat 15E

In contrast to the last two Thai A330 flights I’d been on to Myanmar, this one was the “new” configuration. Thai has multiple configurations for their A330s, and the other one had had business class seats that were definitely showing their age. Way more room than economy, but none of the modern bells and whistles one has come to expect in business class. This plane, in contrast, had personal tvs, power ports, and went much closer to flat. It may have actually gone flat, but being a daytime flight I didn’t test it.

The flight was completely full in business, and there was again a small meal (complete with menus) and the drink cart came through offering beer and wine several times. Fantastic for a regional flight!

Tunis to Yangon via Hong Kong on Lufthansa First + Thai A380

Airports, Flights, Germany, Hong Kong, Myanmar, New Years 2012-2013, Thailand, Tunisia No Responses »

Jan 212013

Slept nearly 10 hrs, and woke up feeling even more like death than the night before. Ugh!

Went to the Sheraton Executive lounge for the breakfast, where there was fresh-squeezed orange juice. Fantastic. I think I had 3 or 4 glasses, along with several espressos, and began to feel marginally functional. Rather than deal with a cab, I decided to take the hotel shuttle to the airport for 10 TND, and be at least marginally more comfortable.

Check-in for Lufthansa at Tunis took an eternity – or at least it felt like that. Waited in line for at least 15 minutes, and even then they could only check me in for the first segment to Frankfurt…and seats? It was one of those old 1980s sticker maps where they peeled a sticker off a sheet with your seat assignment. Once all the stickers were gone, there were no more seats. Anyone have a clue why Tunis operates SO old school? It’s as if they’re not connected to any global systems at all!

Through immigration and security, and into the TunisAir lounge which is used by Lufthansa. First time in ages I’ve seen a lounge where smoking is permitted…ug. Not what I needed with a horrid cold and congestion already. Combine that with three or four sick people in the lounge who made me look like I was a rolemodel of health, and it wasn’t the recipe for the best time. I was ready to get out of there! The lounge did have a buffet and drinks (I did have one glass of wine…it kills germs, I swear) but I didn’t explore it much so can’t really comment on the quality.

Lufthansa Flight 1323
Tunis, Tunisia (TUN) to Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)
Depart 13:40, Arrive 16:25, Flight Time 2:45
Airbus A319, Registration D-AIQF, Manufactured 1991, Seat 2F

I honestly don’t remember this flight too much. We boarded just 5 minutes before departure, and ended up leaving nearly 20 minutes late…getting into Frankfurt 20 minutes late. This brought my connection down to barely an hour….totally doable, but definitely not optimal in Frankfurt. There was a full meal offered with two meal choices, but I skipped it so can’t comment on it. Seemed to be the pretty typical Lufthansa meal, nothing overly special. I spent most of the flight dozing in and out and watching some tv on the iPad…just trying to get through it.

The one big disappointment upon landing in Frankfurt – although we were at a remote bus gate, there was no car transfer waiting for me. I had to take a bus to the terminal, and use the regular security lines with everyone else. I’m not complaining, but part of the reason I’d booked a first award was that being sick I wanted the absolute minimum time standing around and waiting, and wanted to be as comfortable as possible. Waiting in a cold bus, and long hot security lines…not my idea of fun. Service failure: Lufthansa.

Got to the lounge in Frankfurt with about five minutes to use it, but that was enough time to get a few glasses of water and freshen up again before heading to the next flight. The lounge agents were very apologetic, but nothing they could do about the missed transfer request at this point.

Lufthansa Flight 118
Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to Munich, Germany (MUC)
Depart 18:00, Arrive 19:05, Flight Time 1:05
Airbus A320, Registration D-AIQK, Manufactured 1991, Seat 7F

For some reason, Lufthansa had blocked off nine rows for business on this flight, despite there only being 8 people total in business class. Economy was pretty full, so no clue what they were thinking. There was a small snack on this flight, but again, I skipped it and had only water so can’t really comment on it. We arrived in Munich nearly 20 minutes early, and at an actual gate, so I had plenty of time to unwind in the lounge – over two hours!

The lounge was actually relatively full when I arrived just after 7pm, but it did thin out quite a bit by 9pm. The lounge attendants couldn’t have been more wonderful. I was blowing my nose a lot, and she actually brought me two small packs of kleenexes to take with me on the flight – that’s service! Had several glasses of water, and couldn’t resist a couple glasses of champagne, otherwise just tried to relax and take it easy as much as possible. Caught up on some stuff online, and before I knew it it was time to head to the gate and board.

Lufthansa Flight 730
Munich, Germany (MUC) to Hong Kong (HKG)
Depart 21:55, Arrive 16:05 Next Day, Flight Time 11:10
Airbus A340-600, Registration D-AIHU, Manufactured 2008, Seat 2K

This flight was absolutely wonderful. That’s the only word I have for it. First was only booked to 5 of 8 seats, including a mother and approx 8yo son in the first row…but he was perfectly behaved. The minute I was seated, the pre-departure treats arrived! Mmmm macadamia nuts and champagne.

Minneapolis to Malta on US Airways and Lufthansa

Airports, Flights, Germany, Malta, New Years 2012-2013 No Responses »

Jan 102013

When planning this trip, Malta was a pretty obvious starting point. It was close to Libya, I hadn’t been, and it seemed most logical to combine it with Libya and Tunisia since flight schedules were good. Plus, it would keep my award as a US to Europe award, instead of the extra miles required for a north Africa award. Initially, I’d booked my award from home in DC, routing DCA-YYZ-FRA-MLA and I was excited to try Air Canada business class transatlantic for the first time. Later on, MSP-ORD-YYZ opened up, and I was able to change the award to depart directly from Minneapolis after visiting family. One thing I didn’t think of at the time…the departure from MSP was at 8am. Ug.

Weather was also not looking good on the 24th. There was a major storm headed towards the east coast, and it was unclear if it would be snow, ice, or some slushy nasty combo of the two. I played around for two days, and eventually settled on a MSP-PHL-FRA-MLA routing on US Airways. FRA-MLA had been sold out for over a month, so I was shocked how willing agents were to retain the segment and just change the start. Plus, this left MSP at 11:00 which would allow a bit of a lay-in and time for breakfast before heading out. Also, I’d never flown US transatlantic, so it would be a chance for a new experience…albeit with VERY low expectations. I knew US had refreshed the seats on their A330s, but I figured service would still be more miss than hit.

Check-in was a piece of cake at MSP, and I had time to grab some unhealthy kibble at the Red Carpet Club in the MSP E Terminal before boarding.

US Airways flight 1834
Minneapolis/St Paul (MSP) to Philadelphia (PHL)
Depart 11:00, Arrive 14:31, Flight Time 2:31
Embraer ERJ-190, Registration N947UW, Manufactured 2007, Seat 1D

One thing I found unusual is that US Airways operations their ERJ 190s with mainline crew. I’d taken the ERJ 175s several times which were operated by Republic, but with just a few more setas the 190s were mainline. Flight itself was remarkably unremarkable. Snack basket, drinks, and about 45 minutes of circling around PHL waiting to land due to storm-related congestion. In the end, no real big deal…except for the fact I’d had a friend call United when I was in the air, and see about changing my routing to PHL-DTW-FRA in order to fly Lufthansa first…and it seems the United agent had booked it!

One problem…while I was in the air PHL-DTW canceled, leaving US to try and rebook me PHL-CLT-FRA instead. What a mess! Fortunately PHL-FRA wasn’t heavily booked, and it was easy to get it back. Spent about 30 minutes in the lounge at PHL, where I got one coupon for a “premium drink” for flying business. Premium drink? Wines that they sell for $7 a glass are premium? I shudder at what the free wines must be! The bartender WAS nice enough to say “if you want another glass, just go ask for another coupon, they’re meaningless and you can get as many as you want.” LOL.

US Airways flight 700
Philadelphia (PHL) to Frankfurt (FRA)
Depart 16:30, Arrive 06:15 + 1 Flight Time 7:45
Airbus A330-300, Registration N274AY, Manufactured 2000, Seat 6H

My first impression after boarding was just how IKEA the cabin looked. Light woods, bright, and overall very pleasant feeling. Initial impressions were pretty good!

A glass of champagne wass offered (they insisted it was Champagne, despite being some California bubbly thing), which was followed by a second. So far so good – you can see just how gross it was outside, and the reason for the delays in PHL:

4th Annual New Years Eve in Dangerous Places – Libya Edition

Flights, hotels, Libya, Malta, Myanmar, New Years 2012-2013, Singapore, Tunisia 1 Response »

Jan 082013

It all started back in 2009 – I decided I was bored with New Years in general, so decided to spice it up by taking a trip somewhere a little unusual….Iraq! It became a bit of an annual tradition, doing New Years 2011 in Afghanistan and Iran, and then last year 2012 visiting Somalia.

How to top that in 2013? Easy enough…Libya was soon planned, booked and I was ready to go. Of course, then that whole little Benghazi incident happened, and I was a little nervous about it, but still decided to go through with it. I guess this means it’s time to start searching for 2014 – Syria perhaps?

I’ll be breaking the trip report into roughly the following parts (subject to change as I get writing):

I. Minneapolis to Malta on US Airways and Lufthansa
II. Exploring Malta, and the Sheraton Malta
III. Malta to Tripoli, Libya on Air Malta, and Libya hotel
IV. Day 1 in Libya: Zawiyah and Sabrata
V. Day 2 in Libya: Tripoli and Garyan
VI. Day 3 in Libya: Leptis Magna
VII. Libya to Tunis on TunisAir, and Sheraton Tunis, Bardo Museum
VIII. Tunis to Yangon via Hong Kong on Lufthansa First + Thai A380 and the W Hong Kong
IX. Quick transit in Yangon…and why am I here?!
XII. Yangon to Washington DC via Singapore

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