Category — Airlines

Although I was in the back of the plane on Flight LH 419 from Washington to Frankfurt, I managed to get the menus from Business Class and the wine list in First.

My description of the wines in First Class can be found here. I have not put up the list of wines in Business Class as a reader and fellow blogger, Christian Schiller, has put up the same list on his site with very informative and insightful comments.  Click here to see Christian’s list.

This is what they served to eat in Business Class:

My choices, if I had been there, are in italics.

Hors d’Oeuvres

Beet Cured Salmon, shaved Fennel

Grilled Chicken Caesar, Baby Romaine, Parmesan Cheese Croutons

Cabernet poached Pear, Haricots Verts, toasted Walnuts, Sherry Vinaigrette

Entrees

Grilled Chicken Breast, Asparagus Rice Cake, Zucchini, Lemon Thyme Jus

Roasted Arctic Char, Balsamic Onions, Fingerling Potatoes, Fava Beans, Parsley Horseradish Sauce

Caramelized Carrot Risotto

Cheese and Dessert

Gruyere, Brie and Goat Cheese

Lemon Madeleine, fresh Berries, Whipped Cream

Fresh Fruit

Breakfast

Orange Juice

Fresh Fruit

Turkey Breast, Ham

Gouda and Monterey Jack.

Lufthansa also offers two other options for breakfast to Business Class passengers.  You can get a breakfast to go: sandwich, fruit salad, Smoothie, Pastries, Coffee or Tea.  They also have hot and cold meals at their welcome lounge in Frankfurt.  Nice!

I rather like Frankfurt Airport even though I have probably spent too much of my life wandering around it.  While most airports have unfriendly signs forbidding you to put your cart on the escalator, at Frankfurt they actually design the carts so that they clip into the escalators.  This makes it really nice for the traveler who may be tired of carrying stuff around the place.  Empathy at work! And, take note, USA, it is free to use the carts!

Also, I like the way that all the Lufthansa lounges have shower facilities.  I always feel grubby after a long flight, and it is very pleasant to have a shower followed by a snack and a glass of wine.  But, on this occasion, with my lowly Economy class ticket and the reduced circumstance of my blue Star Alliance card, I had neither the time not the status to be admitted.

But today, Frankfurt was a mess!  Because of the snow, many flights to North America were delayed.  To make matters worse, there was snow in Frankfurt and other parts of Europe.  It was also pretty cold, and most of the planes were being de-iced, including the Singapore Airlines (SQ 25), which is one of my most favorite flights!  (Click here for my comments on that flight.)

Another nice feature is the way cheap public transportation goes to the airport.  So if you have a long wait, you can get into the city.

Smoking booth at Frankfurt Airport

A curious innovation at Frankfurt Airport are the “smoking zones.”  These booths are sponsored by Camel, and provide smokers with an enclosed area, in which they can smoke.  What a curious thing!  It makes one wonder what kind of image Camel, with its history of bad publicity around the Joe Camel ads, is trying to create for itself.  A contribution to world health by protecting the public from second hand smoke or an initiative that undermines public efforts to discourage smoking?

A minor annoyance at FRA is the number of times that you have to go through security.  If anyone thinks that being “flight side” means that you are cleared, that’s just a dream.  I was thoroughly searched twice although I was just changing from one Lufthansa flight to another.

Last week, a colleague told me that she planned to travel from Baltimore (BWI) to Boston (BOS) for the weekend.  She was going to leave Baltimore on Friday afternoon.

With the huge storm that was predicted, she contacted AirTran, and they agreed to get her out of Baltimore on Thursday night.  With all the crowds, the airline made a mistake with the overbooked flight.  And she was left on the ground after the plane left.

So, what did AirTran do about it?

First, they apologized!  That’s nice!

Second, they put her up for the night at the Westin at BWI.

Third, they got on the first available flight (Friday morning).

Fourth, they upgraded her to Business Class.

Finally, they compensated her with a voucher for anywhere AirTran flies.

Good for AirTran!

I have had nothing but good luck with AirTran.  It makes me wonder even more about the role of American “legacy” airlines.  If you want “full service” these days, you stand a better chance of getting it if you fly on the “no frills” carriers.

USA Today Reports on the Travel Situation

February 11, 2010, Washington   It wasn’t the worst day to travel, but it was certainly wasn’t one of the best.  But these challenging days are useful experience for the traveler.  When things are fine, it is quite easy for an airline to give you good service with a smile, but when there is nasty weather about or some other problem, you quickly see who lives up to the promise of being easy to deal with and who doesn’t.

It’s quite amazing how many companies you find that you are dealing with when you try to get out of a place.  Here are a few of the companies I was doing business with when I left London.  I have given each a grade based on how they dealt with me as a customer in the circumstances.  This does not reflect the quality of their products, which I’ll discuss in other posts.

Hotwire – Hotwire sells “last minute” hotel room, and I’d booked with them to stay at the Holiday Inn at Brentford Lock.  I phoned them to say that it was possible that I might arrive a day late because of the weather and asked them to inform the hotel.  They told me that if I arrived late my whole hotel reservation would be canceled, and perhaps I should talk to the hotel about this.  In any case, I should not call them until my delay looked like a certainty, in which case they said they would help me out.

This raises serious issues with Hotwire.  I had booked two rooms for six nights.  This means that, if there had been a delay, I stood to lose 12 room nights.  I would find it understandable if they did not refund you money for the nights you missed, but the idea that your entire stay might be cancelled is appalling.

If I use Hotwire again – and I am not sure that I will – I will make sure that I split the booking.  I’ll book one night following my arrival as one stay and the rest of my stay as another.

Grade D+

Holiday Inn (Brentford Lock) – If I arrived late, they said, my entire reservation would be canceled.  And since I’d booked with Hotwire, I should talk to them.  Grade F

Budget – My usual way of getting to an airport is to rent a car.  My preferred rental company is Hertz, but I sometimes rent from Budget as the price of a Hertz car is often too high.  I had made my reservation at the nearby Laurel office on the day before my flight.  Because of the snow, that office was closed so I couldn’t pick my car up.  They would not offer “pick up” service without 24 hours notice, and they wanted to raise my price because I did not pick up my car at the appointed time.  After trying to explain to them that the only reason that I had failed to pick up the car was because they had close, I told them to stuff it, and I ordered a car from Columbia Airport Shuttle.  Grade F

Columbia Airport Shuttle – I ordered the car at about 10:30 on this very difficult day.  Yes, they could pick me up at 12:15.  They arrived exactly on time.  The only minor gripe with them is that the driver said he’d prefer cash although they advertise that they accept credit cards on their web site.  Pleasant and safe driver!  Comfortable, large SUV with nice leather seats for $100.  Grade A-

Lufthansa – Cheerful and efficient check in despite a chaotically long line at the desk.  Timely notification about a two-hour delay.  They worked hard to find an aisle seat for me on a crowded plane.  Nice touch – bottled water and snacks at the check-in counter!  Grade A.

TripIt – I use TripIt.com to manage my travel schedules, and, on the whole, I like the service very much.  I subscribe to TripIt Pro, which charges an annual fee.  TripIt was mostly fine.  For a bizarre reason, TripIt thinks I am spending the week in New York rather than London.  And I knew about the delay to my flight before I got the message from TripIt.  Grade B.

My most recent journey was from Washington Dulles (IAD) to Frankfurt (FRA), and it was during the week that the Washington area had its heaviest snow in years.  As it seemed doubtful whether I would leave the ground at all, I decided to arrive early and resigned myself to leaving late as delays on that day seemed (and were) completely inevitable.

I have always had a thing about Dulles airport.  The worst thing is that there is almost nothing to do there.  If you are at a major international airport, whether we are talking about Heathrow (LHR) or Frankfurt (FRA), there are always shops, restaurants, and bars where you can amuse yourself.  With about 23.2 million passengers in 2009, Dulles is among the world’s top thirty airports in terms of passengers, but it really does not feel like a major airport in terms of the facilities that it offers to its passengers.

The most clunky thing at Dulles airport is what they call the mobile lounge.  These are huge buses that take you from terminal to terminal.  They are painfully slow, create extra congestion on the airfield,  and are usually crowded.

Fortunately, change is coming.  First, there seem to be lots more shops, bars, and restaurants.  An annoying thing is that you can’t actually buy your duty-free and carry it yourself to the plane — it has to be delivered.  But I think that is an “American” thing rather than something peculiar to Dulles Airport.

But perhaps the best improvement is the arrival of the AeroTrain, which opened to the public on January 26th, 2009.

Now you can simply go to a modern well appointed station and in two minutes, you can get to your terminal.  There are still mobile lounges serving Terminal C and to take international passengers to immigration and customs inspection, but what an improvement!

I am booked to go on a trip to England tomorrow night (February 11, 2010).

I am leaving Washington on a Lufthansa flight, traveling to Frankfurt (LH 419) and then on to London, but with the snow, I am really wondering if I’ll ever leave.

Here is a picture of our balcony!

I am sure many readers have seen offers that sound wonderful, but there is always some fine print around the asterisk.  For example, if you go to the Lufthansa site today, you will see quite an attractive fare to Greece from the United States.  As usual, the asterisk gives you the catch:  “OW based on RT purchase, excl. taxes & fees. Add’l baggage chgs may apply.”  So, with taxes and fees, you can expect to pay about $840 for the round trip from Washington (IAD) to Athens (ATH), but supposing you only want to go one way?

I tried to make a booking from Washington to Athens on March 9th 2010, the same date as I got the round trip for $840.  It’s almost a month in advance, and Tuesday is usually about the cheapest day of the week for flying.  So, how much would the fare be?  $2,538.98!  (Yes, that is in Economy!)  So, what is the one-way flyer to do?

Here are a few options:

1.  Buy the round trip, and “throw away” the return portion.  Makes you want to cry, doesn’t it?

2.  Fish around to try and find a better deal from the airlines.  British Airways is offering a one-way of $1,434, and that seems to be about the cheapest!  Again, that is economy!

3.  Use a third party.  We did this in 2008 when wanted to go to Rome in November (2008) and travel back to the United States on a cruise.  We used Best Travel Store, and we got a fare of about $500, including taxes.  We flew very comfortably on SAS with a short stop in Copenhagen.  Plus we got full points on Mileage Plus, United Airlines‘ frequent flyer plan.  Best Travel store has the following options, including the wretched taxes and fees) for this itinerary:

British Airways $435

Virgin Atlantic $442

United Airlines $460

Lufthansa $472

Austrian Airlines $473

Air France $550.

Best Travel offers other options, but the prices begin to get ridiculous.  Faced with these options, here’s my thinking process.  First, I’d eliminate British Airways because they credit your Executive Club account with only 25% of the actual miles if you fly on a discount ticket.  Second, I’d eliminate Virgin because I don’t have any miles accumulated in my Virgin Flying Club account.  Then I’d dismiss United because they don’t give you free drinks, and they keep trying to sell you “extras” that have dubious value, like Economy Plus, which is essentially a seat that doesn’t damage your knees!  Then, I’d eliminate Air France because it is too expensive.  This leaves Lufthansa and Austrian, and they both seem like pretty good deals.  And, if you fly on either of these carriers, you get free drinks, friendly service, an OK meal, and points in your Star Alliance account.

4.  The other option is to use frequent flyer miles.  Your options are pretty narrow because most frequent flyer plans don’t let you book one-way tickets for half the miles.  Three exceptions are American Airlines, United Airlines, and British Airways.  Faced with these choices, I’d choose British Airways for a few reasons.  First, it is the best of these three airlines.  Second, it is the least restrictive as far as stopovers are concerned.  So, you could spend a day or two in London on your way out.  Third, British Airways flies out of Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI), the closest airport to our house in Columbia, MD.

We are planning to go on a cruise in November, and we are leaving from Barcelona.   We chose option 4 — flying with British Airways for just 50,000 miles (25,000 per ticket).  Not bad!

The only way that you could do better than that is to marry a flight attendant and fly for practically nothing with a good chance of being able to fly in Business Class.  And that is exactly what one member or our cruise party did!  Congratulations, Mr. B!  You owe everything and more to your beloved wife!

Well, I never got to try it!

Almost two years ago, I posted a comment about MAXjet, the airline that was trying to compete on the London to Washington route flying business class-only Boeing 767s. I wondered whether the story would end in “ignominious defeat.”

Business class fares on this route have always been really expensive, and I welcomed the idea of a new competitor — particularly since they offered fares as low as $750! I also liked the idea that you could transfer on to an EasyJet flight since they flew to Stansted rather than Heathrow.

Unfortunately, MAXjet has given up on Washington. But it is hardly ignominious defeat as the airline seems to be thriving on the New York (JFK), Las Vegas (LAS), and Los Angeles (LAX) routes!

So we are left with United, Virgin, and British for our non-stop options. (They all fly into Heathrow.) So how much does it cost? According to Kayak, the site that searches for the cheapest fares, leaving on February 12 and returning one week later), you would pay $3390 on United, $4060 on British, and $4050 on Virgin Atlantic. A lot of money!

The United option is certainly the best deal particularly as they now offer lie-flat seats in Business Class with 15-inch monitors! For a description of United’s new and improved Business Class, follow this link. But you should book with caution as these upgrades will not be complete for some time!

Quite often the best (but less reliable) way of getting into Business Class is to buy an Economy ticket and upgrade. I have frequently been offered a $500 upgrade — sometimes less — even when I have been holding a really cheap cattle class ticket.

One of the nice little comforts of business class travel is the amenity kit. Waiting on your seat in a sealed bag, this little gift provides you with toothpaste, eyeshades, lip balm, and other little in-flight necessities.

I use these bags to carry around my electronic toys. I suppose that if I were a true road-warrior on long-distance flights every week, I would quickly tire of these novelties, but I fly rarely enough that I still get a kick out of them. (Actually my dirty little secret is that I have a sad habit of collecting them, and I have even been known to buy these things on e-bay.)

Funnily enough, Singapore Airlines, the airline that seems to lead the way in making customers happy, has abandoned the practice of handing out these little bags. Although, according to their website, they provide a “range of branded toiletries such as eau de cologne, aftershave, and moisturising lotion” in the lavatories, the individual bag handed to you at your seat seems to be a thing of the past.

I would have thought these days, with liquids being a cause for suspicion, these little goodie bags would be even more important to the traveler seeking comfort in the air!

Singapore Airlines runs several flights from the New York area to Singapore. There is a non-stop, SQ 21, which goes out of Newark on an Airbus (340-500), and also service from JFK on a Boeing 747-400, with a stop in Frankfurt. (Interestingly, both SQ21 and SQ22 run eastbound so the traveler on this route will go round the world without really stopping!)

All airline adventurers should at some stage of their lives experience the joys of flying one of the better Asian airlines (Cathay, Thai, Singapore, etc.). SQ 25 provides an opportunity for you to experience Singapore Airlines even if you are planning to spend your miles on a European trip.

Here is an example. I once wanted to travel from Washington to London using miles in my Mileage Plus account. The obvious way to travel would have been on any of United’s three non-stop flights from Dulles to Heathrow. As someone whose goal is to travel on as many airlines as possible, I decided to use United’s service from Dulles (IAD) to New York (JFK). I took SQ25 from JFK to Frankfurt (FRA), and then used Lufthansa to get from FRA to London (LHR). The price of this route in miles was the same as if I had taken the non-stop routing.

Next summer, I am going to use SQ25 again for a family trip to Athens. Using United miles my route will be Washington – New York – Frankfurt – Athens – Frankfurt – London – Washington. The last leg will be on United, but I could not avoid that if I wanted to spend a few nights in London on the return trip.

Mileage Plus seats are limited on SQ25 so the traveler really needs to make plans in advance. With careful planning, this is a good way of experiencing what is arguably the best airline in the world.