Airplane or airport experiences...

Finally checked off the 747 upper deck off the bucket list!

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One of the older 747-400s in KLM's fleet (almost 30 years old) and she was showing her age, but I'm still glad I paid for the upgrade. Now I need to get onto Korean's 747-8Is, but seeing as how those are relatively new, I think I still got some time.
 
Found a great app that lets you track all your flights with maps, statistics and it'll even generate an animation of your flights. https://www.appintheair.mobi/

Put in all my flights since Jan 1 2017.

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Got 21 different aircraft types, 26 airports, 8 airlines and 8 countries.

Its got a lot more capabilities, but I'm not bothering with those.
 
Found a great app that lets you track all your flights with maps, statistics and it'll even generate an animation of your flights. https://www.appintheair.mobi/

Put in all my flights since Jan 1 2017.

uEexDwJ.png


Got 21 different aircraft types, 26 airports, 8 airlines and 8 countries.

Its got a lot more capabilities, but I'm not bothering with those.

This was good until I found missing flights (with email receipts to back up) and incorrectly routed flights. For example, I did not fly to LAX from Chicago and then have a return flight that had a destination of Newark. What’s also frustrating is it’s picking and choosing what flights it wants to find and forgetting a butt ton of ones I have taken between years despite using the same type of booking (through airline websites).

That app needs help, it’s great how it can pick out flight info from emails but it’s also severely lacking in this regard as well.

I flew in 2017 yet this app doesn’t record any yet it found stuff in 2014 and 2015. Not all but some.
 
This was good until I found missing flights (with email receipts to back up) and incorrectly routed flights. For example, I did not fly to LAX from Chicago and then have a return flight that had a destination of Newark. What’s also frustrating is it’s picking and choosing what flights it wants to find and forgetting a butt ton of ones I have taken between years despite using the same type of booking (through airline websites).

That app needs help, it’s great how it can pick out flight info from emails but it’s also severely lacking in this regard as well.

I flew in 2017 yet this app doesn’t record any yet it found stuff in 2014 and 2015. Not all but some.

Yeah no, I didn't give it access to my emails and I don't know why anyone would with the level of permissions it needs. I entered all my flights manually. I did find a few in 2018 that it didn't know for whatever reason, but I entered them in manually and got the plane types and tail numbers from the BTS database.
 
Yeah no, I didn't give it access to my emails and I don't know why anyone would with the level of permissions it needs. I entered all my flights manually. I did find a few in 2018 that it didn't know for whatever reason, but I entered them in manually and got the plane types and tail numbers from the BTS database.

Yeah, the ones it missed I manually put in and it displayed a few as flights that didn’t exist and many with incorrect flight routes.
 
Just found a weekend round trip to Europe for $9 before taxes and fees. On a real airline too, not some sketchy discount carrier. Total after all the fees comes out to $257 which is still insane. Only thing keeping me from buying the flight immediately is not known my business trip schedule for the time frame this trip would take place.
 
As long as you give them enough notice, I don't see a problem. Ford is a big company and I am sure they will survive without you for a bit.
 
As long as you give them enough notice, I don't see a problem. Ford is a big company and I am sure they will survive without you for a bit.

It wouldn’t be an issue if it was a small development trip. This would be a group signoff trip since this flight falls right into a critical development phase, but the exact dates haven’t been planned yet. That said, theres always a way and I’m not overly worried about this part of the problem.

Another big problem is that the itinerary is out of NYC, and there are no cheap flights to NYC from DTW for those dates yet. So I could book the Euro portion and take a gamble that the domestic portion of the trip will drop (which based on trends, it likely will). There are a few other small details that also need to be taken into consideration before booking too.

EDIT: Welp, I'm going to Madrid in November.... for $9....
 
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Flew LHR-SIN and back earlier in the year with Singapore Airlines. A380 out and 777 in. A380 was so quiet inside. No need for noise cancellation. Nicest plane I've been on. 777 the complete opposite. Total noisebox. Constant droning. Avoid when 350/380 alternative is available at all cost.
 
Yeah no, I didn't give it access to my emails and I don't know why anyone would with the level of permissions it needs. I entered all my flights manually. I did find a few in 2018 that it didn't know for whatever reason, but I entered them in manually and got the plane types and tail numbers from the BTS database.

...it requests mail access and hopes you give it your data

...

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Flew LHR-SIN and back earlier in the year with Singapore Airlines. A380 out and 777 in. A380 was so quiet inside. No need for noise cancellation. Nicest plane I've been on. 777 the complete opposite. Total noisebox. Constant droning. Avoid when 350/380 alternative is available at all cost.
Agreed, I flew on the A380 last year (Asiana NRT-ICN and ICN-FRA), and it was by far the most comfortable plane I have been on, especially down on main deck, so quiet.

By contrast, in my experience the top deck on the 747-8 (Lufthansa) is very noisy, lots of wind noise. That was disappointing.
 
Agreed, I flew on the A380 last year (Asiana NRT-ICN and ICN-FRA), and it was by far the most comfortable plane I have been on, especially down on main deck, so quiet.

By contrast, in my experience the top deck on the 747-8 (Lufthansa) is very noisy, lots of wind noise. That was disappointing.

Currently booked on an AF A380 for a November JKF-CDG flight. Picked 12A (main deck, main forward cabin) at first, but after reading a bunch of reviews and discussions online moved to 89A (upper deck, duo seat). I’ll report back then. Meanwhile hoping I don’t get “upgraded” to Premium Economy. Got a surprise upgrade at the gate for my YYZ-CDG flight a month ago, and good god, that was one of the least comfortable seats I’ve ever flown in.
 
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Looking at it, they are marked as "preferred seats", so they should be a bit better. A bit surprised also that Air France is still using 2-2-2 business class in a flagship aircraft like the A380, my impression is that most have or will move to a "staggered" 1-2-1-configuration. Also a little bit odd of them to mix three different classes up on the top deck.

Top deck was also good on the Asiana A380, but didn't spend much time there, was only a short hop from NRT to ICN. The front half of the top deck of the Asiana A380 is business class. Fun fact: First is in front on the main deck, door 1 is only used for boarding those 12 passengers.
 
Currently booked on an AF A380 for a November JKF-CDG flight. Picked 12A (main deck, main forward cabin) at first, but after reading a bunch of reviews and discussions online moved to 89A (upper deck, duo seat). I’ll report back then. Meanwhile hoping I don’t get “upgraded” to Premium Economy. Got a surprise upgrade at the gate for my YYZ-CDG flight a month ago, and good god, that was one of the least comfortable seats I’ve ever flown in.

The Premium Economy seats on Singapore Airlines were quite nice. Didn't feel numb even after 3-4 hour stints (I stand up quite regularly). Definitively worth the upgrade over normal economy imo, even if the food is the same. I can do ~7 hours in normal economy with extra legroom (Virgin "Delight"). Any further than that and NOPE.
 
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The Premium Economy seats on Singapore Airlines were quite nice. Didn't feel numb even after 3-4 hour stints (I stand up quite regularly). Definitively worth the upgrade over normal economy imo, even if the food is the same. I can do ~7 hours in normal economy with extra legroom (Virgin "Delight"). Any further than that and NOPE.

Problem withe the premium economy seats on AF is that they have a fixed shell backing, so instead of reclining like a normal seat, the seat back slides down and the seat cushion moves forward, which really just gives your an awkward seated position instead of any recline. I don't know how these passed any sort of market test. Lots of complaints about this seat out there.

I got the upgrade literally as I was boarding the plane (seat change card when I scanned my boarding pass) and at first I was excited, but after about 2 hours in the air, I was wishing I had my regular economy seat which was just 2 rows behind.
 
Hmmm, likely hitting all but 2 major airliners from the big 2 this year. By the end of the year I'll have flown on the A319, A320, A321, A330, A350, A380, B717, B737, B747, B757, B767, B777 and B787. Just need to get on the A220 and A340 to round it out. A220 should be easy as Delta flies those from Detroit to JFK and I'm in NYC fairly often. The A340 though, that will be tough. Looks like Lufthansa is the biggest operator with a fleet of 31, but they're not a SkyTeam member. Looks like my only options are Air France, but they only have 1 left in their fleet and Virgin Atlantic with 6 in the fleet. both AF and VA are planning to retire their A340s by the end of the year though, so if I actually do want to round out my list of planes flow, I have to act quick.
 
Yes LH would be a safe bet there, here's what it looks like, 340-300: V1, V2, V3 340-600: V1, V2. I have only been once on a LH A340, that was FRA-ICN last year, up front. That was an incredible experience, especially the F-terminal at FRA.

Scandinavian Airlines are an A340 operator, though the only route they regularly fly it to the US is SK935 (CPH-SFO) and SK 936 (SFO-CPH)

Their business class (SAS Business) product is excellent with a spacious and very private staggered 1-2-1-configuration. Their premium economy (SAS Plus) is the usual 2-3-2 with large recliners, and economy (SAS Go) is the usual 2-4-2. I have only travelled in the two former categories on SAS long haul, and I'd recommend them if you don't mind the detour via SFO... :p As long as the flight isn't a red eye, SAS Plus should be OK,
 
Virgin stops flying their A340s on October 26th. I actually found a few pretty cheap JFK-LHR weekend trips in early October. Their layout doesn't seem that bad. I know they aren't a proper SkyTeam member, but it does seam that I can book them via delta.com and earn Skymiles which is weird. Wonder what kind of perks Delta Medallion status gets you when flying Virgin.

EDIT: Found on delta.com. Nothing fancy, though lounge access is rather nice.

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Flew LHR-SIN and back earlier in the year with Singapore Airlines. A380 out and 777 in. A380 was so quiet inside. No need for noise cancellation. Nicest plane I've been on. 777 the complete opposite. Total noisebox. Constant droning. Avoid when 350/380 alternative is available at all cost.
That man is speaking the truth and nothing but the truth.
 
Looking forward to my A350 vs 787 back-to-back next week. Will report back here after Ringmeet.
 
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