by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 19, 2013 | Airlines |
I love when the planets align in my favor and let me put together a quick trip on relatively short notice. In a couple of weeks I’m off on what will be a Plane Spotter’s dream weekend / mileage run.
First, it’s a 4-segment out bound trip from home to Seattle. In the middle of my 4 United segment day is a 10 hour layover in Los Angeles which can only mean one thing: Walking from the airport to In-N-Out, grab lunch to go (Animal style of course, or maybe the rumored Monkey style???) and walk down to my favorite spotting place at LAX: The thresholds of Runways 24L and 24R where it’s easy to capture approaching aircraft seconds before touching down. Most people will stay near the In-N-Out, but a short walk westward takes you to a different perspective. The spot is is capable of producing gems such as these:
After spending several hours at LAX, it’ll be off on a 2 segment hop to Seattle for a press event the following day. Afterwards it will be off to Everett, Washington and Paine Field for 2 uninterrupted days of plane spotting Boeing’s latest creations. I’ve never been to ‘PAE’ before, but I know I’m in for a treat. All I need is for the weather to reasonable (i.e. no Hurricanes or Blizzards) and I’ll be a happy camper….food, sleep, showers are all optional amenities at that point.
Once I force myself to leave Everett, it will be another 4 segments worth of flights on United that will take the better part of a day, but it will let me touch the West, South and East Coast of the US and come home with approximately 7500 “PQMs”. So not only do I come home with hundreds, if not thousands of new photos, I take a big chunk out of the miles I need to renew status for next year.
Can you think of a better way to spend 4 days? 🙂
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 16, 2013 | Airlines |
SWISS is quietly running a very attractive Business Class fare sale from their USA gateways to a variety of European destinations. The fares are nearly as attractive as those you would find during other discount travel periods such as Thanksgiving weekend and are perhaps the lowest that they will be this year. Its a great bonus for these fares to exist for travel to Europe during the peak travel season.
I’ve had the pleasure to travel in SWISS’ long haul Business Class a few times and can easily compare it to many other airlines’ long haul First Class product. In my humble opinion it is one of the best Business Class seats in the world. Their unique long haul Business Class seating layout has a 1-2-1 and 2-2-1 orientation allowing travelers to sit alone or next to someone.
- Business Class Seating Map on a typical SWISS Long Haul Aircraft
This cabin arrangement alone gives you the feel of a First Class cabin since there are few carriers that have solo Business Class seats. Add SWISS’ fantastic ‘soft product’ (on board hospitality, food, crew) and it becomes obvious that they are among the best!
Example fares include:
New York to Venice from $2941
Boston to Nice from $3094
Chicago to Basel from $3208
San Francisco to Lugano from $3646
Availability seems to be wide open for departures and returns during August and early September. The fare sale website did not list any Terms or Conditions but its safe to assume that standard rules such as advance purchase windows and minimum/maximum stays apply.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 15, 2013 | Airlines |
Landing in my ‘inbox’ a few minutes ago was a decent fare sale for travel from Austria to the West Coast (including Las Vegas). The travel period for these fares is from November 1 to December 18 and from December 23 to March 31. Fares from Vienna to Las Vegas start as low as €646 and go as high as €699 for Vienna / Los Angeles or San Diego. San Francisco fares start as low as €679 for departures from Vienna.
If you plan to depart from other gateways in Austria (Graz, Innsbruck, Salzburg, etc), expect to pay about €30-50 more.
Please note that AUSTRIAN does not serve these destinations directly. Connecting flights to these destinations will be operated by United from AUSTRIAN’s USA Gateways: New York, Chicago, Washington DC.
The terms and conditions of the sale are as follows:
Travel period: November 1 to December 18, 2013 and December 23 to March 31, 2014.
Booking Window: Ticket must be booked by July 28, 2013.
Minimum Stay: 6 nights OR 1 Saturday night.
Maximum Stay: 3 Months.
