A visit to Istanbul is not complete unless one spends some time walking through the streets of the Grand Bazaar. Dating back to 1455, the Bazaar is among the oldest marketplaces in the world, and attracts upwards of 400,000 visitors a year. During our visit to Istanbul, we obviously wanted to visit this historic landmark, and take it in for ourselves.

The Bazaar is very large as 3,000 shops are spread over 61 covered streets. Additionally there are several “uncovered” streets surrounding the covered portion of the bazaar that offer additional shopping opportunities in case the 3,000 shops inside the Bazaar are not enough.

The Bazaar is certainly quite the destination. Rows and rows of shops peddling everything from jewelery, clothing, housewares, antiques and typical tourist souvenirs dominate the landscape. My wife did strike gold when she found several gemstones at ridiculously good prices. Fortunately her purchases were authenticated when we returned and it was confirmed that the stones were authentic (I had my doubts considering the prices we paid).

Otherwise, to be perfectly honest, I was not overly impressed with the covered portion of the Bazaar. After about 15 minutes, I was able to figure out the pattern of the things that were sold and there was a lot of repetition. Dozens upon dozens of shops sold the identical items and I suspect the difference would be in prices and negotiating skills of the shop-keepers. After walking up and down 2 or 3 streets, they began to all look the same and my interest waned. Fortunately (or not!), my wife had enough interest for the both of us and being the dutiful husband that I am, I marched on…..

Here are some scenes from the Grand Bazaar:

Scenes from the “streets” within the Bazaar:

After walking through most of the Bazaar, we turned our attention to the streets surrounding the Grand Bazaar. What I noticed was that most of the shops outside the Bazaar were far more interesting and diverse than the shops within the Bazaar. If you do visit the Grand Bazaar, please make sure to take time and wander the streets, you will not be disappointed. I also noticed far more “locals” shopping in these shops, which told me quite a bit about where the best deals may actually be.

The streets were full of people but I never felt that I was in a crowd. Apparel and housewares dominated most of the offerings, but the variety was far better than what I saw inside the Bazaar. Scarves and headwear especially dominated the Women’s apparel options. My wife stocked up on Pashminas for friends and family and found great deals everywhere she looked!

Speaking of variety, look what must have specially arranged just for my visit:

Yes, that is a Lufthansa A380 Beach Towel. Out of all the items in all the shops, this towel was perhaps the most western, non-turkish item I would see in the Bazaar. What are the odds! However I suspect that it was not an officially licensed product of Lufthansa nor Airbus.

The streets were full of active shoppers and shops offered ample opportunities for them:

In all, I ultimately wound up enjoy myself at the Bazaar, but primarily because of the shops on the outside. Having a sunny and cool day along with wafts of great smelling food filling the air made it a great time. All of the shopkeepers that we spoke with were very friendly and helpful and enjoyed the “negotiations” to arrive at the best price for everyone involved.

Ultimately, I recommend that you visit the Grand Bazaar because it is a historic part of Istanbul, but please take my word for it, and spend time wandering the streets surrounding the Bazaar. That’s where I found it to be the most enjoyable!

This is only part of a much larger trip report covering the trip to Istanbul and London. If you would like to be informed of future trip reports, please follow me on twitter: @lufthansaflyer.

Here is the current “index” of the trip report. The one’s with hyperlinks have already been completed:

Lufthansa First Class Services from Chicago to Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Lounge in Frankfurt

Istanbul – Sultan Ahmed (Sultanahmet) Mosque.
Istanbul – The Basilica Cistern.
Istanbul – Spice Market and Grand Bazaar.
Istanbul – Park Hyatt Macka Palas.
Istanbul – Our Day with Ihsan (besttaxidriver.com).
Istanbul – Hagia Sophia.
Istanbul – Other Mosques and Churches.
Istanbul – I find out what Zultanite is….
Istanbul – The Food We Found.
Istanbul – Turkish Airlines’ International CIP Lounge.

London – Hyatt Andaz Liverpool Street.
London – Opening of Parliament – Great pictures of the Queen and procession to Parliament.
London – ‘The Sunshine Boys’ at the Savoy Theater (Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths)…..BRILLIANT, MUST SEE!
London – Spitalfield’s Antique Market – And the lesson I learned.
London – Churchill War Rooms and Churchill Museum.
London – Photos from around town.
London – Dinner at Petrus
London – St. James Park: Feathers and Fur
London – Covent Gardens.
London – All the other things that I can’t think of at the moment….

Pluckley – They said it was haunted……

AIR CHINA:

Beijing-Stockholm for the winter timetable will be reduced from 6x/week to 5x/week.

ASIANA:

Busan-Ho Chi Minh effective between June 16 and October 27 will be reduced from 1x/day to 5x/WEEK.

AUSTRIAN:

Vienna-Tehran effective between June 16 and September 1 has been temporarily suspended.
Vienna-Erbil effective August 20 will increase from 5x/week to 1x/DAY.

BRUSSELS AIRLINES:

Brussels-Abidjan effective October 1 will be reduced from 1x/day to 6x/WEEK.
Brussels-Banjul effective February 1 will be reduced from 4x/week to 3x/week.
Brussels-Freetown effective February 1 will be reduced from 2x/week to 1x/week.
Brussels-Kinshasa effective October 1 will be reduced from 1x/day to 5x/WEEK.

LOT POLISH:

Effective October 28, LOT will NO LONGER operate from Newark (EWR). New York flights will all be based from Kennedy(JFK)

LUFTHANSA:

Berlin(Tegel)-London(LHR) effective October 28 will increase from 21x/week to 23x/week.
Dusseldorf-London(LHR) effective October 28 will be reduced from 35x/week to 33x/week.

SAS:

Copenhagen-Billund effective August 13 will begin 5x/day service on weekdays.

THAI:

Bangkok-Moscow(DME) effective June 26 has increased from 3x/week to 4x/week.
Bangkok–Denpasar effective October 27 will be reduced from 1x/day to 5x/WEEK.

PREVIOUS STAR ALLIANCE ROUTE ANNOUNCEMENT

Source: www.airlineroute.net

Earlier this evening Lufthansa introduced a fantastic new social media application in conjunction with “foursquare” and Facebook which will allow Lufthansa “loyalists” to receive badges, coupons and promotional opportunities when they use “foursquare” to check in during their Lufthansa based travels.

For those of you not familiar with “foursquare”, they are one of the leading social media companies who’s applications allow for users to “check in” at various locations throughout their everyday lives and earn points, badges, discounts and special offers from the vendors that they frequent. Users earn points and rewards based on their activity and can share their accomplishments as well as invite others from their various “Social Media” networks such as Facebook. foursquare also allows you to provide recommendations on the places you’ve visited so that other foursquare users can benefit from your advice. To learn more about foursquare and to set up your foursquare account, please visit their website to get started. You’ll need to be a foursquare user to take advantage of “Blue Legends”. foursquare has applications available for smartphones, iPads, etc. giving you the ability to “check in” from literally anywhere in the world. A nice feature with “Blue Legends” is it’s ability to be accessed from a laptop or desktop, so you don’t have to have your mobile device with you in order to use “Blue Legends”.

Lufthansa’s partnership with “foursquare” will enable people traveling on Lufthansa flights, using Lufthansa Lounges and traveling through airports that Lufthansa serves to have fantastic opportunities to to earn points, badges and valuable coupons based on their activity.

Lufthansa has actually loaded all of their flights into the foursquare database (approx. 9,000!) so that you will be able to get credit by simply boading a flight and checking in from your seat! You will be able to earn points and badges based on what kind of seat you are in, class of travel, etc. You may even earn a badge or prize for sitting in the middle seat in the back of the plane!

Here’s an excerpt from Lufthansa’s press release that gives some examples of Blue Legend opportunities:

For example, customer’s flying across the Atlantic Ocean can
unlock the “Atlantic Badge” and users can become “Expert Pilots” on the routes they fly most frequently. Early risers who check in before 6 a.m. are awarded the “Early Bird” badge. And, anyone who racks up more than 241,092 miles with Lufthansa will receive the “To the Moon” badge. Badge by badge, regular travelers who check in most frequently to Lufthansa venues can become true “legends of the skies” with Blue Legends.

You’ll also be able to keep track of your friends that are using the “Blue Legends” app and see their Lufthansa based travel activity.

This is Lufthansa’s first major foray into “Location Based Media” which has been very popular with millions of users. I had the opportunity to see this program in a presentation by their social media team on a recent trip to Frankfurt, and I can honestly say this is a “Must Have” application if you are a Lufthansa customer. The badges, coupons and offers that are going to be made available to you are well worth your efforts to sign up for this program. Trust Me!

Signing up is easy. Simply visit the Blue Legends Website, where you’ll need your Facebook account to help you log in and set up your “Blue Legends” account. You can also use Twitter to share with your followers the accomplishments you achieve as a ‘Blue Legend’!

Once you set your account up and customize your profile, all you need to do is to use foursquare as you normally would to check in from a location and “Blue Legends” will take care of the rest. From what I have seen from the design team for “Blue Legends”, there are a lot of exciting and fun opportunities that will be made available to “Blue Legend” users so make sure you take every opportunity to make the most of it!

If you need any help navigating Blue Legends or foursquare, please let me know and I’ll be happy to walk you through it!

By the way, stay tuned for other exciting Lufthansa Social Media announcements in the coming weeks!

Screenshots and Badges from Blue Legends:

Become the mayor of a long-haul international flight in business class, and you’ll have your own dedicated seat complete with Mayoral appointments:

Your collection of badges will display on your device:

You’ll be able to track your friend’s Blue Legends status:

Examples of some of the many Badges you’ll be able to earn:

There will be many more surprises in store from Blue Legend members, so make sure to visit the Blue Legends Website and start becoming a Legend!

In an exciting new catering program by Austrian Airlines (A Lufthansa Group Carrier), passengers booking economy class tickets from Vienna will now have the opportunity to order their in-flight meals from an A-La-Carte menu from DO & CO. Eligible flights include Long Haul and intra-European flights that originate in Vienna (except for flights to Prague, Zagreb, Budapest and Charters). Departures from other Austrian airports are not currently part of the program.

For €15, passengers can now select hot or cold dishes that will replace their normal in-flight meal (For long haul flights, this only replaces your main warm meal). No doubt the a-la-carte menu options will offer better options. More importantly, passengers will now have several choices instead of the “Chicken” versus “Beef” dilemma that most passengers are often faced with.

The a-la-carte order can be placed online up to 36 hours before departure to as late as 1 hour before departure if you use the DO & CO A-La-Carte Desk near Check In Area 3.

The process is simple. All that you need to do is visit the DO & CO A-La-Carte Website, enter the “PNR” code associated with your itinerary and that will take you to your menu options. (If anyone has a current Austrian PNR, I would love to hear what you found on the “other side”) – SEND SCREEN SHOTS!

According to a piece by Reuters, Lufthansa’s Catering Division, LSG Sky Chefs, may be put up for sale later this year in an attempt to further focus on it core operations and dispense with peripheral business units. Even though LSG is profitable it’s margins are relatively weak. It took €2.3 billion in revenue to generate a relatively soft €85 million operating profit. With a ratio like this, there are some evident risks.

The idea of dispensing the unit is in alignment with Lufthansa’s objective under their SCORE initiative which aims to improve operating margins by reducing or eliminating units that detract from their operating profits. Translated, it mean working “SMARTER”, not “HARDER”.

You may have not realized it, but LSG Sky Chefs has a worldwide reach. You regularly see their catering trucks throughout airports in the US and countries through out the world. United and Qantas are among LSG’s biggest clients. Overall LSG is responsible for 25% of airline catering world-wide. One of the recent challenges for airline catering has been dealing with airlines cutting their food-service aboard flights. These reductions obviously have a direct impact on operations dedicated solely to airline food service.

The primary suitors for such a deal will be most likely involve dedicated catering companies or private equity groups. According to the article, no specific decisions have been made, but bids may be welcomed starting in the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2012. It’s also not clear if Lufthansa will sell the entire unit outright or initially only a share of the operation.

Expect more on this development later this year.

Noticed a new banner on Swiss.com tonight highlighting a contest that gives away 3 sets of tickets to the Swiss Museum of Transport (each set includes 4 tickets). For more information on the museum itself, please visit the Museum Website.

To enter, visit this link on Swiss.com. Be prepared to answer this question:

How many tablets of SWISS chocolate do SWISS crew members distribute on board in one month?
* 1 million
* 10,000
* 1,000

During a press event in Rome today, Lufthansa reflected on it’s success with Italy over the past year as well as reviewed their strategy going forward.

Lufthansa’s director for Italy,Thomas Eggert, cited that Lufthansa increased passenger traffic by 10% between 2010 and 2011. In his comments, he also committed that Lufthansa will continue and increase their commitment to the Italian travel market and stated that Italy was Lufthansa’s most important European market (not including Germany) and third most important market worldwide.

With Lufthansa recently adding 27 new flights from Berlin to airports in Italy, it is obvious that they are delivering on the committment. In addition, new flights between Palermo (Sicily) and Munich as well as between Bologna and Dusseldorf further expand Lufthansa’s reach into Italy.

Aage Dünhaupt, Lufthansa’s Communication Director for Europe put things into an interesting perspective when he suggested that Lufthansa has more destinations to Italy (with 18) than it does to the North America. If that doesn’t put their commitment to Italy in perspective, I don’t know what would!

Source: AvioNews

Swiss is running a one day fare sale for travel from Germany to North America with fares starting as low as €513. For this promotion, flights can originate from various gateways in Germany and connect to flights operated by Swiss from Zurich.

There are 2 sets of travel periods that qualify for this great promotion.

The first travel period is from September 1 to September 30 and fares start as low as €597 (to Boston) and the second travel period is between January 15 and February 28, 2013 with fares starting as low as €513 (to Boston and New York).

Remember this fare sale ends today (Midnight Zurich Time) so time is of the essence!!

For more information and fares on specific destinations, please visit the SWISS FARE SALE PAGE.

The Miles & More “Regional” website for Munich is currently sponsoring a contest that will award the winner a Helicopter Tour over Munich for 2. The contest is open for entries until July 11 and the winner will be notified via e-mail.

The helicopter ride will be provided by Heliflieger.com .

To enter, you need to answer a question regarding one of the benefits of being a Miles & More member and provide your Miles & More number along with your name. I would give a hint at the answer, but I am not sure if the question stays the same for any given entry.

After reading through the terms & conditions I did not see any exclusions as far as country of citizenship is concerned, so I ASSUME it’s open to all.

PLEASE NOTE: The sweepstakes is only for the helicopter ride and does not include any Lufthansa flights to and from Munich. You would have to arrange for all of your transportation. Since the date of the flight will be chosen by you, you might be able to build this into your travel plans.

Be aware that the website is in German and there is no option for any other language. This should not be a problem if your browser automatically translates a website into a language of your choosing.

To sign up for this sweepstakes, please visit the Sweepstakes Entry Webpage.

During our trip to London we had the opportunity to spend some time walking through St. James’ Park and observe the “locals” that call the park home. The park is located near popular landmarks including Buckingham Palace, Parliament, The Treasury, The Churchill War Rooms and Clarence House just to name a few.

According to a Wikipedia entry, St. James Park is the oldest of all the Royal Parks of London and has it’s origins go back to 1532 when Henry VIII bought the land (a marsh at the time) from Eton College. In 1603, when James I was king, he drained the marsh so that the land can become a home to his camels, elephants and crocodiles. I never realized that camels, elephants and crocodiles are indigenous to England.

For some reason the camels and elephants were not roaming the park when we were there, nor did we see any crocodiles patrolling the waters. What we did find was a collection of wonderful birds and squirrels who had no shame. This was the first time that I had visited St. James’ Park and I was surprised by how a park like this can survive and thrive in the middle of London. When walking through the park, it was often difficult to see the city that surrounds it so that may have something to do with the park’s success.

There’s not much else to write about regarding the park so I’ll let the photos provide the “rest of the story”:

One of the first residents of the park that we came upon was a duck that would not leave us alone. He would stalk us until we fed him something. Fortunately my wife had crackers with her, so we were able to appease the duck:

Once we satisfied the duck and continued our walk through the park (give yourself at least an hour or 2 in order to truly appreciate it), we found it full of a wide variety of birds. Mostly water fowl including ducks and pelicans:

A variety of other birds:

Our other ‘interactive” encounter came from a furry resident of the park. The only animal that I think out numbered the ducks was the squirrel. They were EVERYWHERE. They had no shame and would regularly stalk people expecting some sort of handout. On several occasions we witnessed someone putting food on their shoulder, only to have the squirrel climb up and get their snack. They had no fear whatsoever. Our encounter would be similar, expect for the part of allowing a quasi-rodent to climb up on us. The squirrel that “chose” us simply liked to be photographed….hoping he’d hit the Big Time:

I have to admit, the walk in the park was a great break from the sight seeing. Earlier that morning we had observed the Queen’s Procession to Parliament and then had gone to the Churchill War Rooms, so a break was in order. As I mentioned earlier, the park is adjacent to other attractions in the area:

St. James’ Park is closed to traffic so it is relatively quiet and easy to navigate with paths that are laid out throughout the park. If you ever find yourself in London and are running around seeing all the sites that you are “supposed” to see, take a break for an hour or 2, bring some crackers with you and enjoy this fantastic park!

This is only part of a much larger trip report covering the trip to Istanbul and London. If you would like to be informed of future trip reports, please follow me on twitter: @lufthansaflyer.

Here is the current “index” of the trip report. The one’s with hyperlinks have already been completed:

Lufthansa First Class Services from Chicago to Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Lounge in Frankfurt

Istanbul – Sultan Ahmed (Sultanahmet) Mosque.
Istanbul – The Basilica Cistern.
Istanbul – Spice Market and Grand Bazaar.
Istanbul – Park Hyatt Macka Palas.
Istanbul – Our Day with Ihsan (besttaxidriver.com).
Istanbul – Hagia Sophia.
Istanbul – Other Mosques and Churches.
Istanbul – I find out what Zultanite is….
Istanbul – The Food We Found.
Istanbul – Turkish Airlines’ International CIP Lounge.

London – Hyatt Andaz Liverpool Street.
London – Opening of Parliament – Great pictures of the Queen and procession to Parliament.
London – ‘The Sunshine Boys’ at the Savoy Theater (Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths)…..BRILLIANT, MUST SEE!
London – Spitalfield’s Antique Market – And the lesson I learned.
London – Churchill War Rooms and Churchill Museum.
London – Photos from around town.
London – Dinner at Petrus
London – St. James Park. Very friendly squirrels and ducks.
London – Covent Gardens.
London – All the other things that I can’t think of at the moment….

Pluckley – They said it was haunted……

AIR CHINA:

Shanghai-Milan effective October 28 will operate 5x/week instead of the previously announced 1x/day service.

ASIANA:

Seoul Incheon-Nha Trang effective between July 12 and August 30, 2012 will be operated as a charter flight 2x/week.

COPA (New Member):

Panama City-Las Vegas effective June 27 will begin 5x/week service.

LOT POLISH:

Warsaw-Rome effective October 28 will decrease from 1x/day to 4x/week.

LUFTHANSA:

Munich–Beijing will not be increased from 5x/week to 1x/day.
Munich-Chicago effective January 15-February 26 will decrease from 1x/day to 6x/WEEK.
Munich–Charlotte effective December 27 will decrease from 1x/day to 5x/WEEK.
Munich-Charlotte effective January 17 will increase from 5x/week to 6x/week.
Munich-Hong Kong effective January 7 will decrease from 1x/day to 5x/WEEK.
Munich-Hong Kong effective January 23 will increase from 5x/week to 6x/week.
Munich-Los Angeles effective October 28 will decrease from 1/day to 6x/week.
Munich-Los Angeles effective January 21 will decrease from 6x/week to 4x/week.
Munich-Los Angeles effective March 10 will increase from 4x/week to 6x/week.
Munich-Mexico City planned inaugural service has been postponed from February 1 to March 31.
Munich–Montreal effective October 28 will decrease from 1x/day to 5x/WEEK.
Munich-Montreal effective January 14 will decrease from 5x/week to 4x/week.
Munich-Montreal effective February 25 will increase from 4x/week to 5x/week.
Munich-New York (JFK) effective January 9 to February 12 will decrease from 1x/day to 5x/WEEK.
Munich-San Francisco effective January 23 to February 12 will decrease from 1x/day to 6x/WEEK.
Munich-San Francisco effective February 20 to March 5 will decrease from 1x/day to 6x/WEEK.
Munich–Tokyo (NRT) effective January 3 to February 5 will decrease from 1x/day to 5x/WEEK.

SAS:

Oslo-Billund effective October 2 will begin 6x/week service.

Previous Star Alliance Route Announcement

Source: www.airlineroute.net