I was connecting from Amsterdam to Frankfurt on my way to Shanghai and so enjoyed a A319 operated shorthaul trip with LH.

The business class cabin was pretty empty – just three passengers and so I managed to slip in to Row 1 and enjoyed a pretty good view of the take-off and landing. I am usually an ‘aisle man’ so this was a pleasure.

Good leg room in Row 1 as usual, but as these are reserved for their best frequent flyers they are hard to get in to. Luckily the whole row was empty on my flight so the crew did not mind me moving. I later learned that the manifest tells the crew that the passenger is connecting to First Class at FRA as they mentioned this to me, asking where I was going.

The food was pretty tasty if not large in quantity:

The flight featured the new LH coffee cups:

After landing (on time) at Frankfurt, there was a chance to do some plane spotting:
B747-800:

A380:

Overall
A nice flight, with a nice crew, probably helped by being pretty quiet.

Some days ago I wrote about the Privium lounge at AMS, available only to people who have the iris scanning entry card used at the airport.

I had a little time so decided to pop along to the regular lounge used by Lufthansa in Amsterdam; the Servisair Lounge.

My travel experience was not enhanced by the visit.

The lounge is an L shape, and this is the main part of the seating area:

Strange raised seating areas are also available:

The seats provide little, or no back support. Free WiFi is limited to 2 * 30 minute logins. OK if you have a short time before your flight but as the lounge seems to be used by several Star Alliance airlines this seems a little mean.

The drink and snack selection was dismal:

Summary
Well worth avoiding if you have any real alternative at AMS

One of the frustrations many travellers have when arriving in Turkey is that you need to obtain a visa on arrival for many nationalities.

Countries who nationals can now apply online for their visa are below:

Antigua and Barbuda Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Barbados Belarus Belgium Canada Croatia Dominica Dominican Republic Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus Grenada Haiti Hong Kong (BN(O)) Hungary Indonesia Ireland Jamaica Kuwait Maldives Malta Mauritius Netherlands Norway Oman Poland Portugal Qatar Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saudi Arabia Slovakia South Africa Spain U.S.A United Arab Emirates United Kingdom

Nationals of the countries listed above (plus a small number of others) can arrive on any airline. Other countries residents must arrive on Turkish Airlines or they obtain their visa on arrival as before.

The new visa is applied for online, and once approved the traveller has to print it off and present it at immigration and customs. It appears that, for some reason, there is no electronic record available at immigration.  The visa is paid for online (Visa or Mastercard), and you need a valid form of transportation in to the country to apply. The visa applies from the date that you say you will arrive, for a period until the end of the visa. If you cannot do this you must apply for, and pay for, a new visa. No refunds for unused visas are offered.

The site says that e-visas are emailed within 24 hours of application. You can travel within 24 hours of getting the visa.

A 90 day, multiple entry visa was $20 when I did a dummy application as a UK national.

Full information here

Hard on the heels of the opening of the Andaz Amsterdam, Hyatt announced its plans for a Hyatt Place at Schipol Airport scheduled to open later this year. Yesterday they announced that a third hotel was being planned, the Hyatt Regency Amsterdam.

Scheduled to open in 2015, the property will have 215 rooms and 15 suites.

Located further out from the city centre than the Andaz, it will be some distance from the Central Station of Amsterdam. It will be in the east of the city, an area I don’t know really.

Central Station is at the top centre of the map above.

The press release description does tend to suggest it’s half a mile from the closest tram stop:

Hyatt Regency Amsterdam will be located in central Amsterdam between Sarphatistraat and Spinozastraat, and will be surrounded by the Singelgracht canal. The hotel will be in close proximity to many of Amsterdam’s museums, including the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Scheepvaart Museum, and the Stedelijk Museum. The hotel will be less than half a mile from the Weesperplein metro stop and is close to the ring road, which connects all parts of Amsterdam to the national road system.

Amsterdam appears to be turning in to a matress run destination – or at least it will be in 2015

Yesterday I wrote about signing up for Schipol’s Iris recognition immigration entry system to the Netherlands. Part of the enhanced package is access to the Privium Lounge at Schipol when departing the airport on a same day flight.

The lounge is located airside between check-in Zones 1 and 2, immediately above the escalator from the train station and opposite the information desk. The lounge is 2 floors down.

It is designed in a number of discrete areas and reminds me of the SkyTeam Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 4. There is free Wi-Fi in the lounge.

Catering is self service, with plenty of bread, cheese, cereal, yoghurt when I was there for breakfast:

Of course, at another time of day the self pour Bombay Sapphire would have been attractive also:

I settled on a few nice pastries and ham/cheese for my snack:

Seating area:

Lounge high chair area:

Fireplace:

Video wall and workspaces:

Newspaper and periodicals:

I am pleased I chose this lounge for most of my stay as is it much nicer than the lounge LH uses for its passengers (more tomorrow).

The lounge has access via your Privium card to the non-Schengen section, where security is done at the gate, and also to the priority security line for the Schengen area where there is a shared security area.

It seems as if I have a number of trips to AMS in mind over the next year and with Immigration lines being quite lengthy there sometimes, I decided to invest in their paid-for-use Iris scanning entry system – Privium.

Their offering comes in two ‘flavours’ – the slimmer version at EUR121 and the full version at EUR199, per annum. There is no sign-up fee, but you have to collect your card and have your retina scanned in person in Amsterdam. The benefits of each membership level are shown below:

Once you have chosen the version that you want, you need to supply your details at the Privium web site. You will receive an email confirming your application and two days later you can call and schedule an appointment. I did this, and after arriving early I was still seen right away.

The slightly tricky thing is the location of the lounge. It is between Halls 1 and 2 at Schipol. The escalators and lifts that bring you from the train station come out so that you have your back to the lounge. However, after a moment I found it!

You go down two flights of wide wooden stairs and arrive in a very space-age looking lounge. The Reception desk is immediately in front of you

The staff on duty located my application and then took me to the Immigration staff who are located at the end of the lounge:

They check your passport and confirm your card. Once this is done the lounge staff come back to scan your retinas, update the card which holds all your personal data. You can use a practise machine if you wish to try the card. One this done you go back to the desk, pay your fee and get your card. Also you receive a welcome pack explaining the benefits, a nice 2GB USB Key and a key ring.

One of the benefits of the lounge (only available with the EUR199 version), is that you can use it when travelling and it has direct access to both the Schengen and non-Schengen parts of the airport. More about that tomorrow.

Background 

About 6 weeks ago, when reading the vFlyer board I chanced upon a post about a UK based member of United’s Mileage Plus scheme who had managed to obtain an enrolment code to Global Entry. UK Citizens, you understand, are not entitled to apply for Global Entry in the normal course of events. However,  for some time BA had been handing out invites to its best frequent flyers spenders. I had not been invited by BA, and although I live in the UK I don’t use United much from London any more.

The poster kindly gave me his contact at UA HQ and I wrote to her, explaining my circumstances, including my MileagePlus number and asking if I could be considered. Two hours later I had a reply, and it was a ‘Yes’. There was a deadline as their invites ran out on 31 March so I had to get my act together quickly.

United kindly pay the GE application fee for their elite flyers once you request a code from their web site.

UK Applications Process

UK nationals applying for GE are required to obtain a police certificate from the National Association of Police Officers testifying that you do not have a criminal record. Or, if you do, presumably listing the matters you have convictions for. There is a cost to this – £60 – (about $100).  Application information is here. You need to supply information on a seven page form, copies of your passport, some other proof of address, a picture and someone responsible to sign the form. After about 10 days, and after paying the fee, you get a certificate with your image scanned in and details of any convictions. Mine said ‘No Trace’ – of offenses and not of me!

My certificate came within the timescales stated and there was even a helpful email to say that I had been accepted as soon as the application was processed..

However, my application had to go in without the certificate number as I did not have enough time to receive it before the deadline for the expiry of the invitation from United.

Online Application

The online GE application was easy enough to complete and I received an email acknowledgment advising me to check back fairly often to see progress. Knowing that I had a trip to the US coming in early May I was hoping the application would be approved so that I could undertake the interview whilst on this trip.

Luckily about 10 days before I was due to leave (and three weeks after I applied), I received the provisional acceptance email and was able to go online and book an appointment.

Booking the Appointment

Because my trip involved several stays at airport hotels I was hopeful that I could arrange an appointment on a day that I was at an airport. However, when I checked the online calendar for my stays in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Houston there were no appointments for months.

BUT, as luck would have it – San Juan, PR had almost limitless appointments (3 per hour) for both days I was there. Whoopee - I was going to be able to do my interview.

Preparing for the Interview

The confirmation of the appointment email informed me that I need my passport, and then other documents that would prove my address – such as my Mortgage Statement, Utility bills etc. So I went overboard and packed these two, my Drivers License, my UK Security Clearance paperwork, my last end-of-year tax statement, two previous checks undertaken for my Trustee roles and a couple of other things! Overkill as it turned out, but it was a long way to go home for a form.

Nearly missed…..

I had arranged to fly from Miami to San Juan with American, (using Avios for Business Class – great value) on the day of my interview. I was at the airport early enough to notice that the aircraft was coming from Quito was an hour late. Ouch, I had 50 minutes between landing and my interview. Did I call them and tell them? No, I decided to wait until we go on the plane to see what the new arrival time. As luck would have it we had a really quick flight time (2 hrs 10mins) and so I got to SJU with 30 minutes to spare.

Locating the office

Having been to SJU before (can you say BA Mileage Runs?), I had a good idea where the office was. However, you have to call when you get there as their buzzer is broken. I called when we landed and the officer was happy to see my right away. For reference, there is a lane between Security for gates 1-19 and the AA ticket desk where you wait for the officer to collect you. 2 minutes later she came and escorted me ‘back stage’ to their office.

The interview

The officer was efficient and charming – going through the application to make sure it was correct and then asking me questions – she was especially interested in my visits to Panama and Turkey. She scanned the Police Certificate and my Drivers License. The only query was why I had only a provisional license! Truth was, I had only obtained a copy for the interview! I’ve never driven in the 40+ years that I could. Satisfied with my explanations about my job and travels and not being a driver, she trained me on the machine.

Interestingly I have to keep renewing my Online Travel Permission or ESTA, every two years.

15 minutes later it was done and she explained that the card would probably take 14 days and that I was not eligible for TSA Pre – the expedited security clearance – as I was not a US citizen. Shame!

The day after

I received my email this morning asking me to log in and confirming that I had been accepted. Now I need to find a weekend I can pop to New York to test it out.

Overall

I am excited! Delighted that I won’t have to join what seem to be ever slower queues for US Immigration for the next 5 years at least. Thanks United.

Just for today 25% off all fares – including Business Class tickets.

If you are thinking of crediting a flight to United, note there are changes to earning levels from 11 July 2013 and as credit is now based on date of travel (and not purchase), care needs to be taken.

Chongqing – £1,399

Valid 1.5.13 to 26.1.14 – book by 13 May. Minimum stay 6 days or Sat night

Xi’an – £1,199

Valid 14.6.13 to 26.10.14 – book by 13 May. Minimum stay 6 days or Sat night.

You need to book between 3.1.13 and 30.6.13 and travel between 1.5.13 and 30.6.13, so you have a relatively small window left I am afraid. Details here. (After the page is displayed, scroll down to the results and under the sort line, select ‘Upgrades only’ to show these)

Bangkok, Beijing, Tokyo

• Y,B fares – 30,000 to Business
• H, M, Q, S, U, V, W – 40,000 to Business 

Chicago, Delhi, New York (JFK), Toronto and Washington DC

• Y, B fares – 20,000 to Business
• H, M, Q, S, U, V, W – 30,000 to Business

Some months ago it was suggested that those bloggers who write under the Boarding Area group might like to meet to discuss items of common interest. Dates were canvassed and as luck would have it, the weekend suggested came at the end of a week I had planned to be in the US anyway. BACON as the event is now called, has mushroomed in to a three day event (I can only make two days) with a host of guest speakers, discussion groups etc. I cannot wait to meet some of my fellow bloggers, but as many of them met at Freddies during the past week, I am a little behind the curve.

So, not being one daunted by a ‘simple’ trip to Colorado Springs (BACON’s home for this year), I am going the long way round – 34,466 miles round! There are some goals – starting off my BA re-qualification year with cheap AA Instant Upgrade fares, getting in some Hyatt stays, a short trip to Vegas and then Colorado Springs. The trip looks like this:

The trip is a mixture of the old and new:

Old – i.e. I have been there before:

• Lufthansa First Class – Frankfurt to Shanghai this time
• United First Class – Shanghai to Los Angeles on this trip
• Grand Hyatt Shanghai and the Hyatt House Miami
• Hyatt Place Las Vegas

New -

• The Hilton, Amsterdam Airport
• Signing up for the Schipol Privium scheme
• Lufthansa First Class Terminal
• UA First Class Lounge, LAX
• American Airlines domestic F with pre-booked entrees
• Embassy Suites – San Juan, PR
• The hotel we are all staying in at Colorado Springs
• Alitalia – Miami to Rome, and Rome to London City
• And what I hope will be the most exciting thing of all, which I can only write about once done!

Any hints or tips gratefully received!