Oh the sites: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Eye, Tower of London….  I can’t wait until tomorrow… when I can  go watch some planes at Heathrow.  I won’t see any of the above attractions and that is fine.  Nothing against London, just not my cup of tea… pun intended.  I mean, I am interested, it’s just not on the agenda this time around, but airplanes are.

I arrived this morning from LAX, courtesy of United Airlines (more on United later). Flying from Atlanta to LAX to catch a flight to London takes a toll physically, but there was some weird psychology going on there too.  Being on East Coast time, my flight, with a 12:45 departure from LAX (3:45pm EST), was basically a giant all nighter, with the exception of a 90 minute port and cheese induced stooper. Needless to say I was out of sorts when I came through customs at 8am London time (3 am EST) and the agent was quizzing me on my website.  For the star struck types I thought I would let you know that the customs agent informed me that David Beckham flies Air New Zealand when he comes to London.  After the agent noticed my lack-luster reaction, she let me into England. 
Of course hotel check-in wasn’t until noon, so I camped out in the lobby for a few hours and they eventually found me a room.

I am gathering my thoughts and uploading pictures so stay tuned.

Here is the weekly installment of WTGFA (Where the Good Fares Are).  For the details of how this came about, what it is meant to be (and not be) click HERE. Unless otherwise noted, I found the fares on Orbitz, one of many sites I use in researching fares for my air travel. The fares below are business class and round-trip. Use the flexible date search in Orbitz.

On a side note, if you want a price quote on an international flight from a travel agent (most have access to consolidators) but don’t know who to call, try PricesForTravel.com
It is a site that a partner and I developed, that allows real, live travel agents to provide price quotes to travellers based on their specific plans broken down into 3 categories: Cruises, International Flights and Vacation Packages.  It is free and anonymous for travelers. You decide which, if any, travel agent you want to contact based on their response.  The site is fairly new, so I ask for your patience in waiting for travel agent responses.  If you are  a travel agent, feel free to register and respond to traveler needs… its 100% free. Fares…

• JFK – Tel Aviv $2491 Delta; August travel
• SFO – Manila $3128 United/Continental August travel
• ORD – Hong Kong $3710 Continental; August travel
• MIA – Munich $2345 Lufthansa
• BOS – Birmingham (England) $1954 Lufthansa
• Rome – Johannesburg $3494: Etihad Airways is running a “Pay Business, Fly First”promotion.  Booky by 6/15, travel by 6/20.  This only applies to certain routes and First class seating only applies to your outbound flight.  The only US Departure gateway is Chicago and did not see any good fares from there; the decent one I did see is the one above (FCO-JNB)  All the details are on the Etihad site HERE
• Frankfurt – Sydney $3223 Thai; June travel
• Zurich – Melbourne $3245 Thai; 3326 Qatar; June travel

Anybody find any bargains for the Etihad promotion?

Last time I tried to give a preview of upcoming travels, I wound up not going anywhere due to my unexplainable failure to obtain a visa. None-the-less, this week, I will try again to hit the road, except this time, I am 99.999% sure I do NOT need a visa to visit London.

I had a credit from an unused ticket on United, so I knew I would be flying them. I did not have a ton of time to travel or much advance notice for booking. For me, these parameters translate into a quick trip to Europe. I scoured fares from a dozen US cities and looked at all possible routing options and the cheapest way I could find to Europe was from the West Coast. So be it: I would fly from Atlanta to Los Angeles in order to catch a flight to London. Makes sense to none except maybe those reading this blog.

I had to call (imagine that) United to utilize the credit from the unused ticket. Why United cannot add this function to their web site (like Delta), I’m not sure. As it turned out, this was one of the only times I have been thrilled after hanging up the phone with an airline. The phone agent was kind enough to book my flight, assign me seats, put me on the upgrade list, email me a coupon for a future flight, and suggested I request United frequent flier status match based upon my Delta frequent flier status. Basic blocking and tackling? Yes, but all the things a US airline should be doing if they are interested in gaining market share.

Thanks for coming by Planereality.  Stay tuned for lots of pics and such.  And of course, if you are pressed for time, you can follow me on twitter (http://twitter.com/planereality) for some pics & happenings that don’t make it to the blog

I should be seeing the sights (beach?) in Rio De Janeiro today, but I am sitting here in my temporary home office… a.k.a. my dining room table flanked by dog beds.

Like I said, I was all set to got to Rio on Tuesday morning.  On Monday night, while I was checking in for my flight on-line, I thought:

“I may as well take a look at what the US Department of State’s Travel website has to say about Brazil”

It’s a site that usually provides relevant, accurate information pertaining to country specific travel; in particular entry requirements for US Citizens (me).  I was quite surprised to read that all US Citizens are required to obtain a visa prior to travelling to Brazil. The site said something the effect of: ‘don’t call us if you go to Brazil with no visa’
The Brazilian consulate’s website concurred a bit more sharply:

“U.S. citizens traveling to Brazil are required to obtain a visa prior to entering Brazil. This requirement is in reciprocity to the U.S. government demand that all Brazilian citizens hold a visa in order to enter the United States.”

I called a visa expediting service, knowing there was no point. Where would they a visa to? My plane?

Damn it. I screwed up big-time.  Not until less than 24 hours before my departure, was I looking at specifics.  There is no explanation.  Just a piss poor planning job on my part.  I wound up cancelling my flight and hotel reservations, both with penalties.

The positive?  I already used my flight credit for an international itinerary beginning next week.  As it stands, I am scheduled to cross the Atlantic Ocean 6 times on 3 different airlines over the next 3 weeks. Please stay tuned…

P.S. You can follow me on twitter (http://twitter.com/planereality) for some pics & happenings that don’t make it to the blog

Here is my weekly installment of WTGFA (Where the Good Fares Are) A.K.A. where I am seeing some good business class airfares. For the details of how this came about, what it is meant to be (and not be) click HERE. Unless otherwise noted, I found the fares on Orbitz, one of many sites I use in researching fares for my trips. Business Class, round-trip, for around the middle of June. Use the flexible date search on Orbitz.

• Kingston, Jamaica-London Gatwick $1705 Virgin Atlantic (works in opposite direction too)
• SFO-Taipei $3553 multi-airline itinerary
• Laguardia-Sao Paulo $2537 Air Canada
• MIA-Tel Aviv $3551 Delta (through JFK and on a 747 across Atlantic)

Haven’t been in the air much, but that will change tomorrow.  It has been a long couple of weeks as we just moved from one part of Atlanta to another.  And while the move was a whole 3 miles, it may as well have been 300 because that’s just the way moving is: logistical chaos.

I found a very competitive coach fare to Rio De Janeiro on United.  The itinerary includes 3 connections, but hey, I’m in it to win it! As mentioned, with the introduction of UDU’s (Unlimited Domestic Upgrades) United will compete for my business more often, although UDU’s did not really factor into this trip.

In my travels, I intermittently post pictures and notes to twitter, so please follow me there for some live updates.  WTGFA coming right up…

Last night I stumbled upon the Virgin Atlantic website.  My experiece with Virgin Atlantic has been one of never being able to find a R/T business class airfare for less than $5,000 from the US.  Knowing this, I switched the website country choice to the UK (as opposed to US) expecting not to find much there either.

I immediately saw London Gatwick to Kingston & Havana airafre specials.  I don’t live near London or Kingston but both are in logistical reach without stretching myself too thin.  I checked to see if the fare special worked in the opposite direction…it did indeed. 

2 points:

When looking for good fares on an airline’s website switch the country setting if you don’t see any great specials departing the country you are in.

For those looking for good airfares across the Atlantic, don’t forget how many European Airlines fly to/from the Caribbean (a short hop from most East Coast destinations) Virgin, Air France, KLM, British Airways are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.  And, of course, all of the US based airlines, dependent upon what you are trying to do.

Anyway, I wound up purchasing a Virgin Atlantic R/T Upper Class Ticket from Kingston to Gatwick for around $1700 USD.  A definite steal in my mind.  Available now and again in October.  Now… getting to and from Kingston, Jamaica should be easy right?

Yesterday morning I took a ride to Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. I am always looking for better spots to watch planes at my home airport. I think I found a pretty good one right off of Riverdale Road, South of the runways. The challenge at ATL is capturing a variety of airlines and aircraft. The skies are dominated by Delta MD 88′s and DC 9′s. Lufthansa, Air France, KLM and British Airways have one flight per day each (or some schedule close to 1 a day). Anyway, here are the pictures I took. I am almost certain that this first one (A330) is arriving (about 7:20am) from Honolulu. Can anyone confirm?

Here is my weekly installment of WTGFA.  I have seen the quantity of real bargains lessen as we move closer to true summer travel months, although there are always a few floating around.  For the details of how this came about, what it is meant to be (and not be) click HERE. Unless otherwise noted, I found the fares on Orbitz, one of many sites I use in researching fares for my trips. Business Class (except the last one), round-trip, for around the last week of July. Use the flexible date search on Orbitz.

• IAH-PVG $3630 American
• NYC-HKG $3213 Air Canada $3640 Delta
• NYC-ROME $2202 USAir
• LHR-Bangkok $2286 Gulf Air
• Tampa-GIG (Rio De Janeiro) $870 Coach USAir (I booked this one for myself although not on US and at a slightly higher fare)

I was watching planes one day near SFO and a guy rode up on his bike and took a seat on one of the benches next to me.  After a few pleasantries, he began to recite the schedule of each international arrival and departure that afternoon.  I thought:

“Wow, this guy is as cool as I am”

In discussing our aviation addictions, I was surprised to learn that he had never heard of Flightaware, a site I knew he would enjoy. I just thought all aviation geeks visited all the same web sites. Not the case and that is why I am sharing this list.

Thanks, dude I met watching planes at SFO!

FlyerTalk
While I have poked fun at Flyertalk in the past, it remains a tremendous resource for even the occasional frequent flyer. From the most basic questions: how to book an award ticket… to the most trivial of topics: how many stalls are in the Kenya Airways Business Class Lounge bathroom.

Flightaware
Although the site has been very slow as of late, it is entertaining to look at what paths flight take, what equipment is being used and who flies where at what time of day.  You can sort results by aircraft, airport or airlines. When I can’t fall back asleep in the middle of the night, I like to pull up Flightaware and look at West Coast departures bound for Asia.  More practically (debatable), Flightaware tells me when I need to leave to pick up Mrs. Planereality at the airport.

Airliners.net
This one is particularly enjoyable as so many users are from so many parts of the globe.  They share their opinion and experiences on an endless number of airlines. Up to the minute aviation news can be found in the Civil Aviation Forum.  The Trip Report section will give you a good idea of what each airline is like.  And oh so many incredible photographs.

Boarding Area
Call it shameless self promotion, but truth be told, some of the best airline deals, news, interviews and insights can be found under one roof at Boarding Area.com.  BoardingArea is a collection of travel bloggers who all write about slightly different topics pertaining to travel.  Most of the contributors are pretty witty and you may even get a laugh out of their prose.

Orbitz
While I am confident they do not need any more advertising, especially from me, this is where I continually find myself researching good airfares, both domestic and international. Yes, the choices are overwhelming when it comes to booking engines, but I prefer the way Orbitz displays flight  search results and thoroughness of  those results.

Here is my weekly installment of WTGFA (Where the Good Fares Are) A.K.A. where I am seeing some good business class airfares. For the details of how this came about, what it is meant to be (and not be) click HERE. Unless otherwise noted, I found the fares on Orbitz, one of many sites I use in researching fares for my trips.  Business Class, round-trip, for around the last week of July. Use the flexible date search on Orbitz.

• EWR-HKG: $3091 Air Canada
• SFO-MNL: $1991 Hawaiian
• MNL-CDG & LHR: $2351 & $2447 Qatar
• IST-HKG: $2095 Emirates
• LAX-TLV: $3209 Alitalia; $3257 Air France