My trip started on a United Express flight (operated by Mesa Airlines on a CRJ700) where I witnessed disturbing behavior from the crew.  Not my first observation of this type of stuff; here’s where else. Anyway, there were two flight attendants on the plane. After the FA that was serving the coach cabin finished, she sat in the jump-seat on the cabin side of the cockpit door and began reading a novel, while the other FA took inventory and straightened up the galley. After the 2nd FA had completed the miscellaneous galley tasks, she began balancing her check book and then typed away on her blackberry.

Now, I have not read the Mesa Airlines employee handbook, but I have not heard of too many jobs where one can read a book or attend to personal matters while on the clock.  Does it happen in every occupation? Yeah, probably, but how can one possibly think this is OK in such a customer facing role where situational awareness is so important?

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not so much that I didn’t feel safe. (I can think of 100 things that are much more dangerous than flying.  #1 being wandering around the streets at night, near the hotel I am at in Manila) Its really a question of professionalism.

The Rest of the Flight
To be fair, I did experience attentive service in seat 1A. First Class passengers were offered water or juice before takeoff. Once at cruising altitude, we were offered a full array of beverages and a “snack pack” consisting of: Dole fruit salad, a mini Cliff bar, Rondele Cheese Spread, Stacy’s chips and snack mix.

We’ll see what happens next time.

Assuming I needed to be close to the airport, there is absolutely no reason I would stay anywhere else.  While I did not require accommodation on this trip, I did stay there 1 night after my Lufthansa A380 trip.  The Sheraton Frankfurt Airport Hotel is stumbling distance from Terminal 1.  There is a sky bridge from the terminal.  I was assigned a superior room and found it on the large side and equipped with all of the amenities: i.e. toiletries, mini-bar, in-room coffee, slippers.  The bed was crisp and comfortable.  There were a ton of cable television channels in numerous languages.

The 24hr gym was the nicest I have seen at any hotel, complete with a full free weight section.  I found complimentary croissants and coffee in the lobby- just enough to negate my workout.  Not that it mattered as I had dinner at the authentic German restaurant on site the night before.  It was quite tatsy and there was plenty of pork fat to be had.

Adjacent to the lobby was large sports bar where the World Cup was shown on a huge screen. You will also find an enormous business center near the lobby.  All the staff, including the guy delivering newspapers, were extra friendly.

Been too long since I have hit the road. I should be able to cure what ails me beginning today. You can follow me on twitter for live updates with photos and, of course, I will post the lengthier stuff on Planereality.com

Here is the itinerary:

Atlanta-Chicago-Frankfurt-Abu Dhabi-Manila-Tokyo-Los Angeles-Atlanta

Andiamo!

It sure as hell has not been easy; hopefully the Etihad travel experience will be better.  I couldn’t find the exact flight I wanted at Etihad.com so I called the reservations desk.  I explained the straightforward itinerary I was looking for: Frankfurt to Abu Dhabi, stay the night, and on to Manila.  I was quoted the same fare I saw on the Internet, except with the flights I wanted.  Then I was put on hold.  When the agent returned, she said I may have a “problem” staying overnight in Abu Dhabi, but she could really explain what the “problem” would be or if the fare would different.

After 30 minutes on the phone, several rounds of being on hold, the original fare was confirmed, but I would have to wait for a ticket agent to call me, take payment and issue the ticket.

…………………

8 hours later I am still waiting for a ticketing agent call me, despite calling Etihad back 3 times.  I am, however, still looking forward to the Etihad Airways experience.

Need some help. I am planning to fly one-way from Frankfurt to Manila in Coach. I am looking at Emirates (about $900) and Etihad (about $700)

Of course, I will have to connect either way and both airlines look like they have plenty of empty seats.

On Emirates, I can earn points towards Mileage Plus, Etihad, not so much.

Anyone have any insight or opinion? Much appreciated

OBW-I have to book ASAP as the flight is for next week.

NOTE:  Excellent insight and tips in the 1st comment (click on comments) from Tootalltofly! Please check it out.

Well, the easy answer is: it depends how much discretionary income you have these days.  Just in case that statement is too vague, I will give you a few examples of when the card was useless and 1 instance when it was priceless.  While I have not carried the card in a while, friends and family who travel frequently often ask me if the Amex Platinum Card is worth the relatively steep $450 annual fee. The two main features (among several ancilary ones) of the card are:

1) complimentary international airfare for a companion when you purchase a first or business class ticket

2) complimentary airline lounge access

Of course, these features only apply to the airlines that are part of the AMEX Platinum program; roughly 20 airlines around the globe.

The challenge with the complimentary air program is that the paid ticket must be purchased in whatever the “full fare” class is on a particular airline in Business or First. The full fare class can be, in many instances, significantly more than a discounted business or first class fare.

Airfare
For instance, my wife and I wanted to go to Thailand. The full business class fare that was eligible under the American Express Platinum Card was a little over $5,000. If I purchased this ticket, I would receive the complimentary ticket. However, when I contacted a travel agent, the discounted business class fare was $2500 per person. It was cheaper for us to buy 2 discounted business class fares than 1 full fare business class fare.

Another drawback: I called the AMEX Platinum travel desk in late August to make air reservations for January. I was told that not all of AMEX’s airline contracts been renewed yet for the following year, so there was only 1 carrier available for my destination and the fare was astronomical; again, over double the price of a discounted business class fare.

Lounge Access
One can only access an airline’s lounge with the Platinum Card if they are flying on that particular airline, but you don’t have to be flying in business class. So, if you are flying on Delta and there is no SkyClub, you are S.O.L.

Concierge
There is also something called Concierge, that is supposed to be able to arrange, well, stuff that concierges arrange: flower deliveries, helicopter tours (I was quoted $25,000 for helicopter transport from Tahiti to Bora Bora) I asked the concierge to get me tickets to the DMB concert in Piedmont Park. At first, it seemed not to be a problem, but I wound up having to make several follow up phone calls, send faxes and talked to managers as I never received the tickets. In fact, I didn’t receive the tickets until the day before the concert.

Success
The original reason I obtained the card was to buy business class tickets to Tahiti on Air France. In this instance the card worked like a charm. I bought one business class ticket at full price (the same as the lowest fare on Air France’s website) and my wife received a complimentary business class ticket. The card paid for itself (and then some) that year.

Conclusion
If you are getting the card solely for complimentary companion international airfare, it may not be worth the annual fee, depending on how many trips you plan on taking. If you are not interested in bargain hunting or shopping for airfare and just want your (and your companion’s) but in an upper class seat, go for the Platinum Card.

Greetings!  Long time no write.  I have been pre-occupied entertaining a few “real-job” opportunities, some of which may or may not come to fruition.  Either way, I will continue to post relevant “airline” stuff here at Planereality.com.  Thanks for bearing with me.  As I have mentioned, I live near the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport; you know, the busiest airport in then world. One may think this makes for a plethora of great photo opportunities. It doesn’t. The world’s busiest airport is dominated by one airline and 3 to 4 types of aircraft. Namely, MD-88′s and 757′s.

That being said, I always look forward to the coming and going of what I think is the most aesthetically pleasing site around Hartsfield: the Korean Air 747. I made a special trip down to the airport last week to check it out. Luckily I was facing the correct runway! I also included a few other photos. Enjoy.

Here is the 16th installment of the best fares I am currently seeing. A few caveats: This is not meant to be an all-inclusive list, so by all means, if you are aware of what you feel is great fare, feel free to post it in the comments section. Some may be good mileage runs while others may make more sense for “normal” travel.

My list of “good” fares is more qualitative than quantitative. I amnot only taking into account the amount of frequent flier mileage earned relative to absolute price, but also reputation of airline and type of aircraft scheduled to fly those routes. These factors, for the most part, are the ones I use when evaluating an airfare.

There is no “1″ source for the best fares, they are all over the place, hence the thousands of flight search engines on the web. Round-trip, business class fares including fees and taxes:

• LAX-Souel Incheon (ICN) $2626 Planereality booking engine
• SFO-Taipei (TPE) $3195 Orbitz
• Honolulu-Tokyo Narita (NRT) $3375 Planereality booking engine
• Frankfurt (FRA)-Miami $2316 Orbitz
• Frankfurt-Atlanta $2378 Orbitz
• Rome-Johannesburg (JNB) $2440 Orbitz