During my trip to the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Seattle, I was able to catch a few departures from the top floor of the Doubletree. International departures pick up around 1pm, with a handful of flights to Asia and Europe. The last one that I saw, which is the first picture I posted, was a British Airways 747.
The Delta A330 was either to AMS or NRT, don’t recall. Doubletree is a great spot assuming you are in the tower portion of the hotel, facing Sea-Tac.

After arriving from Auckland on Air New Zealand flight #2, I reported directly to
In-N-Out Burger at the base of runway 24R.
A.) Because I wanted one of the best burgers money can buy
B.) I wanted to snap some photos of various aircraft
It was my first visit to this spot and it is most enjoyable; if you love jet noise of course. Here is what I saw in the late afternoon. Special nod to Konstantin who was also there (from Germany), enjoying the sights.

Surprised to see both military and civilian aircraft arriving and departing HNL. Some of the military aircraft were taking off from Hickam Air Force Base, but others from HNL proper. I mentioned where I was shooting from, but one of the closest, best spots has to be the airport itself. Most of it is open air. Enjoy

departing for hkg

police

A short ride from where I now live… Miami International Airport. There is certainly something magical about this place. There are airlines representing so many far away places. Places that seemingly have nothing in common except crossing paths at MIA. Some of the places aren’t even that far away, but may as well be on the other side of the world. Miami International is Caribbean meets Europe meets South & Central America… with some New York City on top. Every time I am at MIA I see an airline I have never seen before. It’s one of my favorites. These photos were take yesterday.

It’s that time of year.  The time to think about what happened in 2010, both the planned and the unexpected, and to ponder what might take place in the upcoming 365 days.  I don’t stand a chance of telling you about the latter, but I will share some insight into the former as it relates to Planereality.com

You may have noticed that I am not and expert at writing or photography.   Or blogging for that matter.  I don’t even know what blogging really means.   Anyway, there are 101 statistics that are supposed to help one evaluate whether their blog is doing what it is intended to do.

As a summation of 2010, I thought I would share one of Planereality’s statistics: Which posts are people reading and, of course, which posts are not read very much. Why? Because you may have missed a topic you are interested in. (And to generate more traffic!)

A friend once said to me: “I can’t wait until 2009″
I said: “Why?”
He said: “Odd numbered years are always better for me”

Whatever your strategy or thoughts are today,  I wish you a happy, healthy and properous 2011.  Thank you for coming by Planereality. Happy New Year!
Cheers.

posts that recieved the most traffic in 2010

Delta’s Lie Flat (Not Angled) Seats

The Lufthansa A380 trip to Tokyo

Delta’s Angled Lie Flat Seats

United’s “Old” 777 Business Class

United 747 Business Class Seating

posts not read as much

Asiana Airlines Business Class: Taipei to Seoul

Air France A380 Innagural Back to Paris

Virgin Atlantic Upper Class: Kingston to London

ANA Business Class: Tokyo to JFK

Etihad Economy Class to Manila

Many times, inter-Asia flights are described as painful, particularly if you are connecting the same day to the United States.  For example, flying from Bangkok to Tokyo and then on to LAX.  These inter-Asia flights are usually overnight and airlines don’t typically use their newest planes; those equipped with lie flat seats.  These flights are just long enough (4-6 hours) to become very tired, but not long enough to manage any significant sleep.  I have had some mixed experiences on these flights on airlines such as Korean, Asiana and ANA.

This flight from Manila to Tokyo was a bit different, as it was a morning flight on a 747.  I took my seat on the upper deck and was promptly offered the obligatory champagne, water or orange juice.  While we took off on time,  we experienced a very turbulent climb out of Manila and cabin service did not commence until nearly 1 hour into flight.

This was my first experience with Delta’s (Northwest’s) shell back angled flat seats.  While they were quite comfortable, I was surprise to learn that the hard shell back of the seat is not fixed and does move toward you when the person in front of you reclines. As is often the case, getting out of a window seat is quite difficult when the passengers in front and next to you are both reclined.  The “flip-up” (perpendicular) foot rest really needs to be extended so you won’t slide down the seat when trying to sleep.

The breakfast omelet was tasty but was light on whatever it was supposed to be filled with. I did not see the flight attendant after breakfast except for 1 water run. She was, however, very friendly. Her body language did the talking as she spoke very little English.

The music selection consisted of a bunch of original mixes of songs vs. individual albums or artists. It didn’t really matter since, like many United flights, sound only came out from 1 side of the headphones even when I used my own.  I watched a flick entitled “The Joneses.”   When it was over, we were descending into Narita.
Here are the pictures:

check-in area in manila

delta N666US

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.

I arrived at Narita on Lufthansa’s A380 early in the morning.  The first thing I wanted to do was grab a big bowl of spicy noodles with fresh vegetables and minced something or other.  There are um-teen places to make this happen in the Terminal 1 “mall”.  I couldn’t tell you where I ate, but I bet I could find it again.  It was so good I wanted to try something else, but first I wanted hit the open air observation deck.  I got these pics and went back for some more noodles. Enjoy!

On my way to London, Gatwick from Kingston, Jamaica I sat in the lower deck section of the Upper Class Cabin. On the return trip (LGW-KIN) I sat in the upper deck of the Upper Class section and noted some significant differences.  The seats on the upper deck do not feel nearly as wide as those on the lower deck.  In addition you are much closer to the passengers across from you on the upper deck.  Most importantly, it is nearly impossible to see out the window on the upper deck.  The windows are well below eye level, making  laying flat on your back the only way to look comfortably out the window.  And even then, you will be looking into space as opposed to looking at the earth.

One more reason not to sit on the top deck: This plane, Lady Penelope, features an economy class section in the rear of the upper deck, which can seat at least 48 passengers. This makes de-planing a very slow process. Not all of Virgin’s 747′s have this economy section on the upper deck; some have more Upper Class seats, some have Premium Economy seats.  For all of the other reasons (and maybe or maybe not the last one) choose the lower deck, Upper Class Cabin on Virgin’s 747′s.

The rest of the 8 hour and 50 minute flight was uneventful. I was 1 of 2 passengers seated in the upstairs, Upper Class cabin. In total 304 passengers and 8 babies were on the flight.  This was announced before departure.

I was perplexed by the food choices. While there may have been some English delicacies, I found the menu choices dull, although the food was flavorful. 

We deplaned at a remote stand vs. at an actual gate and were bused to the terminal. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic alternate using the only gate that can accommodate (apparently) a 747 or 777. I will post my pictures from the Virgin Clubhouse at Gatwick shortly. Thanks.

salmon

ham hock

bar view, walking down stairs from upper deck

movies, tv, music

personal t.v.

rear economy section of upper deck; exit row

A few weeks back I took a look at Virgin Atlantic’s UK website and found that Upper Class (Virgin’s Business Class) fares to Havana, Cuba and Kingston, Jamaica were on sale from London Gatwick.  Not exactly Virgin’s most desirable destinations, but like I’ve said, I’m not much for sightseeing.  Also working in my favor, the sale fares were available in both directions: Kingston to Gatwick and vice-versa.  I don’t even know (or care) if Americans are allowed in Cuba, so I chose the Gatwick route.

Virgin’s website would not allow me to book online so I called their reservations desk. After a 20 minute wait on hold, I was connected to a very pleasant and helpful agent who not only booked my flight, but said she would make a note in my reservation to have someone show me around the Clubhouse in Gatwick in order for me to “get the most for my money”

Check in at Kingston was comical. Three hours before the flight, a large queue formed at the check in counters and gate agents showed up shortly thereafter. The only agent that was missing was was the one that was supposed to be working the Upper Class desk.  As I waited and stared into space, economy passengers began being checked in by the oblivious agents. After a 5 or 10 minute wait a gal hustled up to the upper class desk and apologized for being late.  I accepted her apology and suggested the other desk agents should have noticed me.  After she checked me in, she asked if I was aware that the configuration was different.

I asked: “Different than what?”
After staring at he computer and not answering me I said: “What type of plane is it?”
She said something to the effect of oh jeez, don’t ask me those tough questions.
Then she said: “737 maybe?” (Virgin has no 737′s nor would a 737 make it to LGW)

I told her not to worry, I would figure it out. I proceeded to make my way through security to the lounge.  I was surprised by her lack of knowledge because she appeared to be an actual Virgin employee as opposed to just one of the hired hands that most airlines use when they have 1 flight per day from an airport.

Boarding was more frustrating and less entertaining than check-in. Like the past experiences I have had in Jamaica, nothing is planned on this island, things just happen. It’s UNorganized chaos. Passengers need to show their boarding pass in order to take the escalator to the gates located on the lower level. The challenge was that security was not sure in what order passengers should be allowed to the lower level in order to make the long walk to the gate.  This made for much confusion.

In the boarding hall, there was a secondary security inspection, but the security personnel did not speak, they just stared at me. I asked them several times what they wanted to inspect and/or what they wanted me to do.

When I finally made it to the boarding area, there was a long line where someone was checking boarding passes. I asked if there was a business class boarding line and was told that there was but the signage had been removed because they did not “see” and business class passengers.  Travel aggravation at it’s best! More to come from the flight…

norman manley international airport (KIN)

random

the other flight to london gatwick

our 747 pulling up to the gate; BA and Virgin alternate between a gate and a stand

As you are probably aware, United has completed the installation of its new business class seats across its entire fleet of Boeing 747’s.  A few months ago, I flew in the main business class cabin (lower deck) from SFO to Tokyo and last week had a chance to fly in the upper deck cabin (SFO-ORD), also business class, and noticed some significant differences.

The length of the seat on the upper deck seems to be shorter than that of the main deck as my feet were jammed into the foot rest space and I didn’t have this problem on the main deck.

Typically on the upper deck of a 747, a few passengers get a lot of extra space due to the one exit row.  Not the case on United’s 747 because the row in front of the exit row faces forward and the one behind the exit row faces backward-wasted space?

In a previous post, I noted that in the lower deck, there was very much a feeling of facing other passengers, due to the rear facing seat configuration; this was notthe case on the upper deck due to either a greater a degree of stagger, more narrow aisles or both.

The overhead bins on the upper deck are very small and cannot fit a standard roller bag.  You will need to leave your roller bag downstairs or place in the closet in the rear of the upper deck.  You will have extra storage in the large bins between the window seat and the windows.  These bins are large enough to fit a big briefcase.

I noticed my seat, 14K, did not face the personal television directly, it was a slight angle.  Not a show stopper, but it was enough to notice.

With the high bulkheads that make up each row of seats, the upper deck of United’s 747 does not feel as spacious as many other 747 upper decks.

Verdict? The lower deck … with 2 caveats:
1) My seat faces forward
2) I am on either side of an aisle (as opposed to 4 across middles section which feels crowded and not very private)

Anything I am missing?

upper deck business class: