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.

The contrast between flying a few foreign airlines and then returning to the United States to take 1 more flight to get home is always amusing. In this case, I bestowed the “last flight” honor on United Airlines. I received a complimentary upgrade which I was quite appreciative of. Was it a terrible experience? Absolutely not, but (no news here) not in the same league as many foreign airlines.

I knew where I was as soon as I was seated. The lead FA was shouting through the PA system telling boarding passengers to hurry up and sit down so we could leave on time. All the while UA deliberately delayed boarding because 1 crew member was M.I.A.

The meal was decent, but have had better on United. The sausage had the consistency of steak, but tasted like dinner sausage (?)
The indecipherable over-head monitor and bat phone are not disappointing, more comical than anything. The pilot was in the First Class cabin during boarding. I asked him if he would be broadcasting Channel 9. He replied that he would be happy to. To be fair, I took these pictures with my blackberry as opposed to my “good” camera.

the blue dot is our location at LAX; courtesy of the ipad

pre-departure beverage

breakfast

Hard to imagine that these flat-bed first class seats, at 35″ wide & with 71″ pitch, are not the most luxurious First Class Product that Singapore Airlines Offers, but they are not. The First Class Suites on the A380 are considered Singapore’s top of the line as they are private suites marketed as “a class beyond first.” The seats below were on the flight from Singapore to Auckland aboard ship 9V-SWS a Boeing 777-300ER. Many thanks to Tay Soo for letting me up front.
Enjoy.

business class cabin

singapore fleet

A few observations on the interior of the Korean Air A380. Below are a few interior photos of the aircraft. I cannot speak to business and first class because I did not sit there or look, at length, at the seats. In economy the seat that stood out the most was 47D. It is in the center section but there is no seat in front of it. It is an aisle seat and again, not an exit row. The bulkhead seats look pretty good and will provide some extra space, but, of course, there is nowhere to stretch your legs straight out. The exit rows look fantastic, but remember there are no personal video screens during taxi, takeoff and landing to view the flight cameras. I learned my lesson on the Lufthansa A380.

The economy class is divided into 3 sections. The exit rows are “42″ in the 2nd 3rd and “52$” in the 3rd section of economy. Please note: Rows 28 (port & starboard) is NOT an exit row. The middle of that same first row is 30 and it is standard bulkhead. Have a look at the pictures and I am happy to field any questions.
I am not sure how many bathrooms this plane has relative to other A380 operators, but there was a constant line for the bathroom. This made me think that the duty free shop occupied the space that normally would have been dedicated to lavatories. Lack of bathrooms due to duty free? Cheers!

3A

2 D&E 1st class

2D first class

1st class bar

3D

forward stairs

20 A & B

celestial bar

52 H,J,K

aft stairs

aft galley 2nd floor

duty free

Finally. Time to hit the road again. Or should I say sky? About 24,000 miles on the docket. It feels a bit odd to only have 1 hotel night booked. I think that’s all I need, but there will probably be a day room fit in somewhere when I’m about to collapse. The very first posts I ever wrote were on a 20,000+ mile itinerary around the world. Of course, this time, I will bring the camera.

The ride will be a mix of economy, business and premium economy. The trip will include 2 airports previously unseen, add 1 airline to Planereality’s inventory and will document the launch of an Asian carrier’s double decker from the US.

Hoping this trip will feel as good as it looks on paper. You can follow Planereality on Twitter and Facebook, and of course here for all the action. Thank you for coming by Planereality.

First row. Double armrest. Fully flat. Window & aisle seat. What a fantastic way to cross the Atlantic. After a few days in Israel and a stop in Switzerland, it was time to head home on Swiss Airlines. While I was checking in online, I was lucky enough to assign myself 4A, the first row in Swiss Airlines new Business Class configuration on their Airbus A330-300.  On the way over I had seat 4G and describe Swiss’ new business class seat configuration here. 

The food was outstanding and the experienced flight crew provided the focused service to match.  I found the food much more plentiful than on the flight to Zurich.  I typically do not order steak on a plane.  How can even the best airline replicate what a fine steakhouse serves at 38,000 feet? It’s not really even fair.  But if we compare airline to airline, this filet was the best I have ever had both in texture and taste.

Worth mentioning again is the space you have for your feet when the seat is positioned as a bed. The space is nearly as wide as the seat itself, providing a very comfortable sleep. I did not utilize the entertainment system except for some audio which was sufficient.

Many thanks to all the fine people at Swiss Airlines in New York, Israel and Switzerland for making this trip possible.

Disclaimer: This flight was provided to me by Swiss International Airlines.

For those interested, I did create a facebook page to house some material (like pictures of destinations) that does not make it to this site. And to generate more traffic to this site! “Like” it if you do.

our turn

radisson blu is building right behind terminal

blanket & pillow

2nd meal service: chicken medallions & couscous

ice cream

block island

taxiing at jfk

This past Friday a Lufthansa A380 made its inaugural flight from Frankfurt to Miami (D-AIMD). The crowds were huge and sprawling along Runway 9.  The street turned into a parking lot and active railroad tracks a standing gallery. A DC-3 and DC-7 preceded the A380′s landing. In case you missed it, here is the inside of a Lufthansa A380 (D-AIMA) . Here are the photos from the event.
There are also a few other random sightings while waiting for the A380.

Cheers from The Palm Bar at JFK. The last few posts focused on Continental: Economy Long Haul, Long Haul Old Business Class Seats and their Lie Flat Business Class Seats.

A few months back I put up a poll asking which airline you wanted to see next/more of. Your answers weighed heavily toward Swiss Airlinesand that is exactly what I am about to tackle; from JFK to Zurich and on to Tel-Aviv.  It took some time to put together, but I will be flying Swiss’ New Lie Flat Business Class seat on an A330-300 to Zurich and then connecting to Tel-Aviv on a Swiss Airbus A330-200 equipped (presumably) with older business class seats.  Stay tuned for these reports, a bunch of photos and a lot more.  Thanks for reading Planereality.com

This was certainly a treat. Fully flat bed seats on a 2.5hr flight from EWR to MIA. Probably what I have been most interested in with regard to Continental and I didn’t even have to leave the country. In this 757 the seats were at a slight angle toward the windows. I do NOT think this is the case on Continental 777′s. The overall seat reminded me of United’s Lie Flats. Same manufacturer? Can anyone confirm?

I noticed the footrest at my window seat was smaller than that of the aisle seat, making for a tight squeeze when your feet are in there. Notice the deep, but short shelf under the television, just enough clearance for some reading material.

When I reclined the seat into a flat bed, I felt that is was egregiously narrow and short. even when I laid on my side, the seat felt tight. Again, I am thinking this is because these seats were “shoved” into the 757; you probably would not have the same issues on the 777.

The power and audio jacks are almost 180 degrees behind you; good because your cords will be out of your way, but not the easiest to access. There were about 40 movies available for viewing and you can play your ipod through the entertainment system without any ridiculous adapters like with United’s lie flats.  Pics…

seat 4a

4 e&f

4f

lunch; not too shabby

This is the 2nd part (here is part 1) of a flight from Honolulu to Newark in Continental’s BusinessFirst cabin. I was offered a $300 upgrade upon check-in and jumped all over it. I found the flight attendants very engaging and personable with many of the passengers. The seat was wide, soft and had plenty of recline and leg space.

So why am I calling it “diet” BusinessFirst?  It was a light version of a true BusinessFirst.  There were no noise cancelling headphones, only regular ones. There was only streaming video which didn’t work and the food was mediocre at best.  Dinner tasted like a boiled chicken breast with ketchup on top.  Breakfast was an enigma: fruit and a piece of bread.
It was still worth the $300, but certainly was not the true BusinessFirst that it is marketed as. I wonder what aspects of this flight United will change, if any.

From Newark to Fort Lauderdale, I did recieve a complimentry upgarde on a Continental 757 which featured their “new” flat bed seats. I will post those photos next. Here are the rest from EWR-HNL.

northerly route

passenger in front of me; more room than it looks

“breakfast”

It came as little surprise that as soon as I posted some tips on staying healthy during air travel, I caught a nasty cold. Just in time for my trip to Honolulu. Such is life. After 2 hours of sucking down water, juice and cough drops in Newark, I boarded the 10hr 3min flight, Continental 15, to Honolulu.

I was seated in 22B which seemed to be as good as any seat in the coach cabin. I was impressed by the cleanliness of the cabin. In fact, the condition of the seats, personal video screen and quality of entertainment were all better than United’s Economy Plus product. The first few rows of economy on this 767-400 did have EmPower at each seat.  The center section of row 28 was reserved for crew rest.  Every seat in coach and business first was taken.

What I found to be disappointing was that on a 10 hour flight there was not a single complimentary snack, only food for purchase. Yes, I realize this is not an international flight, however, it is longer in duration than many of Continental’s trans-Atlantic flights.  A few Continental flight attendants I spoke with take great umbrage with providing only food for purchase–more on that later.

I did sample both the cheese plate and Thai chicken wrap- both pretty tasty, but pricey. “Passengers can always bring their own food on board.”  Great, but what food of any significance will stay for 8 or 9 hours in my carry on? Continental (United) needs to provide some type of snack or food on EWR-HNL.  Continental bends the “rules” in other areas for this flight (more on that later too) so they should do the same when it comes to the food policy.

There was a food & beverage service at the start of the flight, another when we made it above the Pacific and then a drink service before arrival.  There was water distributed between services.

EWR-HNL is a very long flight.  Not necessarily in hours, really just mentally.  Particularly if you are used to flying from the East to West Coast or vice-versa.  No matter how many times you tell yourself that you are NOT almost there when you fly over California, you still find your yourself with that hope.  Unfortunately you wind up sorely disappointed.

Special thanks to Erin & Joshua who happily and enthusiastically provided outstanding service for the entirety of the flight!

N76021 push back for NRT

san francisco taken form the tiny window in the door