Musings of The Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.
Priority Club award rates are changing from 18 January 2012 with some new award categories and reclassification of some hotels between categories.
Hotel awards are generally fully refundable, so by booking awards now you have a bet each way – if award costs go up for that hotel you’ve saved the increase and if they go down you can cancel and rebook.
American AAdvantage is changing the qualification rules for lifetime elite status from 1 December. Currently they have the most generous qualification rules of all airlines in that all mileage counts, even ones earned through credit card spend. From 1 December 2011 further accrual towards lifetime elite status will only be for miles earned by flying.
This is still at the more generous end of the spectrum of airline elite status qualification requirements (some frequent flyer programs have no lifetime status, or only count flights on their home airline). The notice given for the change has been relatively short, which makes it difficult for some who wish to accelerate their earning to earn lifetime status before the rule change.
I’ve updated the full listing of lifetime elite frequent flyer status.
With many future trips booked it is unusual not to get a schedule change notification from an airline every day or so. Most of the time these are relatively unimportant changes like flight renumbering by Continental and United, or a tweak of 5 or 10 minutes to the arrival and/or departure time.
Nonetheless, I check the notifications fairly religiously just in case of a more significant change. I’m glad I do this, for I’ve had some fairly nasty ones lately.
Case 1
An airline rebooked me on a flight the previous day. Given the flight still operates on the date I had booked I don’t know why I was shifted by the airline. Perhaps they could resell my seat for another fare on the day I’d chosen? Or perhaps they got confused – I see the flight now shows as being 30 hours duration. Hmmm.
As if shifting the date of travel wasn’t bad enough, the airline failed to spot they’d now given me a connection time of minus 20 hours between flights. Oops. Lucky I carefully read the change notifications and pay attention to dates as well as times. They couldn’t even point a finger at another airline for such a basic mistake as I’m connecting between two flights with the same airline!
After some chasing up I have been restored to the date I was originally booked, but for some unknown reason they had to reissue the whole ticket and I see the coupons are now out of order. That can’t be good.
Case 2
On an upcoming around the world ticket I have 6 flights with a particular airline. All 6 flights have changed schedules (some more than once) and the latest iteration of changes (affecting all 6 flights) has created two problem connections. One has 10 minutes between scheduled arrival time and scheduled departure time at the airport, during which time there is immigration and a terminal change. Another is slightly better at just over an hour, but again has immigration in between flights.
Some playing around with airline schedules and my tight timeframes available and it looks like I may have to change several flights and reroute a couple of times to make it work again.
In both cases I’ve had a look at the flight options and availability before calling the airline to sort it out so I can hopefully end up with a new itinerary that will work for me (albeit less ideal than my original booking in the 2nd case). This helps when customer service agents may not think to check non-obvious solutions.
Being proactive instead of waiting until close to departure (or worse at the airport) maximises the chances I can get something to work out. There are some situations where, for some people, waiting may be better – e.g. if looking for an excuse to cancel the ticket without penalty.
Apologies for the lack of recent posts. Events in Christchurch, NZ, this week have been overwhelming. For those who’ve missed the news a very shallow earthquake flattened the city centre with many fatalities. This is much worse than the large 4 September 2010 earthquake centered just to the west of the city.
New Zealand is a small place and it seems everyone lives there, used to live there, has family or close friends or work colleagues in Christchurch.
Despite the grief everyone is feeling, the community response has been amazing. Not just in terms of rescue and recovery efforts but also much kindness and generosity of spirit in little things to comfort and support each other.
Being the second biggest city in NZ and late summer (ie still busy season for tourists), there are people affected from all over the globe. Those caught up in it were given emergency accommodation and most were airlifted to Auckland and Wellington so the embassies and consulates can assist the visitors to get home when passports, wallets and more are damaged or lie buried in the rubble. Many countries set up temporary assistance centres at Auckland and Wellington airports.
Those who visited Christchurch recently and who have not gotten in touch with authorities in NZ or back home are requested to please do so as soon as possible in case your name is on the lengthy missing list.
The initial shock is wearing off. The toil to rebuild and resume normal life has only just begun. At the moment Christchurch is no place for tourists – temporary accommodation is sorely needed by the people dealing with the emergency and thousands of homeless residents, and will be for weeks and months ahead. However, and hopefully soon, the city will be back open for business and it will be important for visitors to return.
A year ago I blogged about the launch of Air New Zealand’s new longhaul products on the brand new 77W aircraft. There are some minor changes in business class, a radically different premium economy seat (which Air NZ has since said it intends licensing to other airlines), the revolutionary skycouch seat in economy class, and other changes including in-flight services.
Last month the first commercial 77W flights commenced. I haven’t yet flown on it (but will within a couple of months), but have received some rather negative feedback from several who have flown on it. Recently Air NZ has had open days to selected frequent flyers, media and limited numbers of general public. Naturally I was interested to see for myself how the reality compares to the hype from the mockup at hangar 9 a year ago.
This post summarises my notes on the products comparing to the launch material. This comparison is based on observations while on the ground – so I cannot comment on food & beverage for instance. I also note the seats I think are best in each cabin – refer the seat map for more info on seat layout.
Services
The in-flight entertainment was switched on, so I did a few quick tests. It was fast and responsive. There are options to order food and drink from your seat with the availability varying by class of travel (and business class drinks are available to buy in economy class). The wine selection seemed wider than normal, with about 20 options in business class. There is also an option to request an ipod/ipad connector.
Economy class and skycouch
The first impression is an incredibly cramped cabin. The aisle is very narrow – certainly too narrow to roll rollaboards along to your seat and likely to narrow to easily carry a heavy carry on or a second item (eg laptop bag). If you are sitting in the aisle I suggest you do not board early as you may get battered, and watch out during meal services also. I’ve had comments from some people who’ve flown it that they also get disturbed by passengers walking by to and from the toilets, as the aisle really is very narrow.
Trying a seat out for size and it feels much more cramped than Air NZ’s leading economy class seats on their 747 aircraft – noticeably less legroom (my knees touched the seat in front even when it was upright) and also noticeably less width thanks to a 10 across seating layout. The small tray table is now bifold, but if you are big you may struggle to fully open it. There is a small pillow fitted over the headrest. In the blog post on the launch I mentioned the armrests fully raise. This was not the case on the non-sky couch seats, which is a big surprise to me.
The skycouch seats have a nice “mattress” applied. The length of the 3 seats is very much insufficient to stretch out properly. Not a surprise as anyone moderately tall needs 4 economy seats to lie across comfortably. Combined with the narrow aisles, this means tall people either can’t lie down on the skycouch (which is really the main purpose) or have to wedge themselves against the cabin wall to avoid their feet sticking out into the aisle.
In all the seats the pocket is smaller and located lower down. There are other touches to aid the traveller – nooks, more sockets, and a cup holder. IFE boxes under the seat intrude on the limited space for feet on some seats.
Best seats in economy? In non sky-couch the second set of 2 in the front & side of the cabin (35A/B/J/K), plus the sets of 2 in the rear and side of the cabin (57-59A/B/J/K). I don’t fancy sitting for 13 hours in any of the other seats in economy.
Premium economy (space seat)
I, like many others, gushed over the design at the launch. Now, I take back some of the praise. The space seats had gotten the most negative comments from those who’d flown in them, and I agree with some of those comments but there are some good seats.
The beanbag footrest is a waste of space if you are tall – even inch of the footwell is needed for your legs. The seats have a hard shell and so passenger in front reclining is no issue (the seat slides forward inside the shell). However, I found I had to be careful to recline slowly otherwise my knees would whack into the shell of the seat in front.
There is a little swivel sidelight on the side of each shell, but it is positioned very poorly and will not illuminate any book or newspaper on the seats I tried. Instead I got a spotlight onto my upper arm.
The window seats have far more legroom than any other seat. However, once you are in the seat it is difficult to get out (will certainly require the aisle seat passenger to move out of the way) and is a bit claustrophobic due to how the aisle seat is slightly offset to provide more privacy and the high walls of the seat shell.
The outer aisle seats have terrible legroom (equivalent to a good economy seat rather than a decent premium economy) and will also have the annoyance of cabin crew reaching past you when window passengers are served food and drink. Being tall I also found I was tempted to stretch my legs out into the aisle, but this is difficult as the seat is angled away from the aisle. Anyone not skinny will have problems with the tray table.
So, for long flights I’m likely to choose an inner seat, which is always an aisle (layout is 2-2-2). The legroom is not good here, a bit more knee room than economy class but less foot room (unlike economy you cannot slide feet forward due to the hard shell). Couples can sit angled towards each other and use the large middle armrest as a table. Sounds good but the space for legs under this “table” is very small for one tall person, let alone a couple.
Best seats in premium economy? Either an inner seat, or the front row outer aisle seat (23B/J) which has much more legroom than any other outer seat.
Business class
Minimal hard product changes. Colour scheme white instead of brown. A thicker matress. Repositioned plugs/sockets for easier access. Table can slide closer. Ottoman has seat belt fully flush when unused and more space under the ottoman (due to moving the lifejacket to underneath the little drinks tray).
Summary
I’m not overjoyed at the seeming victory by beancounters over those trying to come up with a world leading product. I feel Air New Zealand has missed an opportunity for a truly fantastic hard product to match their great soft product by squeezing in too many seats. Whenever I have to fly on their 77W I’ll be sure to book as early as possible and try to select the few good seats when flying in premium economy or economy class. I’m disappointed that hype doesn’t appear to match reality.
With the unrest/revolution (depending on your viewpoint) currently occurring in Egypt a number of airlines (but far from all) have ceased commercial flights. Some governments are arranging charter flights for their citizens (and in some cases also for citizens of friendly countries). In all cases, information is a little difficult to obtain but as best I can tell (from various sources), the following have already arranged some charter flights over upcoming days:
This list is probably incomplete as the situation is highly changeable.
If you are a visitor to Egypt and wanting to leave, best to first try to contact your embassy, secondly your government through people in your home country, and failing that enquire at the airport.
A number of the evacuation flights are to nearby countries such as Cyprus and Greece. Accommodation in Larnaca and Athens may be tighter than normal for the next few days.
There are a lot of things you can plan or allow for in travel to make things go as smooth as possible, but controlling the weather isn’t one of them. In the past 3 weeks I’ve been extraordinarily fortunate to have near misses (by a few hours) with 3 tropical storms, each one of which had potential to cause significant inconvenience to my travel.
There are some steps you can take to reduce the risks – such as limiting travel in hurricane-prone areas in hurricane season, or have as few connections as possible in the US northeast and midwest during mid-winter. However, some risks are unavoidable and all you can do is actively monitor the situation to make early changes to your travel plans, if it proves necessary. I usually monitor a combination of national weather services, airport and airline websites and flightstats.
When you fly a lot you get to know how much time you need for connections at various airports. My recent experiences at Sydney terminal 1 (international) suggest I need to recalibrate the “safe” transfer time, by increasing it.
In the past few weeks I’ve had aircraft use a gate on the opposite pier to the usual one – Oneworld flights arriving at the non-Oneworld pier and non-Oneworld flights arriving at the Oneworld pier. If connecting to a different aircraft, or if wanting to use the lounge (eg for a shower) the 10-15 minutes walk between piers can make a tight connection into a very rushed one. Indeed it is now common to see aircraft on the opposite pier from “usual” at Sydney international terminal.
I’ve also had flights arrive at a remote stand, which adds a good 20 minutes to the transfer time by the time you wait for a bus, get bussed to the terminal and then walk to international transfers or immigration.
Others who’ve cleared immigration at Sydney on an early morning arrival have commented to me how much longer immigration is taking, even if you have access to the automated Smartgate system.
Sometimes I get blase and push the boundary of reasonableness in my transits, and this is a reminder to myself not to take assumed knowledge as infallible. The world changes all the time, and the travel world changes rapidly too.
I continue to learn new travel info every day. Today I learned that you can change a non-refundable hotel stay with Intercontinental to another date at no charge (assuming availability). Yes – that solved my double-booking at 2 places on opposite sides of the planet problem nicely.
There are some airlines serving NZ for the first time in 2011, ahead of the rugby world cup (and also some airlines returning after years of absence). Announcements to date include:
The trans-Tasman flights will, as usual, have 5th freedom rights meaning they can be bought standalone. Typically there is good award availability on these “tag” flights, and fares in premium cabins are low as the airlines try to win customers off more well-known competition (Air New Zealand, Qantas/Jetstar, Emirates and Pacific Blue).
