Posted by Seth on July 20, 2010 under Internet, News | 
As new aircraft models are launched the airlines often do fun, interesting and new things to attract additional business and help cover the costs of those multi-million dollar pieces of equipment. When the Airbus A380 went into service things like double beds (Singapore Air) and showers (Emirates) came about. With the eventual entry into service of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner there are similar promises of grandeur and benefits being made. Sortof.
Thomson Airways, the UK-based charter/tour operator, is expecting to take delivery of their first 787 in a bit more than 18 months. And they are starting the PR push now. Among the benefits being touted, more legroom in long haul economy that any other European leisure airline, in-flight broadband internet access and aromatherapy fragrances. The carrier also intends to fit the plane with a bar area that will provide, among other things, unlimited fresh fruit smoothies and mineral water.
Yup, all-you-can-drink smoothies. That’s something to look forward to in the air.
Posted by Seth on December 29, 2008 under Uncategorized |
There has been plenty of hype about the quality of the premium cabin in-flight product that Asian and Middle-East carriers are bringing to the skies. Singapore Air and Emirates have invested significantly in their A380 First Class experience. Singapore offers a double bed option for couples traveling together and Emirates offers a shower, among other benefits. But getting in to those seats is going to cost you a lot of cash; they cannot be booked using all those points you’ve been saving.
Singapore Air started limiting seats in their Suites by designating them a different booking class, and therefore making them ineligible for reward bookings, even for their own KrisFlyer members. Things got worse when they changed the rules on their new business class product, allowing redemption only using KrisFlyer points and then only at the unrestricted/double points level. Among other things this took the NYC and Los Angeles to Singapore non-stop flights away from partner award bookings, as they are configured in an all business class setup using the new product.
Emirates was actually letting folks still redeem for their premium cabin seats following the launch of their A380s earlier this year, but that well seems to have dried up, too. As of December 1, however, they apparently are no longer permitting any redemptions in either the business or first class cabins on those planes.
Qantas is in a similar position, blocking out their A380 first class cabin from reward redemption. A number of enterprising folks booked reward seats on flights that were operated by the 747-400 when the reward was booked, expecting that the aircraft would be swapped to the A380. As far as I know they have been successful in keeping their reward seats, but no new reward bookings are being taken on those flights.
Ten years ago the most luxurious way to travel was arguably the Concorde. Sure, the seats were small, as was the fuselage itself, but you were wined and dined and among the elite of air travel. And all the while it was bookable with reward points. I’m not saying that there were free seats out there every day for anyone who wanted one, but at least the option (or the dream) was there.
And then, just like that, poof. The option is gone.
Premium cabin long haul flights are still, by far, the best value for redeeming points, but it certainly is disheartening to see the greatest of the options disappearing. Hopefully the allure of the A380 will wear off and those seats will come back into reward inventory, but I’m not holding my breath.
Posted by Seth on December 22, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Sure, credit limits are being slashed all over the country, but that hasn’t hit me yet. What has hit me are cuts to the travel benefits that AmEx offers for their Platinum and Centurion (“Black Card”) members. The travel benefits were always of questionable value to begin with, depending on travel patterns and whatnot, but I’m pretty confident that they are truly losing most of their appeal, and doing so rather quickly.
The first benefit to go this year was one that was only recently introduced – a domestic 2-4-1 ticket deal for both Platinum and Centurion programs. The program was limited, with blackout dates, only 6 carriers participating (the major legacy companies) and ridiculous ticketing fees on both the “free” and the paid ticket. Still, I managed to use the program a couple times and saved $1-200 each time on flights I’d have taken anyways. Not a bad benefit to have. Sadly this one died about 5 weeks ago.
Next up were changes to the Mandarin Oriental benefit for the Centurion program. I’ve only ever once stayed in an Oriental property. We did so in Bangkok as part of our honeymoon. It was phenomenal. I’m not sure that I can really justify spending that much for hotel rooms on a regular basis (says the guy booking in to hostels for the next few vacation nights to save beer money) but it really was an impressive hotel. The Centurion program offers a BOGO deal at each participating property. Pay for one night and get a second night free, with a few minor limitations. That’s a phenomenal deal. The number of hotels participating continues to drop, however, and the substitute benefit is pretty miserable. You now get a $200 food/spa credit instead of a free night. Ouch.
And finally there is the fabled International Airline Program, AmEx’s 2-4-1 international premium airfare deal. This one is so fraught with caveats that it is almost never a good deal. You have to pay pretty much the highest fare available but inventory for cheaper fares needs to be available, and those discount fares can often be half of the top fare. The carriers and destinations are limited. And the free ticket collects no points. Still, every now and then there were deals to be found. Those diamonds in the rough are going to be harder to find if the rumors of airlines departing the program are true. It seems that Continental, Delta and Emirates are all departing the program.
There are a few new hotels joining the Fine Hotels & Resorts program, but that really only benefits folks spending a lot of money on hotel rooms, of which I am not one. I might be getting rid of the card when it comes up for renewal this year after carrying it for about 5 years. The value is disappearing pretty rapidly for me.
Posted by Seth on July 28, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Emirates has taken delivery of their first A380 aircraft this morning. They aren’t the first carrier to operate the A380, so that isn’t all that exciting, but it does mean that they’ve finally announced the details of their cabin layout and amenities. And what a collection they include.
The First Class cabin will include spa showers, private suites for each passenger and a bar area that includes a “water feature” as well as food and beverage to keep you busy throughout the flight. The lounge features “A selection of delicacies by leading international chefs, have been prepared to entice the most discerning of palates,” and “a selection of beverages, as well as some of the finest world-class wines carefully selected by our sommeliers.” It appears that the lounge will be shared with the Business Class passengers based on a photo caption, but the description of the lounge for the Business Class cabin has a much more austere description (“A variety of drinks and hot and cold beverages are available throughout your flight.”) so it is hard to know for certain. The First Class Suites also have a mini-bar, wardrobe, electrically operated doors for privacy and, much like Singapore Air’s Suites, a privacy barrier that can be lowered for passengers traveling together to share their Suites’ space.
Business class will include lie-flat seats that are 79” long and a dedicated lounge area as well. The seats in the Business Class cabin appear to be a design where your feet slide under the seat in front of you, which allows for longer beds without taking up too much space in the airplane so the airlines can maintain their seating density. Continental apparently is going to be installing similar seats starting in late 2009 on their fleet, though the announcement was pulled off the website pending an official announcement coming soon. Oh, and the seats have a built-in mini-bar and touch-screen remote control for all the systems.
The economy cabin will have adjustable headrests (a great feature) and slidey bottom seats, which allow for a more comfortable recline.
All seats on the plane have Emirate’s ICE entertainment system, with 1000 channels of content. The screen sizes will vary, with Biz having 17” screens and First having 23” screens.
I still can’t find a seat map for the new plane so I don’t know just how many of each seat there is going to be on the plane and what the spacing really is going to look like. But it looks pretty exciting for now.
Flights are scheduled to begin on Dubai-JFK 3x weekly starting August 8th, with a special service on August 1st/3rd to inaugurate the plane on the route.
(note: All pictures courtesy of Emirates.com)
UPDATE (7.28.2008 4:02p EDT):A few quick updates on this post…
- The Business Class bar is different than the First Class bar.
- The Business Class seats are actually two different sizes in a staggered arrangement. This is incredibly strange, with the seats having either 39″ or 48″ pitch when upright and a bed length of 70″ or 79″ when in sleep mode. Just plain strange.
- Seat pitch in Economy is 32-33″, which isn’t all that bad.
- There are 156 Biz seats on the plane and 399 Economy seats, to go with the 14 F suites. Clearly the bet being made here is on the Biz seats driving high margins.
Posted by Seth on May 12, 2008 under Uncategorized |
And boy is it UGLY.
The seats in economy are a beautifully pre-stained shade of green, while the business class seats have a strange salmon glow to them.
Images from the Herald Sun
Overall, it doesn’t really look all that terrible, and the first class seats seem to have a swivel built in to allow them to extend fully flat for sleeping. Still, there is a lot of new coming out with this interior, so get ready for a spate of “love it”/”hate it” debates.
Oh, and one of the captions announced that the flight of this particular plane up to Hamburg to be fitted with the cabin interior is the end of production troubles for the A380. Don’t tell Emirates that; they’re still waiting for their ~50 planes and Airbus keeps saying production is going to be slower…
Posted by Seth on March 21, 2008 under Uncategorized |
They may actually be leading the crowd, since they are the first to offer voice access, though I am not sure it is a good thing. Emirates has one of their A340s configured with a GSM relay from AeroMobile, allowing for SMS and voice access in the air. They say that they’re seeing a lot of demand and plan to expand the service to include more planes as well as data and BlackBerry plans in the coming months. The only saving grace is that the flight crews will be able to turn off voice access for overnight flights. Otherwise I can imagine some pretty nasty air rage.
Posted by Seth on March 20, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Evoking images of a circus clown car, packed beyond reason, Emirates seems to be looking into using their enormous order book of Airbus A380s as part of their efforts to establish a new low cost carrier based at their Dubai hub. They’re starting the operation with some smaller, 150-200 seat planes and focusing on destinations within a 4.5 hour radius of the hub, which includes most of India, North-Eastern Africa, the Middle East and central Asia.
Emirates has 58 A380s on order. The first few will be configured for long-haul travel, with premium features including shower facilities on board for their first class passengers. The LCC/regional service planes, on the other hand, will have up to 750 seats for some regions, and potentially up to 1000 seats for the routes that are based solely on price (Thailand and Saudi Arabia are mentioned in the article). Emirates has already acknowledged plans for a 600+ seat configuration that will probably remain part of the main carrier rather than the LCC, but adding a configuration with 1000 seats will be a pretty amazing feat. It makes Singapore Air’s 467 seats on their A380 config look rather weak.
I’m actually tempted to fly on it, just to experience the spectacle of that many people in an airplane at the same time, though I don’t know that it would be worth it for the lack of comfort or the experience of 1000 people’s worth of BO for a couple hours.
Update (3.20.08 11:35p EDT): Apparently EK is just helping get the LCC off the ground and will not be running it. Not that I believe they will really remain distinct, but that’s the word on the street.
Posted by Seth on January 16, 2008 under Uncategorized |
A few bits on the A380, aka the Whale:
- Singapore Air managed to lose one off the taxiway due to a failure in the tug, causing it to roll into the grass at Singapore International Airport. They had to move all the passengers to an alternate plane, a 747, and replace all the tires, just in case. Fortunately it happened the same day they took delivery of their second A380, so they weren’t out of commission for too long. And now they have both back in service. Hong Kong will be the second airport served by the A380 (SYD was first), and when the third plane arrives they’ll move the HKG service to LHR (London Heathrow) as they need two planes to meet those needs. They expect to have six in service by the end of July, ahead of the oft-revised delivery schedule from AirBus.
- According to these guys via FlightBlogger one can now book for the maiden EK flight of the A380, EK201 from DXB (Dubai) to JFK on 1 October 2008. It looks like a r/t F seat with a one week stay in NYC is ~$6,700. Flying in J will set you back ~$4200 and Y is ~$1400. The article cites etravelblackboard.com saying that there will be shower facilities on the plane. Carrying that extra ton of water will burn a lot of fuel, so hopefully they are selling a lot of those F fares.
- Qantas, the third carrier to take delivery of the A380, is getting closer. Their first plane was seen on the taxiway in Toulouse today.
