rtyuiop
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2009
- Posts
- 680
Hi folks,
I just got back from a decent length holiday using a bunch of points, thought I would quickly report back:
VA BNE-LAX in business... Just as well they are updating their business seats, as they're a bit old, and no direct aisle access just doesn't cut it anymore. On the upside, food and service was good, and the wine very good. Lounge in BNE (Air NZ) is pretty terrible.
Domestic Virgin America in first - only had one short flight, but it was a good one. VX definitely better in first than other US domestic firsts I've tried (that doesn't include the fancy new transcon classes most of them are putting in), but it also feels like they're trying a bit too hard to be cool. Lounge OK but nothing exciting (pretty standard for the US).
Domestic Delta flights in first - generally pretty OK, but on regional jets there is a severe lack of overhead space, even in business. No bins of usable size on the left of the cabin. Lounges generally pretty good by US standards.
Domestic Air Canada (redeemed via Singapore) in business - only had one flight, but it was perhaps a notch above the US carriers. Good seat, good food. Great to have the option to do this via SQ, but man it would be nice to have online booking of *A flights...
Domestic US Air in first (redeemed on some leftover QANTAS points) - flights not terrible, but they cancelled a flight after what seemed to be minor weather delays, thus introducing a much longer delay that caused me some stress on whether or not I would make it to an etihad flight. I guess the race-to-the-bottom nature of the US domestic airline industry means the others would likely have done the same, but I am still crossing them off my list of acceptable airlines. They're clearly in transition to being AA, anyway.
Etihad in first - had about 26 hours in 787 first, pretty spectacular flights. Food and wine very good indeed, and I think the onboard chef thing works pretty OK (although there might be some individual variation, first chef was more useful than the second). Seat absolutely the best I've ever been in in either seat or bed modes. IFE could have a bigger range, but video and sound quality much better than normal on planes... Very happy with these flights, considering how long I was in the air I got home feeling much better than I was expecting (cabin pressure and humidity related, perhaps?).
Only negatives are the lack of window blinds (if I was trying to sleep on a daylight flight the light would have been annoying), and that AUH is still a pretty terrible airport compared to somewhere like Changi. The current lounge at AUH is terribly unimpressive for a home base first class lounge - it's supposed to be an interim lounge, but it's been like that for so long they don't get to hide behind that anymore. Having said that, the lounge in IAD is very nice (similar to the LHR lounge, and I guess the other remote EY lounges). AUH is excessively crowded, and the security check (even connecting airside to airside) is a pain - queues in complete chaos and no way to move quickly through to the premium lines.
The booking process for those flights was a bit of a pain too, requiring the help of the VFF team here on the forums... But we got there eventually, and they were damn good flights.
Cheers,
Danny
I just got back from a decent length holiday using a bunch of points, thought I would quickly report back:
VA BNE-LAX in business... Just as well they are updating their business seats, as they're a bit old, and no direct aisle access just doesn't cut it anymore. On the upside, food and service was good, and the wine very good. Lounge in BNE (Air NZ) is pretty terrible.
Domestic Virgin America in first - only had one short flight, but it was a good one. VX definitely better in first than other US domestic firsts I've tried (that doesn't include the fancy new transcon classes most of them are putting in), but it also feels like they're trying a bit too hard to be cool. Lounge OK but nothing exciting (pretty standard for the US).
Domestic Delta flights in first - generally pretty OK, but on regional jets there is a severe lack of overhead space, even in business. No bins of usable size on the left of the cabin. Lounges generally pretty good by US standards.
Domestic Air Canada (redeemed via Singapore) in business - only had one flight, but it was perhaps a notch above the US carriers. Good seat, good food. Great to have the option to do this via SQ, but man it would be nice to have online booking of *A flights...
Domestic US Air in first (redeemed on some leftover QANTAS points) - flights not terrible, but they cancelled a flight after what seemed to be minor weather delays, thus introducing a much longer delay that caused me some stress on whether or not I would make it to an etihad flight. I guess the race-to-the-bottom nature of the US domestic airline industry means the others would likely have done the same, but I am still crossing them off my list of acceptable airlines. They're clearly in transition to being AA, anyway.
Etihad in first - had about 26 hours in 787 first, pretty spectacular flights. Food and wine very good indeed, and I think the onboard chef thing works pretty OK (although there might be some individual variation, first chef was more useful than the second). Seat absolutely the best I've ever been in in either seat or bed modes. IFE could have a bigger range, but video and sound quality much better than normal on planes... Very happy with these flights, considering how long I was in the air I got home feeling much better than I was expecting (cabin pressure and humidity related, perhaps?).
Only negatives are the lack of window blinds (if I was trying to sleep on a daylight flight the light would have been annoying), and that AUH is still a pretty terrible airport compared to somewhere like Changi. The current lounge at AUH is terribly unimpressive for a home base first class lounge - it's supposed to be an interim lounge, but it's been like that for so long they don't get to hide behind that anymore. Having said that, the lounge in IAD is very nice (similar to the LHR lounge, and I guess the other remote EY lounges). AUH is excessively crowded, and the security check (even connecting airside to airside) is a pain - queues in complete chaos and no way to move quickly through to the premium lines.
The booking process for those flights was a bit of a pain too, requiring the help of the VFF team here on the forums... But we got there eventually, and they were damn good flights.
Cheers,
Danny
