eponymous_coward

Back to back redeyes and an arrival in Europe at 7 am, to be spent dragging yourself around all day like a zombie, just so you can fly with your friend and avoid spending money on dinner in the CLT terminal?

Personally? If it was me? "Sorry, buddy, for your FREE BUSINESS CLASS TRIP TO EUROPE FOR GOLFING you're going to have to connect from LAX and meet me in Charlotte. I'll be coming in from Pittsburgh. Mind buying me dinner? The on board dinner on those transatlantic flights isn't great; I recommend we skip it and get something in the terminal."

I would jump so hard at that if I was your friend it's not even funny.

JJeffrey

Even if you eat in the lounge, I find it impossible to go straight to sleep on the early east coast flights to Europe, like the 5:45pm JFK-BCN departure.

Even with the slightly upgraded food in the JFK FL, its still never enough to be considered a decent full meal (IMO). It's not even close to a proper F class lounge meal (CX, QF, BA pre-flight dining, etc.).

CLT-BCN departing at 8:40pm arriving 11:10am is a no-brainer. So much better. Snack in the AC, eat dinner on board, then go to sleep at a much more reasonable time. Book the multiple connections from LAX-CLT then watch for something better to open up.

ijgordon

Put the darn flights on hold at least!!!!

I think the departure/arrival times definitely push this toward the CLT routing.

reeg2

LAX-LHR-BCN?

golfingboy

Sorry - I am starting in PIT, but my friend is starting in LAX.

golfingboy

Nothing on AA and BA costs more than a Y ticket.

golfingboy

He is actually going to be paying for his ticket - just that we will use my miles for flexibility, but he will be "IOU-ing" me for the miles.

flyerCO

was already talked about. However that would incur the BA YQ penalty as it appears no AA flight is available.

eponymous_coward

Oh, so we keep getting "the rest of the story", huh? More detail comes out...

I still wouldn't be doing back to back redeyes (plus going PIT-LAX first) in order to hang out with him, spend extra time shambling around BCN jet lagged, just to get a slightly better free meal or free booze in JFK and make it easier for him to travel.

Hell, I'd probably book HIM through JFK and ME through CLT if it came down to it (giving him a more convenient travel path out of LAX if I really thought it would be more considerate of his travel needs, rather than making him connect to get to CLT, and thinking he might like the JFK FL). I think a friendship can survive a day separated on planes, and you'll have plenty of time to golf and bond once you get to Europe. I've done trips with buddies separated by plane travel where we meet at the destination airport (because we're starting in different cities); it works fine. You're going to be using the plane to sleep mostly anyway.

JDiver

Aircraft (seat, etc.) type and comfort, connections vs nonstop, airport convenience, seasonal weather effects, time in the air, fare costs, flight frequency in case of IROPS, etc. are some of the variables that I take into consideration as well as lounge access. But this is true regardless of airline, and may affect which airline I take as well - AA, AS, BA, CX, IB, LH, QR, WN, or others.

carlosdca

And you think AA F lounges are? Frankly, there is nothing special about the JFK F lounge. The IB lounges in MAD are superior to any AA lounge, IMO.

But the lounge you will have access to in BCN is a lounge shared with other airlines, not an IB lounge (I think it is called the VIP lounge. at least last time I was there). That lounge is nice enough.

Anyway, it is really a matter of preference.
For me, CLT has these advantages:
-Longer flight time (I definitely feel better after sleeping for 7 hours vs only 6 hours).
-Later arrival time (better chance for early check-in at hotel).
-Several flights PIT-CLT vs only one flight PIT-JFK (better in case of IRROPS)
-Shorter connection time (I don't care about the lounge)

I don't see what's good about the JFK option.

As far as eating before the flight to be able to sleep right away, that has not worked for me. Dinner service for the other pax can be loud and disturbing and lights are on. Also, at least for me, it is hard to pass on the nuts, rounds of drinks or ice cream (if offered) and I stay awake until dinner service is almost done.

LovePrunes

what on earth does it accomplish to fly west to catch a redeye east with your friend? be asleep at the same time as him on the same plane? not very interactive AT ALL. just meet him at JFK or CLT and be done with it

Microwave

I detest the Concept D 772 seats, truly the worst flat seats in the fleet. I'm not sure I'd change routing though, I'd probably still just pick the times that worked the best and leave it at that. carlosdca makes good arguments for CLT, I'd probably opt for that.

GetSetJetSet

No AA lounge is good enough to factor in to your decision.

golfingboy

Ok - so I was fixitated on BCN and never really looked into MAD. Realized DFW-MAD had 2 space open in business.

LAX-PHX-DFW (will monitor for space on LAX-DFW) had space open and gets in DFW at 220pm. My flight from PIT gets in at 2pm.

Considerably longer flight which means we get some good sleep and the arrival time while not as good as CLT is not too horrible (9AM). Put both on hold!

Yes, a little backtracking for me, but I don't mind to get better sleep and we will visit MAD instead of BCN (only 2 days before we need to be in Marbella to start our golf outing) and train from MAD to Malaga is much easier than from BCN.