bisonrav

3255 awarded (as per the sig), 3265 travelled, and 6045 by December 8th (not my TP year end, this is just the last booking I have in this TP year which ends in Feb) if all current bookings go through OK. It's been a strange year for work travel, normally I would expect to do three or four LH flights, this year I've had just one plus a shedload of SH which I've tended to POUG. I'll probably slide in one further LH to China at some point and possibly the US, though I'm probably less motivated to set up work LH than I would have been when trying to maintain silver, that's been one of the slightly unexpected side-effects.

The funny thing is that it doesn't seem like all that much flying. The big earners have been relatively compressed time-wise, and the rest is really normal holiday and fairly rapid work trips (it's very typical that these are less than 24 hours wheels up to return wheels down).

bisonrav

As a little interlude before the next flights tomorrow, and following the problems with the bookings I had for next year, I checked my big October run, which is a serious marathon based around a MUC->DOH->CMB->PVG return over three days on Sri Lankan. The first and last legs are QR codeshares and were on the A350, but when I logged into the manage my bookings, I had the ominous "timings have changed" warnings. As it happens, the new timings were largely an improvement, but I found the A350 had been replaced with the 777.

Cursing inwardly I went to the QR site to look at the new seating arrangements, and annoyance turned to little whoops of joy when I discovered the outbound is in the Qsuite. Sadly, this is a day flight and the last leg is on the crappy old QR 777 2-2-2 on a serious 2am to 6 redeye, but nonetheless I think I'm happy with that outcome. I'd been rather jealous reading peoples' accounts of the qsuites, and was looking at ways I might get onto one next year.

mrvincent

I found the 777 2-2-2 setup more than comfortable. Still better than CW.

bisonrav

The trip to Nice passed off reasonably uneventfully. For once I had a couple of nights away on a short haul, and the weather was fabulous, so that in between two solid days of software architecture meetings it felt like a holiday. The price was notable: the original fare I took in economy was Ł95: I had colleagues coming in from Stanstead in Ryanair and Gatwick on EasyJet, and by the time seat selection and TA fees had been added in I was at least 30% cheaper than either. And that's not a particularly cheap BA fare: the previous trip was Ł72 return. So it's clear that BA are becoming very price competitive in Economy.

Having said that, I took a POUG in both directions to keep the TPs ticking over. The outbound flight had originally been booked on an Eastern E170, but that was swapped out to a Titan 737, which I was curious to experience anyway. And essentially Titan were fine - the cabin seemed a little roomier than normal, but it was essentially CE in different uniforms, really very little that was different in any way. Standard BA full English, full bar service, a perfectly good experience. One plus point was that the toilet was absolutely spotless, helped probably by having a stainless steel bowl, but still much better than BA. Uber was very good in Nice by the way.

Passing over the Wednesday evening defeat and a couple of very nice meals on the seafront in Nice, which incongrously is dominated by the view of the quite busy airport, and I found myself in the lounge with a colleague who was on the same return flight. He had paid for an exit row seat (thirty quid) but had been assigned 25B regardless, fortunately he was able to select his original seat on check in. It wasn't a massively loaded flight which was lucky for him. He seemed happy with the outcome regardless and said he wouldn't claim back the fee, and enjoyed the lounge - it's always nice to be with someone not jaded with lounges. As anyone who has passed through Nice will know, it's a comfortable enough and pleasant place, little limited on food and drink options. I would have killed for a shower, as we'd been sitting in a bistro on the seafront for a couple of hours and it was pretty hot and sweaty. But showers there are none.

There had been a thunderstorm at Gatwick and flights had first been held on the taxiway, and then the direction of the runway reversed, so the incoming flight was delayed a couple of hours. Boarding was via the bus gates, and it's an absolute scrum there, but we were able to get to the front before any serious queues had formed and they seemed to do group priorities fine, anyway I was onto the plane and settled into 1C very easily. Very lightly loaded CE, I think 4 or 5 of us only, but for the first time this year (leaving out B2Bs) I had a repeat of a CSM from a previous flight, and she recognised me and was very chatty and attentive throughout. Though in fact I chatted more to a sort of sergeant majorish FA - big old bloke who had been a truck driver before switching to check-in and then taking a FA role during a reorganisation. He was very knowledgeable about BA, a bit dismissive of AC and the "enhancements", and generally a pleasure to talk to. He was also able to explain something I'd noticed a few days ago when there was a late night procession of planes circling the house and FR24 showed no landings and takeoffs from Gatwick. Apparently they were doing runway maintenance and were switching to the alternative runway, which I didn't know happened - this is the parallel taxiway which is good enough for small planes and even up to a 777.

So that was very nice. Less nice was the Croque Monsieur. For those who haven't had the pleasure of the BA Panini substitute, it is essentially sticky cheese on toast with a slice of processed ham in the sandwich bit. It is pretty vile. Didn't help that it was served upside down and about 40 minutes after the cooking programme ended so the toast was wangy (and not toasted at all underneath). I chomped my way through it manfully, but I won't be repeating the experience. To be fair, the CSM offered me another meal as well (they had plenty loaded; I suspect some of the CE passengers had decamped to the LHR flight which wasn't delayed).

And that was about it for another trip. The next one is the Sunday day trip to Hannover to take a JU52 pleasure trip in just over a week, but I have another aviation related event on Monday, when I'll be on stand duty in the trade section of the Farnborough Air Show - looking forward to that. And the PHX do is now second and third in my forthcoming bookings page, which is quite exciting.

bisonrav

Veering a little off topic, it's been a fairly eventful week. Farnborough was great - first time I've been, and there was a lot to see. I was very interested to look at the Comac stand where they had examples of their regional jet as models with cutway interiors - the private configurations are wonderful. And picked up a couple of brochures on that and the 919, which is presented rather like the up market car brochures you pick up in salesrooms. Into the innovation area, and Rolls Royce were handing out "build your own Trent engine" kits, which seems to me a rather innovative way to solve the 787 problems. In the display, the A350 was very impressive on the slow passes, while the MRJ on the first airshow outing was, well, a bit dull and tentative. Very enjoyable day, blisteringly hot, the only regret being missing the 727 because I had to get home.

And to complete the week, I decided to invest my Iberia Avios in a little adventure. 102K + Ł130 gets me from Madrid to Santiago in Business Class, whence I'll be hopping over to Easter Island for an overnight on LATAM. Actually TP run territory that, 280 TP for Ł640. That'll be in April, in the next TP year. Next year is going to be much more about having a bit of fun flying to interesting places than gaining TPs, but it doesn't hurt to pick up a few here and there.

mickeyjaw

Am I the only one that likes the old QR 777? Granted it's for one specific reason only: The cabin is very open and the seats aren't very tall so when the aircraft banks in a turn you have an amazing view out the opposite side - you can see out of pretty much every window in the cabin.

mrvincent

My wife loved it because there's a press-once button at the top of the seat (assume for cabin crew) to make the seat flatbed/upright. She took delight in randomly pressing mine to send me horizontal while watching a movie, my arms and legs flailing all over the place.

On the view side of things, I remember getting a spectacular one of approach to SYD on a QR 777. Not sure if it was enhanced by the aircraft or if it was just a wonderful view.

And bisonrav I cannot believe your planning next year's points already...

bisonrav

Indeed - four trips already planned for next year - three booked. GIB mini-break, BKK ex AMS with embedded Kathmandu, Easter Island via Santiago are all booked. Some sort of family trip to Malaysia for CNY in F is planned when I get all of the necessary goodies from BAEC. There's not a lot of point in booking anything else this year as I'm wildly overshooting the GGL target as it is. I'll do a bit more planning later in the year, at present the aim is simply to retain gold which the current bookings do, but I might stretch for GGL retention and maybe the GUF1s.

The LATAM flight to Easter Island is in a 2-2-2 format - for a five hour day flight I'm happy with that and have broken my usual rule and taken a window seat without direct aisle for views of the island. I must admit I was amazed by the good value for J redemptions to South/Central America on Iberia: I had to insert 12000 avios for Santiago but Lima is available very easily for 86000 plus Ł130, and I was quite tempted by Havana too (I know it's not America, but it's the same sort of idea). I very nearly did some very uninspiring RFS style redemptions and hotel bookings with the stash.

bisonrav

onobond

Great for you!
And how old was the plane?

bisonrav

Just back, another 80 TPs in the bag, and a really enjoyable day with the exception of Hannover Airport which is dreadful.

BA first, and a very lightly loaded CE cabin (3 people) and a gold welcome (probably not unrelated) with handshake etc. Perfectly nice flight, nothing much to say about it. The bacon in GF was a little undercooked. Really loved pod parking. Oh, and the first view of the new video. I missed the old one. What have I become?

I had a bit of a wait in Hannover, and it wasn't all that easy to figure out what to do to meet up with the JU52. I went down a long corridor and eventually found an information desk where the woman who spoke English knew nothing, and the man who knew didn't speak English. I have dreams that are less convoluted than that (in fact last night I had one where I was whisked to a gate in LCY using a strange lift contraption, and I woke up in a cold sweat because I was flying from LHR, but I digress). Anyway they sent me back along the long tunnel, up a floor, and to the Lufthansa desks, who told me to go through security to gate A3.

Which I did, and found myself in another underground passage with a lot of fifty something and rather excited looking Germans, and one six year old boy. The crew turned up (two pilots, a flight engineer and a FA, and there was a little speech with much hilarity which was lost on me because it was not surprisingly all in German. And then a bus to the aircraft.

About this time I turned my mind to how I was going to grab a seat in row 1, and eventually hatched a cunning plan to get off the bus and move directly to the wing while the Germans were examining the plane from afar. I did so, took a photo, and looked at the wing, which is just as corrugated as the pictures suggest. The whole effect of the JU52 is one of uncompromising rigidity, it's quite a contrast to the bendiness of a 787. Anyway my plan worked more or less, just one German managed to scramble up the ladder in front of me, and I settled into 1B (there is just A and B).

This turned out to be a slight error, as the FA proceeded to give me some critical safety instructions regarding the door and sliding window in German, but I nodded and thought of what Ian McKellan would do, and got through it. The A/C in the plane was provided by the sliding window, and I had to control it, eventually closing it when we were up at a few thousand feet and the throb of the engines was getting a bit much. And the engines do throb, it's quite a characteristic sound. After a bit of flying, the captain turned off the seatbelt sign, the flight engineer got out of the way (he had a sort of jump seat arrangement) and everyone was allowed to go into the cockpit for a look. Very airy and a good view actually, lots of the instruments are very modern (graphic LCD displays).

What else? You get bumped around a lot, it's quite turbulent. Great views around Hannover. There's a very cute safety card (see above). The interior was cleaner than the A319 I came out on. Above all it is just so much fun, absolutely completely recommended, one of the best days out I've had recently, great views of the city. Oh yes, and it points upwards on the ground, that was a surprise, small tail wheel and has to lift that up before taking off so it's a little less straightforward than the modern types, has to lift the tailwheel and only then rotate up.

Back down to earth and into Hannover airport for a long wait for the evening return - there's an exhibition/viewing platform for 4euro80 (don't bother, it's rubbish) and a landside lounge (good if you like frankfurters and day old potato salad, otherwise an OK view of the runway, and not much else). I left that with loads of time to spare, then got stuck in the most ridiculous security queue. People were randomly getting fast tracked, and eventually I fast tracked myself by following the chancers, but the fast track was just led behind the passport checks (two very bored and lazy police who only woke up when a pretty girl presented herself) into the same channel, before splitting off left and right again. It was absolute chaos and a lot of tempers got frayed. Then into a gate area with no seating, and one of the most half hearted attempts at group boarding I've ever seen, with no signs, groups 123 being called together and everyone piling in. It's coming to something when Germany is less well organised than Southern Europe, yet that is the bizarre point we've reached. Hannover is a truly dreadful airport to fly BA from.

Anyway onboard, two people in CE this time - my 50th BA flight this year - and immediately handed a bottle of water and given a handshake by the CSM, who also took a champagne bottle to someone at the back, presumably a gold. Lifesaver, that bottle of water. Had a chat with him about PHX and he was gobsmacked by the price for F. Easy flight back, wasn't impressed by the portion sizes of the Piri Piri chicken salad but hey ho. Off the flight and literally leapt through the closing doors of the B gate shuttle (they go red, but I leapt through anyway) and was driving out of the pod car park less than 25 minutes after deplaning.

And that's it for a month - unless something urgent comes up at work, the next flight is August 23rd, to OTP.

bisonrav

Quite sombre in mood this evening, having been following the story of the Swiss JU52 that crashed in the mountains yesterday.

It's a very strange feeling, very much a "there but for the grace of God" sort of thing. A couple of weeks ago I was being bumped around in one of these birds, but although it's quite a rocky ride, you do have faith in the sheer Germanic solidity of the damn things. Having the smell of the fuel and the interior still in my nostrils, and the view into the cockpit still quite vivid, it's difficult not to project myself into what happened.

I guess you take more of a risk than you think when you step outside the mainstream and fly in vintage aircraft. I'll do it again, I think, but this evening I just feel desperately sorry for the enthusiastic passengers who, just like me two weeks ago, had been excited to be flying in such a wonderful bird, and their loved ones.

bisonrav

It has been a bloody long time since I was last airborne. Three and a half weeks to be precise.

Truth be told, I'm getting a bit twitchy.

But in just under 6 days time I'll be doing the OLCI for OTP on the PHX run, and if all goes well on that I'll be a major chunk of TPs further towards my goal. The only fly in the ointment there is the stubborn refusal of the last OTP-LHR leg to allow a POUG - with that I could theoretically achieve GGL before my final big trip of the year in late October, MUC->DOH->CMB-PVG return, but that needs all TPs to post no problem on-time including one leg on MH which experience tells me takes a while.

The twitchiness is having consequences though. Mainly the idea of heading to Barra next year with the toddler. We watched a few beach landings together, looked up and into each others' eyes, and nodded, conspiratorially. So we're now booked for a day trip ex LGW on May 24th. We're also discussing the possibility of a Westray/Papa Westray.

I've also got rather interested in Wingly, which seems like a relatively low cost way of having a bit of fun in light aircraft. @KARFA has warned me on the PHX WhatsApp group that it's probably a little dodgy in terms of safety, but I still fancy it. The site is well worth a look anyway.

And one more work trip in the process of being booked, to PHL and back from BOS, which is going to be in, horror of horrors, WT. And worse than that, it's using On Business points. Which turn out to be pretty useful because you don't need a Saturday night stay to get a low fare. Unfortunately I suspect these won't be upgradeable, but it'll be interesting to go back to Y. All the more so because I'll have flown back from Singapore the day before on an ex AMS. In fact in three trips over four weeks I'll have gone from F to J to Y. Oh, and there's a day trip to Madrid the day after I get back.

That'll cure my twitchiness if nothing else does.

THEOBCMAN

MANtraveller

Bisonrav, I just wanted to say that I am really enjoying the regular updates - keep them coming !

I have been GGL and CCR for 3 years now, but don't be surprised if I reach out for some advice on future adventures,

I tend to do mostly USA via AA and BA and spin them out with additional stops, I tell my boss that I can only get to RDU via LAX !, I also do plenty of European short haul and include a least one Qatar trip per year for work or personal. Seems a bit vanilla to your travels.