27000 Miles in Y
 

Okay FT, my first trip report :) On Tuesday, 5 July I embark on my fourth European Adventure and my first as *G. 24 days, 13 flights, 3 train journeys, multiple Airport lounges, and 8 European countries. Of all my trips over the past two years, this one promises to be the second most exciting (nothing will beat the three weeks I spent in South Africa last year for the World Cup!) and for the first time I have had to apply for a visa to enter a country (The Ukraine).

The Route
AKL-BKK (Thai)
BKK-FRA (Lufthansa)
FRA-HAM (Air Berlin)
HAM-VIE-KBP (Austrian)
KBP-VIE-VCE (Austrian)
VCE-VIE (By Train)
VIE-BTS (By Train)
BTS-BUD (By Train)
BUD-DUS-LHR (Lufthansa)
LHR-GVA-FRA (Swiss)
FRA-NRT (Lufthansa A380 :) )
NRT-AKL (Air NZ)

The Experience
After spending a bit of time in Air NZ's premium economy cabin earlier this year I approach these long haul flights with a bit of apprehension - especially the LH 744 from BKK-FRA. I am putting a lot of faith in the Star Alliance Gold lounges to make the journeys that little more comfortable and will be seeking out spare seats wherever possible.

One thing that will be fun is seeing what kind of reaction I get going through the Lounges. I'm in my mid-20's and for the European segments I will be joined by my younger g/f. Using the NZ domestic lounges I feel decidedly young and that further enhances the experience as it is a reminder of how many more years I have left to explore.

Planning
In a word, putting together this trip was a nightmare. All up it took several weeks of research and planning to find a route that took me where I wanted to go and as there is no Ukraine Embassy in New Zealand my passport had to take a trip over to Canberra. Only took 8 days so there clearly are not too many Antipodeans travelling to Kiev at the moment :)

Work and Travel
And one more thing: I will be working the whole time too. The nature of my employment contract means that I can travel for weeks at a time and provided I continue to do the work, no annual leave is taken. So in between flying; sightseeing; visiting family in Hamburg, Kiev and London; and catching up with friends scattered around the place; I will be working as well. So one thing this report will look at is the practicalities of working in the cheap seats.

More to come

The Reviews
Making economy bearable: AKL-BKK on a TH 772
Another torrid LH long-haul: BKK-FRA on the 744
The better Deutschland airline: FRA-HAM with Air Berlin
Heading East: HAM-VIE-KBP
Back West: KBP-VIE-VCE
Europe by Train: Venice-Vienna-Bratislava-Budapest
More LH: BUD-DUS-LHR
A day in Geneva: LHR-GVA-FRA
Heading home, part I: FRA-NRT
Heading home, part 2: NRT-AKL

Sounds like it is going to be a good read. I`m doing one at the moment that is using trains through Germany and Paris to Brussels with four business class flights from Sydney to KL then KL to Paris and then back the same way. Good luck

subscribed to this, although I am off doing an epic journey of my own.

17 flights, about 8 trains, 2 weeks on a coach, a 3 day car journey and all in 66 days :D

actually leaving 2 days after you!

God bless you! lol

Seriously!! 27,000 miles in Y - wow!

It is my 4th long haul (New Zealand to Europe/Africa) in the past 2 years, all have been in Y with the exception of one leg in NZ's PE cabin. So by my conservative estimate that amounts to over 100,000 miles in economy class (and this does not include many Trans-Tasman and NZ domestic flights) I have yet to find the experience painful but that is probably because I have yet to taste the joys of first/business class travel.

Trip 1 (October 2009): AKL-BKK-FCO / LHR-BKK-AKL
The first trip to Europe was with Thai via Bangkok. I absolutely adored this trip - I was able to watch plenty of movies on the first leg to BKK. The 2nd leg to FCO took us right over India during the night and the mass of lights shining up from their mega-cities was amazing. I think that because it was my first journey to Europe my excitement took over.

Trip 2 (June 2010): AKL-SIN-JNB-KUL-AKL
I flew Singapore on the way to South Africa and Malaysia on the way back, but with decent stop overs. Again, all flights were comfortable and the excitement of heading over to the World Cup made the entire journey a breeze. Malaysia was insanely comfortable on the way home - their economy class product is the best I have experienced (and have flown economy in NZ, LH, SQ, MH, TG, EK, EY, BI, DJ and JQ. Of those, the Emirates 777 was the worst)

Trip 3 (October 2010): AKL-HKG-LHR-LAX-AKL
One week in London, flew there and back on Air NZ for the first time. Good service, comfortable seating and the transit through LAX was no worse then through HKG except for the lack of shower facilities in the holding pen at LAX for economy passengers.

Trip 4 (Dec/Jan 2011): AKL-NRT-FRA-NRT-AKL
Flew Air NZ to Tokyo on Christmas Day and got a NZ*S upgrade to PE. The extra leg room was superb, even had a spare seat next to me as well. This was a day time flight followed by a night in a hotel in Narita so when I arrived in Frankfurt on LH's A380 I was relaxed and full of energy. Coming home, my NZ upgrade to PE was confirmed and I had another enjoyable flight.

It really is a matter of attitude when flying economy. I cannot afford to fly Business/First and I guess that I do not know what I am missing out on. The idea of a lie-flat bed sounds wonderful, but until I have the money to buy it on a regular basis then I am going to enjoy each and every 26-40 hour journey to Europe in Y because it is the only way to reach new destinations.

I think your approach is wonderfully realistic, when i was your age (i'm 56 now), all of my travel was in Y. I never imagined travelling in C let alone F.

There were far more important things for me to spend my money on and back then, the internet and websites like Flyertalk didnt exist. As a consequence i wasnt very travel savvy and most bookings had to be done via a travel agent with far less choice.

Once i reached 50 and had more disposable income things changed and i started sampling the delights of Business and First. I still travel in Y to the U.S every year for my summer holidays and survive it without too much difficulty, my partner refuses to let me pay out for Business saying she would rather i spent the money on other aspects of the holiday.

When i travel alone for my winter holiday, i do pay (or use miles) for business and of course its much better, but if i could only travel in Y it wouldnt stop me travelling at all.

Great attitude, and good for you! Looking forward to reading your TR.

Making economy enjoyable: AKL-BKK on TH
 

Flight: TG 492
Seat: 54K (Y)
Flight Time: 11:30
Rating: Excellent

I have to start this review by stating that Thai 772 is probably the best economy offering in the sky at the moment. The entire flight from Auckland to Bangkok was a wonderful experience, especially in contrast to the horrid journey on Lufthansa from Bangkok to Frankfurt that followed this one! From leg room, to food, to service - Thai got everything right.

Check-in at Auckland was quick and efficient as usual. In never seems to take more than 15 minutes to get from the drop-off zone to the Air NZ lounge. Bypassing the crowd and using the premium check-in helps! Interesting to see that a Jetstar (low-cost airline) flight to Singapore was checking-in at the same time and the queue was Heathrow-esque. I contemplated taking photos but I felt too sorry for those waiting in line - their journey was going to be bad enough, they did not need someone capturing their experience for the world to see.

I arrived in the Air NZ lounge just as lunch was being served. Being winter in NZ there a very hearty beef stew and tomato soup was on offer. I grabbed a few servings of that and sat down to watch some Copa America. It is always slightly unnerving sitting in the NZ International lounge at Auckland as I am often the youngest there, and by some margin too. Several elder visitors looked at me questioning whether I belonged there, but after several visits I have gotten used to it, and besides I have earned the right. The midday departure meant that the lounge was fairly quiet and there was plenty of room to do some work prior to boarding.

On board, there was no pre-flight orange juice or water offering, let alone Champagne - such is the life back in Y. Thankfully the seat next to me was empty for the flight so there was plenty of room to stretch out and set up my temporary office in the sky. During the 11-12 hour flight I managed to get in a good 4-5 hours of work as space was not an issue. Speaking of space, Thai is particularly generous when it comes to legroom. None of this 31 inches that NZ and LH like to promote as being a comfortable way to make the 24-36 hour journey to Europe. With Thai, 34 inches is the norm and these extra 3 inches make the world of difference. Let's be honest, who couldn't do with 3 extra inches in their life!

Just a quick note of the food and service: Both were excellent economy offerings. The food did not taste like cardboard (my standard criteria for judging food in Y), and it was obvious that the flight was crewed all the way to Bangkok so that is another plus for flying Thai. Maybe I am getting cynical as I get older, but on most Y flights the food is rubbish and the crew sleep more than the passengers (LH seems to be the worst at this, with an almost non-existent cabin crew presence during long haul flights).

What really made the flight enjoyable was the view along the way. Being a day flight with clear skies the whole way, I was treated to some fabulous views of the islands around Australia and Indonesia. All up, I arrived in Bangkok in good spirits, well-fed, well-rested, and with plenty of work completed.

Up next: Another horrid LH long haul: BKK-FRA on the 744

Another torrid LH long-haul: BKK-FRA on the 744
 

Route: BKK-FRA
Flying: Lufthansa 744
Seat: 55J

Bangkok Transit
Arriving into Bangkok I had a very painless trip through security and into the Thai *G lounge. In brief:

• The lounge was very comfortable, with plenty of space and good wifi
• The shower was amazing, huge room and plenty of pressure
• Good hot and cold food offerings - rice and meat dishes, fresh fruit and the most delicious chocolate cake
• And, thankfully, just a short stroll from the lounge to departure gate

Flying LH's 744
My advice: Avoid! Seriously, I fail to understand how Germans (or anyone else for that matter) would come to a rational decision to fly on a LH 744 long haul. Uncomfortable seats, non-existent leg room, poor quality food, non-attentive cabin crew, and no personal IFE. Are they all masochists?

For me, it was the quickest and only realistic *A routing through to Germany and also allowed for a return to NZ on the LH 388 to Tokyo and the quieter NZ NRT-AKL flight, but still - never again.

Needless to say, I was not in a great mood when I arrived into Frankfurt at 6am in the morning. However, a very quick trip through border control and into the warm European sun helped as I made my way over to Terminal 2 for my Air Berlin flight up to Hamburg. 33 hours down, only 3 to go before I could finally lie down in a proper bed again.

Well, I for one find their airbus long-haul seats to be more inconvenient. As for In-Flight Entertainment (IFE), I can live without the slow to respond devices. Up until only a few months ago, before the a380 on NRT bound routes, both cabin crew and meal presentation in Y and C classes were well above the "744 average" to other LH destinations.

In "some ways", I believe, it all comes down to service quality...

Interesting so far. Looking forward to the rest.