Travel

[VaBelle35]

Some people in first class work it to get every penny out of it.

The guy next to me to Chicago asked for food every 5 minutes.  He had his regular meal and then he had the cheese box, the snack box and one other box from the Economy section.

The guy on the flight to Vancouver had a whole bottle of wine.

[Wobin]

Went on our first cruise this summer and chose Viking Ocean.  We liked the veranda, less than 1,000 passengers and the choice of itineraries.  We often sat at outdoor tables with dinner from the buffet and enjoyed the scenery.  Viking seemed to be more about the port stops than some cruises we looked at with mostly day-long port stops and a few overnights.  Lovely spa, entrance included, with an amazing massage (extra cost of course).

[VaBelle35]

I've been eyeing Viking for my first cruise.

[World Traveler]

I took a Viking Cruise many years ago in Russia. It cruised down the Volga River from St. Petersburg to Moscow. One of my favorite trips.

When you would stop off at various little villages along the way, the 200 people were separated into groups of 25.

It was wonderful to listen to the talks on board about the various places we stopped.

Taking another Viking Cruise in June in the Ukraine, with a post trip to Romania (Transylvania). Eager to travel with them again.

[FrostyBabe1]

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@VaBelle35 wrote:

For the first time, I booked a first class flight on a cross country flight.

I flew Delta one way and United the other.

I was surprised at the difference in service.

In any event, it is so much more civilized.

I just upgraded my work trip for next month on American.  I will be able to compare and see how they do.

I don't travel a lot, so I am happy to fork over the cash for a pleasant experience.  I'm starting to dislike work travel and this might make it easier in these last years of my career.

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I got spoiled with the complimentary elite/medallion upgrades on Northwest/Delta when I was traveling for work. Now I joke that I'm allergic to coach, but in reality, I only fly up front. Fortunately, I have lots and lots of miles and the "Cash & Miles" option that Delta offers to those with a DL AMEX makes it very easy to fly first for the cost of coach. 

[FrostyBabe1]

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@VaBelle35 wrote:

Some people in first class work it to get every penny out of it.

The guy next to me to Chicago asked for food every 5 minutes.  He had his regular meal and then he had the cheese box, the snack box and one other box from the Economy section.

The guy on the flight to Vancouver had a whole bottle of wine.

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Oh, yuck! Hopefully he was just really hungry. Airline food is barely edible at best, at least domestically.  The "steak" I had on DL a couple of weeks ago was cooked to the doneness of a hockey puck. I do like that Delta provides the option of ordering in advance, but it doesn't make the food any better. 

[Alter Ego]

@FrostyBabe1 I can't speak for the meals, but I can attest that United's 1st Class Snack Box is quite nice.  My co-worker used to bring me some as her husband flew weekly and he wouldn't always eat it because they would go out for dinner when he landed. The snacks would last me 2/3 days, so I can't imagine eating that and more!

[VaBelle35]

I also liked that you could order your meai up front on Delta.

On the way out, there was only one option for the meal because they didn't stock enough of both meal choices.

[Alter Ego]

So, I’m reading a bit about this longest flight - the test flight from NYC to Sydney (19 hours, I think.)

There are health professionals on board and they are monitoring how people react to the long flight. But, it’s IMO a ridiculous test. The passengers are in first or business class and they are having exercise classes in economy. What could this possibly show when the sample is being manipulated?

When/if this route starts in 2022/2023, will they have exercise classes? Will economy customers have their meals carefully curated to correspond to sleep cycles? At any rate, it’s interesting to read about. If I lived in the NY area, I would book the flight. And it would likely be in economy.

[FrostyBabe1]

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@Alter Ego wrote:
So, I’m reading a bit about this longest flight - the test flight from NYC to Sydney (19 hours, I think.)

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Interesting article from someone who was on the flight:

https://thepointsguy.com/news/behind-the-scenes-what-it-was-like-on-the-19-hour-project-sunrise-flig... 

It's just one of a number of test flights that they're planning to do. There's a discussion on FlyerTalk and the flight time is really no shorter than a JFK-LAX-SYD routing, but in looking at the actual flight path on Flight Aware, it appears that they were trying to minimize overwater time. 

Would I do it? Possibly. Not in coach. I don't do that even domestically. I can't really see them having exercise sessions on revenue flights. And they'd have to reduce passenger loads in order to carry enough fuel, so I'm not sure how they'd make the flight profitable. 

I believe they're also testing the feasibility of a LHR-SYD route.