The entry foyer on the new Swiss 777-300ER – Image: Youtube | Swiss
Swiss International Airlines, part of the Lufthansa Group, will take delivery of their first of nine new Boeing 777-300ERs (77W) on January 29, 2016. Miriam Oliviera, the airline’s Head of Marketing & Public Relations for the Americas, confirmed the date in a phone conversation on Thursday.
The 777 series is a new addition to Swiss’s previously all-Airbus fleet. Currently, the Zurich-based carrier relies on the Airbus A330/A340 series wide-bodies for long-haul service, as well as the Airbus A320 series for its narrow-body fleet.
34R, in Doha – ready for takeoff and hopefully a peaceful flight
In my professional capacity, I recently gave a presentation to a group of stakeholders in the travel industry about the law on unruly and disruptive airline passengers. I took a gamble on introducing the subject under the strap line ’œnuts and basic bitches’ to several bemused faces in the audience, who naturally wondered where this was going, and what the link to disruptive passengers would be. The gamble seemed to pay off, as I talked them through two high-profile incidences of allegedly unruly passengers which were widely reported in the media. I wanted to take a deeper look at recent incidents and also explore some of the rules and regulations surrounding mid-air incidents.
The first one involved the former Korean Air executive, Ms. Cho Hyun-ah, who forced a Korean Air flight bound for Seoul in December 2014 to cease taxiing and return to the gate at New York’s JFK airport to have a member of the first class cabin crew ejected. It is alleged that the crew member served Ms. Cho macadamia nuts in the bag and not on a plate. Dubbed ’œnut rage’, the furious Ms. Cho took umbrage with the hapless flight attendant and allegedly forced him to kneel in apology, before throwing him off the parked aircraft. It then pushed back again and continued its journey on to Seoul.
It caused considerable scandal in South Korea, and led to Ms. Cho being fired, arrested, and briefly imprisoned. I would say she paid a stiff consequence, but not everyone does.
A Lufthansa Airbus A380 at SFO
Traveling from the Bay Area to Europe? Chances are you may find yourself on the Star Alliance trunk route from SFO to Frankfurt. I did recently as I kicked off a trip to Germany, India, and Southeast Asia, celebrating my final few months of freedom between a journalism job and medical school. In my experience, flying to Lufthansa’s ’œFraport’ mega-hub from San Francisco generally meant a trip on United’s venerable ’“ and noticeably aging ’“ 747-400s. While they are beautiful birds from the outside, they don’t make for the best long-haul economy class flights: no seatback screens, no power outlets (although that has since been corrected), and cramped seats, unless you can bump up to Economy Plus or better. Interested in something new, I leapt at the chance to try out Lufthansa’s A380 flight on the same route.
I was glad to be able to book the flight on United ticket stock (ticket number beginning with ’œ016’), which meant I earned both premier qualifying miles (PQMs) and dollars (PQDs) for the flight. With the current UA premier qualifying system, you earn PQMs when you book non-UA ticket stock with Star Alliance partners, but not the PQDs – which are needed for elite qualification.
Heading to the back of the plane, to then go upstairs
Curiously, the confirmation code United provided me allowed me to manage my reservation on Lufthansa’s website, but did not work for online check-in. I found a Lufthansa-specific code buried in a separate email. A bit confusing, but not a huge deal. One downside of booking a Lufthansa-operated flight through United is that you are not always able to pick a seat in advance. That ended up being the case for this flight, and I was dreading the possibility of a back-of-the-bus middle seat. Luckily, seat availability was still good when I checked in online, even though the flight ended up being full.
I had only flown the A380 once before (on Emirates) and assumed that the upper deck was first and business class only. To my surprise, there was an ’œupper deck’ tab on the seat selection window during online check-in. It turns out that on Lufthansa’s newest layout for some of its A380s, there is a premium economy section in the front of the lower deck and a small section ’“ five rows, to be exact ’“ of standard economy at the back of the upper deck. I snagged a window seat at the front of the latter section, thrilled that I would finally get upper-deck bragging rights (though without the usual business class accouterments that usually go with it).
Somehow understated, but an amazing and easy to find mark in any airport – Photo: Bernie Leighton | AirlineReporter
I seem to live in airport lounges these days. I’ve noticed a theme, especially within the United States. The concept of luxury, decadence, and modernity have been eschewed by small packs of American cheese, rubbery cookies, and buy-your-own ill-textured food provided by Sysco. On top of that, the lounges are usually dirty. The showers feel more “grandmother’s basement” than luxury. In the case of one overseas lounge, it cannot pass a health inspection to save its life!
Etihad Airways has had great lounges in the past, but now again succeeds with the introduction of Facets of Abu Dhabi brand. Etihad knew they had to not just lead, but cement that lead, as best in all classes. To be fair though, the older-style Etihad lounges are starting to merely be the best, not years beyond the competition.
That said, according to Calum Laming, Etihad’s Vice President of Guest Experience, what they came up with is really not a mere lounge.
The bar is the central fixture of the new Etihad JFK lounge. It’s truly beautiful. – Photo: Bernie Leighton | AirlineReporter
He is right.
Imagine if you could, with the help of an airport facility design firm called Gensler (they do shopping malls as well), create something inside an airport that felt nothing like it, save for the spectacular ramp view?
Well, they did it. I knew, previously, that Etihad takes its design cues from Fairmont hotels. Except when you step into the lobby of this lounge, it feels as if you have left JFK; teleported to Vancouver, and walked into the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel.
A Nature Air De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter/VistaLiner at La Managua Airport, Quepos, Costa Rica – Photo: Daniel T Jones
It is easy to find travel sites touting Costa Rica as the new Hawaii for tropical vacation destinations. I had intended to test this theory for some time, and see some sloths and monkeys in the process. Having found a discount fare for my girlfriend and me from Tijuana to San Jos via Guadalajara, my AvGeek/travel skills were put to use to figure out how to get from the Costa Rican capital of San Jos to our intended destination, the Pacific coast town of Quepos.
A nice view of Volcán Arenal through the captain’s sun visor – Photo: Daniel T Jones
NATURE AIR: Background & Aircraft
Ten seconds of Googling later, it was readily apparent that roads, road travel, car rentals, and long distance bus service in the country were less than ideal. Not expecting to find many other options, as Costa Rica is a very small country (roughly 80% the size of West Virginia), I was pleasantly surprised to find not one, but two, choices for domestic air travel in the region. SANSA Airlines (Servicios Areos Nacionales S.A.) operates a fleet of eight Cessna 208B Grand Caravans from its hub at Juan Santamaràa International Airport (SJO/MROC). As nice as a ride in a C208 sounds, I decided to go with SANSA’s main competitor, Nature Air.
I chose Nature Air for a few reasons, the most important being that they fly the De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300, as well as a few Cessna 208Bs – but more on their fleet later. Specifically, they operate the ’œVistaLiner’ model, with oversized windows. As if that weren’t enough to choose them, they have some of the most amazing aircraft liveries you’ll ever see!
