One cubic foot. That’s roughly how much volume airlines grant you for the 9 inch x 10 inch x 17 inch “personal item” that goes under your seat. It’s a tiny allowance. Sure, you have a bit more space in your bag stored in the overhead bin. But nowadays many airlines are charging you for overhead bin access (THANKS, basic economy). Even if they don’t, nobody wants to be that guy who gets up every hour to get things from the overhead bin — especially if you’re sitting in the window seat.
So if you fly frequently, you put a lot of thought into what goes into your under-the-seat-in-front-of-you storage. The contents of your inflight go-bag are probably a good window into your personality and priorities when it comes to flying. In the spirit of sharing, I’ve compiled a list of the five essential things that I always have in my carry-on bag. Some cover the basics necessities, some are for fun, and some are for the AvGeek in me. And once you’re done reading my list, let’s hear what’s on yours!
So little space. So much potential!
So far, United has opened four of its flagship Polaris lounges: Chicago (ORD), San Francisco (SFO), New York / Newark (EWR), and Houston (IAH). We visited the Chicago lounge last year before it opened, and more recently we dropped by the one at SFO. Both were seriously impressive, with amenities like restaurant-style high-quality dining, showers, and nap rooms, with a dash of local inspiration. In short, everything we’ve seen from the Polaris lounges goes above and beyond. And we’re out to review the whole set.
Our next stop was the Newark lounge, which opened earlier this summer. Newark is United’s primary east coast hub and handles huge amounts of traffic, so a Polaris lounge here was a long time coming. We swung by on a Sunday morning and put the place through its paces. And between a delicious eggs Benedict and some relaxation with views of the ramp, we had a great time. Read on for tons of photos and an in-depth review — plus our analysis of how the place fits into United’s broader lounge landscape.
Fun times at the gate for the launch of United’s daily, direct service to London Heathrow (LHR) on a 787-8 Dreamliner. Photo: Kevin P Horn
United Airlines has been aggressively expanding its Denver hub over the last few years. Despite operating 471 flights a day and carrying 42% of traffic, the international routes have been limited to a few flights in Canada, a few south of the border, and the daily Dreamliner to Tokyo. Starting on March 24th, United re-launched, after a hiatus of a few years, seasonal, daily service to London Heathrow on a 787-8 as UA 27 and UA 26.
We were there for the inaugural flight and celebration for this exciting new route. This flight makes for three carriers serving London at once, with Denver’s biggest airline continuing expansion at the airport.
The A350 is at it again! Airbus’ fuel-sipping widebody is enabling another airline to turn a one-stop long-haul route into a direct ultra-long-haul one. This time around the carrier is Philippines Airlines (PAL), which currently operates its service from Manila to New York JFK via Vancouver using a 777. Starting in late October, an A350 will take over the route and will fly it direct.
The routing isn’t the only thing getting an update. The 777 currently flying to New York features a stale onboard product, but PAL’s brand new A350s feature a new onboard product that looks to be far better. That’s an especially good thing for passengers because the new direct route clocks in at a whopping 8,520 miles, making it one of the longest in the world.
Source: Great Circle Mapper
There’s already been some good coverage on this news, so here’s some links to our favorites:
- AusBT features some renderings of the onboard product. The highlight is a much-improved business class seat. It’s based on the Thompson Vantage XL design, which we’ve flown (and loved) most recently on SAS’ refurbished long-haul fleet. The PAL A350 will also benefit from the airline’s brand-new premium economy cabin.
- Reuters discusses the A350’s fuel efficiency. It also notes that Singapore Airlines is doing the exact same thing with its A350s as PAL is: using them to turn one-stop 777 routes into direct routes (as SQ is doing with its SFO, LAX, and New York services).
Source: Philippines Airlines
It’s great to see airlines put the A350’s (and/or Boeing Dreamliner’s) technological edge to great use. We’re excited to fly this route once it’s airborne!
JetBlue’s JFK operations base is a busy place
JetBlue’s Mint service has been around for a while now, but we were finally able to give it a try on the inaugural Seattle to New York City flight. And long as we were at it, we decided it’d be fun to give all three of the airline’s seating classes a try as well.
Mint is the airline’s business class product, Even More Space is their premium economy class, and then there’s standard economy (Core), which the airline bills as having the most legroom of any domestic airline.
We did the review across several flights on two routes: Mint from SEA-JFK, Even More Space from JFK-SEA in April, then in May we chose Even More Space from SEA-BOS and Core from BOS-PIT, PIT-BOS, and BOS-SEA.
SEA-JFK: Mint
There are 16 Mint seats on JetBlue’s A321s, which are the only aircraft in its fleet so equipped. And what lovely seats they are, especially considering that they’re available on domestic flights.
