I’m off on my next adventure, this time to Eastern Europe with a focus on SkyTeam carriers with an opportunity to finally try out a Delta Air Lines product I have been waiting to review for years.
To Eastern Europe On A Trio Of SkyTeam Carriers Plus Bulgaria Air
I found some “saver” Delta Air Lines award space on the A330-900neo from Los Angeles to London in Delta One business class. Award seats on that flight is almost as rare as sighting a unicorn…
Building the trip around that flight, I thought it would be a great opportunity to try out TAROM, the flag carrier of Romania. Thanks in part to your input, I decided to book the Airbus A318 from London to Bucharest direct rather than go through Amsterdam to catch a 737-700 with a “real” business class cabin onboard.
Last time I tried to fly the A318, Air France swapped it for an A319 and I am hoping that will not be the case this time…I have yet to fly the “baby” of the A320 family.
I’ll spend 21 hours in Bucharest and stay at the Marmorosch Hotel, part of the Marriott Autograph Collection (there is no Hyatt affiliated property in Bucharest).
Then I’ll take a TAROM ATR-72 turboprop in business class on a short journey to Sofia, Bulgaria.
I stepped foot into Ruse, Bulgaria for an afternoon back in 2011, but have not been back since. I am greatly looking forward to exploring the capital city and staying at the Hyatt Regency Sofia.
For my return, I am super excited to try out a brand new Bulgaria Air A220-300 from Sofia to Amsterdam. Bulgaria Air has a “real” business class seat (as opposed to simply booking middle seats) and I am quite looking forward to trying the flag carrier of Bulgaria.
Finally, I’ll fly on KLM A330 back to the USA. That’s a rather tired product by now in World Business Class (2-2-2 seating with B/E Diamond seats), but I took the award space I could get…
CONCLUSION
I will offer first impressions of these flights, but the trip report (just to warn you) is going to take awhile. Before I get to it I need to finish the Asia report, then compose the Turkey report and share about the trip I recently took with my son. A lot to talk about in the weeks ahead on Live And Let’s Fly!
image: Bulgaria Air
I stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Sofia last year. It was great – Nice gym with a lot of sparkling new equipment and the Breakfast was great too, including an a la carte menu. They even upgraded me.
Only if all FAs were like the thumbnail….
So true. Ambassadors of their country. Those are prestigious positions for many working for their national airlines.
They are in many countries but of course the demographics in the U.S. mean we often get the worst applying for those positions and companies are sued for not hiring them.
In normal countries being a flight attendant is not a life long career but something for youth before they have kids.
Sued for not hiring who?
I can’t imagine how lonely and sad someone had to be to care what a flight attendant looks like.
Is it odd to want to see beautiful things instead of ugly things? Do you prefer a beautiful beach like Bora Bora or Trunk Bay to Long Island or Virginia Beach? Wouldn’t you want to see a young, vibrant. and energetic face in the aisles instead of a senior citizen always with a sour puss at having to do their job?
Bad analogy. People might want the beautiful beach but not care about the looks of the person serving them their drinks.
Buy flight insurance before you depart.
Bulgaria Air has a nicer J cabin on the A220 than Air France. Interesting
Matt, last week I flew Delta One from JFK-LAX on the A330 900 NEO. You are going to love it. The suite is excellent, as is the video offerings. The pre-departure bubbly is served in real glassware and the food was just excellent. Very quite and comfortable aircraft. We had seats 6A and 6J and could not have been happier. Bon Voyage….
What does a one-way “saver” D1 seat go for these days? I thought the lowest pricing was only available with round trips.
Booked with Air France. 108K and $5.60. Not cheap, but wasn’t bookable via Virgin. Used Delta miles for the LHR-OTP-SOF in J for 25K miles.
There’s something to be said for the low charges though. I briefly at the possibility of a LH/LX business redemption from the USA, the total amount of charges came to a cool €970 just for the one way- that’s not even a cheap all-in price for a revenue ticket.
*briefly looked at
Sounds very interesting, I have always wanted to visit Bulgaria and Romania (and Moldova) but still haven’t managed to do it. I hadn’t realised TAROM offered business class on the ATR- is it in the back? I have some fond memories of that setup on CSA (complimentary elite upgrades too!).
They don’t have business class on the ATR. But you can purchase a seat in the first row that has a bit more leg room. They do not market it as business class.
Sounds like there’s a lot to look forward to.
who cares?
Looking forward to reading your trip report on this — I’ve booked tickets to Sofia and Bucharest in early September. Looking forward to trying out TAROM.
You’re going to love it…well, except for perhaps Old Town in Bucharest. Stay tuned!
Tarom ATRs are new and nice, but leg room is terrible. Flew it yesterday, flying it again tomorrow. Sis you pay the 25€ for the first row seat?
FYI Bulgaria and Romania are entering the so called air Schengen on 31st of March. This may change where you enter/exit Schengen