This is part two of SV41, from Riyadh to Los Angeles. In the first installment of this report, I covered the short flight from RUH to JED and the ground stop in Jeddah. This flight covers the 16hr journey from Jeddah to Los Angeles. Saudia 777-300ER First Class Service Around 4am the new crew boarded […]
Review: Saudia First Class Lounge Riyadh (RUH)
The first class section of the Saudia Alfurshan Lounge in Riyadh (RUH) proved to be a very comfortable place to spend a 7.5hour layover between flights. To reach the lounge, simply follow the signs for “Alfurshan Lounge”. You will proceed up an escalator or elevator to a check-in desk where your boarding pass will be […]
Air Europa 787 Business Class is Underrated
While I had higher hopes for Air Europa than for Aerolineas Argentinas, they were still quite measured. Not only did Air Europa’s 787 in business class beat expectations, it was actually a very competitive product and enjoyable ride. Air Europa uses a business class seat like Royal Air Maroc but without the odd “dual level” […]
Flying Lufthansa First Class with Hollywood Stars, Oligarchs, and Executives
Yesterday I flew Lufthansa First Class from Los Angeles to Frankfurt. The 8-seat cabin was filled with a mix of A-list stars, a former Lufthansa executive, and a wealthy Ukrainian family. It made for an interesting flight… I am looking forward to wrapping up the travel season for awhile, but have one more trip this […]
Review: Uzbekistan Airways Business Lounge Tashkent (TAS)
While not Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal in Frankfurt, the CIP Hall at Tashkent Airport offers an impressive lounge service for premium class passengers and those willing to pay for it. This service is free for business class passengers on Uzbekistan Airways. Coach passengers are welcome to use the facilities at a cost of $200 each. […]
Sorry TPG, I Can Assure You United Business is Better than Economy Class on ANY Airline
I have a great deal of respect for the The Points Guy and the empire he has built. I know Brian Kelly personally and am friends with Zach Honig, the site’s Editor-in-Chief. But I’m so disappointed by a review of United Business Class posted earlier today. I’ll give you the executive summary: staff writer JT […]
Review: SAS A330 Business Class Los Angeles to Stockholm
I was expecting the worst, in all honesty. My last transatlantic flight in SAS business class was a disappointment and Lucky had flown the same LAX-ARN route weeks earlier and had reported particularly poor service. But the flight turned out not just to be good, but great. Why? Ironically, it was the service… My uncle and I arrived […]
Lufthansa First Class: Still Amazing After All These Years
It was shaping up to be a bad flight. First, the miscreant passenger in 2K. Next, an odd interaction with the purser and my other seatmate. Finally, horrid turbulence for several hours. But once the dust settled, I can again attest that Lufthansa First Class remains one of my favorite ways to fly. I was traveling with […]
Review: Lufthansa Premium Economy Frankfurt to Los Angeles
How about the flight back? I already published a detailed review of my outbound Los Angeles to Frankfurt flight. How would the return flight, also in premium economy, compare? I enjoyed a nice breakfast in the Senator Lounge prior to the flight, through I figured onboard food would be decent out of Frankfurt. Premium Economy passengers […]
Review: Lufthansa A380 Premium Economy Los Angeles to Frankfurt
Last month I had the chance to fly round-trip from Los Angeles to Frankfurt in Lufthansa’s Premium Economy product. I previewed the flights already, but here is the full review of the outbound flight. My inbound flight review is here. > READ MORE: I Survived Lufthansa Premium Economy Fight Nearly Breaks Out on My Lufthansa […]
Lufthansa Premium Economy is Much Better on a Daytime Flight
I’m back from Germany and have a far more favorable impression of Lufthansa Premium Economy for daytime flights than for overnight flights. I complained about my inability to sleep in Premium Economy on the trip over. Interestingly, on the way back I slept for five hours…not without interruption, but almost. I’ll chalk that up more […]
Fight Nearly Breaks Out on My Lufthansa Flight Over Seat Recline
Yesterday I wrote about my Lufthansa Premium Economy experience. I’ll post a more detailed flight review next week, but want to dredge up the old seat recline debate this morning. About 30 minutes after takeoff, just as meal service commenced, a disturbance broke out. A passenger became irritated that the man seated in the row […]
Review: EVA “Royal Laurel” 777 Business Class from Amsterdam to Taipei
If there is one thing I want you to take away from this review, it is this: EVA is not a Mainland Chinese carrier. So often, we encounter reluctance to flying EVA from Award Expert clients. The usual response goes something like this: “Oh, we don’t like Chinese carriers”. By that, they invariably mean Mainland Chinese […]
Great Flight on United Airlines 787-9 Business Class
I don’t want to be known as the United Airlines fanboy, but I turned lemons into lemonade earlier this week and had a great flight to London on United’s new 787-9. Thanks to a mechanical delay out of Burbank, I was able to reroute my trip to Europe to depart from LAX and make Augustine’s […]
Review: Frankfurt to San Francisco in United Polaris First
With United retiring its 747-400s at the end of October, I am taking advantage of every opportunity to fly the Queen of the Skies this year. This trip, as I explained here, came about at the very last moment but worked out splendidly. I was particularly interested in this route because I flew FRA-SFO in […]
Review: Lagos to Johannesburg in South African Airways Economy Class
The question of getting to South Africa from North America using Star Alliance is a challenge if you want to use your miles and fly in business class. United Airlines does not serve South Africa, and South African rarely makes award space available in business class on its flights from Washington or New York. SA also […]
Review: Lufthansa Senator Lounge Hamburg
In Aesop’s Fables’ “The Tortoise and the Hare,” we learn that slow and steady wins the race. Sometimes I wonder if that will be Lufthansa. Here’s what I mean — while other carriers raced to provide fully lie-flat beds in business class, Lufthansa held back, only completing its retrofit last year. While others (even United) are introducing […]
Diagnosing a Problem: Booking Lufthansa Award Space with US Airways Dividend Miles
14 NOV 13 UPDATE: Leaked US Airways Memo: Agents Forbidden to Manually Request Award Space US Airways has not left Star Alliance yet, but if you are trying to book a Lufthansa award next year it might as well have. Something very odd is going on right now at US Airways with Dividend Miles agents unable […]
Review: Hyatt Andaz Liverpool Street London
Let’s face it: there are not enough days of the year for me to review every hotel in London. Does that mean, however, that I cannot authoritatively recommend one even while others have yet to be reviewed? Certainly not, and this review will serve to introduce you to the Andaz Liverpool Street hotel in London, […]
Havana, Kabul, and 25 Countries: 2012 Year in Review
2012 has been an incredible year, filled with exotic travel and great adventure, though you’d hardly know it if you’re a regular reader of Live and Let’s Fly. Award Expert really hindered my blogging this year and as I look back on what I’ve done versus what I’ve written about the last 12 months, I […]
