Qatar Airways is the launch customer of the Airbus A350, and this past Thursday I had the opportunity to fly on the inaugural commercial A350 flight from Doha to Frankfurt.
Usually it's a big deal when an airline takes delivery of a new plane (just look at Etihad and their A380), but in this case it was even bigger than that, since Qatar Airways was the first ever airline to take delivery of the A350. So it wasn't just a big deal for Qatar Airways, but also for Airbus.
I had the chance to attend the Qatar Airways A350 delivery ceremony in Toulouse a few weeks back, which included a 45 minute media flight. I was curious to see how my impressions of the plane differed when actually flying it on a longer journey.
The awesome thing about this experience was that there were a bunch of avgeeks on the plane, so with these flights there's not only the excitement of flying on a new plane, but also the fun of getting to see a bunch of old friends.
The post Qatar Airways A350 Business Class Inaugural Flight appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
Previous installments: Introduction: Paris for the Holidays, Saying Goodbye to American’s Old Business Class, and a Suite at the Park Hyatt Vendome American First Class Lounge Chicago O’Hare and Business Class, Chicago – Paris Park Hyatt Paris Vendome Executive Suite Paris is a fantastic city to experience food. But it’s also a city with a […]
The post Avoiding Tourist Traps: Good Places to Eat Near the Eiffel Tower and Picasso Museum in Paris appeared first on View from the Wing.
One of the awesome things about this hobby is that I learn something new every day. And my lesson for today is how to assign Etihad seats online, courtesy of reader RH.
I've always only booked Etihad award tickets using American AAdvantage miles, and I've been under the impression that you can't select Etihad seats online when booking through a partner airline. So my strategy has always been to ask for the Etihad record locator when booking the ticket with American, and then phoning up Etihad for the seats.
That's an easy enough process, since when you phone up Etihad the phone prompt asks if you're in first or business class, and if you are, the hold times are virtually non-existent.
The post How To Select Etihad Seats Online appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
Each week we publish a number of fantastic deals on the blog and in Quick Deals. Most deals don’t last long, but some hang around for awhile. In an effort to keep you up to date, we have gone back through each of the deals posted over the last couple of months to let you know which ones are still active. Here are the deals still alive as of January 18, 2015. Through January 18…
The post It’s not too late – Deals still alive as of 1/18/2015 appeared first on The Frequent Miler.
Short overnight flights, like flying Eastbound East Coast to Europe, can be frustrating. You leave at night and arrive in the morning and have a full day ahead of you, but to really take advantage of it you need to sleep. (Here’s how I beat jet lag.) New York, DC, or Boston to London or […]
The post The Solution to Sleeping on Short Overnight Flights appeared first on View from the Wing.
We arrived at Melbourne Airport at around 12:30PM for our 2PM flight to Sydney.
There's a separate domestic terminal in Melbourne Airport, which is nice enough, though certainly not memorable.
We decided to check bags for this sector, so quickly found the business class queue, where there was no wait.
The agent that helped us was friendly, and had our boarding passes and baggage tags printed within moments.
The post Review: Qantas Club Melbourne MEL appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
I spent Thursday night at the Battle House Hotel, a Marriott Renaissance property. It was booked at my host’s $99 rate there, so a fantastic value for arguably the nicest hotel in town and certainly the nicest one near my morning meeting. The lobby of the hotel is fairly grand. When I checked in my […]
The post Review: Battle House Renaissance in Mobile, Alabama (and My Strangest Taxi Experience) appeared first on View from the Wing.
One of American's lesser known partner airlines is Gulf Air, which I recently flew in business class between London and Bahrain. The ticket between Europe and the Middle East cost just 30,000 miles one-way in business class, which is quite a good deal.
I was pleasantly surprised by Gulf Air's onboard product, between their flat beds and onboard chef. While I don't think they're quite to the level of Emirates, Etihad, or Qatar Airways, they're a solid option, especially given how much award availability they release.
I've been asked a few times how to search award availability for travel on Gulf Air, given that the space doesn't show on the websites of any of Gulf Air's partner airlines.
The post How To Search Gulf Air Award Availability appeared first on One Mile at a Time.