Posts Tagged ‘LHR’

Beginning October 25, 2009, British Airways will start flying Male, Maldives nonstop on a 777  from London’s Gatwick airport. The flight operates 3x weekly and is a 3-cabin plane (Business/Premium Economy/ Economy). The outbound from London departs on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays arriving the next morning, while the return departs Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The return is a daylight service. It appears that the service will be year round.

Along with Maldives, Britsh Airways will launch Sharm El Sheikh and Punta Cana. It’s a shame they aren’t running the flights from Heathrow, but British Airways’ holiday flights now tend to operate from Gatwick.

I was wondering which full service European airline will take the “plunge” (pun intended) and fly to the Maldives first. I remember reading about LOT planning flights from Warsaw and Virgin Atlantic wanting to start flights from London- Heathrow. Guess they were too slow as Sri Lankan airlines launched the flights first. Personally, I was betting on Lufthansa from Frankfurt or Swiss from Zurich.

Normally, I don’t blog about other airline’s routes aside from Star Alliance, but the Maldives are a destination that’s close to my heart and to which I plant to return to. Plus, I could redeem some of my AA miles on the new flight and try out Club World cabin on British Airways.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

This is just in. I might be going to HAJ for 3 nights towards the end of March 2009 to see some friends. I’m brining along a friend, so the routing should be fairly simple. Hopefully after this trip, she’ll be more keen to fly crazy Kinglobjaw style routings.

This is what I’m looking at. ORD-PHL-FRA-HAJ and back on US to FRA and LH to HAJ. Of course, I was able to price other routings for the same base fare price, such as ORD-CLT-PHL-FRA-HAJ-LHR-PHL-BWI-ORD on US/LH/BD/UA. There’s also the option of flying via a triple connection on LH/US only: HAJ-FRA-PHL-CLT-ORD. I haven’t ticketed yet, so we’ll see what happens. Maybe I can convince her to earn more miles. She’s a statusless frequent flyer with United so at least she will earn miles. Maybe that will convince her to satisfy my need for jet lag, more flights and more miles! =]

I didn’t share the fare price yet. It’s not mileage run material, but nonetheless a decent deal- $489.60 roundtrip including all taxes & fees. US Airways was by far the lowest fare, followed by SAS which was roughly $200 dollars more roundtrip.

Interesting thing about the flights is that thie FRA-HAJ-FAR short hop is operated with a Lufthansa A320. Just 175 miles. Neat! I wonder if they offer a service on the flight. Probably do, they’re Lufty!

 

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

I’m big on “oldie” stuff, so when I heard about Virgin Atlantic doing a commercial set in 1984 I had to see this. Even in current movies, shows, whenever they do flashback scenes I get very “into” it.

So it seems Virgin Atlantic has been flying for 25 years now. Congrats! Lately, there have been rumors of them merging with BMI and joining Star Alliance under Lufthansa’s coaching. Yeah right! Like Branson is going to let “The Wolf” take things into his own hands.

Virgin Atlantic is uniquely linked to US Airways by way of America West Airlines. America West’s limited international service called for a partnership with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic for transatlantic flights. With the US Airways merger, British Airways was knocked off, but Virgin Atlantic remained.

At this point in time, the relationship between the two has considerably cooled. Dividend Miles members do not earn preferred qualifying miles on any revenue VS (Virgin Atlantic) operated flight and it only gets worse when you want to redeem miles. Dividend Miles members can only miles redeem for economy class, meaning no Upper Class award tickets. Given that US and VS barely compete on the transatlantic market is there are reason why should these ties be severed? Maybe, just maybe if VS and BMI do indeed merge, a Star Alliance membership may be the only path to US and VS getting “cozy” again. ORD-LHR-HKG-SYD in Upper Class is what I wanted to do for a while now! And I wanted to do it using my Dividend Miles.

Anyway, here’s the 25- “Still Red Hot” campaign.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

I was just playing around on Singaporeair.com and pricing fares for “R” class between London Heathrow and Sydney via Singapore for a one way trip I could end up taking in July 2009. 

 

 

 

For those who don’t know, “R” class on Singapore Airlines is the Suites cabin on the Airbus A380. You cannot upgrade into the Suites cabin and you can’t use miles to reserve an award for an A380 Suite. At this point in time, only $ talks when it comes to the A380 Suites.

Naturally, I was wondering how much elite qualifying and redeemable miles I would earn in the Dividend Miles program should I choose to book “R” class. You won’t believe it, NOTHING! Iwas stunned!

I will have to look into this and probably contact someone from Tempe. I find it very odd- I’m just not sure whether it’s a typo or if they are serious. I understand no earning miles/ less miles earned on cheaper fares like the BMI “V” fare, but “R” class on SQ? Come on! I’m sure it’s just a typo. Well, I’m hoping! Should report back soon.

 

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

The following is the entire US Airways transatlantic schedule from both PHL and CLT for Summer 2009. What I found interesting is that all destinations this summer are DAILY.

While looking through the schedules, I realized FRA will now get three A330-300’s daily and photographers will get a chance to snap three of these jets together. The three will be on the ground simultaneously from 10:15AM to 11:10 AM local time, given all three are on time. Also, MUC  for the first time ever, has been upgraded to A330-300 service, while LHR has been downgraded to a 767.

If I recall correctly, US has nine A330-300’s. It seems no spares will be left behind on the ground since all will be in used every evening on these routes:

• PHL-MAD
• PHL-CDG
• PHL-FRA (X2 daily)
• PHL-MUC
• PHL-MAN
• PHL-FCO
• CLT-FRA
• CLT-LGW

I didn’t list the Rio De Janeiro schedules as they are still pending approval from the DOT, but you can read about the proposed schedule in one of my earlier posts.

Here are the 2009 PHL/CLT transatlatnic flights:

 

From Philadelphia, PA

 

PHL-DUB (Dublin, Ireland) Aircraft: B757

US722 PHL (8:40AM)  - DUB (8:15AM+1)
US723 DUB (11:15AM) - PHL (1:55PM)

 

PHL-SNN (Shannon, Ireland) Aircraft: B757

US776 PHL (9:20PM)  - GLA (9:00AM+1)
US777 GLA (12:00PM) - PHL (2:20PM)

 

PHL-GLA (Glasgow, Scotland) Aircraft: B757

US768 PHL (6:45PM)  - GLA (6:45AM+1)
US769 GLA (10:15AM) - PHL (1:00PM)

 

PHL-MAN (Manchester, England) Aircraft: A330-300

US734 PHL (8:45PM)  - MAN (8:45AM+1)
US735 MAN (10:55AM) - PHL (1:40PM)

 

PHL-LHR (London-Heathrow, England) Aircraft: B767

US728 PHL (10:40PM) - LHR (11:05AM+1)
US729 LHR (1:05PM)  - PHL (4:20PM)

 

PHL-LGW (London-Gatwick, England) Aircraft: B757

US728 PHL (6:20PM)  - LGW (6:55AM+1)
US729 LGW (9:50AM) - PHL (1:10PM)

 

PHL-BHX (Birmingham, England) Aicraft: B757

US726 PHL (6:05PM)  - BHX (6:25AM+1)
US727 BHX (8:45AM) - PHL (11:50AM)

 

PHL-LIS (Lisbon, Portugal) Aicraft: B757

US738 PHL (8:25PM)  - LIS (8:30AM+1)
US739 LIS (10:35AM) - PHL (1:25PM)

 

PHL-MAD (Madrid, Spain) Aicraft: A333-300

US740 MAD (6:30PM)  - MAD (8:00AM+1)
US741 MAD (12:50PM) - PHL (3:15PM)

 

PHL-BCN (Barcelona, Spain) Aicraft: B767

US742 PHL (6:30PM)  - BCN (8:35AM+1)
US743 BCN (12:10PM) - PHL (3:15PM)

 

PHL-CDG (Paris, France) Aicraft: A330-300

US754 PHL (6:15PM)  - CDG (7:55AM+1)
US755 CDG (11:30AM) - PHL (1:55PM)

 

PHL-BRU (Brussels, Belgium) Aicraft: B757

US750 PHL (8:35PM)  - BRU (10:25AM+1)
US751 BRU (12:45PM) - PHL (3:25PM)

 

PHL-AMS (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Aicraft: B757

US798 PHL (6:35PM)  - AMS (8:35AM+1)
US799 AMS (10:45AM)  - PHL (1:15PM)

 

PHL-ZRH (Zurich, Switzerland) Aicraft: B767

US710 PHL (6:20PM)  - ZRH (8:25AM+1)
US711 ZRH (10:25PM) - PHL (1:30PM)

 

PHL-FRA (Frankfurt, Germany) Aicraft: A330-300 X2

US700 PHL (4:15PM)  - FRA (6:10AM+1)
US701 FRA (11:10AM) - PHL (1:15PM)

US702 PHL (8:20PM) - FRA (10:15AM+1)
US703 FRA (1:10PM) - PHL (3:50PM)

 

PHL-MUC (Munich, Germany) Aicraft: A330-300

US706 PHL (6:40PM)  - MUC (9:00AM+1)
US707 MUC (12:30PM) - PHL (3:55PM)

 

PHL-FCO (Rome, Italy) Aicraft: A330-300

US718 PHL (6:05PM)  - FCO (8:45AM+1)
US719 FCO (11:15AM) - PHL (2:55PM)

 

PHL-MXP (Milan, Italy) Aicraft: B767

US716 PHL (3:50PM)  - MXP (6:00AM+1)
US717 MXP (10:00AM) - PHL (1:10PM)

 

PHL-VCE (Venice, Italy) Aicraft: B767

US714 PHL (6:25PM)  - VCE (9:05AM+1)
US715 VCE (11:35AM) - PHL (3:20PM)

 

PHL-ARN (Stockholm, Sweden) Aicraft: B757

US752 PHL (8:15PM)  - ARN (10:45AM+1)
US753 ARN (1:00PM) - PHL (3:55PM)

 

PHL-OSL (Oslo, Norway) Aicraft: B757

US788 PHL (8:35PM)  - OSL (10:35AM+1)
US789 OSL (1:00PM) - PHL (3:45PM)

 

PHL-ATH (Athens, Greece) Aicraft: B767

US758 PHL (4:15PM)  - ATH (9:10AM+1)
US759 ATH (11:45AM) - PHL (4:00PM)

 

PHL-TLV (Tel Aviv, Israel) Aicraft: A330-200

US796 PHL (9:15PM)  - TLV (3:30PM+1)
US797 TLV (11:15PM) - PHL (5:10AM+1)

 

 

From Charlotte, NC

 

CLT-LGW (London-Gatwick, England) Aicraft: A330-300

US732 CLT (6:45PM)  - LGW (7:40AM+1)
US733 LGW (10:40AM) - CLT (2:25PM)

 

CLT-FRA (Frankfurt, Germany) Aicraft: A330-300

US732 CLT (4:30PM)  - FRA (7:00AM+1)
US733 FRA (11:45AM) - CLT (3:15PM)

 

CLT-CDG (Paris, France) Aicraft: B767

US770 CLT (4:30PM)  - CDG (6:40AM+1)
US771 CDG (12:00PM) - CLT (3:35PM)

 

Have a nice clicK life,
-Mark

December maybe the time for egg nog, holiday lights, kisses underneath the mistletoe, but it’s also a time when most mileage runs take place.

This year Kinglobjaw is running after some miles all the way to Dublin, London, New York and San Juan.

I’m booked on more US Airways widebodies within 7 days than I was aboard in the last 7 months. My SJU runs all involve widebodies as PHL and CLT schedules send a mix of 767’s and A330’s to SJU. Not to mention Europe, which is all widebody except Dublin (a 757 ETOPS).

Many firsts for me on this trip:

• First lenghty flight on an US Airways 767 in Envoy (CLT-PHL is nice but something longer would be nicer)
• First visit to the PHL US Airways ‘F’ terminal club while I wait for my PHL-LGA which is opearated by a US Airways Express Piedmont DASH-8
• First US Airways 757 ETOPS flight
• First ever flight on Star Alliance partner bmi
• First ever visit to the London Heathrow’s Star Alliance Terminal (1)

The good news is the fares are so low I won’t even have to leave milk and cookies for Santa. Santa may give you great gifts, but he won’t get you that low cpm (cents per mile) with a fun and creative routing.

As always flying gets me all excited, and like all the other times, I am thrilled and can’t wait for my upcoming trips.

It’s December and I was able to book some mileage runs to secure my status, but can I get the other things December has to offer? I think so! Hopefully I’ll be able to find egg nog at one of the airports where I transit. I’ll see the beautiful holiday lights New York or London, and if I’m very lucky I’ll get a kiss underneath the mistletoe. But first, I have to find that mistletoe.

Have a nice, while not getting drunk on egg nog, clicK life,

-Mark