Tag Archives: airlines

adventure, Middle East, Türkiye

A quick jaunt to Istanbul… (part six)

Featured photo is of the Istanbul Airport area as we flew over it.

Finally, Friday morning arrived, and it was time to go back to Germany. Specifically, we were going to be flying to Frankfurt, which is about a twenty minute drive from our house. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I was a little worried about traffic getting to the airport, so I encouraged Bill to check us out of the hotel by about 9:00 AM for our 12:45 flight. Although the traffic wasn’t that bad going to the airport, it turned out to be a good call to get to the airport early, especially since Istanbul is not in the European Union.

On our last morning, a harpist came in and played soothing music. It was very pleasant. She played beautifully, and chose selections that were decidedly less weird than Bossa Nova versions of “Like A Virgin” and “Beat It”.

After breakfast, we went back to room 1711, packed up our bags and went back down to the reception. Bill swiftly settled up, and we were lucky enough that a cabbie was already waiting out front for a new fare, so we didn’t even have to wait for a taxi. The taxi driver was the only one of the three we used in Istanbul who was willing to take Turkish Lira. Well… the other two probably would have, too, but they clearly preferred euros.

A couple of views of the huge airport below… Technically, it’s still in Istanbul, but a good distance away from downtown.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Istanbul’s airport is quite new and HUGE, located about 30 minutes away from our hotel in Maslak. It’s not even fully built yet, either. When you enter the building, you have to go through a metal detector and put your bags through a scanner. This is in addition to the usual security procedures that you go through when you have a boarding pass. I probably need to read up more on security issues in the Republic of Türkiye.

We got through the first layer of security, and then had to find our respective baggage drops. Because I was flying business, I had to go to a separate counter in a different area than the economy bag drop. I don’t know how Bill’s experience was, but mine was impressive. I had to ask someone where the business class drop was, and he said it was section “L”. I wonder if the “L” was for luxe… Bill’s drop was in section “B”, I think.

Anyway, the Turkish Airlines business class counter is in its own area that sort of has its own lounge before you even get to the business class lounge! I walked right up to a man who spoke English, noticing that there was no red carpet in the Istanbul Airport for business class passengers. 😉 The guy patiently waited a few minutes while I found my Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles number. He entered the data for me, tagged my bag, and directed me to the business class lounge, which I opted not to use. Bill would not be able to go in there with me.

We made our way through the second layer of security, which involved the usual metal detector and putting our carry on stuff through an x-ray scanner. Then we walked through the first of many shopping venues. Istanbul Airport has a lot of really high end shops, but also plenty of places to get souvenirs and a bite to eat. I was impressed by the number of restaurants. They kind of put Frankfurt Airport to shame.

One thing I noticed in the airport, as well as in Istanbul in general, was a lack of seating in public areas. Because there weren’t many places to sit and we had some time before our flight, Bill and I decided to have something at an Italian cafe. I ended up having avocado toast on sourdough with two poached eggs, salad, and a big glass of orange juice. Bill had a latte. The lady who waited on us invited us to sit at a four top table, rather than the two top we’d originally chosen. I appreciated that very much! It was considerate of her to do that for us.

This was 9 euros, but it was fresh, satisfying, and delicious!
This was 14 euros, and very healthy.

After we had our break at the Italian cafe, enough time had passed for us to make our way to the gate. But as we headed over there, we stopped at a store to pick up some Turkish Delight, magnets, and dried apricots for Bill’s daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids, and a couple of boxes of chocolate and a magnet for us.

While Bill was making his purchases, I was noticing some really interesting looking restaurants, a couple of which were U.S. based and not available in Germany! But there was also a place that had what appeared to have Anatolian cuisine. If we go back through Istanbul by plane, we’ll have to check it out.

After a lengthy and somewhat confusing walk to Gate 9 AB, Bill and I waited until it was time to board. This time, the plane was there on time, and boarding was relatively easy. I had chosen seat 5F, a change from my original choice of 2E. I wanted to sit by a window, and it looked like no one was sitting in seat 5E. Of course, it turned out that a married couple had taken the aisle seats in row 5. That was no big deal at all. There was so much room on the plane! I was, once again, simply amazed by it! Between my seat and the other seat was a large console. And, on this flight, we had entertainment monitors on the seat backs in front of us.

You can’t tell, but my foot is NOT touching that seat in front of me. I have my leg fully extended. I’m about 5’2″ tall.
A look at the seat next to mine. It’s like a recliner!

Unfortunately, the service on this flight was not as good as it was on the flight from Frankfurt to Istanbul. It was competent enough, I guess… but noticeably less warm and attentive. It’s probably best to write about this in a list form… and I might sound a bit difficult. But, keep in mind that we spent $1500 on my round trip short haul ticket. For that amount of money, I do expect good service, rather than just competent service. So, here’s my list of complaints.

  1. Pre-departure drinks

Once again, the flight attendant, a rather young and cocky looking male, came around with juices. He didn’t immediately offer the same selection of juices as the flight attendant did on the way to Istanbul. He did have all of the same juices available, but he didn’t initially offer all of them, nor did he identify them. And my orange juice didn’t have a slice of orange in it, as it did on the way down. It’s not a big deal at all, but I did notice it.

2. No Menus

On the flight to Istanbul, the flight attendants handed out printed menus that explained everything that was going to be offered with the in flight meals. There was a list of available drinks, and each meal choice was described, although not very thoroughly. I appreciate menu descriptions, because there are a few things I can’t eat. On this flight, I only saw a few people up front get menus.

3. No verbal description of the meal

When it came time to place my order, the same male flight attendant asked me if I wanted fish or beef, or one of the meals offered to the economy class, chicken or pasta. There were no descriptions. He didn’t even tell me what kind of fish was being offered. I did end up selecting the fish, while the people next to me both had the pasta, which I noticed they nicely plated for business class, rather than just giving them the plastic containers that the people in economy got.

The meal itself was okay. The starter was smoked salmon with some kind of slaw and a single shrimp on it. There was also cheese, eggplant salad, bread and butter, and a delicious chocolate eclair. The fish turned out to be some kind of dense fleshy variety– maybe swordfish or shark. It might have been sea bass. I honestly don’t know, because the flight attendant didn’t bother to tell me, or apologize for the lack of a menu. There’s a big difference between trout, salmon, and tuna, you know.

4. Bread service and wine

The same flight attendant brought around a bread basket with warm breads. He barely showed me what was in the basket and asked me to point to which roll I wanted. I tried to point to the one I preferred, but he just gave me a random one. It was pretty perfunctory and not impressive at all. He brought me some wine, but never bothered to ask if I wanted water or something else.

Again, not anything earth shatteringly bad, but it was noticeably poorer service than his colleagues on the other flight, who were obviously more interested in doing their jobs properly. And when I finished the wine, it took him a long time to come back and collect the empty glass. He picked it up when he brought out the bags of hazelnuts.

I like smoked salmon.
What the hell is this?
I forgot to take a picture of this on the plane. They are good.

5. Attitude

That particular male flight attendant seemed pretty much over his job. He was outwardly a bit rude to me. When we were descending into Frankfurt, I was leaning forward in my seat and he demanded, “Madame, do you have your seat belt on?” I assured him I did, and instead of smiling, saying “thank you”, and being friendly, he just sort of smirked at me and almost rolled his eyes. By that point, I was getting pretty exasperated with his not too subtly concealed asshole behavior.

His colleague seemed much friendlier and more sympathetic, but she spent a long time assisting a gentleman a couple of rows in front of me. I wondered what her male colleague’s problem was. Was it me? Did I specifically do something to offend him? Or does he just want the perks of being a flight attendant, without actually doing his job properly?

Maybe he doesn’t like fat, middle-aged, American women traveling alone in business class. Perhaps I should have heeded Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s advice to dress up for my flight. Or maybe he just isn’t generally suited to the service oriented jobs that require interacting with the public with kindness and consideration. I’ll bet he would never take it upon himself to pre-emptively clean and deodorize the lavatory for me after a windy fellow passenger had used it, though, as his colleague did for me on the way to Istanbul.

I busied myself taking more pictures of the clouds… I liked that the airline’s WiFi worked, as did the monitors showing our progress from Istanbul to Frankfurt.

Overall

I thought it was a good flight and I am impressed by Turkish Airlines. I would definitely fly them again, if the opportunity arises. Their business class product is mostly better than Lufthansa’s– at least when it comes to the actual seat and leg room. But that flight attendant who was looking after me was a bit of an asshole, in my opinion. I don’t think I did anything to warrant his snarky, inattentive, half-assed behavior. And at $1500 for a ticket, I do expect better service than what he delivered… even if it does make me sound like a high maintenance prima donna.

We landed in Frankfurt about 20 or 30 minutes early, so we had to wait about ten minutes before we could park the plane and disembark. Once we did that, I got off the plane as quickly as I could. I needed to find a loo. But first, I had to go through passport control. The young German police officer sitting in the booth asked me what I was doing in Germany. I said, “I live here. There’s a SOFA card at the back of my passport.” He quickly found the card and waved me through, but not before giving me a charming smile when I said “Dankeschön” to him. The cocky flight attendant could take a lesson from the passport control guy. 😉

I felt a little sorry for the guy who was on the other side of the booth. He was getting the third degree from passport control about his decision to enter the European Union. They were asking him about his profession and his citizenship status. Yikes!

It took some time to get our bags. Mine came out early, but Bill’s was not removed from the aircraft until near the end of the line. But then, he WAS in the cheap seats.

We got a taxi home, and I was soon left sitting there bewildered at our whirlwind trip to the Middle East. I’m now especially glad I went with Bill, even though we didn’t do as much as I had hoped we would. It turns out he has to leave again on Sunday. He’s got to fly to the United States and work there next week. I’ll be all alone, buying Christmas presents. I wish I’d had a chance to buy some art in Türkiye, but maybe another opportunity will arise and we can do some proper shopping. And maybe next time, Bill can join me in business class. I’ll bet that cocky twerp flight attendant would not have acted the way he did if Bill had been with me. 🤨

Anyway, so ends the “blow by blow” account of my quick trip to Istanbul. I’ll soon do my usual “ten things I learned” post to end this series. Stay tuned!

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Middle East, short breaks, Türkiye

A quick jaunt to Istanbul… (part two)

Featured photo is of a skyscraper near our hotel.

Once Bill got final approval to go to Istanbul, he arranged to put Noyzi and Charlie in our usual “Hunde Pension”. Then we had to pick a flight. Ordinarily, I try to fly on Lufthansa, because I’m collecting points that I’ll probably never get a chance to use. But again, Bill had to use the cheapest option to get to Istanbul, and I wanted to be on the same flight with him, albeit in business class. 😉

Lufthansa or Turkish Airlines?

Originally, the company travel agent wanted to put him on a flight that would make it impossible to get the dogs to the Hunde Pension before he needed to be on the plane. I thought we might end up on an early evening Lufthansa flight that would get us to Istanbul at 11:00 PM, since Istanbul is two hours ahead of Frankfurt. We finally settled on a Turkish Airlines flight leaving Frankfurt on Monday, November 17th at 2:45 PM. It was more expensive than the Lufthansa flight would have been, and cost twenty euros more than the mid morning Turkish Airlines flight the travel agent had suggested.

I like to fly business class on flights within Europe, and probably will fly business next time we go to the USA, too, if we can afford it. I earn more points on those flights, and they offer some convenient perks, like lounge access, free checked bags, and higher weight limits for bags. I mainly like business class because it’s less cramped. I don’t mind flying economy if I sit next to Bill, but since he was flying the cheapest fare in economy and it was a separate booking, there was no guarantee we’d be sitting together. So, since we have the means, I fly business. It gives me a chance to write reviews, too. I think it’s funny that they call it “business class”, when so many businesses require their employees to fly as cheaply as possible!

The least expensive Lufthansa business class ticket I had been looking at would have been about $800. But, since we flew Turkish Airlines, which had more convenient times, it ended up costing me about $1500. Bill’s economy round trip ticket on Turkish Airlines was in line with what a Lufthansa ticket would have been– about $300.

I remembered flying on Turkish Airlines once, back in 1996, with my friend, Elaine. We flew from Izmir to Ankara, but were not able to find any other flights heading east toward Armenia. I remembered liking Turkish Airlines then, but I didn’t have especially high expectations when I was a broke Peace Corps Volunteer in my 20s. I also didn’t get the greatest initial impression of Turkish Airlines by their rather wonky Web site, which keeps sending me ads, but wouldn’t recognize my new Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles ID number. But, I resigned myself to knowing that at least I’d get the chance to experience an airline other than my usual and trusty Lufthansa.

This was a last minute trip, though, and if I’m honest, neither Bill nor I were feeling particularly excited about it. He had spent more than half of October away, and likely has to go away again in early December. Then when he comes back, there’s another conference at Ramstein, which is about an hour away from where we live. After awhile, all the “TDY” stuff gets pretty tiresome. It would have been nice to do a celebratory trip for our anniversary, rather than travel on business. But, at least Bill still has a good job, and this was a great chance for me to see more of the world.

As the days got closer to departure, I started reading up on Maslak. I knew it was far from Taksim, the area where Elaine and I had mostly been in 1996, but I read there was a metro nearby. And I remembered visiting Armenia two years ago, which has really come up in the world since I left in 1997. Surely it would be okay in Maslak… Well, as I found out, sometimes ancient cities are slow to modernize. This is not to say that Maslak is “third world”, but it was not the most tourist friendly or pedestrian accessible area. I’ll elaborate on that later.

Frankfurt Airport

On Monday, November 17th, the day after our 23rd wedding anniversary, we took a taxi to Frankfurt Airport. We weren’t even a mile from our house before we almost had an accident at the roundabout near our neighborhood. The cab driver, who happened to be Turkish, almost hit someone who violated German traffic law. Fortunately, he had good brakes and fast reflexes.

When we got to the airport, we had to search for the Turkish Airlines baggage drop. I was the first person in the business class line, and was literally standing on a red carpet as I waited for the desk to open. A very officious lady invited me to drop my bag. She asked me if I was traveling alone. I said that my husband was traveling in economy. She invited him to drop his bag with mine, which was really nice of her. I was impressed. She even put a priority sticker on his bag.

I stand on the red carpet…

Because I was traveling with Bill, I decided not to use the business class lounge. It would have been the Lufthansa lounge, which I’ve used a bunch of times, anyway. Bill and I made our way to the gate and looked around for something to eat. I would have waited for the flight, but I get really cranky when my blood sugar tanks.

After finding the proper gate, we walked back the way we’d come and ended up having sandwiches at a cafe in the middle of the airport. As I ate my overpriced tuna sandwich, I couldn’t help but miss the restaurants in other airports. For some reason, Frankfurt Airport doesn’t have the greatest selection of eateries. But then, I could have gone alone into the lounge and had whatever Lufthansa was offering. The beer was good, at least!

Bill had a chicken sandwich and I had tuna with avocado.
I think we were both already tired!

Our flight to Istanbul ended up being about 20 minutes delayed before we could board. I thought it was because of the weather, but my German friend later told me there was also a lot of traffic at the Istanbul airport that affected the flight to Frankfurt. She explained that Istanbul has the second busiest airport in Europe, and is the largest privately owned airport in the world. Having now seen the new airport, which was opened in April 2019, I can understand why traffic might have been an issue! I’ve also just learned that the airport isn’t even fully built yet. That will happen in 2027.

Turkish Airlines flight from FRA to IST…

Once we got on the plane, I was legitimately impressed. On short to medium haul Lufthansa business class flights, you get a seat that is just like the seats in economy class, but the middle seat is empty. On my Turkish Airlines flight, I had a bigger seat with a console between me and the guy in the aisle seat. The leg room was very generous. I probably could have extended my legs without touching the seat in front of me. I actually did do that on yesterday’s flight. The seat had an extra pillow and was well padded and generously appointed. I didn’t test out the seat’s adjustability, but on yesterday’s flight back to Frankfurt, I noticed the lady sitting next to me was using the leg rest that made the seat look like an honest to God recliner! It was just way better than what I’ve typically gotten on Lufthansa in business class.

Below are a couple of pictures that show how much space I had between my knees and the seat in front of me. Granted, I’m short, and I have short legs, but this was the most generous leg room I’ve seen on an airplane in many years.

A flight attendant came around with pre flight drinks. She had lemonade, still water, orange juice, or strawberry juice (or raspberry– can’t remember now). I opted for the orange juice, and it was delicious! She’d even put a slice of fresh orange in it. It tasted like it was freshly squeezed. I think on Lufthansa, they give you bottled water.

This juice was so good!

Once we were in the air, the flight attendants brought out menus. On that flight, we had a choice of kebab or roasted salmon. But the meal started with Turkish appetizers which, frankly, I couldn’t easily identify. There was also salad, cheese, warm bread, and a double chocolate cake. I enjoyed some Turkish white wine, as well. The salmon was surprisingly delicious. It was not dried out or overcooked, as I would have expected it to be. I really enjoyed the Turkish styling with tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, potatoes, and spinach.

Our seats didn’t have screens on the seatbacks, which was fine with me. I was enjoying taking photos from the window, as you can see below… A lot of people were watching videos on their personal iPads.

As we got closer to our destination, we were even further delayed. At one point, the pilot was going to land, but then abruptly aborted. I thought it was because of high winds, but my German friend had been tracking the flight and said it was likely due to aviation traffic. We ended up being almost an hour late landing. But the service on the flight was excellent.

One of the flight attendants was especially service oriented. I got up to use the lavatory and hadn’t noticed it was occupied. I stood in the aisle, and the man who was ahead of me was in there for a long time. When he finally emerged, the flight attendant asked me to wait a moment. I soon got a fetid whiff of why she’d asked me to wait! She went in there quickly cleaned the commode, sprayed air freshener, and even put down a seat cover for me. WOW!! That was impressive, and much appreciated! She really took one for the team!

We finally landed almost an hour later than expected. Bill and I were both pretty tired once we got on the ground. We had to go through passport control and wait for our bags, which took awhile… but at least they came out together.

Then we found a cab to Maslak, which was driven by a very friendly local who drove like a madman. He commented that our hotel wasn’t the best for tourism. He was so right about that. I was a bit alarmed as he pulled up and a Hilton staffer came out and swept the car for explosive devices! But for better or worse, there we were in Istanbul, in an area full of skyscrapers and bright lights. It was definitely urban.

Hilton Istanbul Maslak… official Hilton photo.

Checking in at the Hilton…

A friendly Hilton staffer invited us into the hotel, and I put my purse and computer on an x-ray scanner. Bill and I walked through a metal detector, which really took me aback. I guess they’ve had some trouble recently. We checked in, and were assigned room 1711. More on that in the next post…

You might call this an artsy impression of our entrance to Istanbul… It’s not easy taking photos at night from an airplane!

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Uncategorized

Repost of my Germanwings review…

I wrote this review on Epinions.com back in 2009, so some of the information is no longer accurate.  Still, I am going to repost it here for those who are thinking about a Germanwings flight, particularly if they wish to do a “blind booking“.  At this point, I have done three blind bookings– two since this review was posted.  I still think they are a blast, even if they aren’t as good of a deal as they once were.

ETA: Germanwings is now called Eurowings.

Europe beckons… German Wings delivers, even booking blind!

 Jan 19, 2009 (Updated May 29, 2012)

Review by   
Rated a Very Helpful Review

Pros:Clean planes, professional staff, very reasonable fares and plenty of cities.

Cons:Early flight time this morning… nothing is free or included. Flies into outlying airports.

The Bottom Line: We’re loving blind booking.  Can’t wait to try it again!

My husband Bill and I are temporarily living near Stuttgart, Germany and we want to see as much of Europe as we possibly can. While I tend to be kind of skeptical about the so-called discount airlines, my ears perked up last month when Bill introduced me to German Wings and their “blind booking” program. For 29.99 Euros per person, per direction, travelers can choose a theme and purchase flights from Stuttgart, Hannover, or Cologne, Germany. The catch? You don’t know where you’re going until you’ve paid. It sounded like a great deal to me, not to mention a blast. I was game for it.

Bill and I accessed German Wings’ Web site and decided we wanted to pick a flight from the grouping of cities called “Metropolis Westeurope”. That group included Barcelona, Berlin, Hamburg, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Rome, and Vienna. Any one of those cities would have been okay with us, but had we wanted to, we could have paid an extra 2.5 euros per person and per direction to exclude one of them from the list. German Wings allows up to three exclusions and each one results in an additional five euro charge. We knew Bill would have a long weekend for Martin Luther King Day, so we plugged those dates into the database, put in our preferences, and paid using Bill’s credit card. We ended up with a flight for two going to London! I must admit, it was pretty exciting to find out where we were going. Better yet, after taxes, our round trip flights cost us the equivalent of about $145.  That’s $145 for two people.  I doubt we will ever get an equivalent deal flying from the States!

Pack light!

As I mentioned before, German Wings is a discount airline. That means it’s strictly no frills and offers only “coach class” service. We were each allowed one bag at no more than 23 kilos. Carry on luggage is limited to 8 kilograms. Once you go over that limit, you’re charged five euros per kilogram. Purses, umbrellas, and coats may be carried without any penalty. Bill usually packs light anyway, but I made an effort to economize on my luggage so that we wouldn’t be charged.  I came in well under the limit.

Check in

We arrived at Stuttgart’s airport and easily found the German Wings booth. A pleasant lady checked our passports, weighed our luggage, and issued us boarding passes. I was glad to see that German Wings has assigned seating, so Bill and I were able to sit with each other. Online check in is also available. We were on our way.

The seats…

Our flight to and from London’s Stanstead Airport was on an Airbus 319 aircraft. The seats were pretty small and set up in a three by three configuration. Being quite a bit plumper than I’d like to be, I was relieved to find that I fit in the seat with no problem, although the seatbelt was fairly short. I was able to use it without an extender, but very large or tall people might find themselves quite cramped. Leg room is also in short supply.  Since Bill and I both have short legs, we weren’t too bothered by that except for when we had to get in and out of our seats. People with long legs might have a very different experience.

As it turned out, our flights to and from London were only about half full. We had a whole row to ourselves going both directions. I was glad to see that the plane was very clean on both flights.

The staff

All flight attendants on German Wings at least speak German (naturally) and English and all onboard announcements are done in German and English. The flight attendants on our flights were very professional and efficient. One even demonstrated a sense of humor… although she did so in German! In any case, we had no issues at all with any of the staff members we encountered.

No frills!

I can’t stress enough that German Wings is a budget airline. That means no free drinks, no peanuts or crackers, and no free earphones, pillows, or blankets. However, food and drink, as well as a bizarre array of other items, are for sale on the aircraft. German Wings sells Coke products, beer, wine, prosecco, coffee, hot chocolate, tea, and a variety of juices, as well as sandwiches, candy, and chips. They also sell model German Wings planes, earphones, jewelery, and cologne.  Because German Wings is a discount airline, that means that it often flies into smaller airports further away from city centers.  London’s Stanstead airport, for instance, is a 45 minute train ride on the Stanstead Express to and from London’s Liverpool Station.  Coaches take even longer.

The flight

Right off the bat, we were happy to find that we had plenty of room on our flights because they were only about half full. No wonder German Wings is offering such deals! The 75 minute flight itself was basically very smooth and quiet. Both left on time. We did have a slight delay getting back to Germany because the Stuttgart airport was closed briefly due to freezing rain. However, that passed quickly and we landed safely after just a few minutes of circling.

One drawback to “blind booking”

The one thing Bill and I didn’t like about our blind booking experience was that we ended up with a very early flight out of Stanstead. We flew out of England at 8:00am, and because Stanstead is located about 45 minutes by train from London, that meant we were up at an ungodly hour to make our flight. However, given how inexpensive and hassle free the experience was, we think having to rise early was a small price to pay. We liked the blind booking experience so much, we’re already planning to do it again. Perhaps next time, we’ll choose the Metropolis Easteurope grouping of cities, which would allow us to surprise book Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Dresden, Katowice (near Krakow), Leipzig, Sarajevo, Warsaw, or Zagreb. Since we’ve already been to Dresden, we would just pay an extra 2.5 euros each per direction to exclude it from the list.

Other information

Although German Wings has hubs in Berlin, Stuttgart, Cologne, it flies to 67 cities throughout Europe. Not all cities are included in the “blind booking” fares and blind booking can only be accessed from Berlin, Cologne, or Stuttgart. Cologne seems to be German Wings’ biggest hub.

Overall

German Wings is not a luxury airline by any stretch, but we had a perfectly nice flight that was extremely cheap. This morning, a cabbie offered to drive us from our hotel to Stanstead Airport. The fare for that 45 minute trip would have likely been more expensive than the plane tickets! We left our flight today thinking that we’d have no problem using German Wings for as many short, European based flights as possible before we get sent back to America. If you need an inexpensive Europe based flight, I think you’d do well to check out German Wings… and if you just want to try blind booking, I’d recommend that too! It may be a gimmick, but it’s definitely a fun gimmick!

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books

A review of Patrick Smith’s Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel: Questions, Answers, and Reflections

I have been doing a lot of flying lately.  In 2014 alone, I’ve flown across the Atlantic three times.  I also flew to Virginia to see my dad for the last time before he passed away last month and flew on a couple of European flights, too.  In the years prior to 2014, I took quite a few trips by plane.  It’s not so much that I enjoy flying; I really don’t.  It’s just that flying is faster than driving is and some of the places we’ve gone haven’t offered a better alternative.

When I saw Patrick Smith’s book, Cockpit Confidential,  I immediately decided to buy it.  I did this not knowing that Smith has had a popular column on Salon.com and Web site called Ask the Pilot.  For years, Smith, who has worked as a pilot since 1990, has been answering questions put to him by the masses.  He explains in his book that he has been passionate about airplanes since he was a young lad and made it his mission to get into the industry.  And so he has… but I think he’s also a very good writer.  I really enjoyed his book.

Filled with personal stories about his time as a pilot as well as informative articles on how airplanes and the airline industry works, Smith does a good job educating his readers.  The book also offers answers to questions people have sent in.  Not only are Smith’s answers interesting and informative, they are also very entertaining.

I got a kick out of reading about how even pilots get harassed by the TSA.  Smith writes a colorful anecdote about how one time, his knife– the same knife that was used on the very aircraft he was about to pilot– was confiscated by the TSA.  The reason?  It was serrated.  Smith explains that it was a stretch to call the knife serrated, but because the knife had little ridges on it, it was deemed unsafe.  This, even though the passengers in the first class and business cabins on his airplane would be using the same knife as they tucked into their in flight meals.

Smith also writes about how pilots and flight attendants have to be screened like you and I do…  but the folks who are hauling your suitcases, cleaning the planes, and stocking the galleys with food can come and go with a simple swipe of their ID cards.  Granted, Smith explains that they are always subject to being searched randomly, but they don’t have to deal with the same screening ordeals the rest of us do.  If you think about it, that’s a little unsettling.

Smith covers a huge range of topics, which is why his book runs for 320 pages.  But once you’re finishing reading it, you will be a lot better informed about all things pertaining to the airline industry.  He writes about how to become a pilot and how it’s not nearly as glamorous or well paying as it might seem; in 1990, when Smith got his first pilot job, he was getting a mere $850 a month.  He writes about the history of some of our best known airlines, many of which are no longer around.  Some of his commentary is hilariously snarky, too.  His comments about some of the ad slogans and cutesy names airlines give their planes are pretty funny.

If you’ve ever wondered how planes fly, Smith has you covered.  He offers a detailed explanation about how it’s possible to get a metal tube filled with thousands of pounds into the air.  He also explains how some “emergencies” aren’t really emergencies.  And he even dares to explain why Chesley Sullenberger’s landing on the Hudson River was not as impressive as it seemed.  Ever wanted to check out the cockpit?  You can, you know… not while the plane is flying, obviously, but before or after the flight.  You don’t have to be a kid, either.  Smith says a lot of pilots are kind of flattered when people express an interest in seeing their work space.  Just ask a flight attendant to find out if it’s okay.

I like non-fiction books, especially when they satisfy my curiosity about things I’ve always wondered about.  I have read a number of books by flight attendants, but Smith’s Cockpit Confidential is the first book I’ve read by a pilot.  He did a great job demystifying the airline industry for me.  I would definitely recommend Cockpit Confidential to anyone who has ever been curious about the airline industry.  I also think it’s good reading for anyone who has ever considered a career in aviation.

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books

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a flight attendant?

I posted this review of Heather Poole’s 2012 book, Cruising Altitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet on Epinions in 2012.  Since I am currently reading a book about air travel, I decided it makes sense to repost my review of Poole’s tales of life as a flight attendant here on my travel blog.  I must say, any glamour I thought existed in the world of flight attendants has now vanished.

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a flight attendant?

 Jun 26, 2012 (Updated Jun 26, 2012)
Review by    is a Top Reviewer on Epinions in Books

Rated a Very Helpful Review

Pros:You may not look at flight attendants the same way again.

Cons:Maybe a couple of slow spots.

The Bottom Line:This book didn’t crash and burn.

I love a good tell-all, especially when it’s about professions I’ve wondered about.  There are lots of people out there who have interesting jobs and I’m always grateful to those who choose to write about their work for curious readers like me.  Though I have read a few books about flight attendants, I know that flight attendants have one of those jobs that always spins interesting tales.  And every flight attendant no doubt has a million stories to tell about what it’s like to fly the friendly skies with the crazy, crabby, or crotchety, whether they’re passengers, pilots, or fellow flight attendants.  That’s why I knew I had to read Heather Poole’s 2012 book, Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet.  This book is available for download or in paperback.

Becoming a flight attendant is difficult…

Next time you’re sitting on an airplane, watching the flight attendants wrestle the drink cart down the aisle, consider the fact that that person had to fight longer odds than most to score that job.  Poole goes into great detail about what it takes to become a flight attendant.  You might be surprised by how challenging it can be.  Indeed, Poole tried a time or two before the 1990s, when she got her first gig working for a now defunct charter airline.  Stepping up to her current job was quite challenging and required a grueling training course in a different city.  Poole spent weeks in a hotel and funded her incidental expenses on credit.According to Poole, it’s very easy to flunk out of flight attendant training.  In fact, she describes sort of a “here today, gone tomorrow” atmosphere.  One day a man or a woman would be in training with her.  The next day, they’d be gone, never to be seen or heard from again.

Being a flight attendant is difficult…

More than just sky hosts or hostesses passing out drinks and snacks, flight attendants are responsible for saving lives.  And while they’re protecting your life, they have to look their best, wearing shoes with at least a one inch heel and, if they’re female, tastefully applied makeup.Flight attendants don’t get paid until the doors on the aircraft have closed and the flight is pulling away from the gate.  That means that when they’re greeting you as you come aboard, they aren’t getting paid.  Moreover, according to Poole, flight attendants don’t make munch money at all.  Consequently, they tend to share “crashpads”, basically a house or an apartment used just for sleeping.  Poole was based in New York City and shared a “crashpad” in Crew Gardens with dozens of different people, some of whose names she never learned.  Her first crashpad was a house owned by a Brazilian guy who did some shady business on the side.  For the privilege of sleeping at the Brazilian’s house, Poole, along with many of her colleagues, paid about $150 a month.Of course, flight attendants have to endure their share of abuse, whether it be from disgruntled passengers, lecherous pilots, or crazy co-workers.  Poole offers anecdotes aplenty about passengers who have demanded her name so they could report her to the airline authorities.  She writes a story of a fellow flight attendant who had to be escorted off the aircraft in handcuffs.

But being a flight attendant has its advantages, right?

Heather Poole was attracted to her career because it meant getting to see the world on the cheap.  But– not so fast– it turns out that it can take awhile before a flight attendant ever gets a chance to see Paris.  Flight attendants on international routes tend to have a lot of seniority, which, according to Poole, is everything.  Flight attendants who don’t have a lot of seniority tend to get stuck with the crappy jobs and the suckiest routes.  And they may very well get fed up and quit before they ever see sunny Barcelona or Buenos Aires!Despite all that, Poole says that flying is now in her blood.  She’s been doing her job for over fifteen years and even got her mom to join up.  And as much as I hate dealing with obnoxious people and nursing sore feet, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy at what Poole describes as an exciting but chaotic life.

My thoughts

I really enjoyed reading Cruising Attitude, almost as much as I did Elliot Hester’s similar book, Plane Insanity, which, back in 2004, I described as the funniest book I had read in a long time.  Though Poole’s book has some funny moments, I wouldn’t describe this book as a humor book.  She takes the time to explain how the airline industry works, particularly post 9/11.Actually, as exciting and fun as it sounds to be able to jet off to different cities around the world, Poole makes being a flight attendant sound kind of like a bad deal.  When she first got started, Poole’s salary was about $18,000 a year, before taking about $800 to pay for her uniforms.  For that $18,000,  she got to put up with a lot of crap as she practically starved!  Poole made friends, but watched a lot of them walk away from the job and, consequently, her life.OverallPoole’s writing is, for the most part, very engaging.  There are a few slower spots in the book, but I mostly enjoyed reading about her experiences as a flight attendant.  Poole seems like the kind of person I would like to get to know.  I found her book hard to put down and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learnning about what it takes to be a flight attendant.  Interested in learning more?  Check out Heather Poole’s blog… http://hpoole.wordpress.com/

Recommend this product? Yes

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anecdotes

WestJet pilot gets offensive note from passenger…

Yesterday, I was reading Yahoo! when I came across an article about a female pilot for WestJet who received a sexist note from a passenger who took issue with her gender.  The passenger berated the pilot, Carey Smith Steacy, a Canadian pilot with 17 years of experience, for being in the cockpit.  Apparently, this guy thinks she’d be better off at home, barefoot, pregnant, and cooking dinner for a man.  The offending note was written on a napkin and accused the pilot of “vanity”, since we need more mothers than pilots.

The pilot handled the asshole passenger with class, writing an open letter back, hoping he was joking.  Frankly, I think it’s too bad no one invited the passenger to deplane mid flight.  What a sexist jerk.  I’m sure the world of aviation is still heavily populated with men, but there’s no reason why a woman couldn’t do the job.  And Steacy has certainly proven she is capable.

It’s so scary that there are people in the world who still hold the view that women only belong in the kitchen, especially in a western society.  The note writer said he’d wished he’d known she was at the helm, so he could have booked another flight.  Because goodness knows, it’s much more important that the occupants of the cockpit have a cock than a clean safety record.  Sheesh!  What an idiot.

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Uncategorized

Delta Airlines changes their frequent flyer program…

You gotta love corporate spin.  This morning, I got an email from Delta Airlines explaining that they were changing their frequent flyer program so that people would be rewarded based on the amount they paid for their tickets rather than the number of miles they fly.  Naturally, they made this sound *awesome*, even though it basically rewards business flyers because they tend to pay more for their tickets.  Now you have to spend at least $2500 a year on tickets in order to reach the lowest tier of their medallion program.

For me, personally, this is not a huge deal.  Although I usually try to fly Delta because their miles don’t expire, I know I’ll never have a lot of miles.  I mostly joined the program so I might not have to board in zone four.

Of course other airlines are watching how people react to this news.  Along with all the other hassles and indignities of flying, this is yet one more way to stick it to consumers.  Flying is expensive and annoying, but it does shorten travel time and, in many cases, is the only practical way you can get somewhere.  I’m surprised they offer any rewards, given how uncomfortable and unpleasant flying can be.  Frequent flyer miles are really just a gimmick to make you think you’re getting something for your business.  What the airlines really want you to do is sign up for credit cards so they can make more money.

Anyway, this is not good news for bargain hunters who like to fly.  For me, it’s probably business as usual.

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adventure, anecdotes

Rudeness in the friendly skies…

This morning, my husband Bill sent me a hilarious article about rude people on a Thanksgiving flight.  Basically, what went down is that Elan Gale, of The Year of Elan, was on a flight that got delayed.  A self-centered woman on the flight was very upset that she had a connecting flight to Sacramento that she would miss.  She was loudly protesting, being very rude to the flight attendant, and basically causing a big scene.

Elan Gale witnessed the embarrassing spectacle and decided to send the woman a glass of red wine, along with a note strongly hinting that she should shut her pie hole.  Naturally, the lady, whose name is Diane, didn’t appreciate the gesture.

Elan responded by giving Diane a couple of mini bottles of vodka.  Diane wrote back that Elan is an “awful person” and she feels sorry for his family for having to deal with him.  So much for goodwill toward men during the holiday season.

Elan and Diane continued to go at it for the duration of their flight to Phoenix.  Elan eventually invited Diane to “eat his dick”.  When they disembarked, Diane slapped Elan across the face.  Elan declined to press charges, though he would have been within his rights.

I’m sure there’s an unknown reason why Diane was being so difficult during that flight.  Perhaps someone in her family is sick.  Maybe there’s some other big problem in her life that made this flight’s delay so catastrophic.  Maybe she has a psychiatric problem that causes her to freak out when she travels.  But there was not a damn thing anyone could do to help her and her endless bitching wasn’t making the situation better.

Of course, Elan and the flight attendant kind of egged her on… though the rest of us are probably somewhat entertained by his antics.  But what if Diane had gone ballistic on the plane and started a brawl?  That whole comedy could have easily turned into a tragedy.

Something remotely similar happened to me once.  I have probably already related this story, but it bears repeating.  Back in April 2010, Bill and I took our very first trip to the Caribbean to sail SeaDream I for the first time.  We had to fly out of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.  Our flight got delayed by a couple of hours.  The later scheduled flight actually left on time, while we were stranded all afternoon.  People were highly pissed off.

When we finally left the very crowded and expensive airport in St. Thomas that was selling beer for $6 a bottle and water for $5.50, many passengers were decidedly irritable.  I witnessed one guy inviting another guy to kiss his ass when the guy tried to butt in front of him as he demanded a seat in first class.  Then we had rough air for most of the flight, which made people even edgier.  For most of the flight, we weren’t supposed to stand up.  I noticed one unfortunate elderly gentleman had apparently wet his pants.

People had very tight connections because we were so late getting in.  The lady who was sharing our row with us was among those who needed to bail quickly.  Bill and I stepped out of the row so she could get out.

Suddenly, I heard a woman behind me say, “Excuse me, Ma’am.  I need to get past you.”

Before I had a chance to move out of the way, she and her two very large sons pushed past me, practically knocking me down.  I was stopped by the row of seats.  After a day of being stuck in the airport and listening to people bitch and moan, I had had enough.  I fixed a murderous glare at the woman, who had managed to get close to the door, and said very loudly, “What the hell is wrong with you?  Do you think you’re the only one on this flight that has a tight connection?”

She lowered her head, obviously embarrassed.  I was positively seething and probably still muttering expletives as we waited to escape the aircraft.  I draw the line at patience when people get physical with me.  But karma was obviously in motion, since it took about ten minutes to get the door open.  I think that woman and her sons missed their flight, despite their dramatic sprint up the jetway.

Far be it for me to encourage rudeness on airplanes or in airports.  I do think the flight attendant kind of made this situation worse.  On the other hand, I have to admit that it gave me a good chuckle this morning.

I wonder if Nancy could have smoothed things over with Diane…

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