I went to Riyadh via Paris on Air France and my company (before I was in Gov) agreed to fund business class since I had a bad back. I chose not to so I could sit with the three others in my workgroup back in economy to prepare for our meetings. There’s very few things I look back on with regret. That is one of them…
The new Domodedova? The original (domestic) version reminded me of the Toledo bus station – but not as nice. Sheremetevo was at least more or less functional.
Domodedovo. And if it’s “new”, they did a remarkable job crafting it to look like it was built in Cold War era 1960.
Sounds like the old Singapore Airlines route. It always struck me as weird that those guys couldn’t figure out that Singapore’s the other direction.
Yes. And check your great circle.
Trust me. That is the upgrade.
Yep. Love Singapore Airlines. Their business class is top of the heap.
And I know you’re making a joke about direction, but you’d be surprised at how many people don’t understand that the earth is a sphere. Or maybe you wouldn’t.
I’m becoming increasingly clear on the heterogeneity of opinion regarding the shape of our planet.
Bizarrely, I have to go to the Cotswolds twice next year. My plan is to fly Singapore to Manchester and rent a car from there. Slightly longer drive than from Heathrow, but worth it, I think, for the airline upgrade over BA and United.
It’s on my own dime, so I’m looking at premium economy which should work just fine for me.
When you walk through business class, then see economy, you may cry.
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Mark has flown Singapore and thinks it is the best.
Not when I remember how much I’m saving… x2
I used to be big on stuff like that. Mainly, I think, because the group I worked with were all about stuff like that, so it was just part of the culture. I flew all over the world, on Continental and then United, either business or first class. Now, I don’t care.
I don’t sleep on long haul flights (but I’ll be asleep before we push back from the gate on Southwest), so a seat that folds flat and all that is irrelevant to me. I don’t move around much, either. Premium economy works just fine, therefore, as I just want a bit of knee room and free booze.
I did a business trip to London last month and flew premium economy on BA. Weirdly, that was cheaper than regular economy. My entire expenses - flight, hotel and everything - were less than my bosses business class ticket for the same trip. And he’s 5’ 6" tall.
Houston to Manchester isn’t such a bad trip. I could do that without sleeping. It’s the trips when you get to Moscow and realize you’re almost a third of the way where sleep becomes a priority.
Very true. I did Houston to Soeul, and the first leg was 14 hours direct to Tokyo. I slept on that flight. In fact, I watched a couple of movies, had dinner, slept for 6 hours and still had 4 hours to go when I woke up. I was climbing the walls to get off that plane, I can tell you.
To and from Europe from anywhere in North America, especially in the eastern half, is a non-event. To and from Asia or Australia from North America is a horse of an entirely different feather.
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Los Angeles to Sydney non-stop is (or was when I did it) the second-longest commercial flight (trailing Los Angeles to Melbourne). After that one Houston to Hong Kong or Tokyo was not too bad.
I can also recommend Singapore business class, but for me it is third behind Cathay Pacific & Royal Thai. CP is the top of the heap for me.
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Neither LA-Sydney or LA-Melbourne are even in the top 10 longest anymore. Both Houston-Sydney and Dallas-Sydney are longer. I believe the top spot currently is New York-Singapore.
The flights between LA and Australia aren’t even in the top 20 anymore. It’s funny, the longest flight in service at the moment is New York to Singapore, with a scheduled flight time of almost 19 hours, which seems like a lot of time to spend on a plane, no matter what class you’re in. The LA to Singapore flight is only an hour less, speaking of great circle.
The Perth to London flight that Qantas used to run is a relative puddle jumper at 17 hours. Hell, you can’t hardly fit in ten full moviefilms in that amount of time.
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Not all on a plane but my longest trip to a destination was LA —> Tokyo Narita —> train to Tokyo Haneda —> Beijing —> 30 hour train to Ulaanbaatar
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