My office is next to Boeing in Chicago. The Boeing building is on top of Metra tracks leading into Union Station. I think the building needs a little maintenance.
Boeing Building - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
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the longest flight in the world is JFK to SIN, nearly 19 hours iirc.
do you work at united or have friends/family there?
do you work at united or have friends/family there?
are you able to see/have friend see load factors for planes so you can look for ones that will have open seats?
this can be done with paid services (eg. expertflyer) but insider would be sweet.
i consider this guy pretty dumb for putting this all out there, including the articles:
Meet an 'airline nepo baby' — he's flown for free since birth, gets upgraded to business class, and books last-minute trips to Tokyo and Sydney
The travel benefits of being related to an airline employee don't stop at free flights. Airline nepo babies also get free upgrades to business class.www.businessinsider.com
that one is loading like shit for me so also
Meet the 'airline nepo baby' who has flown for free since birth
Joshua Crawford, 23, from New Jersey , has built a burgeoning social media following thanks to his globetrotting content - - which he admits is down to the fact his father works for United.www.dailymail.co.uk
i am curious about the upgrades in particular.
eg. even a united top tier status (i assume it works like AA and others) doesn't get free upgrades on an international flight. so why would an employee on standby? like how does one get into that tier where they would both be 1. on the plane and 2. eligible for a free upgrade up?
if i could work for united [remotely] and had access to internal data, i would quite literally just write a little program to run every day and tell me/predict for me which flights i would get on and get upgraded on, and just zoom around the planet
i'm curious what i would have access to joining as a newb. i'm less interested in the standby and more interested in the upgrade rules, since it is crazy to me that even this non-employee non-revenue person is able to both on the plane (not too crazy) and upgraded (crazy to me). i wonder if that also applies to partners? i would also feel like that is the chance of the front of the plane is being lowered now, given that airlines are now auctioning off those seats in bids or selling them discounted leading up to or at check in. some airlines you can still upgrade once you have sat down in the plane (emirates iirc)
my first points flight was a british airways 747 from chicago to london, in the nose. it was not my best usage of points, but it was awesome for a first time. i don't think i have any pictures or anything from it. it was fun and memorable. i'm struggling to think if i've been on one since, and can't think of any time. a handful of a380s but i think no 747s. flying to chicago? i thought they were very rarely there. same with a380s, i don't think i've ever taken one to ORD. thought in part because the size of both made them a pain.I'm in a Boeing 787 to Germany on Friday, and on a 747 back next week.
who'd you fly on to germany? any upgrade offers before flight or when checking in?
Lufthansa. I flew all Star Alliance. Luft, LOT and United on my trip. It was $180 upgrade to Economy+. Flight was pretty empty as it was Easter night but Economy+ was totally full. Tried to upgrade on the United flight back but it was packed and my bullshit travel liaison at work booked up economy middle seats for a 9 hour flight...
i have never flown lot, how did you like it?
airlineweekly.skift.com
LOT was the shortest flight. Warsaw to Vilnius on an E175. Basically an up/down. My co-worker flew direct from ORD to Warsaw on a LOT 787 in economy and refused to do it again so we had a layover in Munich this time. I thought they were fine and would fly direct next time on LOT but would absolutely need to upgrade to premium economy. I didn't fly premium on United, only Lufthansa and for a 7-9 hour European flight, that is the only way to go, IMO. It's not long enough to need the lay flat beds of business but is long enough to appreciate the wider seats and more recline. I was in the middle seat of a middle section on a 3-3-3- flight both ways. Economy on the way back absolutely sucked. Economy plus was well worth it as I wasn't physically touching anyone and had access to both arm rests. I had the bulkhead row so I could get up and move around with out bothering anyone too. For the extra $180 it was 100% worth it. I told my boss that I need Economy+ over the pond from here on out and he's fine with it. My flight to Munich was pretty empty, like people laying across rows in economy. Economy+ was full and business was 1/2 so I can see that class taking off.i have never flown lot, how did you like it?
how was the united premium economy? i have found my flight attendants, in biz, to have been consistently grumpy lol.
i've done SIN, JAL, and AA premium economy. i found it to be just slightly better than economy really, to the point where 10 hours is 10 hours and still is not comfortable in either. so to justify premium it has to be 1. much cheaper than prices i typically find it at and 2. i expect to be clawing back some of the cost via higher fare earning points. most of the time the price just doesn't seem worth it to me.
Why Airlines Are Investing Big in Premium Seats
As more travelers choose to upgrade their in-flight experience, carriers are rethinking service, cabin design, and lounge experiences.www.afar.com
Lufthansa, American Among Airlines Investing Billions in Lucrative Premium Seats
They say the best time to invest is at the bottom of the cycle. Well, airlines may have missed the bottom, but with balance sheets looking solid again
the class certainly seems to be taking off and making them a lot of profits though. i will say JAL's was particularly nice in that you are in a shell seat where the person behind you is not affected by recline, plus you get access to JAL lounges. iirc only JAL, ANA, and SAS (with much less interesting ones) give you access to a lounge for flying premium economy.
i struggle what to pick for economy as i'm tall, but also being able to lean on the plane can be nice. i definitely haven't done a middle longer than 2h anywhere in a very long time. 9h is rough trying to avoid both your neighbors
$180 for premium seems worth it every time, i pretty much never see it that low.My guess is since it was corporate and we use Amex Global Business Travel to book all of our flights, we may get a discount. It worked in my favor for the upgrade but fucked me on the way back. All of my flights (ORD-MUC-WAW, WAW-VNO, VNO-FRA-ORD) was like $1800 before upgrades and seat assignments.i struggle what to pick for economy as i'm tall, but also being able to lean on the plane can be nice. i definitely haven't done a middle longer than 2h anywhere in a very long time. 9h is rough trying to avoid both your neighbors
just priced out bkk-sfo one way, same day starlux is 636 economy, 1071 premium economy
tun-ord exactly same luft united through fra in econ/premium/biz is 537/1032/1224
usually the gap between any economy and biz is bigger, but i am surprised to see this jump from economy to premium which is typical. i can't justify it at this price difference unless it is nicer, it does seem like they are generally working on making it nicer though.
as an aside the cheapest star alliance business flight w/1 stop may 6 is fra-lis-ord for $1509, the nonstop united fra-ord is $5821. flying tun-fra-ord though - on the exact same united plane - is $1188. 2h economy flight fra-tun is $300. would i fly to tunis so that my biz flight earns biz miles and is confirmed for a $4700 price break..?
i will be in december for my christmas trip home, going to athens/tunis then home for the holidays. i have a tunis roundtrip to ohare for christmas, then a tunis to my thai island trip both booked.
by my calculations this part of my christmas trip will cost me $2749 and valuing chase and alaska miles i'll earn at 2 cents apiece, will result in $2036 worth of points, and flying 22k miles in business class. at the end of the year i'm going to see if anyone on reddit or flyertalk got to top tier status for cheaper than me.
