Plane Bashing

[Ascot]

Can you do that with a card that's in someone else's name?

Tesco card to someone's BA account or...?


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[WestCoast]

It seems like the cheapest prices are in January. The lowest price I found was $914 (about 600 pounds) That's good, since I'm on break from law school around that time..

I'd certainly pay £600 return high season in Summer, but I don't know about low season in January - it's one of the slowest months for travelling, certainly in Europe. Try all the price comparison airfare websites (Skyscanner, Kayak, Orbitz e.t.c) and I reckon you could get it down to £450 - £550 return at that time of year, if you're prepared to be a little flexible, although you may still be able to go direct. It may be a case of waiting a little, airlines tend to reduce their prices as the seats don't sell. I paid about £440 (about $700) return with Aer Lingus to New York JFK via Dublin as I waited for a sale and that was over the Easter holiday (Spring Break in the US).

I'm a little apprehensive about taking an 8 hour transatlantic flight. I'm concerned about plane crashes and terrorism

Not worth worrying about really. Driving to the airport is much riskier than the actual flight.

 

[Techniquest]

I'd be more worried about DVT! I may not have flown for more than 3 hours before, but I'm looking forward to a much longer flight!

 

[LE Greys]

Tesco card to someone's BA account or...?

Someone else's card to my account, she virtually never uses her points for anything.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I'd be more worried about DVT! I may not have flown for more than 3 hours before, but I'm looking forward to a much longer flight!

Best advice, either get up and walk about (going to the loo is a good excuse) or if that's not possible, do a lot of fidgeting. That's not so easy on a Red-eye, if you plan on getting any sleep anyway, but give it a go.

 

[Ascot]

From what I've played about with you can enter any BA account number and it'll transfer. Ask them to choose the auto opt-in so all the points go over. Note DO NOT choose "Avios" as that's the old airmiles. (It's the smaller "BA Avios" option that catches people out.)

EDIT: Terrorism, DVT... Safer to stay at home if you have concerns. I'd still fly even after a highly related crash.


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[LE Greys]

From what I've played about with you can enter any BA account number and it'll transfer. Ask them to choose the auto opt-in so all the points go over. Note DO NOT choose "Avios" as that's the old airmiles. (It's the smaller "BA Avios" option that catches people out.)

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

 

[Techniquest]

Oh I'm not concerned, and from what I can tell I've had DVT from being on the sleepers over here, unless it was a blood clot. Either way it wasn't pleasant for a few hours!

 

[WestCoast]

I had a great return flight on a Manx2 (VanAir) Let 410 on the Blackpool - Isle of Man route, 19 seats with no cabin crew, overhead lockers or toilet and it comes with a partial view into the flight deck. It's a taste of real flying and well worth the £39 return (admittedly a sale fare, but they have them quite often). Apart from some highland routes, it's not that easy to score commercial flights like that in the British Isles.

Oh, and I took the train from Ronaldsway Airport, quite an experience leaving an airport on a narrow gauge steam railway!

 

[starrymarkb]

There is also the Skybus from Lands End to St Marys. Brittan Norman Islander with no divider between pilot and passengers.

Of course the other airline on the route has something even more exotic

 

[WestCoast]

Ah, yes Skybus and there's Aurigny with their Trislanders in the Channel Islands (not sure if they just do Guernsey to Jersey or somewhere else as well?).

Mind you, a few of Airliners.net's famous trip reporters have paid homage to the LETs operating out of the Isle of Man as they are very rarely seen on commercial outings elsewhere.

 

[starrymarkb]

I'd love to do something like this - http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/209645/ - the sign is a nice touch!

 

[Ascot]

My top 5 of UK aviation what I've done would be (in no order):

- Glasgow-Barra-Benbecula. The famous beach landing, try and avoid when it's raining as your shoes get dirty.
- Orkney Islands. Eday (aka London Airport) is an odd place and don't plan on returning soon. Also the worlds shortest flight is between Westray and Papa Westray.
- Penzance Helicopter to St Mary's. Very enjoyable if you sit on the "North side".
- Helicopter service from Heathrow to London Heliport, due to traffic we had to hold for a while and flew round the Thames as few times.
- Finally, not strictly a UK only service but the A318 into London City, the only way from now on.

I'd love to do the Cardiff to Valley flight and also the Glasgow Seaplane service.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Ah, yes Skybus and there's Aurigny with their Trislanders in the Channel Islands (not sure if they just do Guernsey to Jersey or somewhere else as well?).

I saw a couple of Trislanders overhead while in Southampton last Monday, so they still use them on the Southampton - Channel Islands routes.

 

[flymo]

Well today is the day with my HKG-DXB-NCL flight with Emirates taking off in about 10 hours. Actually looking forward to it, with the exception of the stopover in Dubai 'cos I must have ticked the wrong box in the booking engine so now get 8 hours there on the outward leg . I swear it never offered the later departure from HKG as an option when I booked but what the heck - what is done is done.

It is all A330-200 on the way out and A330-200 NCL-DXB and then A380 DXB-BKK-HKG on the way back. This will be my first trip on the A380.

Looking at the seat map the DXB- NCL leg seems fairly healthily loaded, it will be interesting to see tomorrow morning what the flight is like. This will also be the larget aircraft I've ever landed at Newcastle in.

Better get packing....

 

[jopsuk]

I can remember seeing the section in the departure lounge at Newquay (I think they use the Twin Otters mainly from there?) for Skybus passengers- it had a small portable TV/VCR unit on a trolley in it for the pre-flight safety briefing...

 

[WestCoast]

Looking at the seat map the DXB- NCL leg seems fairly healthily loaded, it will be interesting to see tomorrow morning what the flight is like. This will also be the larget aircraft I've ever landed at Newcastle in.

Yes, it's certainly interesting to see these Gulf airlines flying extremely modern, large aircraft into regional UK airports. At Manchester, Emirates is flying in A380s, 777s and A330s.

Another one to watch is Turkish Airlines, who seem to be on a mission to link every airport in Europe to Istanbul (for connections). They're starting an Edinburgh route this year.

 

[Techniquest]

I got back from my Dublin bash earlier this evening, and having spent over 8 hours at Manchester's Terminal 3 all in (0036 arrived there, left at 0842 or so) on an all-nighter I don't want to see it again for a while. My return there this afternoon was over as quick as possible!

My trip back from Dublin was a lot more enjoyable this time around, and now scooped 4 737-800s with Ryanair. Couldn't find the SAS fleet in my AFQR though, and I was envious of the lucky people joining the 1300 to Oslo! If anyone knows where the SAS fleet is in the AFQR book, please let me know.

As for Emirates sending A380s to Manchester, I can confirm that much when I spotted one as we taxied to T3's gate 51 (same one as I left there from on Sunday), alas I couldn't tell which one.

Got plenty of photos at Dublin and Manchester, shall be uploading soon. Also managed to get a HD video clip of the flight from Manchester, not sure how it's going to come out but I'm shocked at the filesizes. 197MB for a 56 second video!

 

[WestCoast]

As for Emirates sending A380s to Manchester, I can confirm that much when I spotted one as we taxied to T3's gate 51 (same one as I left there from on Sunday), alas I couldn't tell which one.

It's well known that there's a daily A380 service as the maiden flight made national (and international) news due to Manchester being the first "regional" airport in the World to see a regular A380 service.

On another note, Ryanair have been doing some terminal hopping lately at Manchester! Originally they were allocated T2, then they moved to T1 for a while, they moved to T2 about 18 months ago and they moved again this year to T3! Where next, the rail station?*

*That's not as absurd as it sounds, up until a few years ago there was an airline called Air Atlanta that had check-in desks in the rail station. Don't ask me why!

 

[Techniquest]

Wasn't well known to me First time I've seen one, crikey they're big! Can't wait to get on one now!

 

[flymo]

Well nearing the end of the 8 hour wait at Dubai thankfully with the plane to Newcastle off in about 90 minutes.

The range of destinations served from here is staggering so it is no wonder these airlines are flying to regional airports now as they look to try to entice travellers away from the shopping mall that is Heathrow to the bigger one here. Glad the free wifi is working too

Right......breakfast!

 

[WestCoast]

Wasn't well known to me First time I've seen one, crikey they're big! Can't wait to get on one now!

In Summer 2010, Air France ran an A380 on the Heathrow to Paris CDG route for crew training, that's when I logged it. Most other operators have done a similar thing. BA may do something similar when they get their aircraft. To be honest, while it's a very impressive model, the economy class didn't really feel too much different to a 777, 747 or an A340. I think the 747 would still have to be my favourite long haul jet.

A test 787 is in Manchester at the moment, they have a done a report on BBC Breakfast.

 

[starrymarkb]

I've only seen A380s and B748s overhead at cruise (inbound from the NAT Tracks) - they look big from that distance!

 

[flymo]

Just as an update, my DXB-NCL flight was completely full in economy with no spare seats. No idea about the front of the plane though. I really didn't expect that for a Tuesday morning in April. If this continues I wouldn't be surprised to see a second daily flight. That would increase the connection possibilities to the Far East, Asia and Oz/NZ no end.

Anyway from a plane basher's point of view I've cleared A6-EAD and A6-EAS.

 

[Ascot]

Looking at these Avios Inches again, they don't see much value compared to BA BMI. Best I found is to buy W and upgrade with miles to J.


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[stut]

Looking at these Avios Inches again, they don't see much value compared to BA. Best I found is to buy W and upgrade with miles to J.


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Generally agree, although the BA Amex twofer is a rather good offer.

 

[Ascot]

Generally agree, although the BA Amex twofer is a rather good offer.

My fault on the original post, should read:

Looking at these Avios Inches again, they don't see much value compared to BA BMI. Best I found is to buy W and upgrade with miles to J.

 

[route101]

Im flying LCY to GLA on BA Cityflyer in June , cant wait.

 

[LE Greys]

I've only seen A380s and B748s overhead at cruise (inbound from the NAT Tracks) - they look big from that distance!

Actually, I still haven't seen a 748. Any advice?

 

[stut]

My fault on the original post, should read:

Looking at these Avios Inches again, they don't see much value compared to BA BMI. Best I found is to buy W and upgrade with miles to J.

Ah, I'm with you. In truth, there really isn't any European programme as generous as Diamond Club was - I got a ridiculous numbe of trips out of my miles there (particularly back in the days before SQ started restricting their premium cabins, and BD started awarding reduced miles for discount fares). And then there was the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk loophole and the great Z2-Z8 redemptions on top of that, and the miles + cash in all classes!

But I stand by my point - if you normally travel as 2 or more, the BA 2-for-1 voucher from Amex does make Avios rather good value.

 

[starrymarkb]

Global Supply Systems have at least two of the freight version in service in BA colours, they are based out of Stansted.

Lufthansa are due the first passenger version soon (it was due earlier this month but the launch event was postponed indefinitely)