I have to say that
as I intended this blog to be more frequent, so far it hasn’t.
As I approach my “D-Date”
(D = Departure), and countdown the last 42 days of the 6.5 month wait, I
thought it would be about time to start getting into adding more on here.
Most of my trips
when I started travelling revolved around travelling back to Europe and
visiting family. To me I got my flight
fix, and spent at least 4 weeks in Europe (mostly the 1 country). The way that I managed to see other cities
was to exceed my transit times in either Zurich, Vienna, Frankfurt, and would
leave the airport for a bit of a morning sightsee and then be satisfied to go
on and not feel like I haven’t done anything.
As time progressed, I started to shorten my final destination and extend
my stopovers to a day, or more where I could justify it.
I’ve now moved even
further beyond this, and the last couple of times I have even broken up the
visit with the family to be able to do something more.
So, a background on
the family, is that all of my family is located in the area of Nis (pronounced
Nish), which is in southern Serbia. The
city has had an airport which operated prior to the war times, then ceased
operations, and during the NATO bombings of 1999 the runway was damaged to the
point of being unusable. Over the last
decade there have been the occasional charters, regular schedules operated by
Montenegro Airlines, and Air Serbia/JAT Airways – but now there is quite a
number of flights operating out of this city to various cities across Europe
through the services of Wizzair, Ryanair, Germania Flug (from June), and my
favourite of all the carriers – Swiss Airlines.
My first solo
flight to Europe in 2001, and my most daunting for the same reason, was with
Swiss Air. I actually was on their
second last flight from Zurich to Singapore before they went into
Administration. I haven’t flown with
them since then.
This time I am not
just flying out of my home town, but also flying with an airline I haven’t
flown with for a long time. Since that
flight in reclining business class seats, I’ve seen huge changes both in
economy and business class. In economy, the
seats have become thinner, more ergonomically designed, and technologically
advanced with additions of personal tv’s that have grown in size, handheld
controllers which have mini screens on them in some cases, and now USB ports,
and AC adaptors can be found as well – seating though is still 3x4x3 or 3x3x3,
with a handful of airlines in 2x4x2.
Business class has
probably had a substantially larger step up over that same time. From the 2x3x2 recliner, to the 2x4x2 “club
world” of British Airways, the 2x2x2 Skybed of Qantas, and to the different
variations of the herringbone set up of a 1x2x1. Personal tv’s are no longer in seats on
retractable arms but either fold out of the wall that encapsulates the seat, or
on the wall ahead if in forward or reverse facing seating and always powered
on. Multiple USB ports and noise cancelling
headphones becoming a “standard” amenity as well.
My biggest standout
over the last 15+ years is the growth of Premium Economy. My first PE flight was in World Traveller
Plus with British Airways. Considering
my height at 5’9 (1.73m) I could see the space difference which was for me
substantially different from economy, but the service was lacking a difference
from regular economy, and I never flew in this cabin again since then.
Over the last 6
months or so I’ve been reading up on the growth of PE and looked at many
reviews and write ups on the different airline cabins, and most airlines are
offering the same “stock standard” seat, but vary when it comes to offerings
and service. Cabins obviously vary from
2x3x2 on smaller aircraft like the A330, B787, and up to 2x4x2 on the B747,
A380, B777, A350. What is interesting to
note though is that the airlines are maintaining their standard seat pitch of
38”. The standouts being Cathay Pacific
on the A350 which is at 41”, and the Air New Zealand cabin which still has the
Spaceseat in their 2x2x2 but will move to standardising the industry norm
bringing in their new seat with a 2x3x2 or 2x4x2 which is at 42” pitch.
I will be writing
up my experiences in Premium Economy, and Business Class on this trip. Which I’ve got the following itinerary for:
SYDNEY-SINGAPORE –
SINGAPORE AIRLINES A380 PREMIUM ECONOMY
SINGAPORE –
FRANKFURT – LUFTHANSA A380 PREMIUM ECONOMY
FRANKFURT –
ISTANBUL – LUFTHANSA A320 BUSINESS CLASS
ISTANBUL – BELGRADE
– ATLASGLOBAL A321 BUSINESS CLASS
NIS – ZURICH –
SWISS AIRLINES A320 BUSINESS CLASS
ZURICH – BANGKOK –
SWISS ARLINES B777 BUSINESS CLASS
BANGKOK – SYDNEY –
QANTAS A330 BUSINESS CLASS
Till the next
instalment…
