Norwegian 737 MAX 8 Delivery Flight BFI-OSL

Norwegian is the 2nd airline to take delivery of Boeing's new 737 MAX aircraft. Normally when an airline receives the first aircraft of a new type, they have a small ceremony with the airline's execs, along with the manufacture's execs, before flying back to the home base, sometimes with journalists in tow.

Norwegian has been partnering with UNICEF for a while, and this time Norwegian decided to auction off 12 seats on the delivery flight of their 737 MAX 8 to the general public. I was lucky enough to snag one of the seats on the flight and got to experience the delivery flight first hand.

CEO of Norwegian, Bjørn Kjos

Pre-flight meal

Water cannon salute upon arriving in Oslo

AIX 17

Dropped by the Aircraft Interior Expo this year in Hamburg.

Travel Summary 2016

Travel Summary 2016

Actual miles flown: 96,544
Airline programs: AA EXP, UA/*G, SK/*S, A3/*G
# of segments / flights: 113
# of trips: 19
# of airports / (new): 49 / (30: OSD, TXL, AUH, CLT, PIT, LCY, DOH, BKK, ATH, AOK, KSJ, JSH, RHO, CHQ, AXD, SMI, JMK, JIK, SKG, HER, JTR, XFW, ACH, FDH, RIX, RTM, SXF, VNO, WAW, GDN)
# of airlines (new): 26 / (11: A3, AB, BT, CA, ET, EY, HV, LO, OA, PE, IS)
# of int'l premium cabins: 4 (AB-B, EY-F, SQ-F, BR-J, CX-J, UA-J)
# of states / (new): 4 / (0)
# of countries / (new): 21 / (7: GR, LT, LV, PL, QA, TH, AE)
# of continents: 3
Longest: AUH↔IAD, 7075 mi
Shortest (Tie) AOK↔KSJ / ACH-FDH: 13 mi
Most popular route: UME-ARN (11)
Most popular airport: ARN (24)
Total time spent on planes: 11d, 4h, 6m.

airBaltic Bombardier CS300 inaugural flight RIX - AMS, 2016-12-14

airBaltic is the launch customer of the new CS300 from Bombardier. I was able to one again book myself on the inaugural flight between Riga and Amsterdam.

First view of the plane as I made my way to the gate

Getting ready for the festivities

airBaltic execs and the Latvian ambassador to the Netherlands giving a speech

Time for cake

Time to fly...red carpet to the plane

Green interior

Small overhead display

Full flight, crew, plus media

Even hired a magician onboard for entertainment

Got the water cannon salute after landing in Amsterdam

World's shortest scheduled international commercial flight

World's shortest scheduled international commercial flight, across the Bodensee from Switzerland to Germany, on a tiny airline called People's Viennaline

13 nautical miles, departure 6:30, arrive 6:50. 8 minutes from wheels up to wheels down. €40.

StarMegaDO 7, Day Three: Aegean Air tour, Athens Airport

The morning started off with a breakfast with Aegean Air's CEO, followed by a tour of their facility at Athens Airport

StarMegaDO 7, Day Two: Airbus Tour Finkenwerder, Charter flight to Mykonos

Today is the day of the charter flight: Zurich to Hamburg Finkenwerder, then onto Mykonos, and finally to Athens.

StarMegaDO 7, Day One: A day at ZRH with SWISS / Star Alliance

MegaDO is an almost annual tour with 150+ frequent flyer who charters a plane and partners with various airlines and / or hotel partners for some behind the scene events. This year, for StarMegaDO 7, the schedule involves tour of SWISS, Airbus, and Aegean. 

The Greek Summer Airport Run

I came across an opportunity to do a contest which basically involves hitting as many Greek airports served by Aegean / Olympic Air as possible. First prize is 5 years of StarAlliance Gold. How can I say no? So I spent 3 days flying around Greece.

So for about 3 days, I flew around Greece to different airports / islands. Unfortunately Aegean / Olympic has a hub and spoke system of their network, which means I have to start and end in Athens. I would start from Athens, fly to one airport, get off, and get right back on the same plane back to Athens. Rinse, repeat. I was able to do 4 RT each day (Could've done 5 but I didn't want to push it since one delay or misconnect would ruin my whole day.

ATH Athens

AOK Karpathos

KSJ Kasos Island

JSH Sitia, Crete

RHO Rhodos

CHQ Chania

AXD Alexandroupolis

SMI Samos

JMK Mykonos Island

JIK Ikaria

SKG Thessaloniki

HER Heraklion

JTR Santorini

It was completely crazy, but also pretty fun. This was my first trip to Greece and I managed to skip all sightseeing (aside from airports) :-D. 

Unfortunately, I still haven't found out if I won the contest, but contest or not, it was quite interesting to see so many airports in such a short amount of time.

State of the IFE

Since I go to school for design and I started to document my travels, and I'm in the middle of working on my portfolio, this is an appropriate time to bring up something that's been on my mind for a long time:

99% In-flight entertainment systems out there are BAD.

How are they bad?

Depending on the airline / system, one or more of these applies:

- MASSIVE lag (between input and command)

- Poor control (resistive touchscreen, jack-of-all-trades controller)

- Obsolete hardware (read: slow)

One of the problem is that creating electronic equipment for aviation has more stringent requirements than your average consumer gear. You can't just take the latest Qualcomm chipset, drop it in, and call it a day. Aircraft equipment makers have a lot less freedom in what they can install and avoid interference. The other problem is that for the most part, IFE systems just aren't that important to airlines. The airline execs making the purchase decision on what IFE system installed aren't the one that'll use it to watch movies everyday, so as long as they have something that works it's fine. If you ask the flying public, They might say they care, but they only care about how many different movies they can choose from, if they care at all. Vast majority of the flying public base their purchase decision based on ticket cost alone. This is the same reason why airline seats horribly uncomfortable. AA and UA have both tried more spacious seat configurations before to very little success. Airlines don't see any benefit to investing in better seat or better IFE. In fact. United installed these wifi media servers on board that lets you watch movies from your personal mobile decide by connecting to the plane's wifi.

Since the hardware is limited, the software that runs on these IFEs are equally poor. Irrelevant and outdated content, non-intuitive, and unattractive. 

When I was reorganizing some photos I suddenly remembered something impressive from the Finnair A350 inaugural I did back in October:

This screen showed the time zone and local time for both the departure and arrival city, on two separate lines. You can clearly tell, at any given point in the flight, what time is it in each city. In this case the time difference is only and hour so no big deal, but on a long haul flight where you cross multiple timezone this will be very convenient and useful.

Granted, this IFE is brand new since it is attached to the brand new A350 so everything is fast and the screen is large, but it is nice to see people starting to put some thought into making the information useful and easy to use. Airlines can't be on the cutting edge like the consumer electronics, but it is nice to see they put in the effort.

Yes I bought an used airline trolley

No, this is not an April Fools joke

Thank you eBay

Umeå from above

Flight decided to land from the north instead of the usual south this time

EVA Air Royal Laurel Class "Hello Kitty Jet" CDG-TPE

The EvaAir Hello Kitty Jet had been on my list for years. It is a jet with custom HK livery on the outside and also custom service items on the inside. I've booked LAX-TPE in the past but a month before the flight EVA decide to put the plane on CDG-TPE instead, swapping in a standard 777 on the LAX route. No HK Jet for me.

Finally, this time I was able to book the HK jet on the CDG-TPE route. Finally I'll be able to fly on the Hello Kitty Jet, I thought.

Then I showed up to CDG T1 the day of my flight, and looked out the window. WTF

No Hello Kitty Jet.

WTF.

I checked online and turns out a few weeks back EVA did another equipment swap, and one flight on this route wouldn't have the jet. That was my flight.

God damn it.

I went to the service desk asking for a seat chance. As it turns out they've been calling for me for some reason. I got my new seat, and my boarding pass on the Hello Kitty cardstock. Insult to injury, I thought.

Then I boarded the plane, and noticed that in fact, the plane do have Hello Kitty service items on board. For some reason EVA swapped in a plane without the exterior livery, but had all the service item on board. Oh well, better than nothing, I guess.

Ethopian Cloud Nine Class ARN-VIE 788, 5th freedom flight

Not gonna lie. Not really a fan of the color scheme.

Singapore Airlines Suite Class JFK-FRA A388

I booked this as the return leg of the crazy Etihad outbound. Normally the Suite Class is very difficult to book on award, but since I'm only doing the JFK-FRA fifth freedom segment, I got lucky. Calling everyday for a few days also helped. I was able to have the agent manually send in a request and open up availability.

Before the gulf carriers got their act together, Singapore Airlines Suite Class was THE first class product to beat. Not only do you have the privacy of a suite, if you book the two seats in the center with someone, when you fold both seats down into a bed, the seat divider can be lowered and you can have a double bed. On top of that, you have Singapore Airlines' world famous hospitality and service.

Suite with the door closed. After a lifetime of flying economy and being able to try various business and first class products on occasion, I cannot overstate just how amazing it feels to have privacy on a plane. I think that is the ultimate luxury

The double bed setup for a couple sitting together

I am perfectly content with my single bed. The flight attendant made the bed in the unoccupied seat across the aisle from me so I can come and go as I please

If you look at only the hardware, compared to Etihad, Singapore isn't the best or most novel first class product anymore. However, if you look at the service, Singapore's service, along with Cathay Pacific, are still the best in the world.

Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse, New York JFK

I got access to this lounge since I'm flying Singapore Air Suite Class and Singapore has an agreement with Virgin to use this lounge for their premium passengers. I'd heard very good things about this lounge and I have to say I wasn't disappointed.

American Airlines Economy Class CLT-PIT A319

It isn't always champagne and caviar...

Air Berlin Business Class TXL-AUH A332

Air Berlin isn't exactly know for their premium product, but they are also not exactly a premium airline. They have this staggered business class product where if you are lucky and grabbed a window seat, it is extremely private, but if you got one of the aisle seat, it is very exposed to the aisle. Thanks to my last minute ExpertFlyer alert, I was able to snag the window seat right before I boarded.

Etihad Airways First Apartment AUH-JFK A388

I'm starting this post with a selfie of me showering on a plane at 36,000 feet, flying at 509kts over Eastern Greenland.

Because really, nothing is going to top this from this point forward.

At the end of March American Airlines is updating their award chart. Almost always this means the cost of award redemption is going to up...way up. I've been meaning to try the famous First Apartment on Etihad, but never got around to it since Abu Dabhi, their hub, is out of the way. With the impending devaluation, I got off my ass, found availability, and booked the flight. Ended up booking a long circular route: UME-ARN-TXL-AUH-JFK-PIT-JFK-FRA-ARN-UME.

But really, it ended up being UME-ARN-TXL-AUH-IAD-JFK-CLT-PIT-JFK-FRA-ARN-UME thanks to diverted flight + misconnect.
 

First class check-in, Abu Dabhi

Gate. Abu Dabhi has US CIS pre-clearance, which means you clear US CIS before you get on the plane, and when you land you don't need to deal with immigration anymore

2nd biggest first class cabin in the world, after The Residence on the same Etihad flight

Like the Lufthansa First Class that is being phased out, it has a separate seat and bed

Couch with pullout bed to the right

Your own vanity in your "apartment"

And a mini-fridge too. No, the drinks aren't gonna cost extra

One central aisle in the first class section. Apartments to either side. The Residence to the left in the front. Shower to the right

Couch folded out into a bed

Starter

They emphasize that the meal service is anytime, on-demand. Here is a made-to-order omelette

I will say that I've had better steaks on other airlines. It is still quite good

The shower control. Each passenger gets 5 minutes of water. The bar shows you how much water you have left. Showing by far is the most decadent thing I've ever done

Between first class and business class is a nice little lounge area

Some of the alcohol selection by the lounge

This is one of the most amazing flight I've had. Better flash a faux gang sign and represent the west coast.

Etihad flies the First Apartment between Abu Dhabi - London and Abu Dhabi - New York. I decided to book the New York flight because it gives me 13 hours to enjoy this cabin and service instead of just 6 to London. Funny enough, as we are about to land in New York, the airport was closed due to weather, so we had to divert to Washington. However, Washington didn't have the facilities to service an A380 and Etihad probably didn't want to let us off anyway, so we sat on the plane in Washington until we finally took off and headed back to New York.

Total time on the plane: 21 hours. I definitely got my 90,000 AA miles + $35 worth.

Can you imagine how much it would suck to be stuck in economy for 21 hours?

BAe Jetstream 32 UME-OSD-UME

Julia and I got a reservation at Faviken, and instead of driving 5+ hours in the winter in Northern Sweden, we decide to take a flight from Umeå to Östersund instead.