Meanderings of a Traveler
General adventures and misadventures
As I got off my flight to JFK this week, I was surprised by Delta with something that I have never had the chance to experience… the Porsche! I was taken off the jetbridge and dropped off at the SkyClub at my next terminal – talk about service! 😀
Thank you, Delta, for the experience of a lifetime!
I have no idea how I missed this news, but Delta is going to be connecting Austin and Raleigh with a year-round, daily flight starting March 9th of this year. It’ll be on a CRJ-900, which will be a tight fit for the 1,162 miles between the two airports, but it’s hard to beat that convenience.
The CRJ-900 has a range of 1,553 nautical miles (just over 1780 statute miles), so it isn’t surprising that it would be used to test the interest of the route.
From the Austin-Bergstrom website:
Delta’s new year round, daily nonstop flights between Austin, Texas and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina are scheduled as follows: Flights depart – Austin daily at 11:15 a.m. and arrive in Raleigh-Durham at 3:10 p.m. Flights depart Raleigh-Durham daily at 8:30 a.m. and arrive in Austin at 10:40 a.m. The flight will be operated by GoJet on a CRJ-900 aircraft with 76 seats.
As René over at BoardingArea mentioned, there are some huge changes coming with the 2018 Medallion year (I haven’t qualified yet, but I am on track to maintain my Diamond!). Through the 2017 Medallion year, Delta has been the only one of the “Big Three” (American, United, and Delta) to offer club access to their top-tier members. Starting with the 2018 Medallion year this will be going away, instead offering a third choice benefit for qualifying Diamonds.
As many of us carry either an American Express Platinum card or American Express Delta Reserve card, this offers a great deal of flexibility as you now have a third perk to pick. As icing on the cake, if you carry the Reserve card, you have a full Individual membership already, so you can upgrade to the Executive membership using only one selection (instead of two: one for the Individual membership, one for executive)!
Other changes coming include the ability to select your benefits independently – which has a huge nuisance up until now, and the ability to select benefits multiple times (other than upgrade certificates and Sky Club Memberships). You can see all the changes below.
There aren’t a lot of changes to the benefits themselves, but I’m really looking forward to the coming years as a Diamond – I love the ability to make choices!
With the dissolution of Delta’s relationship with Alaska Airlines, Delta recently announced the introduction of seven new domestic routes to and from Seattle for the coming year. There are also plans to increase the frequency of a few other existing routes to expand their footprint on the West Coast.
I am really looking forward to the new route from Raleigh, as well as the additional flights to Boston and San Diego. Here’s hoping I’ll be able to hit up the Centurion Lounge (and new SkyClub) more often!
| Destination | Frequency | Start Date | Equipment |
| MKE | 1/day | March 9, 2017 | E175 |
| EUG | 3/day | April 1, 2017 | CRJ700 |
| BNA | 1/day | May 26, 2017 | A319 |
| RDU | 1/day | June 8, 2017 | B737 |
| AUS | 1/day | June 12, 2017 | A319 |
| RDM | 2/day | June 12, 2017 | CRJ700 |
| LIH | 1/day | December 21, 2017 | B757 |
| Destination | New Frequency |
| ORD | 2/day |
| BOS | 2/day |
| SAN | 5/day |
| PDX | 8/day |
Vacation Report, India: The Arrival
Vacation Report, India: Poetree Sarovar Portico
Vacation Report, India: Periyar National Park
Vacation Report, India: Grand Hyatt Mumbai
Vacation Report, India: Airport Lounges
Vacation Report, India: Departure
Upon arriving at the airport I inquired to see if it was possible to upgrade to Premiere (Business Class). Finding out that there were seats available, we opted to pay the difference (cheaper than a single ticket from COK to DOH, amusingly enough) for the upgrade.
The seats were noticeably wider than economy, as to be expected, but were not lie-flat as it was a Boeing 737-800. They did, however, have extra recline and calf-rests which helped considerably. We were offered per-departure beverages and we were soon on our way.
The only frustrating thing was that the TV screens were shared and were always on for the duration of the flight, so it made sleep a little difficult.
For the flight from Doha to London-Heathrow, I opted to take the backwards facing window seat on the B777. While this made for some frustrating navigation when leaving my seat, it offered some excellent views of the terrain!
As we boarded, I managed to capture a few pictures of the suites available in the First Class cabin.
With a 20 hour layover in London, we took some time to really catch up on sleep. After having spent a lot of time with recycled air and confined spaces, a nice big bed was definitely appreciated.
As a pleasant surprise, I was given a toy Mini-Cooper upon check-in (the local specialty) and was given a customized fruit basket! Talk about service! It is nice to see brand loyalty rewarded, truly.
From London to Detroit we used Delta SkyMiles to book Upper Class tickets on Virgin Atlantic’s VS107. This flight is serviced by an Airbus A330-300. This was our first experience flying Virgin Atlantic, let alone their Upper Class product, so we were both extremely excited. The seats were arranged in a herringbone configuration with the ottomans facing the aisles.
Though we already had a feeling we were in for a treat from everything we experienced getting situated, the meal service is what really made that clear to us. In addition to a private bar available (not pictured) behind the Upper Class cabin, the menu is carefully thought out with fairly healthy options. Furthermore, everything was adorable.
One interesting feature of the flight-map is that it also showed various landmarks, like the location of the Titanic, in addition to cities.
The last leg of our flight was by far the most frustrating. Instead of the initially scheduled 5 PM departure, our flight was moved up to 3 PM, which left very little time to get through customs and re-check all our bags. Thankfully, the Diamond Medallion line was very helpful and took care of rebooking both of us on the 8 PM flight (keeping us in First Class, no less). Though it took a fair amount of time on hold, everything was sorted out before we even boarded our flight in London. I love how helpful Delta staff are – they go above and beyond, consistently!
Instead of a regional jet, we returned home in a Boeing 717-200, which offered a lot more room for our cabin luggage (to our relief!).
Vacation Report, India: The Arrival
Vacation Report, India: Poetree Sarovar Portico
Vacation Report, India: Periyar National Park
Vacation Report, India: Grand Hyatt Mumbai
Vacation Report, India: Airport Lounges
Vacation Report, India: Departure
Cochin International Airport (COK) is the fourth busiest international airport in India and the seventh busiest in India, overall. Despite this volume of traffic, on August 18th 2015, it became a fully solar powered airport. In fact, it is the first of its kind in the world.
Currently there are two terminals (T1: International, and T2: Domestic), with a third terminal under construction to take over international traffic, leaving the current international terminal to handle domestic traffic. The existing domestic terminal would then be for private planes only.
To give you an idea of the destination served by COK, I did a quick search on Google Flights to identify non-stop destinations. In addition to various location within India, there are flights to Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, various cities on the Arabian Peninsula, and Malé.
Both domestic and international terminals have lounges available to PriorityPass members. While both lounges are named “Earth Lounge”, they offer different amenities. You can see the details of each lounge on the PriorityPass website, above.
Known as the Earth Lounge and available to everyone with a Priority Pass membership, or traveling Business Class, the lounge in the international terminal at COK is found on the third floor (level ‘2’) of the airport. It offers expansive views of the apron, which makes for some excellent plane watching! There is a buffet that is stocked with a decent spread of Indian goodies, as well as a bar.
Though I might not agree with all the social policies of Qatar, the Doha airport was by far the safest I have felt throughout my entire vacation. The Hamad International Airport is positioned for expansion and has received many awards over the years. In fact, it is currently rated as having the best staff service in the Middle East and being the best airport in the Middle East. Any interaction with the staff will immediately make it clear why they have consistently won in these categories. They are spectacular in these regards.
In addition to having a truly world-class airport, the surrounding areas of Doha are being developed quite nicely. Driving from the hotel to the airport, we noticed that a large amount of plants were being planted. Though this serves multiple purposes, the one that has the most noticeable impact is that it reduces the dust in the air. In fact, within the next 10 years it shouldn’t be surprising to see this turn into a tourist destination.
Since we weren’t flying Qatar airways from Doha to London-Heathrow, the lounges that were available to us were the Al Mujra Business Class Lounge or those available from Priority Pass. We opted for the former and we were not disappointed! The lounge itself is very spacious and offers ample seating and outlets to charge your devices. There are also many personal flight kiosks so you can remain up to date on your own departure time.
As we were departing on Virgin Atlantic flight 107, we made our way to Terminal 3. Thanks to the miles available and given the duration of the flight, I had booked Upper Class tickets. This allowed us entry to the Upper Class wing of Terminal 3, complete with private security lines as well as access to the expansive Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse.
The Clubhouse itself is located beyond the shopping in Terminal 3, and is a fair distance from most of the gates served by Virgin Atlantic and Delta. Upon entry we were informed that in addition to a concierge, there was a deli, bar, spa and hair salon, and that we would be waited upon as soon as we were seated. Since this was our first time in a Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse, we weren’t really sure what to expect, but the treatment blew us away! If you ever have the opportunity to visit a Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse, you will not be disappointed.
As promised, as soon as we were seated, we were greeted by a very friendly waitress who took our orders for a quick breakfast. I opted for an Egg Royale, pictured below, and also poked about the deli. For those curious, the full menu can be found below as well.
Vacation Report, India: The Arrival
Vacation Report, India: Poetree Sarovar Portico
Vacation Report, India: Periyar National Park
Vacation Report, India: Grand Hyatt Mumbai
Vacation Report, India: Airport Lounges
Vacation Report, India: Departure
For our brief stay in Mumbai (Bombay), I opted to reside at the Grand Hyatt. Located near the airport it offered some appealing amenities, including a spa and multiple restaurants.
Upon arriving at the airport, I was greeted by a driver from the Grand Hyatt and promptly taken to the hotel. There, I was greeted by a personal assistant and taken to the room. Talk about service! All members of the staff that I had the pleasure of interacting with were incredibly helpful and polite.
I stayed on the second floor (third floor for those of you in the US), and though no suites were available for upgrade, this room was spectacular. Certainly not disappointed!
As I mentioned earlier, the Grand Hyatt houses more than one restaurant. Of these is one of the highest ranked Italian restaurants of Mumbai. Impressive!
Also at the hotel is the Oasis Spa, which I had the pleasure of experiencing. The prices are more than reasonable and I can’t recommend it enough. Do it!
Complimentary transfers are offered for those residing in suites, but as my upgrade request did not clear, I was only given a one-way transfer because of my status with Hyatt. Definitely not complaining, though, as it was the best hotel pickup experience I have had to date.
