Heading to Asia via Europe today!

are u staying in Vienna?

Aren't the 787s grounded?

@ Lucky -- that sounds amazing! I just flew on the JAL 787 yesterday, and while the seats left something to be desired the plane is beautiful. I can't wait for your trip report!!! 😀

Are you sure you will fly on the 787? As far as I know they are all grounded until Boeing figures out what is causing fire on those planes. Thus, better NOT to fly on those for now. Safe travels.

How are you flying a 787 this week?

I'm pretty sure Lucky knows what's going on with the 787, thus the "I’m ready to go, and nothing could possibly go wrong" line. I'm not sure how Chris rode a JAL 787 yesterday, though...

@ Chris - did you fly the 787 yesterday? FlightAware shows NRT-BOS operating on 787s, but there's this language on JAL's website:

As announced in the Apology and Notice: Regarding JAL´s Operations of the 787-8 Aircraft,
JAL decided to cancel the operations of our 787-8 fleet from January 16 to February 17, 2013 to ensure complete safety.

Source: https://www.jal.co.jp/cms/other/en/weather_info_int.html

Until now I wasn't aware you had canned posts. Disappointing. Clearly the 787 will not be flying anytime soon, and you will be flying on a LOT 763.

I don't know if you've ever flown AlItalia's business class product, but it's really nice. Think KLM will start with the new seats this year, so that they will have a nice hard-product as well. Air France is a lost case, you can have that one.

You gotta be careful with them 787's...all that smoke in the cabin? You could get bronchitis! Ain't nobody got time for that!

Enjoy the LOT 767 unless it is in March (or later)

"As per 29JAN13 GDS inventory display, LOT Polish Airlines is cancelling planned Boeing 787 operation for the entire month of February 2013, which impacts planned 787 inaugural service to New York JFK and Toronto. Latest update as follows."

http://airlineroute.net/2013/01/29/lo-787-feb13update2/

@Chris JAL has grounded their 787s, how did you fly one? https://www.jal.co.jp/en/info/other/130116.html

wtf
Im not sure if this is worse than a post shilling credit cards or not.
Since the 787s have been grounded for weeks at this point, inexcusable.

@Matt -- Yup... definitely the 787 Dreamliner. In fact the crew was very apologetic for the inconvenience that we were not flying the aircraft as scheduled (nevermind the fact that it was the originally scheduled aircraft) - very Japanese of them. I found the entire situation to be rather entertaining.

@Gumbo & Brian - I'm sure it's an English translation issue. 🙂

@Chris -- what was the route?

@Gumbo -- JL79: YXE-NRT - they started service there a couple of weeks ago.

@Chris, if you did flew a 787 yesterday, then JAL is probably to lose it's license to be a commercial airliner, as the Japan Transport Safety Board has grounded the 787's, does not allow them to be flown in commercial services and it is a very serious offence to fly airplanes that are not allowed to do so.

if you are stopping over in vienna, you have to go here: http://www.sacher.com/en-original-sacher-tart.htm and get a slice of the original sacher torte with an espresso. One of my favorite spots in the city.

@Chris: care to explain why JAL is not listed in YXE airport website? http://yxe.ca/flights/destinations/

I think the sarcasm detector for this post has been grounded by the FAA.

@Miguel -- That's highly unfortunate... on the brightside I got to fly a new plane.

@Paul -- totally agree.

@Miguel -- I'm sure it's a Canadian -> English translation issue.

This post is a fake. Too many things wrong, mentions of skyteam??? Also I don't think any of the airlines referenced are 'premium' carriers. The 787 is grounded. Not to mention there is no way to experience those 4 airlines in longhaul on a single EU-Asia trip. I smell a rat

If you are flying business class on an award ticket, will they let you into the business class lounges? I thought they only let you in for revenue tickets.

Umm, yeah preapre to fly on a LOT 767...they aren't flying their 787s.

"I’ve been fortunate to fly just about every one of the best first class products out there"

I don't think you've even flown Korean yet? Hah!

But I really want to see a report on Transaero's Imperial Class. Thank you!

On second thoughts perhaps this is like the guy at verizon who was outsourcing his work to China 🙂

If so the Quality check pre-publsihing has failed.

Very strange post and comments . Like stepping into a parallel universe.

Oh my...

@ Jamison -- Yep, spending a night in Vienna.

@ tom -- SkyTeam is mentioned because I'm only flying business class, and you can't redeem Delta miles for international first class. So I figure SkyTeam flyers will feel right at home.

@ Alan S -- Doesn't matter whether it's an award or revenue ticket, you get lounge access.

@ Gary -- LOL, yes, Transaero I must do!

you will loooove Brussels Airlines biz class. one of the best products out there, fm the min you step on board until you deplane. and their BRU lounge isn't too shabby either. that's one report i plan to scrutinize carefully. Pick a solo middle or window seat.

I, too, doubt that Lucky will actually be flying on a LOT 787 on this trip. Lucky, please share with us why you think otherwise?

'Anyway, I’m ready to go, and nothing could possibly go wrong!'

Ladies and Gentlemen, he got us....

Again.

Remember Shanghai and the pearl market scam? How everyone was shocked and sad to hear he'd been conned....

Lucky, may I recommend... 'The Big Con', David Maurer, for a bit of in-flight reading. Also the BBC's 'Hustle' - best scam-show ever, way better than Scam City even...

Have fun on Brussels. They're really very good indeed.

chances are the part about the LOT 787 are sarcasm given that Lucky tweeted a few days ago his horror that his flight was switched from a 787 to a 767

Wow, only @limelight got it? Nice!

Hey Ben,

I hate to be the spelling police but did you know it's actually labeled the Airbus A380? As per Airbus the A should always precede the 380, 320, 330, 340. A380 is a model number, Airbus A380 is an aircraft manufacturer and model number. Airbus 380 is an aircraft manufacturer and just a random number.

Just a pet peeve of mine.

Ben is not a good enough writer to pull off sarcasm, sadly.

@Tijn: AF has recently announced they'll be using the Cirrus flat bed seat in J. This is a variant of the new CX seat/US Envoy seat/DL 744 new Business Elite seat. Rollout will likely be slower than molasses in January in Canada, but it's supposed to happen.

Safe travels! Looking forward to your trip report, especially on Austrian and Turkish. While you wait for takeoff, will Turkish remind you they're globally yours?

Won't help them much I guess, don't think it's very likely that the habits of their crews will change just as they put new seats in the cabin.

Look forward to hearing about some business products as that's all I can manage to get on (not first!)

@Jo -- Ahem, see my post #6.

Other than a nice ground experience in IST, you'll find the offerings on these carriers to be akin to SK J. Fine, better than US-flagged carriers, but far from remarkable.

So Chris, what did you actually fly in? Must have been as good as Lucky's B787 experience will be...Do people just make stuff up to sound experienced?

@Tom - Yes you can indeed experience those four products on a 90K US N Asia reward. Do a little research...Hint: Lucky posted about the entire scenario a few weeks ago...No LOT B787 though due to the worldwide grounding.

This has to be a prank post.

is this for sex tourism?

What are you guys talking about? I just flew JAL 787 from Haneda to San Diego last week!

If you want to see the LOT 787, you need to include Chicago in your travels. Just saw it parked last week. Too funny.

And the IHT says that LOT is pissed at Boeing and wants compensation. Maybe Boeing can send them a Skykit.....

Have we been transported to April 1st?