KLM recently introduced its long-awaited ‘Premium Comfort’ cabin on the route between Amsterdam and New York – InsideFlyer was on board the inaugural flight to check it out… We joined KLM to take an InsideLook at the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner with KLM’s brand new Premium Comfort cabin. This new cabin class will eventually be rolled out on every aircraft type in the intercontinental fleet, except for the Airbus A330s.  You could say KLM is late to the party introducing Premium Comfort Class, as many of the established airlines already have a Premium Economy offering. However, this was part ..read more

The Norwegian winter climate can be quite inhospitable at times. Dreaming of palms and beaches rather than a white Christmas, I was able to secure reward tickets with Thai Airways and Airbus A350 from Brussels to Bangkok for my Christmas holiday. Thailand has become a very popular holiday destination for Europeans, even if it is an 11-hour flight away from almost anywhere in Europe. Until now it hasn’t been a priority for me but needing an escape from snow and freezing temperatures, I decided it was about time. I was able to secure a business class reward ticket with Thai Airways from Brussels ..read more

More and more airlines are getting rid of their first class cabin. As a result, there are fewer reward seats available for the ever-growing mass of reward players. Air China First Class seems to be the exception. Reward availability is easy to find, even during peak season. Can it really be that bad? To be honest, Air China wasn’t at the top of my list, but finding any kind of last-minute reward availability from Europe to Thailand during Christmas is an almost impossible task. At this point I was happy with not flying economy class. It’s no secret that Air China doesn’t have the best reputati ..read more

I rarely hear good things about short-haul Intra-European business class flights. One exception is TravelUpdate’s own Flight Detective who finds himself flying short hops throughout Europe in the forward cabin. Until recently, I couldn’t comment on intra-European business class, as I hadn’t experienced the product myself. Finally, last month, I took my first flight in business class on European airline solely within Europe. From what I’ve heard from other bloggers and frequent flyers, I was to expect poor service, awful legroom, and little to no onboard amenities. However, my two-hour flight f ..read more

Ranking the U.S. airlines may seem like an exercise in finding the least worst of the bunch. I’ve read horror stories about essentially every airline. At its heart, air travel is basically finding someone to take you from point A to point B safely and with all your stuff. But there is enough to differentiate between carriers as well. A little service can go a long way in the industry, and some carriers have made a better impression on me than others. I know everyone has both their favorite carrier(s) and the ones they avoid at all costs. My list takes into account both my own experiences ..read more

Background: When searching for a flight from Paris to Barcelona, I hoped to find the cheapest option. Vueling Airlines popped up at under $50 each so I snagged them up! My friend from Barcelona had previously flown with them and she said they were decent so I took her advice! Vueling Airlines Delay: Sadly, we were notified that our flight was delayed about 1 hour before our scheduled departure of 1:35 PM. It said the flight would be delayed 2.5 hours! Thankfully, I had access to the Premium Traveller Lounge, which was an amazing escape from the hustle and bustle of the terminal. It made the de ..read more

Introduction Qatar Airways is one of the best airlines in terms of quality and luxury. Most of their planes are new with beautiful interiors, excellent entertainment units, and comfortable seats. For those reasons, Qatar is usually my first choice for rewards redemptions if I have enough miles.  For this flight, I flew Qatar Airways business class on their A380 plane from Frankfurt to Doha using my American Airlines miles. Booking Qatar Airways is member of the OneWorld alliance which means that Qatar Airways award flights can be booked using OneWorld partners such as British Airways or ..read more

Low cost carrier Norwegian has broken in to the US market with several long-haul flights. Here’s a look at Norwegian’s Premium class, on a flight from Oakland, CA to London Gatwick, UK. Lounge A Premium Class seat on Norwegian includes Fast Track and much-loved lounge access at most airports, and the Escape Lounge located in Terminal 1 near Gate 9 at Oakland Int’l Airport quite frankly, blew me away. Being used to meager and paltry offerings in abysmally full lounges as is often the case with other carriers in the US (*cough* American and United), I wasn’t expecting to find a quiet environment ..read more

This morning, I hopped on the JetBlue version of the new Boston-New York shuttle. This may be the shortest flight review in history, since most of the action took place at the airport, particularly on the Boston side. Welcome to the new shuttle, but the JetBlue version. The JetBlue “Shuttle” Hmm, looks like the same old JetBlue plane Few routes have suffered as much from airline service cuts as the shuttle, particularly the Boston-New York route. In the “good ol’ days,” the shuttles were the pride and joy of airlines. Above average service to business customers, who could simply walk up a ..read more

One of the first thing that novices in the mileage “game” learn is that nothing is free. I don’t care how many magazine articles, talk shows or blog posts you read or watch. It’s simply not as easy as just applying for a few credit cards and watching the miles roll in. There is spending to achieve, credit card fees to pay and airline surcharges (I’m looking at you BA.). Once you do earn the miles, though, it’s a lot of fun to look for that dream flight. And there are worse ways to spend a couple of hundred thousand miles than first class on Cathay Pacific. I recently flew from Honk Kong t ..read more