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Tikay, you need to get involved in this.....don't be shy.
And yes, of course I read this thread.
Been a bit of a long day today, but I'll reply in the morning.
I did like the fact the seating configuration was 2-3-2 in economy though. And they served a delicious pizza type thing. It wasn't a slice is all I can say, but very tasty.
To be fair to US carriers, one of my best flights was a B757 from Manchester to New York in 2011. It was Continental Airlines, just before they merged with United Airlines (flew back with United from San Francisco on that trip, they were poor). The NY flight was very pleasant, seat back TV, comfy seat, great staff and kept us well fed and watered.
Apologies to any thread lurkers looking for entertainment and ending up with plane talk!
Shame about your run in Vegas
BA? Pretty Punta Cana TBH!
So, aircraft & airline chat.........
Personally, the Virgin Atlantic service to Vegas takes some beating, & it is always my preferred choice. The BA flight arrives slightly earlier in Vegas, but the Vrgin flight works better in every way.
Virgin use 747's, quite elderly, but they have all been re-furbed internally, & have all the entertainment kit including touch screen TV. I saw mention of "overhead tv's", jeez, thought they went out of fashion 20 years ago.
Window seat going out, as the flight is all daylight, aisle seat coming home, as it is an "all dark" flight, so I want to sleep, & occassionally go & have wee without waking up the geezer next to me. I'm not fussed about drinks service, as I always have a bottle of water with me, & I am teetotal, so have no need for beer.
When finances permit, I prefer to travel "Premium Economy" outbound, for 2 reasons. First, if you book a window seat, you get two HUGE lockers by your seat, big enough for all the rammel we take into the cabin, including rucksack, manbag, lappie holdall, plus all the books I buy @ Gatwick, usually 6 or 7.
But the MAIN advantage is Immigration @ McCarron. As you may know, the queue there can be 2 hours, even more if the flight arrives just after an inbound flight from Mexico, as they super-scrutinise all travellers but especially Mexicans. By going Prem Economy, you get to disembark first, & so reach the Immigration Hall first. I'm terribly impatient at the best of times, but after a 10 hour flight, & usually 4 or 5 hours getting to Gatters & hanging around, 2 hours in Immigration @ McCarron somehow fails to appeal.
As a general rule, from the aircraft doors opening @ McCarron, it takes me an average 30 minutes before I am safely ensconsed in my hotel room.
The 747, despite its age, is still a lovely aircraft to fly in, nothing beats it imo. The A380 looks wonderful, a proper beast, I get quite aroused watching them, but flying in one holds no appeal.
Sorry to hear you had a losing trip, it can be quite a depressing place when funds run short.
I had my first losing year there this year, & so had to go borrow cash from the likes of Thewy & Ryan, which I did not much enjoy doing.
I was really revved up to do well, & had sold over 50% of my action to my regular investors, so it was all a bit of a blow. I just ran really bad all trip as to poker.
That aside, it was still my most enjoyable Vegas trip ever, as well as my longest, I went for 5 weeks & lived the dream.
The key was that, halfway through, I took a week off poker, & did the tourist thing, with the highlight being Mount Charlston, just 35 kilometres from the Strip. It is WONDERFUL, up in the mountains, wildlife & all sorts, & 35f cooler, too. Went to Creech USAF Base, too, where they test the USAF Drones, Grand Canyon in a 'copter, a Show, the whole works. LOVED it, perhaps the best holiday of my life ever.
Hope you run better next time. Vegas is the nuts.
What I liked about Dublin was that you go through all the US customs rubbish at Dublin, and land in America as a domestic passenger. It was nice, after a long flight, to not then have to stand around for 2 hours awaiting your grilling. All we need now is Aer Lingus to introduce direct flights to Vegas from Dublin, and that would make it a very interesting alternative to London/Manchester. I've been to Vegas 3 times now, and twice I've arrived as a domestic passenger and thus off the plane and on the strip in good time. Was waiting 90 minutes (give or take) when I flew there direct in May on VA, very tiresome after a 10 hour flight.
Sidenote to the Dublin immigration thing....BA do (or did) an all business class only flight from London City airport to New York. It was only on a small plane (737 I think), but the crux of the offer was that it touched down in Shannon en route to complete all customs stuff before setting off again for NYC. Think this was very appealing to the business type folk (hence using London City airport instead of Gatwick/Heathrow). Not sure if it still runs anymore.
Thank you for the commiserations. The poor results were all my fault so the financial blame lies at my door. Still had a good trip though, went in a load of hotels/casinos that I'd yet to step foot in (NYNY, Luxor, Circus Circus, Wynn amongst others) and finally did that tower ride atop Stratosphere. Definitely going back next year. Few of my mates are very interested in a big trip, probably to coincide with the start of the WSOP, depending on flight prices etc. I'd love to play a WSOP event, but if that isn't feasible then there are plenty of other big tournaments to sink my teeth into/go broke in
The aircraft is a Airbus A318, & the fact it lands en route @ Shannon is a sort of happy accident of a rather odd thing.
London City Airport is rather small with a short runway, & the A318 is the largest aircraft that can take off from there, but it cannot do so with a full payload of fuel, so it needs to stop at Shannon to top up the tanks to enable it to fly across the Atlantic with the required fuel reserve.
Another oddity is that the return flight to London does not need to stop at Shannon. The jet stream blows west to east, so that allows greater flight endurance with the same payload. For the same reason, for example, the the flight to Vegas takes 10 hours (average) whilst the homebound flight is only 9 hours.
This "jet stream" is a most peculiar thing, which few of us know much about, but the consequence is that the prevailing winds in the UK are west to east, most especially in Southern England.
And that leads us to another fascinating oddity which few people realise. If you "google map" Heathrow or Gatwick, you will see that the runways are built west to east/east to west, & not north south/south north.
This is because civil aircraft ideally need to land INTO the facing wind, & certainly not through cross winds.
Fascinating, eh?
If your Diary did have a lot of readers, I suspect I've just lost a few for you.....
Ah Tikay, I tip my virtual hat in your direction. A fountain of aviation knowledge.
My ex used to get annoyed with me because whenever we'd go on holiday, I'd bore her t1ts off with plane talk at Manchester airport. I'd tell her where aircraft were heading, where they had landed from, interesting stuff but apparently not for her
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A couple of prominent threads have been and gone recently. I'm sure they were total levels. One was possibly a scam.
I saw a thread whilst I was in Vegas, the poster was clearly intoxicated and can only assume it was deleted come the morning, but it was very poor. The guy in question certainly likes a good moan on here. It did attract a couple of comments before it was removed (MattBates and someone else).
Jac's blowout was funny to catch up with. Really wish I was going to the IPO event in Dublin but isn't to be. Hopefully an SPT return next year will mean I can let any forum regs who wants to buy me a beer, buy me a beer. And any who want to give me a slap, can give me a slap
Speaking of beer, I may have consumed a fair bit last night. Which led to buying a burger on the way home. Which led to said burger being thrown up in the toilet at 5am. So not only do I not remember buying the takeaway, it also led to me being sick in the early hours. £5 well spent.
Think Tikay does right to be teetotal.
*cracks open another can*
Thanks for mine though
Yes, I depart these shores a week on Monday you'll be pleased to know.
I'll buy you a pint at the next SPT.
Maybe a half pint.
Kinda fortunate in that I'm covered with my bank for the first 31 days....but its a bit of a grey area after that. All the companies want to know an end date (obviously), but I'm not in a position to give them one. Be sods law that I'll get covered until the end of January, and end up busting my leg on Feb 2nd. Or get covered until like April, and then decide I wanna come home by November. I know it's important though, and shall be suitably covered.
Majorca was nice. Stayed in Cala Millor, a very pleasant area with a huge long beach. Unfortunately the weather wasn't brilliant, and with it being just a 4 night trip, chances to lay down on the sand and do buggger all were limited. The sea was great. I do enjoy a nice clear, rock free water to just lie in and let the hangover wash away. Can't do that in Scarborough, end up wrapped round a shopping trolley
Might be able to squeeze in some poker tomorrow, then it's a big football day on Saturday, and Sunday shall be spent packing (be that packing to take with me or packing to dump at home).
Oh, staying in a reformed brewery for my token night in Stockholm. Hic! Though having been to Scandinavia a couple of times and seen the prices, think I'll be on water.
Tap, not bottled.
But its sooooooo tempting......
Over and out from me. Play nice and run well. If someone could collate all the hilarious threads in one place, to peruse at my leisure on my return, feel free
Jonathan