Ben's Air Blog

See Part 2: British Airways A380 While pricing for my trip to Amsterdam for the last KLM MD-11 flight , I came across a fantastic deal in business class that I just could not pass up.  It was on a British Airways (BA) ticket from San Jose, California to Amsterdam for $2400.  The only catch - I had to make two connections to get there. The connection through LAX gave me an added bonus.  For the same price, I was able to choose to fly either on American (AA) or BA or a combination of both.  Of course, I went with the “enthusiast combo," flying outbound on the AA 777-300ER and returning on the BA A380 .  This also allowed for a BIS comparison between the new business class products from the two airlines.  How does the new American flying their newest airplane compare with the elegant old British queen flying their newest behemoth of the skies?

See Part 1, American 777-300ER Post Reservation Right off the bat, this flight got off to a bad start. After booking my ticket, I found out that I could not pre-reserve my seat.  Seats on all other legs on my ticket, including the codeshare AA flights and the European flights on BA, were available for pre-selection. However, seats on this leg from London Heathrow to Los Angeles on the A380 would cost an additional $105 to pre-select. I thought - I just paid for a premium ticket, why am I bring nickeled and dimed on the order of $100 plus to choose a seat?  Being cheap, I decided to take my chances and wait until check in. As the day of the flight approached, though, I noticed all the window seats at optimum locations were being taken up quickly. I was preparing for the worst.

On November 11, I flew on KLM's MD-11 Farewell Flight.  It was the last time where you can buy a ticket to fly on the distinctive trijet built by McDonnell Douglas in the 1990s.  KLM is the last airline to operate the passenger version of the MD-11 and they gave this old lady a grand send off fit for a queen.

Flying on Air Canada's Inaugural 787 Flight In my quest to fly on as many Boeing 787 Dreamliner inaugural flights as I can, hot on the heels of Norwegian’s Oakland to Stockholm inaugural flight came Air Canada’s inaugural 787 flight into service.

Trip Report - British Airways Concorde from London Heathrow to New York JFK (July 1, 2003) This was originally written in 2003. Hello and welcome!  I tried to make this trip report as detailed as possible, so it might be a long read. But I hope you will nevertheless find it interesting. So recline your cradle seat to a comfortable position, fasten your seatbelt, and let's dart into the stratosphere!

If you are in a bookstore or aviation shop between now and the next few weeks, look for the December 2013 issue of Airways magazine for an article co-written by yours truly about Surf Air . Surf Air is a new start-up airline based in Southern California flying a fleet of three (soon to be four) six-passenger PC-12s between Northern and Southern California.  What makes Surf Air unique is it is a monthly membership based all-you-can-fly airline. Back in August, my co-writer Bill Hough and I had an unique opportunity to experience Surf Air first hand. I will make you buy (or at least read) the magazine for my trip report and to read up about the airline and our interview with its CEO, Wade Eyerly.  :)  As space in the magazine was limited, I would like to share with you some additional photos from our trip. Surf Air Slideshow

When Singapore Airlines discontinues their ultra long-haul (ULH) flights between Singapore (SIN) and Newark (EWR) and Los Angeles (LAX), it will mark the end of an era of ULH flights flown with the Airbus A340-500 (A345).

I took a most unexpected flight while in South Africa. I got to fly in a Douglas DC-4 Skymaster - the last one ever built - and one of only two remaining in the world carrying passengers. It was an exciting highlight in my aviation enthusiast career!

Here is a final rundown of my Round the World trip.

My African Safari took place at Balule Nature Reserve, a private game reserve about 270 miles northeast of Johannesburg (a six-hour shuttle van ride away).  Balule’s border with Kruger National Park is unfenced, which allows animals to move freely in between the lands.  The advantage of taking a safari at a private reserve is they have the ability to take vehicles off road straight to the animals, whereas at Kruger, everyone must stay on the road.