Silverjet: Newark - Luton

MH just landed in Luton and dashed off this review of her trans-Atlantic flight on Silverjet, the "low-fare" all-business class airline:

"Just arrived at Luton. Trying out Silverjet....Not bad....seats are the slightly angled biz class seats like ANA. 100 seats on a 767...newish planes, too. Service is almost like ANA, too....Ugh...but we're 40 minutes late and they locked the closet door with my coat and need to get an engineer now....useless....They make you take buses to the terminal. We got stuck on the tarmac waiting for discount jets to go by. Despite the wait, luggage was still not out. And, apparently, it could take up to 2 hours to get into London bc of an accident. Normally, it takes 1.5 hrs to central London.....hmmmmm......
The check in was good though. You walk in at Newark and somone takes your passport, you sit in a lounge while they check you in.

I booked on Thursday for a flight Sunday and paid US$2,030 vs US$6,500 on American. Virgin was more. They had a campaign going...cheaper if you were a frequent flier member of another airline....since I'm platinum executive on american, my price dropped about US$1,000."

Udaipur 1: Jet Airways delays, beautiful Devi Garh

23 April -- Got a bit of time to spare before cocktails start. Just finished checking set-up for cocktails and dinner; looks splendid. Tonight's theme is rose, so rose petals have been strewn everywhere. The setting at Devi Garh is simply stunning.

Woke up at 3:30am this morning (actually, didn't really sleep much since I was in the bar having drinks with the group till just after midnight and knew I had to wake up early). Got to the airport around 4:45am only to find out that flight to Udaipur would be delayed by 3 hours! So far, in my experience with Jet Airways domestic flights, they have a 100% late rate.

Once we got to Udaipur, everything was find. As always, the Devi Garh staff are very welcoming. The highlight of the day is a formal, sit-down dinner on the roof terrace with everyone dressed up in kurtas and kurtis (long tunics worn over trousers that taper at the bottom, women also get a scarf to accessorize the outfit). Should be a beautiful night under a clear, starry sky.

Lovin' Lufthansa

Here I am thousands of miles over somewhere in China I assume. There's no way I can check, because I'm sitting in economy class of a B747-400 from Hong Kong to Frankfurt, and there is no in-seat entertainment. It's been years since this has happened to me! But I'm still luvin' Lufthansa, because:
1. I connected without problems to the wi-fi internet with Connexion by Boeing. I had to choose the rather costly US$14.95 for 2 hours plan, because my iBook's battery time was down to 1hr 40min. You can actually pay only US$26.95 for the entire duration of the flight. My flight being around 12 hours, would make that a steal! You can check out which flights have this service here. I never use CX's in-flight connection. They really should stop using netvigator as the in-flight internet service provider; as it's a pain to log into and dreadfully slow. Connexion is really easy to log into. I just switched on laptop and it located the wireless network immediately, opened browser and signed up and paid for service within 5 minutes.
2. The fabulous service. It's the first time I've been allowed to hang-out in business class when I only hold an economy class ticket (not-withstanding the early days when I travelled unaccompanied minor and I always got to sit in First Class for the duration of the descent.). I knew my laptop was low on batt and asked if there was an outlet to charge it. I expected the stewardess to say no, and that would be the end of it. As it turns out, she tells me she will check to see if there is a vacant business class seat where I can charge my laptop. In no time, I am in biz, laptop in hand. The outlet doesn't match, so I ask for an adaptor. Another steward produces one. Unfortunately, it doesn't charge. But I'm still happy. They really did try. This would never happen on SQ or CX (Singapore and Cathay being my two favoured airlines).

My battery timer is now down to 1hr 19 min. Time to get some work done and transfer that last episode of Desperate Housewives to my iPod video, which has at least 3 hours of video play time left.

Editor's Note added 19 November 2006: Since this post Connexion by Boeing has announced that their in-air wi-fi service will be discontinued as of the end of 2006.