flying to europe
 

those of you that have flown to europe, particularly london & amsterdam, what are your experiences with specific airlines, etc.?

i was surfing around tonite and thought i might check on prices to take the concorde. all i got to say is DAMN that bitch is expensive. $12,000 give or take a few for round trip from JFK to LHR.... anyone ever taken the concorde? if so, was it cool?? not that im gonna spend $12k on a freaking plane ticket. :)

fuck it!
throw down for the concord ticket man!

:)

Virgin Atlantic is good, they got some hott stuardesses :Graucho

why fly????

queen mary

haven't been on a concorde before, but definitely something i'm planning to do. i've heard it's a sweet experience...

Fly American Airlines since you are from Texas, isn't Dallas one of their hubs? If you are an American Airlines Aadvantage member go to their website and look under their special promotions sections, I beleive right now they are giving bonus miles when you fly to europe, but you need to sign up for the promotion before hand. American Airlines flies to London, but I don't think to Amsterdam.

You should be able to get a roundtrip ticket to London on AA for about $500.

damn dude, get a normal ticket and spend that money on the hoes and beer

that would be even nicer

Or you can donate it to the "Lev getting a Ferrari fund"

:glugglug

seriously, spend that money to travel more places in Europe, hit me up on icq if you want some info. I've seen many places there ;)

American trash please stay where you are

:mad:

Virgin Atlantic tends to be the cheapest. Concord is known for being fast but very uncomfortable.

huh?

$12k outch... loose change for some.
Unless that's you, take the bus :1orglaugh .

____________________

http://www.dialerconnection.com/img/...r_230x29_1.gif
Simply Better.

What I meant by Concord being uncomfortable is pretty easy to understand...it is uncomfortable, small seating area...it is uncomfortable...

Where are you flying from? Texas?

For obvious reasons I have done the US to London thing a number of times plus I used to be a travel agent.

I tend to fly from Philly or Newark.

I liked United a good deal primarly because of the slightly wider seat pitch than the other airlines I have been on.

US Air suprised the heck out of me as actually being very good on the transatlantic routes. Something I would't have expected from the internal service. They had by far the best inflight entertainment system of any of the airlines I have been on.

I really didn't like Virgin at all. Despite a decent inflight entertainment system it was too cramped and the food was awful. However, if you are bringing kids then they are very kid friendly.

However, I totally found by accident, when I had to fly home in an Emergency, that Air France and Continental are great on the transatlantic. Okay, so you have to change in Paris if you go Air France (but you can usually get a stopover in it) but they were great with very good food. I was traveling right after sept 11 and flew back on the day we starting bombing so it was a tense time and we ended up on a continental plane on the way out to New York. Which, amazingly was also very good on the transatlantic route.

If you are flying from Texas Continental has one if its hubs in houston.

The Concorde is overpriced - it's so small.

Only advantage is the speed - MACH 2 I believe.

lol and with that advantage comes the price...

Concorde is for people of whom the speed versus the price, works out for them that the speed they get their outweighs the price they will pay...

hey Lens, if i get 50 signups a day with erasercash will you buy me a concorde ticket? haha :)

nah... im content with regular plane, just thought it'd be neat to do the concorde. maybe someday i will.

I dont travel much. Ive heard of the concord, heard its fast, but is that it? Does anyone have specifics on what the benefit is of paying 12 grand for a seat?

shut the fuck up you turkish piece of shit

My ex-gf is working at airfrance. She bought a concorde ticket for $500. They get incredible discounts.

Turkey shouldnt even belong to Europe, youre a bunch of fucking lying cheating animals and religion fanatic Scum, you should Be Blown up with the Rest of your BACKSTABBING Scumbag friends like Pakistan and Iraq.

there Are ONly a few good people from the BAD europe countries like turkey., i think that lane is one of them good guys but i dontknow where hes from 4real.

he more looks like from belgium

Hey Quiet on March 19, 2002 you posted:
"haven't been on a concorde before, but definitely something i'm planning to do. i've heard it's a sweet experience..."

And then on November 15, 2002 you wrote:
"i also took my dad on the concorde for a new years celebration a couple of years back. that was extremely cool."
"1st class rocks. but i still don't think it's justified. the concorde flight i took - that was crazy. but still not justifiable."
"the concorde is the most amazing plane i've ever been on. my dad has always been obsessed with jets, and always wanted to go supersonic. so we went on a 3 hour flight to no where (ended up in the same place we took off from). very cool. very expensive"

So have you or have you not been on the Concorde, or was there a New Years celebration between March & November??? :)

That price can't be right...It costs me $330 to fly Stockholm - NY forth and back...

hah...Chinese New Year?

When I fly London to Boston I go British Airways. Can't go wrong with them in my experience, plus they have three flights a day so you can get the best times to suit you.

You fly economy class. Dawgy has money and can charter his own jet if he wants.

I've flown the Atlantic Ocean trip on BA, Virgin, and Sabena (Belgian). The food on BA was better than Virgin but the entertainment was better on Virgin. Sabena was best overall but I don't know if they exist anymore. They may have 'crashed and burned' so to speak after Nov 11th tradgedy. From what it seems, the intercontinental flight doesn't vary too much company to company.

If you are looking to save money I will give you one piece of advice. If your final destination is Amsterdam, fly into London Gatwick (if you can) and fly Gatwick to Amsterdam on Easy-Jet. Its a bargain airline in every sense of the word but its only a 70 minute flight and its likely to be cheaper than the direct flight price. ATM the flight from LGW to Amsterdam (and return flight) is running at about $75. Its very likely that the direct price is more than the price from Dallas to London plus $75 for the EasyJet flight. They do about 5 flights a day so you shouldn't have any problem with long layovers.

Of course if you've got all the money in the world then you can tell me to :321GFY

:thumbsup

I just came back from Amsterdam and I took Northwest Airlines/KLM and they were great. They have a digital map that shows you where you are as youre flying, which is cool because I'm always wondering that.

I want to see quiet's response

It's selling hoes and beer that gave him the money in the first place.

Only joking. :)

You don't sell beer.

$12k? not worth it. I've done the tranatlantic thing a good deal because of where I llive and I was a North American travel agent before I got into this game. If you are in Arizona, like your ident says, there is little point getting the concord because you are going to have to take the flight to NYC to get it in the first place.

Of course, if you have had your heart set on doing Concord once before you die then that is a different matter.

However, some things to mention when you are looking for flights: Don't forget that there are two major international airports serving London (plus a number of smaller ones) - heathrow (LHR) and Gatwick (LGW). They are both many miles from the city but have good transport links into it. Gatwick is a lot easier to get through simply because it is smaller. Also, I personally like their transport system better because it is a train into London Bridge vs the tube or the heathrow express. Tubes are a bitch with luggage.

In the last few years I have flown the following to the States from London : US Air, United, Continental, Air France, Virgin

US Air had the best entertainment system of them all. I was suprised by that. United and Air France had the best food. Virgin was a dissapointment but if I had kids I may have rated them higher. Contenential was fine over all but nothing special.

The one advantage of 'national' airlines such as Air France is that you usually can get a free stopover in their country on the way to somewhere else such as London.

the free booze kicks ass, but if you go to amsterdam and fly back to lax, be prepaired to have your bags searched when you land.. also, duty free shoping rocks

I have to agree AND disagree with this statement. Yes remember that there are several London airports so make sure you explore all your options.

In my experience Gatwick IS NOT easier to get through. I've flown into both Heathrow and Gatwick several times over the last 4 years from both international and european destinations. As an American you have to use the 'all other passports' lane which in my experience at Gatwick is always HUGELY understaffed. My average wait at Gatwick immigration is nearly an hour - once as bad as 2 hours packed body to body. My average wait at Heathrow is about 20 minutes.

On the other side, Sarah is absolutely correct that Gatwick's transport system is FAR superior. The tube from Heathrow is HELL.

so has quiet done the concorde or not? maybe he is 2 people

My Dad was one of the first 1,000 people to fly on the concorde back years ago. He said it was amazing and even got some special pin or something to signify it. He said very closed quarters but incredibly faaaaaast!

I fly to Ireland quite often and British Airlines has been the nicest airline I have flown over on as of yet. Air Canada sucks my balls.

DH

I dont know - same username with the same amount of posts, i just thought it was funny how his posts were different... Today I went through this thread for some reason and in the fifth post he types he hasnt flown on the Concorde, but then i remember reading a couple months ago how he went on the Concorde with his father for New Years, which i thought was pretty cool considering thats a pretty expensive trip.
http://www.gofuckyourself.com/showth...ght=concord e

:glugglug

DynaMite

Yes, hahahaha!
:glugglug

the whole 'other passports' thing has gotten much more difficult at heathrow over the last year. It could be just me but Heathrow's lines have been hell. I am an American but my passport is stamped with a residency stamp from the UK.

That means that usually they will let me go through the EU line. Not anymore, you have have to go through the 'other passports' line and it has been huge lately.

The last time I did it there was a reason because it was a couple days before the Commonwealth Games and half of Canada and Africa were landing in Heathrow.

There are a number of airports in the London area - LHR, LGW, stanstead, Luton and London City. If you were flying from Europe the other ones would be more of an option but as its USA it is almost always LHR or LGW.

The Heathrow Express has made traveling from LHR much easier. It is a service that takes 15 minutes to get into central London. The only thing is that it goes into Paddington which doesn't have all that many hotels around it. So, chances are you are going to need to get a cab or a bus to your hotel. Busses are confusing for most people their first time in London and with luggage a nightmare.

So, that leaves a cab but I am not being silly when I say that the cab system at Paddington is the most hectic I have seen anywhere. Not just in the UK but in the world.

Last time I used the Heathrow Express it took me 15 minutes to get to Paddington and another hour to get into a cab and even then they made me share it with three other people - but pay full price.

That is interesting Sarah as I've had exactly the opposite experience at Heathrow. I've never waited an unpleasant amount of time there whereas Gatwick has always been hell.

I've got an American passport with a permanent leave to remain in the UK visa (as I'm married to a Brit) and they always make me stand in the other passports line. I've only bunked it once myself - Landed in Gatwick after an 8 hour flight from Orlando to Brussels, a 6 hour layover and then an hour in a tiny Virgin jet back to Gatwick. It seemed we landed at the same time as about 8 other international flights, most of them african and asian and there was at LEAST a 3 hour line at immigration. I had the beginnings of a nasty sinus infection so I thought 'Fuck this' and went through the EU line with my husband. The officer made a fuss that I was in the wrong line so I shouted and cried that there was no fucking way I was waiting for 3 hours with a pounding sinus headache while my husband waited on the other side and so he gave me a nasty look, stamped my passport and off we went. I suppose being an emotional girl does have its advantages sometimes.

Anyway, long story short I suppose it all depends on when you hit the immigration at the various airports.

yup, true. Sounds like we have the same stamp because I am married to a Brit too. I'm going for dual citizenship so I hope when I have both passports they will just let me go through the local line on both ends.

I've been thinking about that but haven't looked into it too closely. Are there that many benefits other than easier airport arrivals? I don't wanna give up my US citizenship (even though I've gotta fill in that stupid 'I don't make any money in the USA' tax form every year - still can't get over how idiotic that is) and didn't think there were that many perks going through all the paperwork to get dual citizenship. Have I missed something? Please let me know if you think there are some big benefits I'm missing.

You don't have to give up your US citizenship. If that was the case i would never consider it. I did worry so I contacted the US embassy and the British home office and then both told me you don't have to give up your US citizenship. The US Embassy said that the only way you will have your citizenship taken away is if you write some formal letter asking to have it taken away.

Benifits? Well, the prime one for me is that if my husband were to die I would be allowed to stay here without any question. Not only that but I would stay on the rent book for our flat. I don't know if I would want to stay here forever if something happened to him when I was still relativly young but the truth is that my life is here now and I don't want to be forced to leave.

Also, it make it a lot easier to get a pension (social secruity). Plus, claim benifits if you ever have to. For me it is a peace of mind thing. I don't want to be forced to leave and if our husbands were to die (god forbid) they could if they felt the need.

Also, if you are American and earning money in American dollars (ie sponsor checks) you have to pay US taxes. It sucks but it is something I have been dealing with all this year. It has been a pain in the ass.

Virgin Atlantic all the way! Premium Economy is the best way to go. regular is kinda cramped. If you try hard enough you should be able to find a cheap flight directly through Virgin and just upgrade a notch from there.

I would go BA first class or buisness Class if you can, I've done the Vancouver - London route 7 or 8 times now and wouldn't fly with anybody else, the new seating they have now on most transatlantic routes is really good, makes the flight go really quickly when you are comfortable and the food and service is excellent.

I've been through Heathrow and Gatwick and bunch of times and will always fly into and out of Heathrow if I can. Everytime I've been through Gatwick it's been a nightmare, especially the luggage collection, I was once in there for over 90 mins toe to toe with hundreds of other pissed off peeps waiting becuase they got backed up.

holy shit this is an old thread. someone was bored. :)

Duh, didn't even notice :mad:

Looks like Stevo bumped it to bust Quiets balls. :winkwink: