Author Topic: Venice, Milan & Zurich TR  (Read 6793 times)

Offline Hudi

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Venice, Milan & Zurich TR
« on: July 25, 2012, 07:20:09 PM »
Just completed a Europe trip. here goes:

Flew LH J from IAD - FRA on the new 747-8. We checked in at the Lufthansa Senators lounge, they hav  separate lounges for first and business. My Turkish airlines gold card got us into the FC lounge even though we were flying biz.

We sat upstairs. Very comfortable new seats in LH new business class, great storage space by the window seats. Downside is that the leg rest space is tiny. IFE was great with plenty of selections for a 7 hour flight. KSML meals (Borensteins) were awful. Service was pretty good though, other then the fact that there are 94 ppl in business class which makes you kind of feel "unspecial." In general I prefer delta's new business elite or US Airways's new Envoy to LH J.

Connected to our intra Europe flight FRA to Venice. Although business class seats are a joke, service was actually pretty good for a domestic flight.

Venice
Stayed 3 nights at the Westin, was upgraded to a canal view suite as a SPG plat. Had an awesome time in Venice. A couple tips for visiting in July: It's HOT, so the best time to explore Venice itself is in the early morning hours before it gets hot. Or the late afternoon. We preferred morning as it is a lot less crowded. If you go past the tourist sites like to the Rialto market you'll catch the locals waking up for work and setting up shop. A great midday trip would be marano and barano which is a lot less crowded and quite an experience.

For public transportation you can buy a 3 day unlimited pass for 19 euro if you're under 29 (they didn't check our ID though.) Easiest way to GamGam from the westin is to take the no. 2 waterbus from San Marco to the Train Sation and from there its a 5 min walk. 

Also if you're not planning on staying for Shabbos, the Hilton is a good option as it's even closer to Jewish Ghetto via water bus then the Westin and it's a nice retreat after a long hot day in the crowded streets of Venice.

Milan
Not much in terms of sights but food was great. Checkout MyKafe for their homemade ice cream and plenty of other goodies and Carmel for their Pizza. We didn't check out Denzel but we heard good things. We stayed at the RadissonBlu.

Zurich
2 nights at the PH corner suite. Zurich is awesome (and expensive.) Weather was perfect and hanging out in the old city was priceless. After a day of walking, boat rides, sightseeing, there is a park near the lake which is a great place to hang out and ppl watch. For Kosher food check out Olive Garden (8 minute walk from PH) Books and Bagels and LeShuk are a good place to pick up sandwiches etc. Fein & Schein was really nothing special.  Only buy a Zurich Card if you plan to take the boat ride AND visit a couple of museums. Otherwise just buy an unlimited day pass. We bought Zurich cards for a Sunday and it was raining and all the museums were closed. #Mistake

For the return we were scheduled from ZRH to IAD on UA 763 in J. Flight was canceled and for the fear we would be rebooked in Y (as reservations booked with miles are treated like the bottom of the barrel) we accepted a flight via LHR on United's 777 horrible 2-4-2 configuration in J without Kosher meals. Kosher meals from London are actually good. To make matters worse we were put in the two middle seats facing backwards. :(

total cost: 200k UA miles. 36k SPG points. 2 Hyatt suite certs.

thanks everyone!

Offline DrDanny

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Re: Venice, Milan & Zurich TR
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2012, 07:52:51 PM »
Great trip report Thanks
Isn't the Hilton in Venice on its own island meaning you need to get in a boat to leave
Eta. "if your NOT staying for Shabbos" not sure what I was reading

Offline LAXtraveler

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Re: Venice, Milan & Zurich TR
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2012, 08:04:15 PM »
Thanks for the TR.

Having flown the new 777 in J twice - once in a window and once in a middle of the 4 - I have to say, the new layout is actually pretty comfortable in the 2 seat section. The 4 seat section leaves a lot to be desired.

Offline Hudi

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Re: Venice, Milan & Zurich TR
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2012, 08:44:30 PM »
Great trip report Thanks
Isn't the Hilton in Venice on its own island meaning you need to get in a boat to leave
Eta. "if your NOT staying for Shabbos" not sure what I was reading

It's a two minute shuttle to the mainland Venice. Read the reviews on TA. It sounds like the location isn't bad at all.


Having flown the new 777 in J twice - once in a window and once in a middle of the 4 - I have to say, the new layout is actually pretty comfortable in the 2 seat section. The 4 seat section leaves a lot to be desired.

Agree. Seats weren't that bad, which is why I originally booked the 763 which is 2-2-2. But the lack of aisle access was a real pain.

Offline sky121

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Re: Venice, Milan & Zurich TR
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2012, 09:56:52 PM »
Great report!! Short and to the point!! Very helpful- sounds like you had a nice time! 
"Not all who wander are lost"

Offline AJK

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Re: Venice, Milan & Zurich TR
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2012, 10:34:53 PM »
Nice report.

Not sure why you think you'd be rebooked in Y if you had a confirmed J ticket, even if that J ticket was booked with miles...
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline PlatinumGuy

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Re: Venice, Milan & Zurich TR
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2012, 10:35:53 PM »
Nice report.

Not sure why you think you'd be rebooked in Y if you had a confirmed J ticket, even if that J ticket was booked with miles...
I know somebody today who was rebooked on another carrier in J, of course thats what is supposed to happen.
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Offline AJK

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Re: Venice, Milan & Zurich TR
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2012, 10:51:17 PM »
Better being in J on another carrier than Y on the same...
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline Hudi

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Re: Venice, Milan & Zurich TR
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2012, 12:09:48 AM »
Nice report.

Not sure why you think you'd be rebooked in Y if you had a confirmed J ticket, even if that J ticket was booked with miles...

I heard them telling other passengers who were booked in biz that because their tickets were booked with miles they can only rebook them in Y. Thank g-d we got a very nice agent who was about to book us in Swiss biz to Chicago but wasn't able to (even after calling a supervisor) because of the same reason. It seemed that our only J option was with UA via LHR.

Offline AJK

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Re: Venice, Milan & Zurich TR
« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2012, 10:54:02 AM »
Never heard that before. Not even sure if that's allowed (meaning, if you insist on being rebooked in J, I don't think you can be forcefully rebooked in Y, you may just have to wait for another flight).
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper