Author Topic: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel  (Read 12829 times)

Offline YMW

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TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« on: July 05, 2015, 08:35:31 PM »
Trip Report Montreal to Israel:

The reason for my trip was a family wedding, basically my ‘trip report’'will be based on my experience in the airport & on-board the flights. I’ll try to post as many pictures as possible (thanks to Something Fishy….), & I hope you’ll enjoy it.

I’ll start with my ‘better half’ (she went ahead of me); her itinerary was:
LX – YUL-ZRH-TLV

Both legs of the itinerary featured the A330 J class,  lucky enough she had an empty seat next to her on both legs of the trip for our baby, and she was able to  sleep well (like a baby……lol) on a lie flat bed I shall say:


LX Business Class

The Kosher Meal was fantastic; it even included a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon:


LX Business Class KSML


LX Business Class KSML Wine


My itinerary was as follows:
AC – YUL-LGA
SQ – JFK-FRA
LH – FRA-IST
TK – IST-TLV

There’s nothing too exciting leaving Montreal, the line at customs was almost empty, so having Global Entry wasn’t a big deal this time.
I went to relax a little at the AC Maple Leaf Lounge which was half empty at the time.  my first leg of the trip  wasn’t anything special, although the business class on AC for the 55 minute flight is better than the ones on the intro-Europe flights.
Once I arrived in NY I took an Uber car to JFK which cost me out of the pocket ~$21.00 since I had a 20.00 credit
When I arrived to T4 at JFK I went over to Singapore Airlines check in, I was welcomed very warmly I couldn’t resist my excitement about traveling in SQ First Suites for the first time, they offered to escort me to the security line, I was hoping the agent will escort me thru security but no, he just escorted me to the beginning of the line, it was a ridiculously long line & it was moving very slowly, after around 30 minutes I was thru , & went right to the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse,


Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse


Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse


Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse


Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse

The waiters at the clubhouse were very friendly, they asked me what kind of Kosher Food I would prefer, chicken or beef, and  I ordered the beef,


Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse KSML


Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse KSML


Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse KSML

The food was actually very tasty.

Here are some more lounging options:


Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse


Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse


Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse

Nice bar variety:


Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse

Shower which I didn’t use:


Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse

So after snapping some pictures, eating, snapping more pictures, drinking, finding a corner to daven mincha, snapping more pictures, I got myself ready to board one of the most famous ‘First Class Suites’:

View of SQ A380 from the lounge:


SQ A380


SQ A380

It is Showtime! I almost danced my way down the lower jet-bridge, once at the door I was welcomed by two flight attendants, which one of them told the other; he’s mine… I’ll take care of him, here are pictures of my seat 3F (enjoy….):


SQ A380 First Suite

My suite:


SQ A380 First Suite


SQ A380 First Suite


SQ A380 First Suite

I was served a nice Herzog Chardonnay:


SQ A380 First Suite


SQ A380 First Suite


SQ A380 First Suite


SQ A380 First Suite


SQ A380 First Suite


SQ A380 First Suite

My 21” Samsonite slid nicely under the ottoman:


SQ A380 First Suite

Pajamas & amenity kit:


SQ A380 First Suite


SQ A380 First Suite

Views of the suites across from me, one of the double suites:


SQ A380 First Suite


SQ A380 First Suite

The aisle:


SQ A380 First Suite

The stairs to top deck – business class:


SQ A380 First Suite

Now it’s time for dinner:


SQ A380 First Suite KSML


SQ A380 First Suite KSML

Starter:


SQ A380 First Suite KSML


SQ A380 First Suite KSML

 the main course:


SQ A380 First Suite KSML Dinner


SQ A380 First Suite KSML Main Course

Then some coffee:


SQ A380 First Suite Coffee

Now I was ready to get some sleep in a comfortable bed 40K feet in the sky:


SQ A380 First Suite

Note the bottle of water offered at turndown:


SQ A380 First Suite


SQ A380 First Suite

Doors closed, from the inside:


SQ A380 First Suite

Doors closed, from the outside:


SQ A380 First Suite

After getting a couple of hours sleep, I woke up refreshed, and the bed was made back into a seat, I was offered breakfast (even though they’d already served it while I was sleeping),


SQ A380 First Suite KSML Breakfast

I have to mention, before take-off, the captain came onto the PA saying, that due to some traffic it will take like 30 minutes until take-off, I was so excited I don’t remember ever being  excited when there was an announced delay……sadly this brings me to the end of my SQ part of the trip.

Once I arrived in Frankfurt I went to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, which was pretty quiet & cozy:


AC Maple Leaf Lounge FRA


AC Maple Leaf Lounge FRA


AC Maple Leaf Lounge FRA

They have nice cubicles to relax, which I used to daven shacharit:


AC Maple Leaf Lounge FRA

After hanging out for a while it was time for my connecting flight to Istanbul, the reason I took this route rather than taking a direct flight from FRA to TLV, was because the next flight leaving FRA would bring me to TLV after 11:00 pm and this way I landed in Israel roughly 8:00 pm.
The LH flight from FRA to IST, was a typical intro-Europe flight, business class is just a regular economy class seat with one empty seat in the middle.
The food served was from ‘Sohar’ & was actually very tasty, (sorry I didn’t take any pictures…).
I landed in IST just when my next flight was about to board; surprisingly I was able to go directly to the gate. I was happy that the TK A330 I boarded was configured with a regular business class.


TK A330


TK A330

Kosher Meal on Turkish Airlines, (a bracha l’vatulu….):


TK A330 KSML

Finally B”H I arrived safely in Israel

The way back from Israel my wife & I (& the baby of course) flew back together on the following itinerary:
TLV-ATH-MUC-YUL

In Israel they only gave us the boarding passes to ATH, the agent told us we would be getting the rest of the boarding passes in ATH.
Once we passed security & Immigration we went to the DAN lounge, which was pretty crowded (as expected…) we found a corner to sit down & a place for our baby stroller. We ate some breakfast, had some coffee which was not bad, (sorry I didn’t take pictures), and it was time to board our flight to ATH.

 The flight  from TLV to ATH on Aegean Airlines we had the entire J class to ourselves, (there were only 8 of them, intro-Europe style), so we were able to spread out, even the baby was able to sleep comfortably, the aircraft looked & smelled pretty new,


Aegean TLV-ATH

Kosher breakfast was from Stogel (the name talks for itself) on Aegean:


Aegean TLV-ATH KSML


Aegean TLV-ATH KSML

when we arrived in Athens, we went thru passport control & headed to the Lufthansa check-in counter to get our boarding passes for the rest of the itinerary, we then went to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge which is not too big, but was mostly empty, we sat there until it was time to board our LH flight to MUC, security before the gate was quick thanks to the ‘fast’ lane for business class pax.
Once we settled on board the Lufthansa flight from Athens to Munich we were told that unfortunately for a reason still a mystery to me, there were no kosher food for us on board, so they gave us a courtesy voucher of 50.00 euro per person for duty-free shopping, & they assured us that there will be kosher food in the FCL in MUC & on-board our next flight MUC-YUL.
Once the plane came to a stop at a remote stand we were excitingly looking out of the window to see the chauffeur with the Mercedes S class waiting for us:


chauffeur pickup in MUC


chauffeur pickup in MUC

Inside the car:


chauffeur pickup in MUC

And the chauffeur took us straight a direct entrance to the ‘Lufthansa’s First Class Lounge’:


chauffeur pickup in MUC


chauffeur pickup in MUC

The chauffeur handed us over to the attendant who immediately took care of us, she scanned our boarding passes, took our passports & forwarded them to passport control – in the lounge - which we picked up on our way out.
As we were walking in one of the waiters approached us, to let us know that they have a kosher meal ready for us, in the mean time I went to the shower rooms, which offered a huge room & an amazing good shower, when I came back the waitress was just serving us our food it was actually pretty good! Food catered by ‘Sohar’:


LH FCL KSML

Main dish:


LH FCL KSML

Dessert:


LH FCL KSML

On the out we picked up our passports from the designated “First Class in-lounge Passport Control” since our flight was leaving from a gate we just walked over it took us less than five minutes.
when we got to the door of the plane we were greeted by the first class crew members, there were two other people in first class we were 4 people in an 8 seat class here too we had an empty seat for our baby:
 
LH First Class MUC-YUL


LH First Class MUC-YUL


LH First Class MUC-YUL

Lufthansa’s First Class Cabin:


LH First Class MUC-YUL

Lufthansa’s First Class Seat:


LH First Class MUC-YUL


LH First Class MUC-YUL

Hot Towel – in a plate….:

LH First Class MUC-YUL

Unfortunately there were no KSML for us, even though I confirmed by phone a week in advance, actually twice.. (I filed a complaint, & I’m still waiting for a respond),  they managed to get us one business class meal which we shared. between the 3 of us (we actually ordered a child’s meal as well)

My daughter had a nice playground:


LH First Class MUC-YUL


LH First Class MUC-YUL

And even a ‘toy-box’:


LH First Class MUC-YUL

Time to take a nap:


LH First Class MUC-YUL


LH First Class MUC-YUL


LH First Class MUC-YUL

And so did our baby, she slept thru most of  it…:


LH First Class MUC-YUL


LH First Class MUC-YUL


LH First Class MUC-YUL


Bottom Line:
We had a very nice experience especially myself given the fact that I was in Israel for about 55 hours I definitely enjoyed trying out premier cabins which I never flew before.

Here is the breakdown of all it actually costed us;

OW   YUL-ZRH-TLV: J Class
Booked with: United   80k United miles + $63.00
         Infant charge $279.00

OW   AC – YUL-LGA: J Class
SQ – JFK-FRA: F Class
LH – FRA-IST: J Class
TK – IST-TLV: J Class
Booked with: Singapore   75k Kris Flyer miles + $420.00

OW x 2   A3 – TLV-ATH: J Class
LH – ATH-MUC: J Class
LH –MUC-YUL: F Class
Booked with: Air Canada   230k Aeroplan miles + $312.00
         Infant Charge $117.00

Total: 385k miles + $1191.00

Offline MeirS

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2015, 10:11:15 PM »
Trip Report Montreal to Israel:


SQ – JFK-FRA: F Class

LH –MUC-YUL: F Class
This covers 2 flights from my bucket list. SQ suites and LH first although I'd like to do it from the FCT.
« Last Edit: July 05, 2015, 10:19:17 PM by MeirS »

Offline shoobi

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2015, 10:15:33 PM »
Great TR! esp. for me cuz i'm trying to plan a vacation with an infant, good to see some tips here (e.g. United (or other airline) infant fee not end of the world

Offline MeirS

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2015, 10:20:14 PM »
Dude!! no need to quote his whole TR, makes it very annoying to read!
FTFM

Usually it only shows the beginning of the quote with a link to the rest.

Offline rileywiles23

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2015, 10:45:32 PM »

Great TR! esp. for me cuz i'm trying to plan a vacation with an infant, good to see some tips here (e.g. United (or other airline) infant fee not end of the world
+1 the 10% isn't that bad for business class, compared to AC flat charge of $100 it's almost the same.
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Offline ilherman

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #5 on: July 05, 2015, 11:08:14 PM »
Nice write up, thanks!

How was the borenstein meal? Also on the picture from the Stogel meal I can see what it looks like, the traditional pack of Tuna fish but on the picture its still unopened, can you please post a picture so we can actually see it? It always wakes up my apatite, now after a fast I can use it.

Which caterer was the TK KSML from?

How did your baby get his own seat on LH F? Just because it was empty? They didn't give you any problems?

One more thing, how did you request the Kosher champagne?
You can say what you think when you think what you say.

Offline Chapshnell

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #6 on: July 05, 2015, 11:18:36 PM »
this lil kid in this big seat, very cute!
Ive said this in the past, 2 places youre assured lox as a jew. By a bris & on a plane...  >:(

Offline YMW

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #7 on: July 05, 2015, 11:33:31 PM »
This covers 2 flights from my bucket list. SQ suites and LH first although I'd like to do it from the FCT.
I had an amazing experience in the FCL in MUC, I would do it again in a blink of an eye.

Offline MeirS

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #8 on: July 05, 2015, 11:35:39 PM »
I had an amazing experience in the FCL in MUC, I would do it again in a blink of an eye.
Over FCT in FRA?

Offline YMW

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #9 on: July 05, 2015, 11:37:04 PM »
Great TR! esp. for me cuz i'm trying to plan a vacation with an infant, good to see some tips here (e.g. United (or other airline) infant fee not end of the world
One nice tip worth to mention, if you're booking with an F class to Israel thru AC, it might be worthwhile to add another leg with A3 or TK, which brings down the YQ drastically. 

Offline YMW

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #10 on: July 05, 2015, 11:39:55 PM »
Over FCT in FRA?
I dint do FCT in FRA yet, but ASFAIK I got nothing less in FCL in MUC (chauffeur pick up, passport control in lounge, KSML, shower, and above all the service).

Offline YMW

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #11 on: July 05, 2015, 11:43:55 PM »
+1 the 10% isn't that bad for business class, compared to AC flat charge of $100 it's almost the same.
AC charges for an infant as follows:

• Economy: $50 or 5k miles
• Business: $100 or 10k miles
• First: $125 or 12.5k miles

These are all in CAD + sales tax of ~15%


Offline DMYD

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #12 on: July 05, 2015, 11:47:41 PM »
Wow great TR thanks for sharing the pictures.

Offline rileywiles23

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #13 on: July 05, 2015, 11:51:42 PM »

AC charges for an infant as follows:

• Economy: $50 or 5k miles
• Business: $100 or 10k miles
• First: $125 or 12.5k miles

These are all in CAD + sales tax of ~15%
5k miles is worth way more then $50, It wouldn't even make sense to use mileage for that.
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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #14 on: July 05, 2015, 11:53:54 PM »
5k miles is worth way more then $50, It wouldn't even make sense to use mileage for that.
Way more? It's maybe $25 more, and for some spending 5k miles is easier then spending $50.

Offline rileywiles23

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #15 on: July 05, 2015, 11:58:26 PM »

Way more? It's maybe $25 more, and for some spending 5k miles is easier then spending $50.
I don't know about AC miles themselves, but I would be transferring from Amex MR and to me 5k MR is worth more then $50
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Offline tzifanya54

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #16 on: July 05, 2015, 11:59:24 PM »
Way more? It's maybe $25 more, and for some spending 5k miles is easier then spending $50.
+1 plus there is 15% tax on that so it become only a ~ $15 difference. For many (myself included) they would just use miles then.

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #17 on: July 05, 2015, 11:59:39 PM »
I don't know about AC miles themselves, but I would be transferring from Amex MR and to me 5k MR is worth more then $50
Then it's $75 instead of $50

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #18 on: July 06, 2015, 12:10:02 AM »
+1 plus there is 15% tax on that so it become only a ~ $15 difference. For many (myself included) they would just use miles then.

The point isnt that 5k mr is worth $25 more. The point is that for only 45,000 MR you can get an amazing J flight via AC. Therefore its not always a good idea to just burn 5,000 miles

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Re: TR - Flight Logs To/From Israel
« Reply #19 on: July 06, 2015, 12:10:15 AM »
Nice write up, thanks!

Thanks

How was the borenstein meal?

It was definitely not a first class meal, but in terms of taste it was edible.

Also on the picture from the Stogel meal I can see what it looks like, the traditional pack of Tuna fish but on the picture its still unopened, can you please post a picture so we can actually see it? It always wakes up my apatite, now after a fast I can use it.

I did not eat it, I would agree with Dan http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=53223.msg1186549#msg1186549 on this, I'll check if I have a picture of it.


Which caterer was the TK KSML from?

I'm not sure someone local.

How did your baby get his own seat on LH F? Just because it was empty? They didn't give you any problems?

Yes just because it was empty.
No the actually offered to make ourselves comfortable whichever way we want.

One more thing, how did you request the Kosher champagne?

It seems that they carry this wine (not champaign) on-board regularly.