arkflyr
Well-Known Member
Not to mention that everywhere you go there would be a cloud of cigarette smoke.
Longing for the ‘golden age’ of air travel? Be careful what you wish for
- Thread starter fholbert
- Start date
bike21
9-5 Ruins Lives
We occasionally serve a hamburger for the arrival meal. 2/10 don't recommend and that's probably as close to a steak as you'll get.
roundout
VNAV monitor
I thought I was the only one. It seems…. Itchy and sticky. And smelly.
GypsyPilot
Mohawk Town
Yes, they are the gold standard IMO. I flew “ANA First” last year from NRT-LAX, and I just didn’t want the flight to end it was all just so amazing! Literally some of the best food I’ve had in my life on that flight, along with 21 year Hibiki whiskey (yes, the same as from the movie “Lost in Translation”). ANA’s “The Suite” was awesome, you don’t even feel like you’re in an airplane.
The Asian carriers in general are excellent. I’ve flown numerous times in business long haul with ANA, JAL, Singapore, and Cathay. All are absolutely top notch, with outstanding food and service. I’ve never flown Emirates, as it usually just doesn’t make sense logically for me to use them from Asia to the western US. But they are definitely way up there as well from what I hear.
The European carriers are way more hit and miss. Someone mentioned Turkish, but after seeing some of their reviews last year I was not impressed.
I flew KLM business from AMS-SIN last year, and definitely not doing that again. The cabin crew was nice, but the seats and food were way below even what the US carriers offer. Also the airport experience with KLM at AMS was shockingly bad. Lufthansa has enough bad reviews that I am hesitant to ever try them.
For US carriers, I fly mostly United and they’ve REALLY improved in the last year. Cabin service (Polaris) is quite good now, and the food is pretty decent too. They treat Global Service/P1K members quite well. The Polaris lounges in SFO and EWR are nice, although every single domestic lounge is now so busy I just don’t even bother. They need to do something about increasing the bar to entry for the lounges, as elitist as that sounds. They just simply aren’t usable at this point.
bike21
9-5 Ruins Lives
Think we're gonna hit Japow next year and plan to burn some Amex points on ANA. Let me know if you wanna shred!
GypsyPilot
Mohawk Town
Nice! You using your Epic pass? I might be down, depending on where and when!
bike21
9-5 Ruins Lives
Yep, we'll use Epic and buy passes as necessary. Prob February time frame.
SeanD
Well-Known Member
Yep. You know the Middle Ages had to have been an awfully smelly place. I laugh when I hear anyone say "I wish I lived back then and was a knight or a princess" I'd give them 5 minutes or less before they start clicking their heels 3 times wanting to go home.
Boris Badenov
This is no laughing matter.
Also that guy in the front row? The one who has given up on toupees because who's fooled? He's 52.
Skåning
Well-Known Member
By “a movie” you mean it was on the Hub
Bob Ridpath
Pit Bull love
I still don't understand this, although several here have been patient in trying to explain it to me.
I was a kid, and a generally unsubsidized one, in the 1968 - 1972 timeframe (my parents didn't buy my tickets). I saved my school lunch money (35 cents/day) and my 50 cent/later dollar a week allowance - chores required and contributed my own minimum wage earnings once I entered the job market, in order to fly places. The cost wasn't onerous in the least. As a student, I flew every February school vacation during that timeframe for a week long visit to my grandparents (BOS-FWA, with either a stop or change in CLE) on UAL. BOS-PWM (or vice versa) was - I think - $11 one way on a NEA DC9 or 727 or an Executive Twin Otter. Flew PWM - HYA on Executive. Flew BOS - FWA (via CLE) on United, also ORD to FWA. Mohawk offered a $29.95 fare valid from Friday 6pm to Sunday 6pm anywhere on their system, without reservations, which I used just for the hell of it three times. In later years military fare helped the cost, I suppose (although at the time we had to travel in uniform). Even my honeymoon from San Antonio to Puerto Vallarta on Mexicana wasn't "out of sight" expensive.
Maybe it was the student fare aspect, or the military fare when I traveled back home on leave. Of course, it was always coach (but decent seats and meal service as appropriate). I flew a lot of miles at prices which were achievable to me as a working high school student or a lowly airman basic. It wasn't "just" for the wealthy or those of means, at least in my experience.
knot4u
Repeat Offender
I have an honest question for you. Your avatar is a picture of an airplane that I spent literally thousands of hours working on. What connection do you have to that airplane? I'll also say that if you want to use a picture of the bearcat as an avatar you should use the gold/white paint scheme, it was much faster at that point and your picture is a neutered version of what we were working towards.
knot4u
Repeat Offender
Do you "log"? I do normally every morning after my coffee but before my shower. I don't "log" for aviation, I "log" because eating is necessary and I'm not efficient enough to use all of what I consume and I produce waste. Everyone 'logs".
BravoHotel
Well-Known Member
I have no connection to Rarebear other than a fan. I took that picture at Reno. We have several Rarebear pictures in our house and I read Rourk's book. The wife is a bigger fan than I am.
Last edited:
knot4u
Repeat Offender
I have that book. All of my time with it was when it had the three blade, I loved the fact that with that gold/white paint job that would be considered "understated" for an air racer it was still the most "radical" looking plane on the ramp and it was fast. I have one of these signed by Lyle and Tiger, do you want it? You can give it to your wife.
knot4u
Repeat Offender
I have all of this "stuff", I suspect it's valuable to only a very certain group, yet I hang on to it. I've got a piston, a rocker arm and a spark plug. The spark plug is actually special, they were custom built by Champion and despite the fact that they were a sponsor they still cost $1500 a piece. I dropped one and it was given to me, I can only say that because we ran basically on a shoestring budget owning one of these plugs was not something to be proud of. I'm honestly not sure what to do with this stuff, my ex wife called it junk, and it literally is just scrap airplane parts. Does your wife want it?
poser765
Well-Known Member
BravoHotel
Well-Known Member
I'd be honored the wife is mobilized right now, she would like that when she gets back.
knot4u
Repeat Offender
I'll tell you what, I'll give that poster to your wife (we can figure out the shipping) if you change your avatar to this and never change it again...
Before anyone asks, there was no beta. It was a Hamilton Standard prop hub from a Lockheed Constellation 1649 using modified P-3 blades. I can say with absolute certainty that it's the only one ever built. It looks like a comic book artists version but it was actually engineered by folks that worked for Lockheed and Hamilton Standard. Was it a bit much and kind of "unruly"? Yes it was, especially when it passed people. I heard that prop is hanging on a wall in a hangar in Texas somewhere. It'll never be replicated or overhauled, the company that actually built and maintained it (fair disclosure, I used to work there) is defunct. The noise that airplane made when it was running fast would shake your innards when it went by. It was a deep bass note as opposed to the high pitch of the V-12s. It was a hell of a ride.
Last edited:
