Remember that October snowstorm and the meltdown that followed in Hartford? This woman and her husband were stuck in the thick of it. Here’s a great read about their experiences along the way.

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In late October, my husband and I enjoyed a fabulous vacation in Europe. We managed to see 4 different countries, caught up with friends, and experienced as much as we could in a short time. Little did we know what was in store for us on our voyage home.

Our flight from Paris to New York was circling in the weather when the pilot informed us we were heading to Hartford, Connecticut. We’d been in the air an hour past our arrival time, and the urgency to land was apparent. We finally landed in Hartford, being told we would get back in the air as soon as possible to get to JFK.

My husband and I turned on our phones and checked AA for our reroute. We found ourselves booked out of LaGuardia on Monday morning. It was Saturday. This COULDN’T be right. Angry, I called American and waited on hold for 20 minutes to find out most of the flights at JFK were canceled and Monday was clearly the best they can do for us right now. I was encouraged to call back. Irate, I hung up the phone. My husband and I started to process the information, and to understand the spot we were in. The snow was piling up on the wings. The captain gave updates:

430p: Pilot tells us we will be here for a little while to get refueled and then de-iced
5p: Pilot says we are next in line
530p: Pilot tells us they only have one fuel and de-ice truck working so it will be awhile. He also tells us if we don’t leave by 550p his flight day is done and we have to stay here in Hartford for the night. “In my over 20 years of flying planes I can tell you that I cannot take off with slush on the runway. Folks, I’m looking at an inch of slush on the runway and there is no equipment working to clear it.”
6p: Pilot tells us that we know we are here for the night and still no news on fuel or de-ice. The pilot seems more upset, but tells us the airline is working to find hotels for us.

At this point my husband got angry. The American app on our phone still showed us leaving LaGuardia on Monday morning, so he called American. We had a new strategy and asked about flights out of Hartford on Sunday. He was told the first flight we could get on was around 10p. This seemed absurd to us, he hangs up still angry but feeling better after doing something about it. This was a lesson we learned: Do something with your anger. Don’t sit and stew.

7p: Pilot tells us that there is only 1 international gate here and that there are no customs officials to deplane us. Therefore we have to stay on plane
8p: Pilot tells us that we will be heading to the gate to deplane.
820p: Pilot tells us that he isn’t sure if we’ll get to gate, he tells us getting information out of these people is like pulling teeth
9p: Pilot says we are going to head to another gate and then we will deplane and be held in the terminal area by that gate since we can’t go anywhere until we clear customs
915p: Pilot tells us that we will wait to get the international gate but we can not get off plane until everyone from the Swiss flight in front of us clears customs. All 300 of them.

At this point I was on the phone with American. I booked that flight out at 10p, hoping that when we got on the ground I could make something better happen.

We’d been given snacks and water regularly while we were sitting on the tarmac for 8 hours. The bathrooms were functioning. The mood was patient on the plane, which was surprising. In the row in front of us, a single mom had been entertaining her year-old daughter. This mother had worked HARD all trip, and the baby had been none the wiser of our predicament. We were honestly in awe of her patience and ingenuity to keep that baby happy. Lesson #2: It could still be worse. We were trying to get home to our own children, and could fully appreciate how different this experience would have been if our children were trapped there with us.

1020p: Pilot tells us that we are going to the gate
1025p: Pilot tells us the power is out in the terminal so the gate isn’t working, we will have to exit on tarmac
1050p: Doors open and we can deplane
11p: We enter customs area
1130p: We clear customs — without our bags. Can we even do that?
1140p: We get to baggage area and are told that our bags can’t be taken off the plane because they don’t have equipment at this airport for our size plane and shuttles will be coming to bus us to the other terminal
1150p: We bus over to other terminal
midnight: We arrive at terminal to find a spot to sleep
1215a: We are lucky enough to find spot where they are first giving out cots and sheets for sleeping
1230a: We settle in to sleep. Here’s a video of the sleeping situation in the ticketing area at the Hartford airport:

1a: 6’7″ 350 lb Bostonian decides to pull up a cot next to us and shake the windows with his snoring
2a: Windows still shaking and many people are awake
4a: We wake up for the day
7a: We get to American counter.

While in line to speak to the lone American employee, we witnessed some interesting drama. The Europeans from our flight got angry. First a few men were angry at the only employee trying to help us. Then they turned on themselves. A French lady in the crowd started chastising the lead man who was giving the employee a hard time. “It is not her fault!” she told him. The French lady brought calm to the crowd, and we resumed our spaces in line. The man in front of us sat next to my husband on the plane. We knew he was French and was trying to get to Cleveland. He gave the American employee a hard time.

He was put back on our flight, which left for JFK that afternoon, and arrived 45 minutes before his connection to Chicago, where he would then have to figure out his flight to Cleveland. She told him this was the best she could do. We also needed to get to Chicago, and when it was our turn we suggested the same itinerary. She admitted to us that there was no real chance of making that connection and thought our plan to fly from Hartford to O’Hare directly was a better one. She printed our boarding passes to Chicago. Lesson # 3 — being nice pays. We again questioned if we could get our luggage. She confirmed we would be abandoning it to fly home from there.

We took our tickets and passed through security 15 hours early…

11a: See there are 2 spots open on flight to Chicago at 2pm, I call American Airlines and get us booked…We will be home by 4pm
130p: We board the flight
2p: We take off for Chicago…
4p (Chicago Time): We land in Chicago!!!!

After some time had passed, we remembered more of the fabulous experiences on our trip and less about the unfortunate circumstances of our return. The airline had compensated us with vouchers and miles.

We will fly again, we have already booked a trip for the whole family. I will not boycott a single airline, because I saw planes from every airline I could fly stuck in the same predicament. I vow to fly directly whenever possible. We love to travel and experience new places, and this bad experience will not keep us from enjoying our hobby. We will be smart and prepared for our next trip in February. Wish us luck!

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Corry Stanley lives in the Chicago suburbs with her 2 and 4 year old sons, husband of nearly ten years, and two rescue dogs. She’s a native Wisconsinite, lifelong Packer fan, and an IT professional. She tweets infrequently at @corry_s.

It’s time for part 3 of Nate’s Dubai trip on Emirates. After flying the 777 out to Dubai and spending time in the Dubai Airport, it was time for him to fly back. This time, it was on the A380 to JFK.

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After getting wrapped up in Dubai Airport, I realized it was 8a and it was time to board. Since I was on the A380, I could board from the lounge level rather than the main concourse level. The gate was 201, directly outside the business class lounge.

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October 17, 2011
Emirates 201 Lv Dubai 830a Arr New York/JFK 215p
Dubai (DXB): Gate 201, Runway 12R, Depart 15m Late
New York/JFK (JFK): Gate A6, Runway 31L, Arrive 5m Late
A6-EDC, Airbus A380-861, Standard Emirates livery, ~50% Full in First, 66% in Biz, 75% in Coach
Seat 23A
Flight Time 14h14m

I was expecting a massive line, so I was stunned to see only 5 people in the queue. After a few folks checked my boarding pass and ID (I should have just left it on my forehead), I was directed to an elevator that would take me down a level to board the aircraft. Everything was glass encased, so I could see the line for coach, and it was moving quite fast. I was the only one in the jet bridge, which was also glass encased, providing for some great views of my airplane and the A380 at the adjacent gate.

I was greeted by three flight attendants and was pointed toward the rear business class cabin to take my seat, 23A. After reading FlyerTalk and some of the comments on SeatGuru, people seem to give this seat high marks. The cabin was bustling with activities as FA’s were passing out champagne or juice as passengers were getting settled in. I was surprised to find out we were two-thirds full in Business.

When I got to my seat, the first thing that struck me was the level of privacy it provided. Since the seats have a mini-bar and are fully flat, there is no one sitting next to you. My seat was inwards near the window with my bar/storage area/tv remote jutting out towards the aisle.

My seat had the customary pillow, blanket, and noise-cancelling headsets. The eye shades and socks were in a small pouch above the bar. I also had 2 storage units between my seat and the window – which could fit a nicely-loaded backpack (I would later notice the aging on this airplane as it was difficult to keep them closed) or the pillow and blanket when not in use.

As I sat down, I was disappointed to not see electronic window shades, but this massive window pane. The window was almost 8 inches or so from the inner plastic window which made viewing a bit, well, unusual. I was then offered champagne and some dates by the flight crew before departure, and had a short chat with Hetzel, the business class purser.

My mini-bar was well stocked with a variety of sodas and juices. There weren’t many announcements. Most of them were in Arabic and perfect English. The lengthy safety video was done on the TVs – first in Arabic then again in English.

I was still a bit euphoric about flying in the A380 when we pushed back – at 845a. During the engine start-up, I could not hear a thing. I wasn’t even sure the engines were running until I noticed us taxiing towards the runway. After about 15 minutes we were in queue.

Take off was very smooth – couldn’t even hear the engines spool up. After what seemed to be a long take-off roll, we finally lifted off and proceeded to do a slow climb towards Iran. It was a very stable departure thanks to the design of the A380 control surfaces. Our flight attendants then did a greeting in Arabic, then English, alerting the passengers to the many languages spoken by the flight crew (14). You can hear the entire announcement on the takeoff video towards the end of this video:

Thirty minutes after takeoff, service began with a glass of champagne and warm nuts. I was then given a tray with fresh fruit and yogurt in advance of breakfast, which I unfortunately never got to taste.

I was given a tour by the purser, ‘Apple’. She would not let me in any other cabin, citing TSA regulations (which isn’t an actual regulation at all). We sat at the full-size bar in back and she showed me many highlights of the A380, including the couches (2), large screen TV, bar food and options, and a new feature – pub tables that are placed over the doors, so people can stand and talk.

She then showed me the First Class galley and everything provided – including formal high-tea service, special beverages for passengers after they are done with the spa/shower, and the catering. I also met the spa attendant, who is NOT a flight attendant, and her sole role on the airplane is to assist passengers in the spa/shower and do a thorough clean after each use.

Emirates makes it a high priority to over-cater First Class to ensure every customer gets their first pick of food. I also found out they stock 3 bottles of Dom Perignon on the aircraft, 9 types of teas, and an espresso/cappuccino machine. First class passengers are given a large Emirates hand bag to take any items with them – slippers, pajamas, spa lotions, or just as a souvenir.

One interesting feature was the purser controls. She said there are cameras near each flight attendant station so she can observe and manage her crew of 26. Apple said there have been flights where entire families have purchased every open seat in First to ensure privacy. With the new flights to America, they added cranberry juice and bagels with cream cheese (water served with ice should be on their list).

As our interview wound down, I headed back to my seat and noticed the makeup of our cabin. We had a significant number of people dressed up and couples occupying the middle seats that adjoin. For such a long flight not many passengers were dressed casually. I was only one of four Caucasian Americans in Business, and I’d later find out that 2 of them were from Atlanta but they purposely fly Emirates to India/Middle East via New York, despite Delta providing service from their hometown.

I noticed my tray was gone, but I was able to get some munchies at the bar, where I met another flight attendant who asked me for any criticisms about Emirates (apparently everyone knew who I was by now). I told her my main issue is that I haven’t seen a water service every 30/60 minutes, which is customary on U.S. long haul flights. She said “well, just use the call button.. we are here to serve you”.

The Atlanta passengers started to join in our conversation, and I told the flight attendant that as Americans, we are “trained” to never touch the call button. The Atlanta frequent fliers agreed, “yeah, even in Delta BusinessElite, they bark at you.” The Emirates flight attendant looked at us in horror.

After a very relaxing 3-hour nap, I woke up and watched a movie. I had to call a flight attendant over to ask for my “Lite Bites” (2nd meal) option. I really wish Emirates would put something in the menus alerting passengers that the 2nd meal is “on demand”. I ended up getting the Emirates club sandwich, and it was served warm. But they did have “hot bites” in the bar area at this point, in case a passenger didn’t like what was on the menu.

After a few movies and restful naps it was time for the dinner service. I opted for the Arab kabob meal, which included large chicken and beef chunks and served with rice and beans. It was amazingly tasty, and the salad was still fresh despite being 10 hours into the flight. The flight attendants told me that the galleys are packed 2 carts deep and everything is frozen and then thawed to ensure its safe to serve.

I also noticed the flight attendant shook 22D awake for his meal, and he didn’t seem like a happy camper. I think Emirates needs to work on this, or come up with a way to communicate to passengers the meal service expectations and if they want to sleep or be woken up.

I asked the purser for access to coach earlier in the flight so I could at least get a photo of the coach meal service, but I was told TSA didn’t allow switching cabins. So I was taken aback when I saw a passenger from economy in the upstairs galley who even went down the stairs. One would think it would have been beneficial to show someone writing a story the main deck during the flight, but no.

The landing was very smooth and we didn’t seem to use up much of the runway. As we taxied by the Delta terminal, I noticed how close our wingtip was to the smaller Delta CRJs and hoped we didn’t want to play “tag” with one of them, like the Air France A380 did this past summer. We eventually docked at the International terminal and deplaning was very fast.

I opted to stay and talk to the pilots and take a look at the coach cabin downstairs, and I was again rushed. I am still trying to figure out why Emirates flight crews didn’t want me to see or experience the economy cabin. Both times I had to wait until we were on the ground and the seats actually felt fairly comfortable, but I didn’t get to spend enough time to decide if they were really good or bad.

The window seats felt cramped due to the curvature of the plane, but each seat had the customary ICE system, universal powerports, and only industry-standard legroom.

Customs was very efficient, and I was able to recheck my bag with Emirates so they’d get put on my Delta flights. I opened my duffel to make sure everything was in there and repacked some items to prevent anything breaking and I was off to Delta. At some point between there and my arrival in Kansas City, my bag was ripped open and half my items were gone.

Emirates’s PR firm offered to replace all of my items, which I declined and said I’d rather pay for them. Within a week of filing my claim, Delta agreed to pay for my items.

Overall, my A380 experience was a memorable one. This was a big airplane that had a tremendous amount of amenities to keep passengers occupied for the entire journey. The one downside – lack of personalized service. I can’t tell you the name of the flight attendant assigned to my section, unlike on my San Francisco to Dubai flight).

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You can see more of Nate’s photos here.

Nate is back with part two of his trip report. This time, we look in depth at Dubai Airport. If you missed his flight out, see Flying Up Front on Emirates to Dubai.

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After spending a very long and exhausting day in Dubai, I wasn’t looking forward to getting up at 3a for my return trip so I could check-in early and maximize my time in the airport, board a 13 hour flight, then fly 4.5 more hours on 2 additional flights followed by a 3.5 hour drive. In one day. My past life travels would have made Ryan Bingham jealous, so I was ready for the challenge. And it started off with an incredible Dubai airport experience.

I left the hotel at 4a in a Lexus sedan, courtesy of the hotel, and arrived a few minutes later at the “exclusive” First/Business Class terminal for Emirates. An employee and a porter promptly greeted me, and they walked me to the Business Class check-in.

At first glance, the terminal was like customs when I arrived – very open and airy, with tall columns and decorative tile. There weren’t many people up this early, so I walked to an agent who alerted me that I couldn’t check-in for another 15 minutes. Fortunately there were some comfortable chairs nearby as I sat and waited (according to Flyertalk, I should have been able to check-in and check my bags up to 24 hours). When I was able, I took my bags to the same gentleman who checked me in.

I did the “hike” to security and was glad to see there wasn’t a line. My Acer Tablet caught the interest of the security guards. They asked about it and turned it on. At first I thought it was for security, but it was actually because they hadn’t seen one before and wanted to buy one! One good thing about this checkpoint – it is ONLY for First Class & Business Class customers, there is no mixing with economy customers, at all. After 10 minutes, I took the elevators up to the departure level, expecting an empty concourse.

Boy was I wrong.

I could barely walk. This place felt like it housed the entire world population. Of the 115 or so airports I have visited, I don’t think I’ve been on a concourse this busy, EVER.

The airport boasts a massive shopping system, run by Dubai Duty Free, which will sell you everything from Tums to a car (well, there was at least a “lottery” for it). I was very impressed with all of the shopping options, and the food choices (which even included a Burger King) could satisfy every taste bud. Every single restaurant was open, and it was barely 5a – something unheard of in the US. The zen garden was even quite busy, which is touted as a “quiet oasis” in the airport. Sure. Quieter, maybe.

I did discover that each side of the concourse has a corridor behind the shops, which was MUCH quieter and easier to navigate if you knew where you were going. The signs at the airport also showed you how far, in minutes, the gates were – which was a very handy thing to know. I must admit, the airport provides plenty of places to sit, so I never had to walk too far if I wanted to take a break.

Free wifi seemed to be available all over the airport.I It wasn’t very fast, but I was able to check my cranky e-mail and Facebook without a hitch and without having to sign up to Boingo or another annoying service. It was quite slow in the lounges, though, maybe due to high use?

After walking around the zoo concourse for a while, I opted to head upstairs to the First Class lounge. The clubs are accessible by 1 set of escalators or stairs in the middle of the concourse, with the First Class lounge on one side, Business Class on the other, and a hotel/spa above the lounges. Upon entry, I came across the largest floral arrangement I have ever seen and enjoyed the smell. (I’d later find out this cost over $900 and is replaced every 3 days with fresh flowers).

Friendly staff checked my reservation and allowed me in (I was told that Emirates will soon be limiting which lounges passengers can access once the new concourse is built, making things a bit more “exclusive”). To the left was a very nice and quaint water feature/pond with small cushions around it. There was sporadic seating spread about with numerous bars/food stations served by waitresses eager to please. I continued down the hallway and noticed it wasn’t very noisy, despite being able to look down and see the concourse below.

There were very few passengers in the lounge and at every turn an employee asked if I needed anything. “My pleasure to assist” was said more frequently than at a Four Seasons or Ritz. I came across the restaurant where I sat down and was offered a 3-course breakfast along with buffet. I opted for the buffet as I didn’t want to overeat.

The buffet offered a large variety of hot and cold foods, including eggs, chicken sausage (white, by the way), baked beans (really? for breakfast?), and pastries. Anything I wanted, the server would get or make for me. Behind me was the smoking area/lounge, and I kept smelling the smoke as I ate. As soon as I was done, I discovered the shower room, which had about 8-10 private showers and shower attendant waiting for you, along with the La Croc wine shop, Spa/hair salon, and more sitting areas. What I appreciated was the fact they had real sofas and chairs, not just office furniture, and TVs in most of the sitting areas – perfect if you are traveling with friends and want to watch TV or chat.

First Class passengers are given express treatments, free of charge – they include de-stress back massage, reflexive therapy (leg/feet – this one struck me odd as I thought Islamic law forbade touching or exposing one’s feet?), refresh manicure, hair shaping, and blow dry. Other treatments were available for US$21 to $55 and full spa treatments start around $100 and go up to $200.

The lounge was very spacious and had ample places to charge any electronics. The business center was very nice, with fairly large work stations, nice chairs, and a TV in an enclosed room. The lounge provided many magazines and newspapers from around the world (was surprised to see the Charlotte and Houston papers available!) and the vibe was very relaxing. Someone mentioned I had just missed Kim Kardashian (oh darn), who was in town to launch her overly expensive milkshake store at the Dubai Mall. Apparently her soon-to-be-ex-hubby wasn’t with her.

My next stop was to check the Business Class lounge. Entry was much more chaotic, with twice the welcome staff at the door,. My initial view of the lounge showed that it was very crowded. Like the First Class lounge, it had ample places to sit in a variety of areas that all had different layouts. I didn’t notice a restaurant but found numerous eating areas – the food wasn’t quite the same as found in the First Class lounge.

I noticed a long line for the showers (as noted on FlyerTalk) and the bathrooms were quite busy. The Business Class lounge also had a Timeless Spa, and there didn’t appear to be a wait had I chosen to get a massage or manicure before the flight. Like the First Class lounge, there was an enclosed business center with computers, TV, and leather chairs (not the lazy boy kind, but the nicer office-type chairs). The children’s lounge was also enclosed, keeping screaming kids separated.

Overall, the lounges were very nice. To Emirates’s credit, both lounges were very clean, which was surprising considering the time of day was at their peak use.

Next stop was to see if I could go for a swim. . . . I went up one level and saw the pool in a glass-enclosed room behind the elevators and no one using it. I followed the signs to the Timeless Spa, but found the doors to be closed, and wasn’t even sure if this was the correct entrance. I continued walking down the corridor and was in the hotel. The airport has a 60-some room hotel above the lounges in the concourse.

I tried to research the hotel and came up with almost nothing on the Emirates or Dubai airport websites, including how to make a reservation and rates – nada. I found the staff very welcoming and willing to show me a room, which seemed to be very “acceptable” for $50 an hour or $160 for 4-6 hours. The rates are slightly higher if you occupy a room between 6p and 6a, and the agent showing me the room said that you can get lower rates online (great, but where online?).

24 hours in a room would easily cost you $350, even though you could leave the airport and get a room at Le Meridien for $150 and have the use of 3 outdoor pools and 18 restaurants. The hotel is about as “full service” as you can get, and amazingly you don’t hear any noise at all from inside the rooms.

Considering that Emirates is using the “original” U.S. airline model of hub-and-spoke, they have done a great job of controlling their product offered inflight, on the ground, and in the airport. The airline is using super jumbos like the A380 and larger Boeing 777 models to link the world – connecting big planes to other big planes – as their business model. While at the airport, I saw every nationality and gender represented.

I felt more like I was in the Pittsburgh Airport in the ‘90s (when USAirways had a mega-hub there) than I did in an Arabic country. . . and I think that’s what the UAE is trying to do. They did a great job of it. The airport is already overcrowded, and Concourse 3 is almost completed, which will be exclusive for the A380. Hopefully this will give passengers a bit more breathing room as it was quite crowded.

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You can see more of Nate’s photos on Flickr

A couple months ago, Emirates asked if I’d like to fly out to Dubai to spend 24 hours in the airport so that we could experience all that it had to offer. Though the idea of impersonating Tom Hanks in The Terminal sounded fun, I couldn’t take the trip. Fortunately, Nate Vallier, one of our concierges and a blogger himself stepped up to the challenge and set off on an adventure. In the end, thanks to red tape in Dubai, Nate wasn’t allowed to stay in the airport the whole time, but he did have an eye-opening experience. This is part one, the trip out to Dubai. There will be more over the next few weeks. (And yes, Emirates provided the flight and accommodations for Nate without charge.)

I’ll let Nate take it from here. . . .
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When asked if I’d be willing to fly to Dubai and experience Emirates, it was almost immediately followed by “when can I go?”. Never in my life did I think of Dubai as a destination, nor did I think of flying Emirates. Being an American, I’m addicted to my frequent flyer loyalty and would have never considered Emirates.

The booking process was completed by Emirates Corporate Communications staff, but I did the research to make sure I picked the ideal seat. I chose 9K on the 777-300 on the way out, but after seeing how I’d be almost “locked” in at the window, I moved to 8K – bulkhead window despite SeatGuru giving it a low score (which it should not have, and as of today, the site still hasn’t updated the seatmap to reflect the inaccuracies there).

Emirates provides premium cabin passengers a complimentary chauffeur service to the airport. I was able to enter my pick-up point online along with my contact number, and select how many hours prior to departure to be picked up. Unfortunately Emirates doesn’t provide an e-mail confirmation, so there was no way to confirm everything, and I was a little nervous. I was relieved when I found the car waiting at my pick-up point in San Francisco. At 1:45PM we were set to go, with a chilled bottle of water and wet-wipes.

After a 35 minute drive, we arrived at SFO. I had previously arrived on an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle and dropped my bags off at the Travel Agency – they will watch your bags for $20 per bag (higher for larger bags). At the Emirates counter, I found a long line for coach but no line for Business/First Class. At check-in, my bags were tagged with priority tags, and all carry-ons were also tagged and weighed. A pass for the United Club (the lounge Emirates is using until its own opens up) was given to me, along with my checked luggage tag and boarding pass.

I passed through security and then went to the club, which seemed “bare” to me. I was expecting a full service bar with televisions all over. There were lots of chairs and powerports, along with a self-service beverage bar and munchies, but the bathroom was not very clean and the overall club just felt very “sterile”. After 45 minutes, I went down to duty free then went to board my flight.

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October 14, 2011
Emirates 226 Lv San Francisco 445p Arr Dubai 720p
San Francisco (SFO): Gate 99, Runway 28R, Depart 2m Early
Dubai (DXB): Gate 229, Runway 30L, Arrive 27m Early
A6-EGB, Boeing 777-300ER, Standard Emirates livery, ~50% Full in First, 100% in Biz, 98% in Coach
Seat 8K
Flight Time 15h15m

Boarding was done through 2 doors but it was really just 1 jet bridge that divided into two. There was a massive line for economy while the first/business line was very quick. As I walked down the jetway, I found an employee at the split, separating the passengers. I found my seat, stowed my luggage in the largely empty bins, and found a large pillow, blanket, and noise cancelling headsets waiting for me.

Within moments, Susan, who would be my flight attendant, came by offering champagne, orange juice, or water in a glass (something I haven’t seen on a US carrier in a long time). As boarding continued, I started playing with the ICE system, which has over 1500 channels and hundreds upon hundreds of movies on demand. The TV is controlled by two remotes – one is a phone and another is a touch-screen monitor that is about the size of a small tablet. The main tv screen is also a touch screen, but mine was on the bulkhead nearly 3 feet in front of me. There was a universal power port and 2 USB ports as well.

One annoyance was 8J’s tv. . . it was built into a partition between our seats and was much closer to me than my own screen. Emirates does have a cool feature that allows you to watch what your seatmate is watching as well (but I didn’t use it, no offense to Babs fans, but I’ve seen Funny Girl a few too many times).

Announcements were in Arabic and English, and after the closing of the door the purser greeted me and advised she would show me around the plane after the service, which never happened. (Emirates had apparently alerted her that I would be onboard.) We pushed back on time, and I was able to watch us slowly taxi to the runway. Climbout was nice and smooth, and visibility was perfect.

Service began 30 minutes after departure with warm nuts and my drink, the flight attendant was still shocked I only wanted water (which was delivered with no ice). Sleeping pads and amenities kits were then handed out (and it was by far the best amenity kit I’d ever received). Many passengers immediately went to sleep, but I opted to play with ICE and watch a movie.

The flight attendant came to pull out my tray table, but the linen and personalized service isn’t what impressed me the most; it was the fact the tray table pulled up then slid forward at least a foot.

The presentation was done very well, but I opted for sweet tomato soup and immediately noticed it was cold. I figured it was just the Arabic way of serving it, only to be advised by the galley flight attendant he should have served it warm. He asked if I wanted a new one, but I passed as I was already halfway done. Once done, Susan took it away and brought my steak with garlic mashed potatoes, carrots, turnips, and a garlic spinach flan. (And yes, mom, I ate the turnips!)

I opted for some red wine – the Sarget de Gruaud Larose – and I was impressed that Emirates flight attendants used a wine carrier with 3 to 4 bottles on it along with glasses. It made the wine service very efficient. The meal was good, and the steak was fairly juicy. The only negative? The passenger in 8F was shaken awake for meal service. . . .

After dinner, I opted to pass on dessert so I could nap for a few hours. The bed controls were in two places – one built into the seat on the right, and another on the TV remote. The bed took about 30 seconds to get into the full flat position, and I immediately noticed that below the arm rests, the storage areas double as “shoulder room”, which resulted in a very VERY restful nap. (My previous flat bed experience was in the United First Class Suite and I felt very claustrophobic.)

I kept my monitor on the airshow and listened to music while I slept. I woke up just past the north pole and was able to easily slide past 8J to use the lav. It had toothpaste/toothbrushes along with shaving kits, and a fresh flower. As soon as I went back to my seat, Susan offered me more water and I noticed some Godiva chocolates in the cupholder.

I looked out my windows and noticed I hadn’t put the shades down. To my amazement they were electronically controlled with 2 shades – one paper-type shade and then a black-out shade. I was hoping for my inflight-bites, but apparently I had to ask for it. I ordered chicken tikka marsala, and for my first taste of the middle east, it was really good.

I then napped again for another 2 hours to wake up over Russia approaching the Caspian Sea. According to airshow, we were in daylight. I started to raise the window shade and noticed the sunrays fill the cabin, so I closed it as to not disturb others. I remembered the purser never came to show me the plane, so I asked for her, and Susan asked if anything was wrong (apparently only the purser knew I was on board to write about the product).

Breakfast was served while over the Caspian Sea as the cabin was transitioning from stars/blue to a nice gentle orange color. The first setting was a great fruit plate with rolls followed by pancakes. The pancakes were tasty but could have used maple syrup. After breakfast the purser came to welcome me into First Class and I took seat 1F. My mouth was on the ground. . . this was a ROOM, not a seat.

The seat was very comfortable and felt like a Cadillac seat. There was an electronic mini bar in the console along with the tray table. There were electronically controlled doors with a “do not disturb” option. There were 3 light fixtures in the “suite” – a small lamp, a reading light above the seat, and one adjacent to the tv. Each light had 2 dim settings, all controlled by the remote.

The TV was a bit larger than the business class ICE, and the seat had a lot more storage. It also had a vanity with very handy lotions and “sniff kits”, which help reduce jetlag – and they were simply AMAZING. Under the TV was also a writing kit, including a pen and paper.

There were no overhead bins in First Class, so it had a very open feeling, despite being ‘compartmentalized’. The bar was more of a social “standing” area, and there were no passengers using it.

As it started to get dark, again, we were approaching Dubai. I could no longer remove the remote and the doors wouldn’t close on the suite. I had the remote tuned to the nose camera and kept flipping through the TV. There was a short feature prior to landing in Dubai, followed by more clean-up by the FAs. I then flipped over to the nose camera hoping to get a good view of our approach, however it was very humid and visibility wasn’t very good. Our landing was smooth and we had a short taxi to the gate.

Upon landing, I noticed that the flight attendants held back the economy cabin passengers until all first/business class passengers were off. The flight attendants wouldn’t let me go back to coach during the flight (probably, annoyingly, to prevent a negative review), so after a 10 minute wait on the ground, I headed back to coach to check it out.

Seeing a 10 abreast layout on Seatguru, I knew it would have been a tight fit. And thank god I was in business, as I would not have lasted in economy on this flight. Sure, I felt a good 2 more inches of legroom, but the seat was much tighter than other seats (while I could put the arm rest down, my shoulders ate up a good 1/4 of the middle seat). At least economy seats had the same ICE system and power ports.

Upon arrival in the terminal, it was a decent hike to the “sky train”, which is an elevator that looked more like a room, down to immigration. I was able to use the fast track line and was through in a few minutes.

My first impression was that I entered a Las Vegas casino, with huge columns and a very open customs and bag claim area. My VIP meet and greet had my bags and we walked right through customs with no questions.

I’d like to thank Nick B at Boeing, who has spent many months on this route flying between Seattle and Doha. His tips of not sleeping the entire journey and taking shorter naps with movies at intervals really helped, as I did not feel jet lagged at all, which was one of my largest concerns of the trip. While walking to customs, I was kind of shocked that I had just gotten off of a 15 hour flight, my body certainly didn’t feel like it.

With Allegiant deciding to flee Long Beach at the end of this month, I sensed there was a unique experience that I would regret missing out on if I didn’t jump on it. I had the chance to fly Allegiant to Vegas and then Spirit back to LAX. This head-to-head comparison could be had for less than $50 total. Just to make things fun, I was determined to do it without paying a single fee. I almost succeeded.

Buying the Tickets
My first decision was to pick the day to go. I of course looked for the cheap days and the days where the flight times worked. Spirit keeps a fairly consistent schedule but Allegiant is all over the map. The morning flight on Wednesdays looked best, because it would give me 3 hours in Vegas to connect. I knew I needed a buffer in case Allegiant was delayed (and it was).

I first went to AllegiantAir.com to buy my ticket. The website is a bit clunky but I found my flight on November 2 for $10.01. I declined the myriad of seat assignment fees, bag fees, car rentals, hotels, etc before finally getting to the final screen. My ticket had still ballooned from $10 to over $50. Why?

Allegiant slaps on a “convenience” fee of $17 per ticket if you book online. The airline also snuck a transfer in on the website which I would have had to de-select. Knowing that I would be running by Long Beach Airport, I figured I’d just drop in and save the $17.

Tickets can be bought within an hour after every flight departure, but finding out when each flight departs wasn’t easy. I did figure it out, and it took me only 10 minutes to get ticketed so I was able to avoid a parking fee at the airport. Total ticket price was $20.71 with a mere $9.31 going to Allegiant and the rest to the feds.

With Spirit, I wasn’t so lucky. I went on the website and got the same kind of experience as Allegiant though the fees were displayed more clearly and the site looked more professional. On Spirit, there’s an $8.99 passenger usage fee each way, and I wasn’t about to drive up to LAX just to avoid that. I gave in and paid $28.69 for the trip with $8.37 going to Spirit for the fare plus $8.99 for the passenger usage fee. That was the only fee I’d pay on the whole trip.

Checking In
The day before departure, I went to check in for both flights. Allegiant just gave me an error message saying that since I hadn’t paid for an assigned seat, I couldn’t check in online. If I wanted to pay for a seat, I could call Allegiant. I knew that was the case, but this was very poor presentation. Why not let me pay right there? (Not that I was going to . . .)

Spirit does things differently. When you check in, they try to upsell you more on bags, seats, etc. If you pass, then they just assign you a random seat, which is, of course, a middle. I ended up in seat 19B, printed my boarding pass, and I was set with them.

When I bought my Allegiant ticket, the people at the counter said it was a madhouse and people usually really did need to arrive 2 hours before departure. But they said that the Wednesday morning flight was lighter so I could get there 1.5 hours early and I’d be fine.

I parked on a side street off the airport and walked the 10 minutes into the terminal. Once there, I found nobody waiting at the Allegiant counter. I checked in and the first thing the agent said was that the flight was delayed “about 30 minutes.” Had Allegiant actually offered flight status on its website, I would have known this when I checked. Unfortunately, it just redirects to you FlightView and has no delay info. Boo. She then said the airplane was only half full so I’d have an easy time picking an open seat. I got my boarding pass, which was Z17 and went to wait at the gate.

The Flights
There is no Allegiant presence in the gate area – they just board from the Delta gate. When the airplane finally arrived, they started boarding and there was some confusion. First they did some pre-boarding for those who paid. Then they board those who paid for assigned seats (about 15 boarded). After that, they boarded families and then open seating in groups of 10.

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November 2, 2011
Allegiant 551 Lv Long Beach 1005a Arr Las Vegas 1110a
Long Beach (LGB): Gate 23, Runway 12, Depart 54m Late
Las Vegas (LAS): Gate D1, Runway 1L, Arrive 51m Late
N868GA, McDonnell Douglas DC-9-83, New Darker Sun Allegiant livery, ~50% Full
Seat 9F
Flight Time 46m

I did the long walk to the airplane and saw it in shiny new paint. What a beauty, especially with the iconic Fly DC Jets sign in the background. I figured this might be the last chance I’d have to fly a Douglas aircraft out of its Long Beach home.

The interior was clean but the fixtures looked old. I loved it. Nobody seemed to be in a hurry and in the end, we left about an hour late. The Santa Ana winds were kicking up so I had the chance to experience my first departure from runway 12.

As you can see in the video, we took off like a rocket, and circled over Long Beach before heading toward Vegas. Being in the front of the airplane, I could hear nothing but the slipstream. I love that airplane. It’s so funny, because were I stuck sitting in the back next to the engine, I would have a very different opinion.

The flight was quick as we went by Disneyland and Ontario Airport. By the time we had passed over the Cajon Pass, the flight attendants had already done their beverage-only service. Sticking with my no-fee plan, I passed. Soon we were descending over the desert, and we landed straight in to the north.

I got off the airplane and noticed that half of the D concourse we were using was fenced off. I took the train back to the main terminal and went through security at the B gates, where Spirit flew out of. This time, I opted for the Millimeter Wave scan instead of opting out, and they really have sped the process up dramatically. It was quite efficient.

By now, I had about 1.5 hours until my flight back, so I wandered. I strolled down the A concourse where Spirit uses a couple gates and US Airways uses a couple more. One whole part of it is fenced off and it’s really quite empty. (And THIS is an airport that’s building another terminal. Yeah, that’s a good idea.)

I went back to the B gates and found my airplane waiting there in the old black cube colors. I went up to the gate and asked if I could change my seat or if that would cost money. The agent laughed and said that no, he could change my seat at the gate without charge.

He asked if I wanted an exit row, and I stared at him wondering what the catch was. He said that it was again no charge at the gate – first come first served. And since the flight was less than half full, there wasn’t much demand.

I parked myself in the empty gate area and waited until it was time to board. Spirit has a much more normal boarding process, using zones. They boarded zone 1 and 2 but apparently, that’s only for exit rows and people sitting in the Big Front Seats. Only three of us boarded.

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November 2, 2011
Spirit 411 Lv Las Vegas 2p Arr Los Angeles 310p
Las Vegas (LAS): Gate B2, Runway 7L, Depart 8m Early
Los Angeles (LAX): Gate 67A, Runway 25L, Arrive 5m Early
N507NK, Airbus A319-132, Black Cubes Livery, ~30% Full
Seat 11F/9F
Flight Time 42m

The first thing I noticed was the advertising on the bulkhead, on the overhead bins, on the seatbacks…. It didn’t bother me , but the advertisers are certainly getting their money’s worth.

I took my exit row seat and found it to be horribly uncomfortable. The seat lacked padding, as exit rows often do, and it felt like it was reclined forward. I moved up a couple rows to a standard row and found the seat pitch tight but it was for more comfortable. Certainly nothing that would bother me on a short flight like this.

But I couldn’t stay long. The flight attendant said that everyone had to sit in their assigned seats for weight and balance. Really? Ok, so I went back to my generous exit row legroom. I did notice that the seats were very well worn and there was a lot of junk in the seatback pockets, but it was just fine.

Soon, we were pushing back to take off, but then we sat. Other airplanes passed us to depart, so I assumed there was some sort of flow control delay into LA. The pilots never said anything and after about a 10 minute wait, we were on our way.

We had barely made the turn back toward LA after our westbound departure before the flight attendants started pitching the Spirit credit card. That was followed by a pass through the aisles asking if anyone wanted “purchased items.” Then they came back through and handed out credit card apps. Believe it or not, people actually took them.

Unlike on the Allegiant flight up, the Spirit pilots turned the seatbelt sign off quickly. As soon as they did, I headed back up a couple rows to the more comfortable seat.

After the early quick passes, the flight attendants went back to the galley while travelers slept or read. I just stared out the window as we headed toward LA.

It was an uneventful landing and we pulled in to our gate in the war zone known as Terminal 6 a few minutes early. Terminal 6 is under massive construction preparing for the Alaska move next year, and it’s a mess right now. My wife picked me up at the curb and we headed back down to Long Beach.

The Verdict
Both of these airlines gave great value for the money, and that’s no surprise. I mean, if you pay $48 roundtrip, it’s hard to get poor value as long as the flights get you there. Most of the things that bugged me could easily have been resolved by paying for an extra level of service. And that’s great. I’m more than happy to have the choice to pay for what I want. So, who was better?

While I loved the MD-80 ride on Allegiant, I have to give the nod to Spirit for being more polished. Spirit seemed to be more clear about the model throughout the entire process. The website was pretty easy to use and the nature of the product was very clear throughout the process. My biggest complaint about Allegiant is really on the operational side.

Allegiant has no flight status on its website so it’s impossible to know for sure if your flight is delayed unless you just look for an inbound flight on a flight tracking service. There’s no reason they have to be so difficult with those kinds of things. I also found Allegiant’s boarding process to be pretty confusing with some assigned seats and some open seating. The whole process just ran more smoothly on Spirit.

But in the end, both did a good job.

[See more photos from the trip]