An Airline Comparison

After taking my 13th flight this year, I realized I may have a problem. (Okay, it didn't take as long as that). I've been quite the jet-setter these first seven months of 2013 and am looking forward to this chunk of time where I don't have to go to an airport, get patted down, wait in a line to board a plane, or keep weighing my luggage to avoid paying an overweight fee.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to provide my thoughts on the three airlines I've taken to make the transatlantic flight, and to also share our experience with Europe's low-fare airline, Ryanair. That way, those of you planning trips to see the hubby and I can make informed decisions.

United.

United is what hubby and I took on our trip to Italy last year, and I took it again when I went back in April to present at the NALP conference. When I got to the airport, I had the pleasure of sitting around with my fellow passengers for more than a few hours before they canceled my flight completely. 

Not cool, United.

They did put me on the next flight with Lufthansa (but that wasn't until the following morning) which was super pleasant. I did take United on the trip back to Frankfurt which almost made up for the stress and hassle - it was a Sunday evening flight that was half-booked, which meant I was able to easily squat a three-seat aisle and actually sleep on the journey. (Take THAT, jet lag!)

The food is pretty standard, and their breakfasts are the most hearty out of the three (think yogurt, roll, fruit or granola bar, versus just a roll and jam). Not surprising for a US-based airline - we're such a bunch of fatties.

Lufthansa.

Hubby and I took this for our initial trip to Frankfurt in late February. Despite some annoying Spanish tourists seated in the rows in front of us on the plane (who took no time in reclining their seats in our faces), I enjoy the airline. It's based in Germany so the flight crews are always professional, you can get alcohol in Economy (beer, white or red wine, and then either Bailey's or Cognac after the main course), and their entertainment selections are pretty good. I think I like their food the best. When I was coming back on that United-turned-Lufthansa flight, their snack option was a bratwurst and roll - perfect.

In fact, I enjoy their entertainment selections the most, too.

British Airways.

I booked BA for my flight back for my friends wedding because at the time, it was the cheapest option. This was the first time I didn't have a direct flight, but rather had to connect at Heathrow in London. I thought certainly that will be no problem - they are entering and exiting the same terminal - I'll have time to spare!

Wrong, Kim, wrong.

Never having been to Heathrow, nor changing flights in Heathrow, I was under the impression that I'd get off the plane, find my next flight at a nearby gate, and have plenty of time to poke around a gift store or something. In reality, when you get off an international flight at this (stupidly large) airport, you have to enter through passport control AND security again. Oh - and as for the same terminal? The terminal itself is so large there is a tram that runs between A, B, and C (a la Dulles). This makes layovers of 1 hour 25 minutes super fun, unless of course your plane/de-planing takes a little longer than usual.

I was supposed to only have a layover of 65 minutes on my return flight, but thank goodness - the plane was delayed by an hour and a half leaving BWI, so I was automatically re-booked on a later flight to Frankfurt, thus eliminating my need to plead with people to let me cut their line, or sprint through the airport like a hooligan smuggling drugs.

Also not a huge fan of the BA airport staffs. I thought they didn't really have their stuff together and had a dazed and confused look on their faces more often than not. Once airborne, though, the flight attendants and pilots (one was named Ian, how British indeed!) were pretty good.

As for the seats, I have mixed feelings here. You can pick your seat (which are more generous space-wise than United and Lufthansa) but you have to pay for the privilege. The other option is to wait until 24 hours prior to your flight to check-in and choose one (that's left, anyway) free of additional charge. I decided to go for it and pay for an aisle seat on my Heathrow-BWI trip, because I knew out of all the flights, it was going to be one of the longest (in that direction you're up against the jet stream, so it usually adds time to the flight). Luckily, I had one of the best seats I've ever had - it was one in the first row of economy with tons of extra legroom and directly across from a restroom. After reviewing my BA-assigned seats for the journey back, I found them to be pretty good, so I didn't need to change them after all.

Entertainment-wise, I think their selections were lacking, with the exception of their informational tv channel - I got to learn about how water impacts the makeup of Europe, so that was pretty cool.

The food was kind of meh, but it did feel fun asking for tea. The BLT wrap I had on my last leg (Heathrow to Frankfurt) was delicious... I certainly wasn't going to pass up British bacon! The alcohol selection is much more generous, even more so than Lufthansa.

Ryanair.

Very much like Spirit Airlines in the US, Ryanair is all about being the lowest cost airline for European travel, making it a hit with students and other budget travelers. Hubby and I decided to give it a shot on our trip to Lake Como earlier this month. We could have driven, but we really wanted this trip to be as relaxing as possible, and if we were driving that was less likely to happen.

Two people flying from Frankfurt to Milan cost us well under $100 total. But of course there are tons of catches - the airport in Frankfurt isn't the main international one that I've spent so much time in - it's actually much farther away (like an hour and a half drive from our apartment) in what I definitely wouldn't consider the Frankfurt area anymore. Their flights only leave in the wee hours of the morning, too, so when hubby and I were leaving our apartment at 4am, there were still people out from a night of drinking wandering the streets.

When we got to the dinkiest airport I've ever seen (what seriously looked like the train station of airports, or a converted hangar), there were huge lines to check-in (we had to have someone stamp our boarding pass since we didn't have an EU passport) and nowhere to stand and wait at the gate. I was already in a mood because I hadn't had any caffeine or breakfast, and I had just flown from the US the day before so I was operating on very little sleep.

Eventually, we were allowed to walk out onto the tarmac (!!!??) and board the plane. It's best to be at the head of the line for this, because unless you paid extra, it's a free for all seat-wise. Hubby and I were not guaranteed to sit next to each other, but we managed to find two seats together.

The planes were nice looking but at the back of each seat there are ads for their food or duty free right in your faces. I told the hubby that it would be best if I got a cappuccino and ham and cheese croissant during the flight so as to avoid any further hangry unpleasantness. He agreed and ordered.

When the ham and cheese croissant finally showed up, it had neither ham nor cheese in the middle. I was heartbroken and still hungry. We alerted two crew members who did nothing about it. (Which reminds me - I need to lament this fact on their Facebook page to get my 4 Euro back!)

After being sad from the breakfast incident, the flight crew proceeded to try and sell us lottery tickets for prizes like free flights, phone cards, and duty free items. Not interested, Ryanair.

We landed in Milan around 7:30 am, and in true Italian fashion, proceeded to leave the airport without so much as a glance from passport control. They just don't seem to care who is coming into their country.

Anyway, on the trip back from Milan to "Frankfurt," their airport is much larger and nicer, despite it still being a second-tier airport for Milan. (And holy duty free shopping, Batman! What a great selection!) Unfortunately, as we were getting past the gate, everyone was told to stop, turn around, and come back later since they just discovered something wrong with the plane. Argh. Then, they changed our gate so we went down there to line up to get to the shuttle bus to take us to the plane. After boarding said bus and remaining there for about 20 minutes, the driver finally got in and took us to the plane.

When we arrived and were getting off the bus, the crew came out of the plane and waived us back into the bus. Everyone was audibly complaining now, in several languages. Totally ridiculous. Soo, we got back on the bus and literally drove around for 10 minutes before going back to the plane and boarding.

But wait folks! You'd think this is where the plane would just take off, but no... we were told by the crew that we had to wait before takeoff now because there were thunderstorms in Northern Europe and Brussels was telling us not to enter airspace just yet.

(I don't know who put Brussels in charge of such things, but now I was also upset with the country of Belgium.)

Our 7:20 flight finally took off around 10:25. It was an experience to be sure - but next time, we'll be paying a bit more for a much better flight.

Final Thoughts.

For transatlantic flights, I think a safe bet is Lufthansa. It also code shares with United so if something goes wrong, they'll be a better outcome in getting you from point A to point B in a more timely manner. If you prefer having two slightly shorter flights and are itching to hang out in Heathrow for awhile (the shopping was nice - there's an entire Harrods department store in Terminal 5), go with BA but make sure you have a ridiculously long layover time.

If after arriving in Europe you want to pay next to nothing for flights and don't mind being utterly inconvenienced at every opportunity, go with Ryanair.

Happy travels!

The rest of my US trip

After the (second) bestest wedding weekend ever, I had plans to go down to Myrtle Beach for a week. MB is my home away from home, having gone there since I was about 8 months old. (My first plane trip was to MB as a baby - I'm told I slept through it). I can whip around town, dodge tourists who are confused by the three main streets, endless mini golf courses, and fast food places with ease.

The first order of business was hitting the outlets. I was on the hunt not for me, but for hubby who was in need of new shirts (he has plenty but he always rotates through the same Izod outlet shirts and I was hoping to add a few to the mix). With coupons in tow, I was able to snag four really nice looking shirts for about $90. I even got myself a few new shirts at the Banana Republic and Ann Taylor Loft outlets. It was quite a successful day.

The second order of business while in SC was eating copious amounts of Chick Fil-A, Sonic, Zaxby's and visiting The Library. The Library is where I want to have my last meal on earth - I adore their steak diane and I was excited to share this place with my sister and her boyfriend this trip, especially since they both appreciate good food. My sister and I had their table-side from-scratch Caesar salad. So delicious.

The third order of business was evening out my crazy burn/tan thing I had going on, so we waited for a halfway decent beach day and I was able to get everything evened out. (Obviously I burned first and then tanned, but within a week it was all good).

My favorite part of the trip was hanging out with my sister's dog, Bear. He's a sweetie. We hung out on the drive back to Maryland too, where we were backseat buddies.

Like me, he's also a fan of naps.

Before I left we stumbled upon a huge Bark Park and took Bear:

 This is Bear's bench. He did not like it when any other dogs tried to come near.

 (My sister laying down the law)

 Crazy eyes.

He's pretty cool as far as dogs go.

The day after we got back to Maryland I found myself at the airport again waiting an inordinate amount of time for my flight which caused my connection to be re-booked, but I was super happy to be back in Europe. I definitely felt some culture shock when I was in the US because I was already accustomed to less "noise." By noise I mean there are less invasive advertisements, fewer traffic problems (and better drivers), fewer choices and other things that make life simpler. Because of this, and because it's pretty pricey to fly across the Atlantic all the time, I don't have plans to return for the foreseeable future. We're hoping that friends and family take their turns on the long flights to see us so we can introduce them to new and exciting experiences.

Will I miss things like decent pizza and certain restaurants? Sure, but the benefits of living here far and away outweigh that stuff.

On tap for Wednesday: A review of four airlines (United, Lufthansa, British Airways, Ryanair) and our experiences.

Lake Como

Seriously, stop whatever you're doing and book a trip to Lake Como. I mean it, stop reading. It's so gorgeous. Hubby and I spent a long weekend there from last Saturday through Wednesday and it was absolutely relaxing.

Here's hubby after we got to Milan, waiting for our bus to the train station. Surprisingly chipper for it being 7:30am and already being up for a few hours.

Changing trains in Lecco, with our first glimpse of Alps:

Arriving in Varenna:

So pretty, right?! We were a little early meeting our home-away representative (our "hotel" for our stay - it's basically someone's apartment they rent out, so they're usually more reasonably priced, roomier, and closer to the city centers) so we walked around:

Everywhere in the town, as in all the others nearby, there are stairs. Makes sense- I mean, we are in the Alps. This is not a handicapped-friendly area!

This was our view from the home away:

Alps! Lake! Sunshine! Yay! Then, onto important things, which in Italy means pasta and wine, hence the following:

There was even a small (rocky) beach where people were enjoying the water.

Hubby and I hung out there for awhile before finding a place for dinner. The next day we woke up and went to a pizza place recommended to us by our home away person, and decided to hike up to Castello di Vezio. Hubby thought the sign said .2 kilometers, but I'm 100% certain it was actually 2 kilometers - it was an incredibly steep incline, took a long time (especially since it was like 90 degrees out), and since I had just come back from the US, I felt even more out of shape than usual.

Worth it? You be the judge:

I say worth it. So SO pretty up there.

After that we were pretty spent so we took a nap before dinner. Our dinner spot was gorgeous with a great view of the lake, and during the course of the meal all the lights across the lake started coming on as the sun set, making it all super romantic. I had a caprese salad and eggplant pesto ravioli with sundried tomatoes. Delicious. Hubby had a potatoes and fish appetizer followed by a steak.

(I shouldn't have had that espresso after my panna cotta dessert, and hubby's chocolate lava cake, but I couldn't resist. I was totally up all night and I don't even care!)

Next morning - another sleep-in day, so we finally got our stuff together to grab some lunch. Please note that my martini glass was actually a "coffee shake" - I'd heard about these elsewhere and basically it's brewed espresso chilled over ice and strained. A really great start to the day :-)

We decided to take the ferry to the larger town of Bellagio where things are a little more happening (i.e., better shopping to be had!). Here we are on the ferry:

And then in Bellagio (it was really hot):

After walking around, grabbing some gelato (yum), we headed back and I got a few more pictures, this time of Varenna as we pulled in closer:

That night we had another great meal. I started with this veggie pasta (short, dense pasta in a light tomato sauce with chopped eggplant, zucchini, onions, etc) which I adored, followed by a gigantic filet in a green peppercorn cream sauce. Hubby got the lasagna to start, followed by a veal chop.

Since we were going to have an early flight on Wednesday morning we spent one day/night in Milan at the Hilton in town. Milan is... okay I guess. I didn't think it was amazing since I am sick of bigger cities, the heat, tourists, and not really interested in spending so much on clothes and accessories. What was nice was the hotel had an executive floor that we could use. This means all the free drinks and snacks we could handle. From 6-9, they even had a happy hour with hot and cold apps to sip alongside wine and other tasty drinks. The hotel even brought us complementary champagne and dessert for our room!

All in all, a really great extended weekend. This was just supposed to be a quick getaway trip, and we tried out Ryanair (the Spirit Airlines of Europe - more on THAT in a later post) which meant that they charge for everything. We took the challenge upon ourselves to only use one backpack per person and it worked out great for a full 5 days of travel. I didn't even bring my camera - all of these pictures were taken with my phone (Nexus 4- love this thing!) and it was really liberating to just have a backpack, especially as I watched people struggle with larger suitcases.

Next week: a re-cap of the rest of my US tour, review of airlines and more!