Aussie Flyer

Today I am finally getting around to writing a report on this regional hop with Sri Lankan Airlines. This was my first time ever flying with Sri Lankan, a recent recruit to oneworld alliance. This means I can earn Qantas points and status credits when flying with them, and makes for seamless connections with Qantas and other oneworld carriers. With a 12.05pm departure I caught a cab to the airport from nearby Negombo Beach where I had been staying at about 9.30am. It's a pretty short ride to the airport and as we approached the terminal area the driver asked which airline we were flying and which class of service. When I mentioned Sri Lankan business he took a turn to a separate, private entrance area. We were greeted at the car by Sri Lankan airlines staff who grabbed our luggage and took it into a private check-in zone. I didn't even know it existed and I was very impressed. The staff were lovely and checked our bags through to Melbourne as well as issuing our onward Sin...

 As a follow up to my earlier post about EY265 , here is how the return sector to Colombo looked. Once again, this flight was being operated by an A320 in the regional Etihad configuration. This aircraft was a little older, it did not feature the wing sharklets that I had on the flight into Abu Dhabi. The cabin however was basically identical, with large comfortable recliners with leather head rests in a fairly neutral colour scheme:

FLIGHT Etihad Airways AIRLINE EY170 ROUTE Los Angeles to Abu Dhabi GATE DEPARTURE 4.55PM (Scheduled) GATE ARRIVAL 8.00PM (Scheduled) / 8.30PM (Actual) FLYING TIME 16 hours 30 min approx AIRCRAFT Boeing 777-200LR A6-LRC Welcome to this report on the worlds 3rd longest flight by distance: flight EY170. Etihad's daily Boeing 777-200LR non stop service between Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi. At 13,502 kilometres in distance only two other flights are longer, being the Qantas flight between Sydney and Dallas, and the Delta flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg. On this flight I was flying in the business class cabin on the B777-200LR, an ultra long range variant of the B777 which was acquired by Etihad from Air India with this route in mind.

I have been watching with interest since American Airlines introduced their 'A321T' fleet at the beginning of 2014. These aircraft have now replaced the aging Boeing 767-200 fleet on the flagship domestic routes between New York JFK and both Los Angeles and San Francisco. The aircraft are equipped with 3 classes with 10 First Class, 20 Business Class and 72 Economy Class seats. Both First and Business offer flat beds with business being in a 2x2 configuration. Audio video on demand is available to all passengers. This is a very generous configuration, with most airlines seating double this amount of passengers on the A321. So, on a Sunday in May this year I finally found myself booked on the A321 Transcontinental, here is my report: FLIGHT AA19 AIRLINE American Airlines ROUTE New York JFK to Los Angeles GATE DEPARTURE 11.00AM (Scheduled) / 10.52AM (Actual) GATE ARRIVAL 2.08PM (...

FLIGHT EY131 AIRLINE Etihad Airways ROUTE Abu Dhabi to Washington Dulles GATE DEPARTURE 10.55AM GATE ARRIVAL 5.25 PM FLIGHT TIME 14 hours 30 min AIRCRAFT Boeing 787-9 (A6-BLA) There has been a lot of hype from Etihad about their new Business Studio seat so earlier in the year I decided I had to try it! I was heading to New York but since the business studios only feature on the A380 and B787-9 Dreamliner, I decided to fly via Washington. Washington is the first long haul destination Etihad served with B787 equipment and is the only USA destination not served with Etihad B777's currently.

I've only ever flown Etihad the one time before this trip, and that was in first class from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne last year. On my recent trip to the USA I decided to take advantage of a triple miles offer and fly Etihad business class. The first leg of the Etihad ticket started in Colombo. Flight EY265 is one of two daily A320 flights to Abu Dhabi. Competitor Emirates run a B777-300ER on their flight to Dubai, a significantly larger aircraft with a much bigger seat. However, since the flight is only around 4 hours I was fine to be on one of Etihad's 'regional' birds. Despite hearing rumours that Colombo airport wasn't too great I found it quite hassle free, Etihad has a dedicated counter for those travelling in business:

My recent trip saw me taking advantage of some good business class airfares out of Colombo, Sri Lanka. To get there I flew Melbourne to Bangkok then on to Colombo with Thai Airways. The Bangkok to Colombo sector operates daily as flight TG307, with the Airbus A330-300. Unless there is a last minute equipment swap this 3 hour sector operates with the angled lie flat business class seat, as shown below (from a previous report):