(Not much motorcycle content for a few days, be patient)
The thought of spending over $4,000 on airfare for my family made me look into the world of frequent flier miles, something I've never really considered before. I'm by no means a frequent flier, so I didn't yet belong to any airline FF programs. I did a lot of research, and found that there were several very generous credit card offers out there that gave a lot of FF miles for signing up. My credit score is thankfully very good, so I applied for a couple of cards and starting accumulating the miles.
I was suprised at how easy it was to rack up the miles just for filling out a credit app (and taking just a small credit score hit for the app). It became something of an addiction a hobby, and before I knew it I had some very healthy FF accounts on several airlines. How healthy? Enough to fly business class (Envoy) to Europe for (practically) free and barely make a dent in the balance. I eventually booked a flight on US Airways in Envoy class, Philadelphia to Munich with a stopover in Frankfurt. The transatlantic flight would be on an Airbus A330, which offered a very nice bonus - US Airways used to offer a First Class section on that aircraft, with row 1 being fully lie-flat seats (regular Envoy/business have healthy reclines but still slope). US has since dropped First Class but they kept the lie-flat seats. They used to charge a premium above business class for those Row 1 seats, but starting this year they became available at no additional charge. I was excited to see seat 1G available when I booked my flight - score! I've never flown "in front of the curtain" before, and this gave me something else to look forward to on this trip.
If anyone wants to know more about FF miles, drop me an e-mail or PM and I'd be glad to give you more info.
Dave and Peter would be leaving on Tuesday evening for a Wednesday arrival in Munich, and Frank would be arriving on Friday. I had originally planned to leave Wednesday as well, but I decided I wanted to spend more than one day in Muncih so I moved my departure up to Saturday. That would give me about 3 1/2 days to explore Munich before picking up the rental bike.
I arrived at the airport about 4 hours before departure. One of the nice bonuses of flying transatlantic Envoy is access to the Envoy Lounge with free food and drinks, and I wanted to be able to enjoy that experience before my departure. The check-in agent offered to bump me to an earlier direct flight, still in Envoy, but I would lose my row 1 sleeper. I passed. The agent made sure I knew where the lounge was and sent me on my way. With barely anyone in security I was in the terminal about 10 minutes after stepping out of the car.
As my usual pre-flight time at the airport is spent elbowing my way to the bar at Chickie and Pete's, then hanging out with the huddled masses near the gate, it's safe to say I was blown away by the lounge.
The stairway to heaven (aka Envoy Lounge)
Envoy Lounge, about as crowded as it got
Beer selection
Enjoying a gin and tonic, with mozzarella and tomato salad.
I tipped the bartender $3 when I got my first free drink, which I thought pretty fair. Returning for my second drink, the guy in front of me tossed her a $20 - making me feel like a skinflint. Then she pointed out that drinks were complimentary, and he took back his $20 and walked away with his drink. I was back to feeling pretty good.
I ventured out just once to get some crab fries at Chickie & Pete's and after waiting 10 minutes got a bucket of cold soggy fries. Sigh.
Eventually it was time to head down to the gate for boarding, so I reluctantly said goodbye to my oasis of calm and headed downstairs into the maelstrom of the terminal. I was one of the first to board, and for the first time ever got to make a left after entering the plane. I made my way past the "regular" Envoy section, and another wall, and found my seat in the row 1 mini cabin. Oh man, I could get used to this.
The aisle seat was my home for the night. Don't hate me - it was free.
Dinner/breakfast menu
Immediately after taking my seat a flight attendant came over to take my drink order. My request for a Gin and Tonic confused her - she paused for a moment, then asked "that's gin with tonic water, yes?". "Yes".
I had no seatmate until just before the doors closed, so I was hopeful I would get to keep the empty seat for the flight (or maybe get to sit next to some late-arriving celeb). Eventually the seat was taken by the mother of a family of 6, all travelling in Envoy. She was a little bummed to be by herself "away from the Griswolds". My dreams of chatting up Angie Harmon were dashed.
I passed on dinner since a) I had eaten pretty well in the lounge, and b) nothing on the menu sounded good to my (unfortunately) finicky palate. I did enjoy the Passion Fruit Mousse desert though.
My Passion Fruit Mousse
Settling in for the flight. My son and I could have played soccer in the area between my seat and the bulkhead.
Watched some TV episodes and a couple movies ("Moon" was excellent) on the iPad, and tried in vain to get some sleep. I don't know what made me think I would be able to, I've never been successful before. There was a little turbulence a few hours into the flight, but nothing bad. I tossed and turned during the lights-out portion of the flight trying to will myself to sleep, but it wasn't meant to be. Soon enough morning was breaking outside and we prepared for our landing in Frankfurt.