FOAK call: flying to Septicland

I'm on standby to fly to the US in mid-June, to give evidence in support of
an old colleague against our ex-employer. Vindictive charges of theft, and
my evidence should clinch the acquittal. Employer will NOT be expecting me
to show. I'll be needed for 1-2 days, but the attorney can't say *which*
days. What's the best/cheapest/most flexible way to get there at very short
notice? I see AirBranson want to charge me £900 return in zoo-class. I'll
probably be reimbursed, but cannot rely on that. It's years since I've
flown there, other than on a pampered, Bigco, damn-the-expense basis. Is
there a penalty for late-booking these days, or is there a saving in taking
a stand-by? Should I book something, anything, right now - and then simply
change the booking later on? For reference, the trial's in Connecticut, so
NYC or Boston are both viable.

 

You sure? Couldn't see anything over £550 myself, cheapest £348.
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/specialoffers/splashout.jsp?WT.mc_id=uk_splashout

Besides, wouldn't it be easier to fly Air Frog instead?

 

sod the expense:

www.maxjet.com

Cheaper than you'd think for executive-class travel.

only from Stanstead, mind.

 

FFS.

 

Sod Stansted! Diagonally wrong for me, as I'm SW of London. LHR or LGW,
unless there's a very persuasive reason otherwise. Still, thanks for the
suggestion; I'd forgotten about them. I'll take a look. There's another
new-startup exec-only airline, isn't there.

 

Hmmmm. I was just looking at the standard booking malarkey, rather than
specials. Ta.

Ah yes, of course, silly moi [1].

[1] Thinks: I'll have to end this soon. The "Genuine Froggie" seems to have
gone forever. There's no longer much point ....

 

Crap-looking seats though. Seems to me that BA are still the only
operator who have proper flat-bed seats in business class[1]. I won't
fly transatlantic with anyone else.

And only to JFK or Dulles. Pretty fucking useless, then.


[1] I know there's Virgin Upper-class but that's out of our travel
office's budget.
--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

EOS.

Also out of Stansted, so not any more use to you than Maxjet.

It'd cost you a lot less to get to Stansted than the difference
between a Maxjet seat and BA Premier.

See:

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,18471-1856704,00.html

 

You sure? Couldn't see anything over £550 myself, cheapest £348.
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/specialoffers/splashout.jsp?WT.mc_id=uk_splashout

ITYF them's one-way fares!

 

look at the Times Online link I posted - not flatbed seats, but a lot
wider than what you'd get with BA. And cheaper.

Having said that, I'm talking about the "paying for it yourself"
option. At work, for flights to the states we use Air France or BA.
Not that I've managed to wangle an excuse to go yet.

well, yes, if you don't want to go to JFK or Dulles.

 

Yebbut, I'm having to pay for this myself, so cheap-and-cheerful rules.
There's an outside chance that matey [1] will pay, but I cannot rely on it.
I'm assuming that I'll have to resign myself to coiling into a zoo-class
seat ... and dying of DVT.

[1] And he's not that much of a mate; simply an ex-colleague who is being
vindictively persecuted by a fucking nutter of an ex-boss. I also was
shafted, but nothing like as badly. It's worth it to me to risk a grand to
see the bastard shot down in flames in court, but not 2/3/4 grand. Truth be
told, I don't think he'll show, and is just using the court procedure to
drain matey's emotional and financial reserves, and make him unemployable
for as long as possible. Nice guy!

 

It's like old-skool BA Club, apparently, so certainly not *bad* by any
standards. Next time I fly to the east coast I'll be using them, I reckon -
you don't have to try very hard to drop £500 on a flight from LHR in cattle
class

 

But not flat. For me, that's the single most important feature. I'm
not a bloater, so don't need extra-wide, but a flat bed means I can
sleep properly on the way back - anything else and I won't be able to
doze more than ten minutes at a time.

YMMV.

We seem to have special prices with just about all airlines - in the
past I've used Swiss, Lufthansa andf AF - so I can choose who I want,
as long as it's a through trip from CH-CH, which excludes Virgin.

Excuse? Jeez, I'll try and find any excuse I can _not_ to go. Sadly,
now I've actually got staff out there it looks like I'll be doing
more, not less, travelling.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

Yes, it's just the convenience factor. LHR and LGW are both less than an
hour away, with more choice. I'm having to plan for a cheap flight, for the
moment. If comfort becomes a factor, yes, Stansted's certainly worth a go.
Thanks.

 

yehbut, I don't get at all - once or twice a year, particularly to
California (which is the most likely part of the States in our case)
wouldn't be a hardship.

I'm currently travelling to and from Paris twice a month, and that
*is* proving a bit of a pain.

Still, I'm managed to get a permanent "Relaxation Room"[1] upgrade at
the Hilton, so it could be worse.

[1] basically, a bit bigger than a standard room, with seperate shower
rather than shower attachment over the bath, jacuzzi bath, with an LCD
flatscreen that you can watch in the jacuzzi.

 

Book flights to include at least a Saturday overnighter in the US.
Otherwise, you're paying business rates (of around 900 quid). With a
Sat night stop-over in June, it'll be more like 350-400 quid.

Whereabouts in CT? If SW CT, get a flight to
1) LaGuardia [*]
2) JFK
3) Newark
[...]
458) Boston

There's the Connecticut Limo service from JFK and Newark which is
fairly cheap. You can then rent a car in CT (possibly for a couple of
days less) rather than pay airport premiums.

Most major players go to JFK, Continental use Newark as a hub so you
can usually get a good deal with them. Any of the major lines should
have seats available at last minute and they're *usually* cheaper -
but it's been ages since I've had to book in "peak". I usually go in
Feb or Oct and I tend to leave it 'till 3 days to go before I book and
grab something around the 180 quid (+ taxes) mark.

[*] I've never flown into LaGuardia from the UK - only on an internal
so I'm not sure about this one for you. But it's *ideal* for CT being
just over the Whitestone Bridge. JFK is nearby. Newark you'll have to
get over the GW Bridge which can be busy. Boston (airport) is 3-4
hours drive - depending on where in CT you're heading.

HTH

 

I was quite entertained to see that an "extra pillow" was an option on
the little options leaflet left in the room in a Holiday Inn I was in
recently.

 

For a long time I thought it might be the second coming of Sir.
Chewburry Gubbins, now I know it lives in Her Majesty's Glorious
South, rather than Jockland, I'm not nearly so sure.

 

that's a service in the Sofitel, apparently - I'm not sure it'd work
in the Hilton.

Which reminds me, I really need to do some serious thinking about the
justification for the 650 Euro bar bill from my stay there last
week...

 

Is he Kendo Nagasaki IRL?