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Flying high
Smetty, Steven and Luc are writing about their flight experiences.
I will add my 2cents.
I happened to be a frequent flyer the last 4 years, and I have several awkward experiences on planes.
Why not share them.
Technorati Tags: airline, airports, belgianarmy, lufthansa, elal, sn
When living in Israel, I flew back and forth to Belgium every 3 months.
The first time, my flight was paid by the Flemish Government, and thus booked by them. Somehow their travel agency cooperated with El Al.
(I never flew to Israel before, and I didn't bother to check out anything since I trusted others to do the best thing possible.)
For Israel you need to be in the airport 3 hours in advance. I thought it was kind of stupid, but heck, it is Israel, so no need to taunt them.
I ended up spending the whole 3 hours in security control, and my bags were turned upside down and inside out.
Actually the flight was delayed because of me, but that's something I found out later.
When returning after 3 months, the same story repeated in Israel, and by then, I already got tired of it, being treated as a kind of criminal.
The good things about El Al? You are checked over and over, and they make a file about you before you get on the plane, which actually means that risk is low that you ever end up in a hijacked plane ;)
The food in general is OK (and they have these kosher meals, I'll never try because they look horrible).
They are quite cheap when you book enough in advance. (Otherwise they are quite expensive)
But for all these things take into account that your check in time can be horrible (and I mean really really horrible.)
When a year later I was offered a dead cheap flight to NYC through El Al, I hesitated, but the price was so appealing that I couldn't refuse.
I should have know better: the same story repeated and this time, they took all my camera's, my laptop and I got my own security guard leading me to the toilets and finally to the plane. I felt like a criminal and it was horrible to see all the people stare as if I was a possible suicide bomber or something like that.
Horrible. Though it was almost a diplomatic incident (the Israeli government made a big issue out of it) El Al never apologized.
(Then again: I am not jewish, a young single woman, which appears to be high security risk. I guess this is why I was so stunned to be accepted as photographer in the White House ;))
Btw I never bothered to be in their frequent flyer program, I wouldn't want to be!
So I preferred to choose other airlines.
SN Airlines is wonderful and I support Belgian economy. And to be honest: their prices are amazingly cheap, and they offer one of the best frequent flyer programs I have ever seen: you only need 10000 miles to have a free flight within Europe (I actually have 35000 miles now :)) )
The food is delicious, and really I have only good words for them.
I always book online, or sometimes through Connections. The first when I am fast enough, the last when I decided to late.
(When they launch new routes, you always get amazing prices. When they started I booked for Vienna and Helsinki and paid only 200 euro for both, taxes included.)
One minor thing: they do co-ops these days with other airlines, and for Israel they co fly with El Al :((
When booking rather late, I ended up with Lufthansa and Air Austria (which are in fact from the same company but differ rather a lot.)
The offer the same frequent flyer program Miles and More, but you have to safe for ages to get something out of that. (I will be giving away my miles to a good cause soon.)
I always book with Connections and they have good last minute rates.
Air Austria's food really sucks. And they also wear these awful uniforms, kind of pitiful to see these beautiful women in these old fashioned clothes...
Lufthansa is certainly OK.
I also have a travel agent in Israel, and somehow, when I book through her, I always end up cheaper than booking out of Belgium. Very strange but true.
I don't know why, but except for SN, I like to book flights through a real person with whom I have a sort of 'relation', in case something goes wrong during the whole trip, I know who to call.
Another airline I happen to be flying recently is the Belgian Army ;)))
And it has to be said: they rock.
One trip I had the chance to be in their first class (I never flew first class before) but it was worth the try. :P
We got wonderful sushi and our flight crew was with us the whole 5 days. In the end we even felt coming home when going to the plane.
The advantages of flying Belgian Army? Somehow you don't have real hard security check ups, you are picked up with cool cars on the tarmac and you feel like a movie star driving of the tarmac accompanied by 30 police cars and the high roads being blocked for other cars.
The most beautiful stop over we had, was in Tokyo, where we entered a VIP Airport which was stunning in design (unfortunately it was forbidden to take pictures over there)
(I guess when someone asks me about my recent official trips, that was really the most exciting part: getting on/of the plane and sitting in these big GMC's as if you are a very important person. Which you are not of-course ;) )
Posted on March 12, 2006
in Limit of my knowledge
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