Tag Archives: airline review

October 14, 2023 Frequent Flyer

Is Ryanair cheap? Or good value for money?

To many, Ryanair is the epitome of a budget airline. They pride themselves as being a low-cost airline. But how does Ryanair achieve that? And does that mean Ryanair is cheap? Or good value for money? Well, let’s find out.

Anyone who knows me (or has been following Travel for a Living for a while) might have a pretty good idea how I feel about Ryanair and their approach to flying on a budget. But it wasn’t always like that. In fact, I used to love flying Ryanair. So, what has changed? And does my personal dislike for Ryanair mean you shouldn’t fly it?

July 9, 2023 Frequent Flyer 2 Comments

My experience flying BA Business Class

Experience flying business class - Travel for a Living

I might not have flown quite as much in recent months as I did three or four years ago. And I am definitely no stranger to flying. But even I still have new experiences to look forward to every once in a while. Like flying long-haul business class for the very first time (finally). Turning left as you enter the aircraft. Exciting stuff. So how about I tell you a little about what to expect flying business class? Is the experience flying business class really worth all the extra money? Well, make it to the end of this post and I might just tell you.

Spoiler alert: I did not actually pay exorbitant amounts for my business class experience. Over the years, I had accumulated enough frequent flyer points to upgrade our flight back from New York to London. But more on that in a bit.

October 25, 2021 Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice 5 Comments

What to expect flying Luxair

Hand on heart, have you ever heard of Luxair? And if so, have you ever flown Luxair? If you are based outside Europe, the answer is probably no. As Luxair isn’t necessarily the biggest European airline there is. But it has actually been around for quite some while (Luxair was founded in 1962, if Wikipedia is to be believed). And they are the flag carrier airline for Luxembourg. Ok, that might be more to do with the fact that they are the only airline Luxembourg has, but hey, let’s not be picky. A day trip to Luxembourg a while back gave me the chance to experience my first ever flight with Luxair and more recently I flew with them again (for another day trip from London to Luxembourg). Which obviously gave me the perfect excuse to tell you all about flying Luxair. If you are considering a trip to Luxembourg, let me share with you my experience of what to expect flying Luxair.

April 18, 2020 Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice, New York City 6 Comments

Inside the British Airways Lounge at JFK Airport

As you might know, I am a frequent flyer on British Airways. And one of the perks of my silver status is access to the airport lounge, whenever I fly. So, travelling back from New York was no exception obviously. We’ve been to the lounge at JFK a couple of times before and it didn’t really make my Top 5 if I am honest. However, they have recently undergone a massive refurbishment. Meaning I was quite excited to check it out as we headed back to London after our recent week in New York. And what can I say. The new BA lounge is way better than the old one. Curious? Let me take you inside the British Airways Lounge at JFK airport for a quick nose around.

Saying the old lounge was no good is moaning at a very high level. There wasn’t anything really wrong with it. It was just a bit knackered. But not the worst BA lounge I’ve ever been in.

January 29, 2020 Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice 10 Comments

British Airways Executive Club worth signing up for?

Let’s talk travel perks a little. There are lots of frequent traveller programmes out there and I will shortly publish another post about all the programmes I use. But for now, I want to focus on the loyalty programme of British Airways. And the question whether or not the British Airways Executive Club is worth signing up for.

If you are a regular to my blog, you are probably well aware, that I have Silver Status in the British Airways Executive Club, the BA frequent traveller programme. But what does this mean? And how did I get there?

July 31, 2019 Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice 7 Comments

My experience flying Hop! for the first time

Seems this year is a series of firsts when it comes to flying. I’ve extended my knowledge of different airlines quite a bit. Flying LOT Polish Airlines for the first time at the start of the year. Followed by my first ever Lauda Flight back from Vienna. More recently my first two flights with Vueling. And today I’d like to share with you my experience of flying Hop for the first time.

Hop is one of those airlines that I vaguely heard about before, but I never really used them before. Probably because they mainly do inland flights within France. And I don’t travel to France that often (yes, I know this does sound a bit weird, given that I just returned from a holiday in France a couple of days before the trip). However, I did have a business trip to Marseille and Toulouse. And whilst the flights to Marseille and back from Toulouse were both British Airways, the inland flight between Marseille and Toulouse was operated by Hop (although it was actually booked on Air France and we only realised afterwards that it would be operated by Hop).

So, what can you expect, when flying Hop for the first time?

How about, I just tell you about my first flight on Hop?

July 18, 2019 Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice 3 Comments

What to expect flying Vueling?

I am a frequent flyer and am boarding at least one flight pretty much every single week of the year (six flights in seven days might well be my personal record). As such the whole booking, check in and boarding process has pretty much become second nature and I don’t lose much sleep over it. That being said, every now and then I will find myself on board a new airline that I have not flown with before. And although the overall process is the same for all airlines, it is the finer points that change. Such as hand luggage allowance or on-board catering. As I was recently flying Vueling for the first time (and in case you wondered, it is pronounced something like ‘Welling’, not quite how I would have pronounced it… but then, I don’t speak any Spanish), let me tell you what to expect flying Vueling.

March 17, 2019 Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice 4 Comments

What to expect on an eleven hour flight

What to expect on an 11 hour flight from London to San Francisco - Travel for a Living

We’ve just come back from a week in San Francisco. And what shall I say, it was amazing. We’ve been looking forward to the San Francisco trip ever since we booked it. If only it wasn’t for the rather long flight from London to San Francisco. I mean an 8-hour flight from London to New York is bad enough. But an eleven-hour flight from London to San Francisco? How on earth were we meant to survive that. With Mr T being bored to death after about two hours, I was preparing for the worst. And since this was our first 11-hour flight, I also didn’t know what to expect in terms of food. Would it be one meal shortly after take-off and then starve to death until the end of the flight? Or would it be a main meal and a snack? Two main meals? Eleven hours is a long flight, especially if you are stuck in a small metal tube with nothing to do than watch movies and eat. But enough of the introduction, let me tell you what to expect on an eleven hour flight in economy.

March 7, 2019 Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice 6 Comments

What to expect when flying Eurowings

Although Eurowings isn’t my usual Go To airline, for certain routes it is the only option I have or the more convenient route / time. So every now and then I end up booking Eurowings for flights to and from London. Like last week, when I took connecting flights via Dusseldorf and Cologne for a trip to and from Dresden. To be honest, albeit low-cost, Eurowings is a decent airline. Therefore, I thought I’d share my knowledge and tell you what to expect when flying Eurowings.

February 2, 2019 Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice 7 Comments

What to expect when flying LOT Polish Airlines

My recent trip to Slovenia saw me fly LOT Polish Airlines for the very first time. In my mind, this was just another budget airline and I feared the worst. Especially since I was pushing my luck with my hand luggage allowance. But gosh was I wrong. LOT Polish Airlines actually turned out to be a decent and modern airline. To save you from the same misperception, let me tell you what to expect flying LOT Polish Airlines.

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