Indeed. Although 2 or 3 are enough for me.
If this diagram is accurate some models of A340s and 777 can fly 7500+ miles. I’m sure I flew Auckland to Tokyo (about 6600 miles) on an A340.
A mistake. I’ve seen someone ejected from a flight because they were drunk.
This. And the minute you get on the plane, set it for the local time wherever you’re going. I check my watch so often on the plane that it really does help me convince myself of the new time by the time I get there.
If you’re prone to motion sickness, don’t drink on or before the flight - it may make you feel sicker.
There’s a pretty big range between “buzzed enough to tune out the screaming kids” and “unscheduled landing in Newfoundland.”
Please.
I’m not talking about staggering-unshaven-slurring guy-on-the-bus-drunk. I’m talking about point one, shouldn’t drive, but I can sit just fine, and I’m a gentleman who can hold my liquor drunk. If people can tell you’re drunk, you’re doing it wrong.
Keep in mind that buzzed at ground level seems considerably drunker at 30,000 ft. It’s not really but the decreased pressure has a similar effect.
Goodness, this thread became more comprehensive than I ever could have hoped for. Thank you all for the great advice. (Special thanks to bouncer, stpauler, and flodnak for the great lists and/or advice.) The earplugs and earphones (I have Etymotic MC5s that might actually block out more sound than the earplugs) will probably prove to be lifesavers.
And thanks all for the revelation of SeatGuru. I’d heard of the site before, even used it once or twice (mostly to make sure I wasn’t ,say, picking a seat by the bathroom), but never realized that their information regarding plane configurations and amenities was as comprehensive as it is.
FWIW, we’ll be cashing in miles for this flight, so it looks like we’ll almost certainly be flying AA-codeshares on British Airway flights --and it looks like BA offers VOD across the board, so yay! I’ll have to see if I can get economy+ seats with miles, but if so it may be worth it for the AC outlets alone (yeah, I’m kind of a technophile, and other than my Kindle, I don’t think I have anything with 10 hours of battery life).
And now for a super-important question: Is alcohol on international flights usually free or is it $6 a pop like they are on domestic flights? This I need to know.
True, but the judges of that are going to be the flight crew, not you. And they’re not likely to take the risk.
You’re very welcome, of course. I have the Etymotic ER-4P’s from back in the day, and I loved the little foam inserts for noise isolation (vice noise cancellation). I’d still recommend some simple foam earplugs from 3M, rated at 29 to 32db of noise isolation. The thing about the etymotics (and any in ear headphone) is that there’s always some plastic part that is stiff, and if you turn your head while sleeping you can drive that hard plastic bit into your inner ear, waking you up in a hurry. It’s happened to me before on flights, which is why I switch to soft foam plugs when it’s time for sleep.
I also tend to time my sleep, having a cocktail and a benadryl just a bit before dinner, so about 45mins after I’m heading towards la-la land at a decent clip. 5hrs later or so we are arriving at Heathrow or Gatwick, depending (I would always suggest Gatwick over Heathrow. Always and forever amen). Gatwick is a little outisde of the city, and not of a completely batshit insane ginormous design that requires you to take like two trains, a bus and a rickshaw to move between terminals.
You may likely need to buy an airplane adapter. I’ve seen a few of the newer aircraft with US style plugs, but this is a British owned aircraft, and even if it has “normal” plugs, you may need a UK to US adapter. More likely you will need an aircraft plug adapter.
You know what, it’s been so long since I’ve flown economy international I honestly don’t remember.
BTW, not advertising another site, but you may want to visit a site called flyertalk.com . It’s an IBB like SDMB and they specialize in frequent fliers across multiple airlines. I can pretty much guarantee you there will be someone in the BA forums there who can not only give you chapter and verse on your aircraft, but also answer any BA policy questions you may have.
Regards,
-Bouncer-
What diagram ? The A380 certainly has a longer range than the 747, anyway.
If it’s Economy seating, you’ll have to pay for alcohol.
It varies, but it appears that most airlines serve free alcohol on international flights.
Just be aware that some airlines such as Royal Brunei do not serve alcohol at all.
Also, if you do not like compression stockings, you can buy low strength aspirin and take them a couple of days either side of the flight to lessen the chances of DVT.
Really? I would recommend approaching it like a trip to the ER involving a proctological emergency - expect a great deal of uncomfortable waiting around with the certainty of having your personal zones intruded upon by the professionals and by members of the public you might not otherwise spend time with.
The (many) people who have the ability to make your time a little more or a lot less pleasant spend their days dealing with an endless stream of people having a miserable time and getting in their face will NOT make your visit happier. You are almost certainly not going to be the most important thing happening today.
Plan for everything taking at least 20% longer than expected, take comfortable sturdy clothes that are easy to remove and something to pass the time, don’t bring anything you’re not prepared to have lost/broken/stolen. Set your expectations to “expensive misery”. Probably it will turn out to be better than that but it’s best to be mentally prepared.
Also remember the trip starts when you leave your house and ends when you lie down in bed at your destination - the airports+aeroplane may be less than 50% of your journey time and you need to be prepared for the whole thing. It’s not good to step out of the airport thinking "thank #### that’s all over’ and then find that your planned 2 hours in a nice rental car is turning out out otherwise.
On which note, consider having a clearly written out schedule of where you need to be at what times with numbers, addresses, references, locations etc. and details of who you call if it goes wrong. Being at the right gate number at the right time in the wrong terminal :eek: or turning up at the wrong Hilton :dubious: can easily happen when you’ve had 3 hours of sleep and 4 hours of being ‘adult in charge’ with a stinking headcold.
The tips about books, pills, headphones, timekeepers etc. are all good but nothing will help you so much as a zen-like calm, low expectations, and good organization.
Keep Calm & Carry On. 
And this is substantially different from what I said… how? 
One thing however, I have found that avoiding getting in the face of the people running the show will at worst cost you nothing, and at best gain you some small modicum of co-operation back. YMMV
I, otoh, like to be the person after the screaming person. I’ve gotten more operational upgrades simply by commiserating with the counter staff after a “Do You Know Who I Am?!?!” customer has just blasted back their hair.
Show them you’re a human being who doesn’t think they should be treated like crap for equipment or schedule issues they have zero control over, and very very often they will go right out of their way to help you.
Regards,
-Bouncer-
Another vote for Etymotics here. They are much better than noise cancelling earplugs and when you want to listen to audio through them there is NOTHING better at blocking out background noise. Plus they don’t use batteries like noise cancelling sets use.
I’ve heard a tip that you can generally avoid jet lag by refusing meals and only eating at the lunch and dinner times of your destination. Sorry, I have no cite for this but it supposedly works quite well.
If you’re flying coach, can’t afford the 3-4x markup to business class or whatever, one comparatively cheap way (50% increase in cost) to get some extra space is to reserve a third seat.
My wife and I did this on Delta when we were traveling from the USA to Russia a few years back, and in particular it made the long flights from JFK to Moscow and back a lot more comfortable.
It provided extra space for our stuff when we were awake (could put books, etc. on the empty seat in between us, rather than having to dig through our carry-ons under the seat in front of us every time we needed something; could put food and drinks on the tray of the empty seat), and extra room to slide into when we were trying to get some sleep.
FWIW, you can’t reserve an extra seat over the Internet; they’re just not set up for it. And my experience was that when you ask for it when you call the reservations number, they’re a bit ‘WTF?’ at first, but once I explained what I wanted, they were OK with it and had no problem doing a reservation that way.
If you’re anticipating a nontrivial layover while changing planes somewhere, see whether your airline offers short-term memberships in whatever it calls its business traveler club. Being able to wait in between flights in a quiet lounge with upholstered chairs, free drinks and munchies, etc., is worth a few shekels, IMHO, especially if you’re waiting for more than an hour or two - and on international travel, do you really want to cut it close?
You need to buy a membership in the club affiliated with the airline you’re flying. And you need to check before you buy to make sure that they’ve got a lounge at the airport you’re connecting in.
We were flying Delta, so I’ll use them as an example. Delta’s Sky Club offers a 30-day membership for $90, and you can bring your spouse and kids in with you on that membership. Since we had four 3-4 hour layovers in JFK within a 30-day period, this was a lifesaver for us. Worth every last penny.