I read an article the other day about post Covid travel and how it is booming. Apparently us Baby Boomers now have some expendable income (certainly a novelty for us two), relatively good health and a desire to travel…but in comfort. Hence the demand for Premium Economy seats on most airlines.
With our family Christmas arrangements of decades changing (as they must as families grow .... and grow up) and the realisation that we haven’t spent a Christmas with Erin in seven years, we decided to “bite the bullet” and help her celebrate this coming Christmas ….. in the snow.
I’m beginning this blog a bit earlier than usual as I’m at a bit of a "loose end" at present, limited in my activities by a problem with my "groin" and waiting for a theatre spot so it can be rectified. So I thought I might share the process by which this trip has evolved.
We've travelled Premium Economy for a number of years now and found that although it's nowhere near the comfort of Business Class it is certainly much better than "cattle" class and we think probably worth the extra.
But in planning this trip we found that the limited number of airlines servicing the Pacific route, and the increased demand for Premium Economy I referred to in the opening paragraph, the prices were horrendous....and not really worth it. We thought we had a good price from QANTAS ...but they reneged (what a shit company) and Air New Zealand and Air Canada were charging way too much! The habits of a frugality over a life time die hard, but we were determine to go, so decided to come to terms with 14/15 hours of the 3-4-3 seating configuration of cattle class...... much to our chagrin. Sharing with strangers in close quarters for that long is just awful.
But, in an epiphanic moment, I thought why do we have to get return tickets? I wonder how it works out flying over with one carrier and back with another. Which is how we got to our present position.
With some committed and serious researching I found Business class tickets to Vancouver for less than half the price ....yes I know!
What's the catch? Well, it is with Philippine Airlines via Manilla with a 3 hour layover. But, with lay flat beds and lounge access we figure it's not that much of a catch and probably worth the gamble. We'll start with low expectations and see how it goes but we figure that poor Business Class has got to be better than cramped cattle class on any airline.
And the return trip. Well I found that Air Fiji flies to Vancouver (who knew) and their Business Class tickets were about 2/3 the Premium Economy on the bigger airlines, so what the heck .... Business Class all the way for us on this trip!
 |
| The little cafe across the way from Erin's place .... cloaked in its Winter finery. |
