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FlyerTalker

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  1. I'm on the other side of the coin. I have had nothing but excellent experiences with TK in business class. As a disclaimer, I have also not had any kind of ticketing or operational issue, so I have zero experience with how they handle problems. 6Rugrats would have more knowledge on that than I do. Then again, I tend to book long connections and never fly into a cruise the same day as sailing. So I try to insulate myself against issues. YMMV.
  2. And sometimes there's more to an airline trip than just the price.
  3. Comfort Plus, or Main Cabin Extra, or Economy Plus (for DL, AA and UA respectively) are NOT the same as Premium Economy. Take some time to do research.
  4. Condor had a mediocre business class product in the past. They are now operating A333NEOs, with lie-flat seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. My only concern is that Condor is independent and not a part of any alliance, so you may have some issues with rerouting under irops. But if you have time built into your itinerary, I would have no qualms about flying with them.
  5. And be very sure you understand what is being discussed/offered with "premium economy".
  6. As noted above, you are not going to find actual flight information and pricing loaded into the GDS until late this year. Consequently, you are way too early to be on this decision. One thing you might want to start to consider is using one of the many "free stopover" programs that are available. Since you will be connecting along the way anyhow, why not add in some additional vacation locations. Depending on the airline, you can get everything from a stopover at no increase in airfare, through tours and discounts, to free hotel nights. This gives you some excellent opportunities to leverage one round-trip into additional places to enjoy. European/MEA cities where stopovers are being offered include Istanbul, Lisbon, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Reykjavik, Helsinki, Zurich, Muscat, Dublin, Madrid, Amsterdam and Paris. Personally, I'd be looking at the Istanbul program from Turkish. TK offers some very attractive pricing for their TATL flights, along with hotel and tour benefits. Plus, they offer non-stops from DTW to IST, which means you would be on one-stop itineraries for both Athens and Venice. But in all cases, just do some preliminary considerations -- you are way to far out for anything else.
  7. Which is the nub of the issue. If "The Lounge" is going to remain, let's ask the folks who are "being cheated": Just where are you going to put a casino on Symphony? And what's the tradeoff in that decision?
  8. The current "Jade" on Symphony was the "high roller" room under Genting, and was a disco prior to that. Has had a bar in both incarnations. It was the starboard side entrance into the casino, going from the shops area. There was no public bar next to the Serenity casino. Wonder if the DJ booth could be used as the casino "cage"? It's big enough for a table game or two and a couple of slots. Looking back at the high roller room on Symphony, that only had two tables IIRC and not slots. Way too constrained for anything more. That makes some sense, and points to both a) the Lounge remains for both ships, and b) Pulse gets the reborn casino.
  9. And that happens here as well. But that applies AFTER the priority distributions, which are a flat amount. With the priority distributions, everyone gets the maximum of XXX per person, regardless of the total amount claimed. When it comes time for the general distribution, after all priority claims are settled, it's done on a flat percentage basis for everyone. Or at least that is my understanding. Please don't conflate the priority distributions, which you DID receive, with general distributions that are a completely different animal.
  10. Because blaming an airline is the true national sport of America?
  11. IMO - there's been much more to this than many suspected. Lots of suspected cases of fraudulent claims that need to be tracked down.
  12. What's a little hair dryer to worry about? It won't be of concern. Until it is.
  13. Just to note....all of those offers on your Amex account are funded by the merchants, NOT by Amex. So it could very easily be that you cannot combine various discounts and rebates. And before someone talks about getting MR points vs cash, the vendor is buying those points from Amex and giving them to the customer.
  14. Remember, there is more to a purchase than just the price.
  15. You haven't been to Dubai airport, I assume. IMO, it's right up there with Singapore, Hong Kong, Doha and Istanbul as airports where I would gladly want to be "stuck". Lots of day rooms available -- the main question is determining where you want to spend your time.
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