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JAL keeping the cabin excessively warm is really quite interesting and something I have never considered. They actually state on their web site the cabin is going to be kept warm.  I guess it's great if you are coming from a tropical climate.  

https://www.jal.co.jp/en/health/before/environment.html

• Temperature
  The onboard temperature is maintained at 24ºC using air conditioners.

@Zach1213 - I have a flight between NRT and KUL this fall.  I picked JAL as the better service option over Malaysian Airlines never considering the cabin temperature.  Would you recommend switching airlines?  I am not sure it's possible, but I am curious as to your opinion regarding the two carriers.

@Globaliser - I understand your point regarding quality of some PJs.  I guess when I find some handed by an airline that don't work for me I will pack my own for the future as I will for my upcoming BA flight.  

2 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

Interesting discussion... 

I have never been offered PJ's on any flight in Business or First...

My first thought is where do you change?  In the lavatory?

Good, I am happy that you found this thread interesting.  

I had never been offered PJs on any flight pre-COVID and I just returned to flying long haul until last year.  My thought was that the practice was more wide-spread now as part of the reduction in first class and the competition between carriers to sell their business class products.  

In terms of changing clothes, my wife is the master of changing in her seat - less than a minute.  It makes me wonder if she had a career on stage before we met.  On aircraft with suite doors changing in the seat can be pretty easy and fairly private when the lights are down low. 

We have also used the lavatory.  Some are definitely a bit cramped and although others are larger I have thought about germs.  I like Qatar in this regard as they tend to have disinfecting wipes in their lavatories which make it easy to wipe down surfaces before changing.

On 4/25/2024 at 2:45 PM, capecruzer said:

I was impressed by Celebrity Summit and Disney Wonder

My first cruise was on the Disney Magic a bit more than 20 years ago.  I remember being really impressed.  Was it the ship or was it because it was my first cruise?  Probably a bit of both leaning more towards the fact that everything was new to me.

On 4/25/2024 at 2:45 PM, capecruzer said:

both entertainment wise and food wise

I can't remember the food all that well - other than my kids are Mickey Bars for desert every day - but I do remember the shows and think they remain the best I have seen on a cruise ship.

Thanks to all for their responses and information.  I wish more carriers would do this for flights were sleep is a reasonable expectation.  My next flight is SAN to LHR leaving at 5:15 in the afternoon with a flying time on Google posted of about 10.5 hours.  My plan, as always, will be to sleep as much as I can on board.  With the information gleaned in this thread,  I will be certain to take some from another airline.

I guess I was lucky in that my most recent American flight was from Sydney  PJs were offered.  My two transatlantic flights last year were on Iberia and BA respectively so I didn't know that the American distribution was so limited.  My thought has been that carriers are all trying to improve their business class offerings and the distribution of PJs might be becoming more widespread.

Also, I read some of the comments regarding sleepwear in the posted article link.  I found it interesting that some of the people making comments really didn't PJs mattered too much.  Maybe not, but I like receiving them onboard.  My main reasons are they are comfortable to wear onboard and wearing PJs helps keeps the clothes fresh while you are traveling. 

@FlyerTalker - my bad on the article list in thinking Delta was on it.

@Zach1213 - I hate warm cabins as well.  

@the mice - if BA followed the Emirates rule, my flight would warrant PJs.  I think 7 or 8  hours of flight sounds like a good dividing line to me.

@frantic36 - I also believe that Qatar Airways on some of their flights only hands out PJs by request.

11 hours ago, ldubs said:

If someone doesn't look forward to doing a lot of things together with travel companions, then why on earth would they travel together?   We travel together because we are a tight group of family/friends who enjoy each other's company.  

In my case which was the basis of the thread, we actually enjoy seeing the other on a regular basis and have spent many weekends together over the years.

On our one trip that was more extensive, we ended up feeling like tour guides and needing to be responsible for everything.   We still have time to figure things out before the cruise.

@the mice, Thanks - it looks like nothing has changed as the date of the article is very recent. 
 

It’s interesting that none of the major transatlantic carriers based in Europe offer them and the Big 3 US carriers do.

Unlike at least some other OW carriers, BA as of my last flight in 2023 didn’t provide sleepwear in business class.  Is this still true?  I am flying BA very soon and will bring some from another carrier if they still don’t.

Thanks in advance for any information.

3 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

 

As an independent contractor, the perk is that I can pick any damn flight I want 🙂

As a contractor, my strategy varied whether my expenses were bundled in the rate or reimbursed.  That said, I never wanted to lay my customers away of expenses beyond their cultural norms.

20 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

Actually, some are already seasonal, just ending earlier than originally planned.  Athens, Barcelona and Venice for example.

So is this a function of demand or aircraft availability?  As the planes don't simply disappear, are they being redeployed or going in for maintenance?  Maybe a combination of both.  I did see that AA is starting service from DFW to Brisbane this coming fall.

I appreciate all the stories above and especially those that refer to refer to health and the fact that no guarantees exist in this life. 

I worked beyond what I needed to do from a financial perspective driven by a combination of enjoying my work and colleagues, the perceived additional security of having more money, a bit of fear regarding such a dramatic lifestyle change and perhaps the COVID lockdowns as well.

Like a couple of others above, a stage 4 diagnosis over 2 years ago.  This diagnosis was the big wakeup call that I needed to  finally leave my formal working life behind.  All is going well today and I am remain optimistic for the future. For now the plan is to enjoy family and friends as well as travel while we can.

I do understand the other side of the equation in terms of needing to make up budget adjustments if things don't go as well as you thought financially.  I thought about this all the time when I had my own business.  My "plan b" was always to go back and get a "real job" if my own efforts didn't pan out as planned. Again, no guarantees exist in this life.

1 hour ago, clo said:

I was allowing the OP and others to modify their posts. No problem that they didn't. 

I certainly have no problem with others discussing other topics that gets triggered by my posts.  In this thread, it's certainly an easy leap from discussing travel with another couple to discussing travel with an individual or larger groups.

On 4/22/2024 at 5:54 PM, BruceMuzz said:

Barcelona - Doha - Tokyo on 2 different Emirates A380-800s

You mean via Dubai and not Doha, right?  Doha is the connection point for Qatar Airways flights and not Emirates.  

2 hours ago, martincath said:

Just Vic weekend, the Clipper from downtown to downtown has a stellar convenience factor!

My first "cruise ship" experience growing up as a kid in the Seattle area was on the Princess Marguerite II plying the waters daily between Seattle and Victoria.  It was definitely a fixture on the Seattle waterfront for many, many years.

https://mynorthwest.com/386854/memories-sailed-away-marguerite/

3 hours ago, PR-Texas said:

I think we'll be happy with our choice

I think so as well.  You'll have a non-stop flight to your "home" airport.  What could be better than that?

Also, having a connection only ups your probability of an having an issue on your journey which would delay your arrival.  Finally, your overall overall travel time home is likely to be at least 4 hours shorter and the flight to DFW from SYD isn't all that much longer (as a percentage of flying time) than the flight to either LAX or SFO. 

3 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

Isn't the day flight called "the Chairman's flight"?

That works too.

6 hours ago, clo said:

Does this thread take "couple" to mean two people?

Yes, that was my idea as the thread initiator.

4 hours ago, mom says said:

Queen Elizabeth Park, which surrounds the Conservatory. There's a good reason why the QE park is a favored spot for wedding pictures. 

I believe their is also a nice restaurant in the park with views back towards the city.  I went there once on a spring evening to a business dinner and remember thinking it was a very beautiful spot.

19 minutes ago, gorda said:

partners

In this context, I meant those people who had an ownership interest in the company and made almost all the money as opposed to the staff who flew economy on red eyes.

7 minutes ago, PR-Texas said:

I was really thinking about Customs and Immigration coming back to US.

DFW would be my vote as you then as you get to bypass all the baggage claim/recheck and TSA issues that you would have at either SFO or LA - assuming DFW is your final destination.

3 hours ago, PR-Texas said:

Currently scheduled to fly out of DFW Nov 7, 2024 arriving in Sydney Nov 9 - Cruisetour starts Nov 10.  Return on Nov 30.  Considering changing to leaving Nov 6 to give us a day in Sydney to go to the Blue Mountains.

If you can at all manage the extra time, I would suggest flying in as early as you can to Sydney.  Sydney, at least to me, is really a great city to visit and warrants more than a day to visit the primary sites. 

BTW - To me,  the Blue Mountains would not be at the top of my list if I only had one extra day in the city.  The good news is that this site has lots of people from Sydney and Australia generally to give you ideas of what to see and do.

1 hour ago, Zach1213 said:

I would rank Qantas economy slightly above Delta and United, plus the nonstop, but if that's really completely out for you then...yeah...either UA or DL will work fine. 

The one edge I would give to UA and/or DL over QF would be the availability of extended legroom seats for purchase in economy.  I think the seat pitch in QF economy is still 32", but if you are tall this is still no fun as compared to getting something more like 34" of seat pitch.  

44 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

I highly recommend daytime flights to London. 

This reminds me of when I was a "journeyman" management consultant years ago. We had a saying back then that only partners and gentlemen flew during the day...    

2 hours ago, gorda said:

Virgin a good bet except for weather or unforeseen circumstances

Virgin is a good bet, but I would still recommend flying into London at least a day or two ahead in case of issues with your flights even though the probability of outright cancellation is very low.

1 hour ago, Gardyloo said:

Here's a long trip report I posted to Flyertalk during the Covid lockdown:  Trip report – Our First RTW, 2005 - FlyerTalk Forums

Thanks for sharing this trip report link.  Your report was very moving and quite interesting to read.  I was struck by your statement regarding the "transformative power of travel."  While I guess I have known this intuitively, I have never expressed it as such and your family has taken this concept to a whole new level in terms of serving others.

1 hour ago, happy cruzer said:

Ticket is purchased

Congratulations.  These tickets are really an amazing deal if one has the flexibility to be gone.

1 hour ago, happy cruzer said:

dfw to osl in Aug

You might also consider using points for this flight one way at a reasonable price.  I just saw some really good business class seat deals on AA for 57k miles in August without a big cash outlay.  I would grab one of these quick - assuming I had the miles...

5 hours ago, John Bull said:

We found KL very disappointing ... We rate it worth no more than a single day

Thanks, this is the kind of commentary I wanted to hear.  KL really hasn't been at the top of my list, but it became a necessary stop as part of a longer journey.

5 hours ago, John Bull said:

Plenty on Bali to fill your time, and all good value

Yes, I have seen many good things regarding Bali.  I think we will focus most of our attention their and make a simple overnight stop in KL before moving on to our next destination.