Thursday, July 21, 2011

American Airlines' Boeing 737-800 Business Class Examined

If you have traveled through Qantas Airlines and taken connecting flights from Dallas/ Los Angeles or Fort Worth, you might have traveled on American Airlines Boeing 737-800 aircraft even without knowing it. Since the plane is different, the seating differs too and in this article we discuss the best seats that will ensure you fly in class and comfort. After all, knowing what seats are the best can ensure you juice out the max from your cheap air flights.

However, first things first! What AA calls as First Class is truly the domestic business. It would help to identify that the true first class seats are normally available for long haul flights; say Florida to Sidney flights so the ones domestic flights advertise as First class are not the true first class.

The First Class/Domestic Business Cabin
AA 737 has four rows of domestic business seating. The placement of the seats is pretty conventional with 2 seats on either side separated by an aisle. For some unknown reasons, in fact surprisingly, AA starts their first class/domestic business from row 3.

There is a closet on the left, ahead of the cabin and a gallery kitchen on the right. The lavatory is placed right at the front of the place, beyond the entrance door and therefore does not disturb you during the flight.

Right behind the sixth row, which is the fourth row of domestic business, is a thin wall and curtain classing you from coach. The only source of entertainment on these planes is the video monitors mounted to the wall and ceiling. They are located above rows 3 and 5.

So Where Are the Best Seats?
If you are tall and want a comfortable ride in AA new Boeings, the best one would be 3B. Why? Well because all others seats have lesser leg room and 3B has a closet in front which fortunately gives a little extra leg room. This is decisive for tall people for whom every inch of free space matters.

Row 4 is a good place as well. This is so since this seat is placed right at the front and you can be saddled in one of the quietest seats of the plane. The seat is also ideal to avoid any disturbance emanating from Coach, which is right behind row 6.

Row 3 is also a good place if you do not to go any further back and be clamped together with the coach. Just keep one thing in mind. These seats are bulkhead that means you will have to put your luggage in the overheads.

The Worst Seat
Well, if a plane has better seats, by default there should be bad seats as well and AA new Boeings are no exception.

And the honors go to Row 6 seats.
With coach class right behind and its first row often being given to parents traveling with kids, you know the reasons why.

Maximum disturbance!

Friday, July 15, 2011

3 Tips to Save Money on Vacations

Traveling long and economically is what seems to rule every travelers mind. While getting unrealistic low prices might not be a regular event unless travel companies start working for charity, you can still book economical air tickets and vacation packages; provided you are willing to do some research and plan quickly.

In the article below, we discuss few tips that can help you book cheap vacation deals whenever you want.

Stay flexible: Enough cannot be said about how staying flexible with dates and traveling options can help you get cheap vacation deals. Keep in mind, flying during the weekdays is cheaper than weekend. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays are the least traveled days. Similarly, booking hotels for weekdays is more economical than weekends. Another factor is the season of traveling. If you are traveling to a summer destination in winters, chances are you would save a lot and still come across the same geography with much lesser crowd and have more space for yourself. This might not hold true for all season travel destinations such as Cancun, which might show some dip in the total cost, but still might be high enough to be termed expensive! Likewise being flexible with the places of hotels can also get you cheaper packages. What this means is that if you can stay flexible to stay away from the milling and busy places, the hotel rates would stay lower as well.

Talk Packages: Booking vacation packages is always more economical than going ala-carte. Approach big travel agents and look for attractive packages. This is one trick that most travelers forget since they prefer booking hotels, cars and air flights separately. In fact, various comparisons have found out that by booking vacation packages, people save on an average $525!

Plan ahead: While airfares and hotel rates follow an upward trajectory, the fact remains that booking them early can only help secure better fares. Therefore, take your time out, plan the entire itinerary, get your leave approved and book as early as possible. Search for the best travel agents online and start comparing their rates.

The idea should always be to act as soon as possible and finalize the entire vacation plan before you get into a compromising situation. Do not delay, stay flexible with dates and places to stay and get in touch with the right people. If you follow this as a standard practice, chances are you would book a real economical vacation package without much issue.