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Well, since it seems to be my elderly post that's the subject of speculation.... Priceline used to allow you to bid on hotels, it'd be by geographic area within a city and "star level" so you wouldn't know the hotel itself right away. You put in all your payment information and if the bid was accepted a non-refundable reservation was made automatically and you got the hotel details. If it was rejected then you had to adjust your parameters (add new geographic areas, or star levels) or wait a certain amount of time before you could bid again on the same locale/star level. The internet being the internet someone decided to draw all the "accepted" data points together on a website so you had an idea about which hotels you could be bidding on and what bids were accepted. The page I linked would have showed the Fort Lauderdale airport hotels page with a list of hotels and winning bids and some must have been around that $50 threshold otherwise I wouldn't have linked it. Alas, when Priceline did away with this the website (biddingfortravel) went away too...

Well, if you're looking at a 20yr history American Airlines, traditionally the largest carrier at SJU has severely cutback service to SJU. The aircraft they mostly used on these routes to/from MIA and JFK were retired (Airbus A300s) and the yields just aren't there to replace like with like. Newer widebodies have been deployed elsewhere.... Also, despite what many on here seem to think cruiselines don't drive the entire airline business. Even to traditionally cruise heavy areas (MIA, FLL, Rome, Barcelona etc.) it's a very small percentage of passengers that are getting on a ship.

They've had these at JFK T4 for a while, they've also had them at Heathrow (yes, not TSA) for years and years... Can't say I notice much difference, to the point where I had to look up a video to see what "automated TSA Pre-Check Screening" was referring to.

Well, easy walk is a loose/kind definition here since there's no pedestrian access to the central terminals at Heathrow. You can walk to Terminal 4 and take the underground or Elizabeth Line. There's a Hilton Garden Inn at Terminal 2 that's walking distance but you'll need to allow a bit of time to walk over to Terminal 3. Consult a map

Right, unless you've got superhuman levels of perception or it's just psychological because you know you are facing backwards it's imperceptible. I've seen rear facing window seat passengers start to towards the back of the plane as they prepare to disembark because they've almost forgotten they are flying backwards.

Upper deck seating is 2-3-2 in Club World and you do get the side bins, similar but a little smaller than the ones on the 747 upstairs. Flying backwards seems to be mostly a gripe from those who have never tried it. Other than the very initial stages of climb out and when you land you can barely tell the difference. In fact because aircraft fly slightly nose up it's considered you sleep better in rear facing seats since your head is above your feet when lying flat.

Although it is the old Club World seat on the A380s it isn't all bad news if you're flying with someone else. The old seats are still fully flat beds but in pairs with the window and middle seats facing backwards. There's a divider that drops down so you can directly face eachother and chat, if that's your kind of thing. The aisle seats are quite exposed and the window seat occupant will need to step over the legs of the person in the next row's aisle seat to get out (a common cited gripe that's massively overblown IMO, especially compared to older business class paired seats where it can be very difficult to get out from a window seat) but that's about it. When flying with my wife I certainly still prefer the newer "Club Suites" but if you can pick the right seats the "old" Club World isn't that awful, IMO.

Of the more mainstream carriers, I'd say that you're far more likely to experience schedule changes on domestic/shorthaul flights on US carriers. IME, longhaul flights are less susceptible to schedule changes and also any flights with European and Asian carriers. I don't have much experience with African/S American airlines and their flights. I'd go as far as to say that for legacy carriers on US domestic flights you can find that if you want to book 9+ months out say just book the cheapest flights on that day as you'll probably find that once you get involuntary rescheduled you get free choice of any flights. Book something you're happy with if you get stuck with it but it can be a real boon. A long time ago I was flying cross country with AA connecting in ORD. I booked a regular domestic FC ticket with 2-2 seating and got a very good deal as it was, something like $500 roundtrip. I experienced an involuntary reschedule and switched my BOS-ORD-SEA flights to BOS-JFK-LAX-SEA at no cost...the JFK-LAX flights being operated at the time with intl widebody style FC seats and far superior service. The cost of that JFK-LAX flight alone, one way, was about $2300...

I'm swayed by my status because I have access to intl FC lounges on my preferred airlines, regardless of where on the plane I sit or where I'm flying. Not all lounges are equal and they're generally very pleasant places to while away a few hours and much easier than leaving the airport. Decent wines, champagne, hand made cocktails and made to order food so little incentive to seek out an airport restaurant or further afield. There is a point where I wouldn't stay in a lounge for say 6hrs unless it was one that had private rooms/cabanas/bedrooms etc. and I'm not afraid of leaving the airport during connections, just have little incentive to do so in most cases.

British Airways serve a Xmas dinner in the days around Christmas. I've only ever had the Club World/First iterations and it's pretty institutional in quality but I am a fan of roast turkey and accompaniments so usually pick it regardless... Singapore Airlines have a "Book The Cook" service, so have a look and see if you have any preferable options...

Just wait until they learn hotels don't throw out sheets after every stay...

You better watch out, OP....at this rate if you start any more threads a new subforum will need to be created just for your trip!

Guessing is correct. How you expect someone to know whether a middle seat will be taken on a given flight 11 months from now is, well, ambitious... You are looking at flights to/from prime European tourist cities in the height of tourist season. That's about as good as you're going to get from anyone...

Al Safwa is going to be closed for about 6 weeks later in the year if that's when the OP is looking to travel. Emirates First is a decent option, especially if you can get the 777s with the 6 seat F cabins anywhere. There aren't too many of them about but they do flights to the UK. The A380 F isn't bad but it is a pretty outdated product at this stage, EK have had these same FC seats for almost 20yrs. Personally I rank SQ above EK in their respective cabins with EK business class lagging quite a ways behind.

But it is perhaps confusing for the non-regular travellers that often come here to ask question. Delta One is business class, they even use the same J/C/D/I booking codes that pretty much every airline worldwide uses for business class...and whilst we are at it Virgin Upper Class is also business class.

This is very peculiar... Oneworld status doesn't get you upgrades on BA (Club Europe is intra-Europe business class) so it's very odd that for what is essentially an AA booking BA have put you in an upgraded cabin. That makes very little sense to me. Oneworld Sapphire/Emerald status would allow you to pre-assign seats at no cost at the time of booking, Ruby gets is gratis at 7 days out.

Pedant's Corner... Immigration and Customs is determined by the Schengen Agreement, not European or not. If a connecting flight is "intra-Schengen" then you clear immigration before boarding that flight. The UK is in Europe but not part of the Schengen Zone so if they were connecting through Heathrow then you'd just clear security at LHR with immigration and customs taking place at BLQ. Because Germany and Italy are both in the Schengen Zone immigration and security is cleared at MUC with customs at BLQ.

Corrected that for you...😉

I'd disagree with that statement. Between the US and London in a sale you can probably get business class for $1500 return or so, but if you book a last minute fully flexible fare you could easily exceed $10k. For intl FC, from Michigan this is something you'll struggle to do unless you go to Chicago/Boston/New York/Toronto first could be anywhere from $2500 to $20k roundtrip per person. Summer months are usually a good time for premium cabins across the Atlantic as business travel demand is lower but economy/premium economy demand is up. However, sometimes those sales may not exist, or not be announced until a month or two ahead...which leaves you potentially shelling out five figures for business class.

Flights don't always go to/from the same gates. They may go to the same concourses, because of feeding into immigration etc. but a certain PHL-LAX flight isn't always going to go from the very same gate.

I think you are confusing security, immigration and customs. For an LHR connection you will only need to reclear security. Immigration and customs would be at LAX. For a PHL connection you would clear immigration, claim bags, clear customs and then go through security again.

Indeed, and to round things off for the bidding process for upgrades too. I switched employers last year and unfortunately now some domestic flights aren't permissible in FC. I'm travelling in a couple of weeks and when I booked the FC cash upgrade on AA was $700 one way and $1100 in the other....over the weekend the $700 dropped to $148 and the $1100 dropped to $350. Happy days.

If you walk towards security you'll see the escalators to TBIT off to the left. If you're in First/have Emerald status you'll see the First Lounge on your right almost behind after you've taken the escalator and moving walkways before you get into TBIT proper.

So the TL;DR version: ”I want to pay a bit less for checked bags” 🤷🏼‍♂️ How many bags do two adults and two teens need for a holiday? I’ve emigrated with less than it seems you need for this trip…

In addition to what others have said I wouldn't follow the path into Terminal 5. If you go down the elevators from the AirTrain to the ground level you can walk into the parking garage slightly and then across the parking in front of the TWA Hotel and into the front door. It's far quicker than going into Terminal 5 and then having to loop back and around.