So, where are *you* going next?

[Evelyn]

Los Gatos this weekend.

I have to share a story of egregious pricing by Delta. I am going with Alabama Basketball to Barcelona and Paris in August (yeah, great timing-I'll be asking for info on what might be open in the micromanage threads--but, I digress). I booked my ticket in April. Business Class was reasonable at the time-about $4K. Not bad since I get reimbursed for the coach fare. I looked yesterday, thinking with all the travel disruptions that I might want to try to change my flights out of Las Vegas to the day before the flight to Barcelona with the team to (hopefully) avoid any issues. Imagine my surprise when I saw that same itinerary is now $18,522.00 or 655,000 miles 😳😱🤣🤣🙄. For Delta!! The comparable flights on Air France are around $8K-ish currently. If I had a choice, there is not way I would fly Delta internationally. They are poor at best. But, I have to fly on the same itinerary. Fingers crossed for smooth outbound travel...

[Anthony Bonner]

I wonder if the Delta hunchback has retired yet?  Im supposed to go to Paris for a day the week of the 4th. Usually end up on Delta for that flight.

[Evelyn]

I guess the "good news" is that's a relatively short flight for you vs flying them to Asia from NYC. Fingers crossed you have no flight interruptions. I absolutely despise them for international travel. Their product is inferior to other international carriers by a wide margin. They are my domestic airline because their routings to/in the Southeast work the best for me. But for international, no way. This will be my 11th international flight on Delta. I opt for Singapore, ANA, JAL, Air France, Virgin Atlantic or Lufthansa for those. You fly internationally a lot. What are your favorites?

[Anthony Bonner]

To Europe they are all pretty commodity and the flight isn't that long.  These days I focus more on departure airport i.e. EWR vs JFK. 

To India the least bad option is United - but my last trip was the old hard product - which sucks. The soft product always sucks.

To Southeast Asia I really like ANA through Haneda. Good product and Haneda is a dream to transit.  But Cathay and Singapore are more than acceptable.  HKG is just so big can be annoying to transfer through.

To Japan I prefer ANA but JAL is fine so long as you manage seat assignment ok (they have a coffin seat on the 777 that is a must to avoid), but Haneda vs Narita again is the tie breaker

Korea - Asiana better but not worth gaming system vs KAL - though I'm a United Status guy, not Delta so Asiana is more helpful to me.

South America - Haven't gone since LatAm collpased but it was nothing special. Has the bad seat with the narrow footbox which I hate. 

My role has changed (for the better) so my EM travel is going to come down a lot and I'll be spending more time in Japan and Europe.

The real thing I love for long-haul is this:

https://www.thermarest.com/sleeping-pads/fast-and-light/neoair-uberlite-sleeping-pad/neoair-uberlite.html

shrinks down to the size of a soda can and makes any lie-flat infinitely more comfortable.

[Evelyn]

Totally agree with your points re Haneda and Narita. We think alike with the Asian carriers. I've never flown Cathay. Have always heard good things though. I don't do much European travel these days. But hopefully that will change this coming year. And of course, fingers crossed Japan truly reopens. Watching the exchange rate, and not being able to take advantage is driving me nuts 😵, And definitely thank you for the pad link. Looks like a real winner. That is one of my gripes about Delta. No mattress pads. And the seats have so little padding. It feels like you're sleeping on the sidewalk 😡.

[Anthony Bonner]

Feel like Cathay has rested on its Laurels and its no longer markedly better than other options.

[StephanieL]

Fisherman's Wharf, believe it or not.  I won a contest run by Boudin Bakery that involves a weekend in the city, hands-on bread making at Boudin, dinners, and a bunch of other things.

[Wilfrid]

That actually sounds like fun.

[StephanieL]

It does, and it won't cost me much besides hotel parking fees and anything we choose to do not covered in the package.  We also get a Red & White cruise, which is to SF what the Circle Line is to NYC.  They've been running Bay excursions ever since the Golden Gate Bridge opened.