Tail of Two Lounges - Washington, Dulles (IAD)

Most trip reports include visits to lounges: pictures of seats, food and maybe a shower. Why will this report be any different? I am going compare my two lounge visits at Dulles (IAD) back to back.

I wanted to get to the airport early to spend some time at two lounges, Lufthansa and United. I was flying out on Christmas Eve, so I left eve more time for crowds at check-in and security. What I did not expect was that the airport would be dead. I am talking deserted.

Decor: 

Lufthansa Senator's Lounge

The lounge was very airy and had tons of light from a bank of windows. The place was warm and inviting; a place where you want to spend time.

United Global First Lounge

The United Lounge was dark and dimly lit. I don't remember any windows in the lounge to let in nature light. The lounge felt cold and not inviting at all.

Food

Lufthansa Senator's Lounge

When I first arrived, they had afternoon snacks out. They were very tasty:

Also, very tasty desserts. I had way to many cookies and carrot cake. It was Christmas Eve after all . . .

Sometime later they brought out the most delicious thing I have eaten in a long time: Braised Beef Tenderloin Tips with Roasted Mushrooms and Sherry.

United Global First

The food at the United Lounge looked horrible. Almost inedible:

And some desserts:

Another telling difference was what each airline offered in the form of dining ware:

United:

Lufthansa Senator's Lounge

Extras

This is the area that the Lufthansa Senator's Lounge lacked. I did not see a business center or any real extras. I did not go downstairs to the Business Lounge, so I don't know what they had.

On the other hand, the United lounge has lockers to store you luggage and hang your coats. I wonder how many people leave stuff here:

Also, computers, a fax and copy machine. I actually like the copy machine, as I was able to make copies of my passport.

No pictures of the inside of the conference room, as it was occupied. Airport conference rooms, always make me think of corporate price fixing. As it usually happens at airport conference rooms:

Conclusion

The extras that the United Global First Lounge do not make up for the lack of other shortfalls. The lounge reminds me of a smokey backrooms where Senators made deals in the 50s and 60s: no natural light and leather chairs. The food was blah. I wish I had stayed in the Lufthansa Senator's Lounge longer.

If you are flying first internationally on United, go to the international terminal and hang out in Lufthansa Senator's Lounge. The lounge had tons of natural light and the food was amazing. Great place to kill time. However, I hope that they pay the TV bill, so it doesn't get shut off:

Introduction: End of Year - Tokyo Trip

My end of the year trip to Tokyo was born out of boredom. Yes, boredom. But I need to take a step back before we move forward.

2012 was year of change for me. After five years, I left my first real job at a local community bank to move to a "to big to fail" bank. After three months, I learned quickly that I did not fit well with this bank and quickly signed up with a local mortgage company. 2012 = 3 different jobs. My horoscope for 2013 says that the winds of change are finally calming down. Looking back, 2012 was one big tornado.

Back to the story, one night in November, I was at work late and had enough of this refinance "from hell" (On a side note, not telling your loan officer, you just leased a car, in the middle of your refinance, is not a good thing.) I need something to look forward to. I was having hard time justifying my work. I was the one who said "he works to travel." My last major trip was February. I needed to change my travel drought quickly. That night I put together the trip.

I knew I wanted to go to Asia, as it would knock another continent off my bucket list. Tokyo was the only destination available. My dream destination was an Asia country with warm weather and a beach, but with less than 30 days before the trip, one can't be to picky. It was either Tokyo or Connecticut for the holidays and the decision became a no brainer.

The entire trip was booked using online portals except for the Hyatt stays that had to be booked via the phone. I did not use a booking service (thought about it). I used the United website to book the outward bound flight and American Airline's website for the return flight. Therefore, anyone can recreate this trip.

As I detailed here, I used United miles for my trip from Washington, DC to Frankfurt in  United First and then onward to Tokyo on ANA in their Dreamliner. While in Tokyo, I used my free nights from the Chase Hyatt Visa to stay at the Park Hyatt for two nights. My last three nights were at the Tokyo Hilton using points for two nights and cash for the remaining night.To get home, all that was available was American First from Tokyo to Washington, DC with an overnight in Chicago. My night in Chicago was spent at the W Lakeshore.

I will breakdown my trip into 9 parts:

Introduction
Tale of Two Lounges - Dulles Airport
Onward to Tokyo - First Class United & ANA Dreamliner
Castle in the Clouds - Park Hyatt Tokyo
Day Trip to Kamakura
Tokyo Hilton
A Blast From the Past - American First Class
Tale of Two Lounges - Narita Airport
The Joan Rivers Hotel - W Chicago Lakeside
Wrap-Up of Trip

I hope this trip report gives you the inspiration to start your own amazing trip. For many months, I would read other people's trip reports, wondering one day I could have my own trip. Yes, this is my second international trip paid for by points, (my first being Niger - trip report to come soon) but my first international trip for less than $500 out of pocket. Again, I hope this brings you the inspiration to start planning your own trip, because the first step in your own dream trip is the dream.

Merry Christmas from a Lufthansa Lounge

Just off my Christmas Eve flight to Frankfurt and I am killing time in a Lufthansa lounge waiting for my ANA Dreamliner flight. The airport and lounge are dead. It is kind of scary in a way (the first thing that came to my mind was the movie 28 Days & 28 Days Later, where zombies take over England and leave the city empty).

Dulles was very empty, last night, in Concourse B, which holds the international airlines, as well. There were flights taking off around 5pm, but no passengers.  It was so dead that Lufthansa closed their business lounge and let all customer in the Senator's lounge. Speaking of the Senators lounge, I had one of the best beef dishes in a long time there: braised beef tenderloin tips with roasted mushrooms in a sherry sauce. All I cansay is that it was amazing. I had to take a minute and have a moment with my food, that good. :) 

On a separate note, I am questioning my decision to upgrade to United First Class. I don't think it was worth the extra 7500 miles (no first class offered on ANA flight - two cabin.) The service was average, the food was a small step above business class (ie soup course) above and I was treated pretty crappy on the ground (I am sad to say the latter might be because of my age and how I was dressed). Regardless, I am super excited for my next flight. Hopefully, I can fall a sleep, maybe with the help of Night-quill. 

The reason for the post was to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and safe travels to all. The game will be around tomorrow, so spend today doing what matters : spending time with family!

Fröhliche Weihnachten!!!! (Merry Christmas in German, as I learned!)

A few pictures of the journey so far:

No lines to check-in at United (even Economy)

Almost Empty Concourse "B"

My Christmas Eve Dinner (yummy beef on bottom right!)

Average Soup for Dinner

Best Part of Dinner on the Plane

 Look at this super cool Ginger Bread house located in the Lufthansa lounge:

It even has little Hansel and Gretel running away from the scary women . . .  

London/Amsterdam Trip Report: Dulles Lounges and United IAD-LHR

Dulles Lounges and United Washington Dulles - London Heathrow
London Day One
London Day Two
London Day Three
London Day Four
Overnight Ferry London - Amsterdam
Amsterdam Day One
Amsterdam Day Two
Lufthansa Amsterdam-Frankfurt/Senator's Lounge Frankfurt/Lufthansa Frankfurt - Dulles


It was finally here!!! The trip that Kelsey and I have been waiting for since we booked the trip in April. You may remember that the trip was booked with a combination of the sign up bonuses from the United Mileage Explorer Visa Card and the Chase Sapphire Card.

The plan for our trip, as you may remember, was to spend four days in London and then take the train from London to Harwich, England where we would get on an overnight ferry to the Hook of Holland and then take a train to Amsterdam for two days before returning back to DC.

We started off our trip by heading from work out to Dulles for our 6:00 pm flight. I was really excited to get going so I made Kelsey leave extra early because I wanted to try out both the United Lounge in Terminal D where our flight was taking off from as well as the Lufthansa Senator's lounge in Terminal A. Remember that generally when traveling on a Star Alliance ticket internationally and in a premium class that you will have access to other Star Alliance lounges at the airport. Star Alliance has a great chart that shows you what lounges you have access to on your trip.

We left our apartment in Virginia and took the Metro to the West Falls Church station and boarded the Washington Flyer coach service which has direct service to Dulles in about 20 minutes. The transportation costs $10 each way or $18 round-trip. It arrives at each location about every 30 min or so.

After the short trip we pulled up to Dulles and headed to the United check-in desk. We were the only people in the BusinessFirst check-in line and headed directly to the kiosk to check our bags. Both of us were able to pack into a carry-on roller board bags, but we figured why drag it through the airport if we don't have to. The bags were checked and we headed down the stairs to the security area.

The line for the regular screening line was running at about a 5-10 min wait so we figured the shorter premium line would get us out in now time. Boy were we wrong. We hit two packed premium lines that crawwwlllleeddddd. About 20 min later we had cleared security and we were on our way to Terminal A.

After walking under the tarmac from the main terminal to Terminal A we turned right and came right up to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge/Business Lounge.

Outside the Lufthansa Senator Lounge/Business Lounge Dulles 

 We waited to be checked-in and handed our United tickets to the agent who directed us into the Senator's Lounge. The lounge is very nice looking with huge overstuffed armchairs and a set of barstools by the food section. This was our first experience in the lounge of a non-US based carrier so we were very very happy to see actual food on offer!

There was a few veggie plates, a set of bite sized sandwiches and my favorite.... bratwurst and sauerkraut. There was also a soda fountain and a few alcohol options. The alcohol was served by attendants who gladly took your drink to the seating area. I ordered an Octoberfest beer and Kelsey tried one of their white wines.

Lufthansa A330At the Gate

Food on Offer

Mmmmmm Bratwurst

 After getting our fill and enjoying the lounge for a bit we headed over to Terminal D to the United Lounge until our flight. We quickly realized that we should have stayed in the Lufthansa lounge a bit longer. The United lounge was huge....but it was packed with people waiting for their evening flights. Almost all of the three large seating areas were full and people were standing trying to find a seat.

The food offerings were much less exciting with the usual carrots, dressing, cheese and crackers on offer. Though Kelsey was happy to find her favorite trail mix with chocolate covered rasins in it. She always eats all the candy parts and leaves me the nuts and healthy items.

Finally the lounge started to clear as the evening flights started to be called and we were able to get a seat next to a tv and an outlet to give our phones one last charge.

When we got a seat we noticed that our flight, which was scheduled for 6:00 pm, was delayed until 6:30 because of "airport conditions" since it was clear and sunny outside we were a little confused so we went to ask the desk in the lounge. Luckily this was a good delay....the jet stream was so favorable over the Atlantic Ocean that if we left on time we would be really early and would not be able to land because Heathrow has a 6:00 am curfew and no planes can land before it. So, we used that as an excuse to get a few more snacks and have a drink before heading to the gate.

United Lounge Bar Area

One of the seating areas in the United Lounge

 The boarding area was relatively empty around 5:45 when we were called to board. I looked on the United app on my phone (Which you should get it you don't have it!) and noticed that while First and BusinessFirst were booked full there were almost 40 seats open in Economy and EconomyPlus.

First and BusinessFirst were called and we were the second group to board the airplane. We entered through door 2L and turned left to our seats 6J and 6K on United's Boeing 777-200 with the International lie flat configuration.

A pillow, duvet and headphones were waiting for us on our seats. We got settled in and took a few pictures (Hey, it was our first international business trip, we had to!) and were greeted by the BusinessFirst flight attendants who asked if we would like a beverage. We ordered champaign and it was delivered along with a a selection of British magazines. I grabbed the Times of London to catch up on the news. :)

BusinessFirst Seats 6J and 6K

My seat 

View of the In-Flight Entertainment from the seat

Seat Controls 

Pre-Flight Champaign

The plan was boarded quickly but that pesky Atlantic Ocean jet stream delayed our leaving by another 20 minutes, but we sure didn't mind. I have never been so excited to sit at the gate with a departure delay. After pushback we headed to the far runway at Dulles and took off right before the British Airways 747-400 also headed for Heathrow.

Flying in BusinessFirst was just like flying while lying down on the couch, I have never been quite that comfortable! We had a long climb through the intermittent clouds but the crew was up quickly to pass out menus and set our tables for dinner. With a 6 hour flight it was clear that they wanted to get us through dinner and sleeping.

BusinessFirst Menu

 We started with warmed nuts and a glass of the Burgans Albarino from Spain which was highly recommended by the flight attendant. He was brilliantly right, it was refreshing with a hint of green apple and just the right amount of dry flavor to match the sweet start. I got a new glass of it every chance I could. :)

Burgans Albarino and Nuts 

 The chilled appetizer was a pair of jumbo shrimp with a chili lime cocktail sauce. The salad was fresh and the mozzarella balls fresh and delicious.

Appetizer and Salad

For the main course I choose tenderloin of beef with asparagus and gnocci. The presentation was better than I have seen in most restaurants and the flavor from the beef was just as fresh as a steak house. You could have closed your eyes and it pictured yourself in an upscale steak house and seen the same meal. I was really surprised after so many rubber meals on an airplane.

But the best part was really the bread basket...I mean who could turn down warm pretzel bread!!

Main Course 

 Even though we were stuffed I knew that I needed to power through and try the cheese plate and sunday bar. (I did it for you guys....it's a hard job I know). The cheese course featured brie, a sharp cheddar and a goat cheese. The brie was soft and rich and matched brilliantly with the sharp cheddar which had a firm texture and a great flavor. The goat cheese was crumbly and had a nice kind of blue cheese flavor with just a hint of grass flavor. (I know...that appeals to some and turns others off haha).

Cheese Plate 

Finally the ice cream sunday cart came around and I selected some vanilla ice cream with some caramel and a cup of tea to go with it.  By this point we were two hours into the 6 hour flight and I knew I needed to get some sleep.

Ice Cream Sunday

I laid my bed down into the full lie flat position and managed to sleep for about two hours (I always struggle to fall asleep on planes). For the last few hours I watched a few episodes of tv and School of Rock on the entertainment system. I was really impressed with the selection, there were about 20 movies and 10 tv shows to choose from.

Kelsey on the other hand was passed out until about an hour before landing. At that time a light breakfast of pastries and yoghurt was served.

Heathrow is always packed with arrivals in the morning so we had to circle three or four times before we finally landed just past 6:00 am and taxied to the gate. Our adventure was finally off and running!