The Pilot Who ExploresReal-world airline reviews from a pilot who’s flown the world. Get in-depth cabin insights, route evaluations, and travel experiences before you book your next flight. From Emirates to Biman to Ethiopian, these trip reports are intended to reveal the details you normally wouldn’t catch with an untrained eye.
There’s something subtly elegant about Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s national carrier. It doesn’t chase the over-the-top glamour of the Gulf airlines. Instead, as I wrote about in my Air Astana A321LR Economy Class Review, it delivers a more understated, yet polished and surprisingly refined kind of comfort. My journey from Almaty to Osh was short, barely an hour and […]
When I booked my ticket on Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s flag carrier, I had no idea what to expect. In a world dominated by mega-carriers and flashy Gulf airlines, Air Astana quietly flies under the radar. But Kazakhstan’s flag carrier has been heavily investing in its onboard product and steadily expanding its international network, increasingly connecting Central Asia […]
I recently had the awesome opportunity to test out Azerbaijan Airlines’s Business Class product on their A320. Well, to be honest, I didn’t have a choice. Land borders between Georgia and Azerbaijan are closed (no idea why! /s), and economy was sold out. But I’m always happy to try out something new – and I […]
Let me start out by saying I had no idea what to expect when I booked a ticket from Guangzhou, China to Amsterdam, Netherlands on China Southern Airlines. Any information I could find online was vague, outdated, or unhelpful. This review aims to change that. I’ll start by saying my overall impression of China Southern […]
Yes, I heard the rumors. I read about the incredible Qatar Airways QSuite, their impeccable service, and their unparalleled lounge in Doha, but I still didn’t believe it. I had to see for myself. Pretty much every airline boasts about their business class product with flashy branding or mantras—think United’s Polaris, Thai’s Royal Silk, Ethiopian’s […]
I recently had the wonderful opportunity to fly United’s updated Polaris Business Class on the 14 hour flight from Melbourne, Australia to San Francisco. It was a delightful experience overall, though there are areas where United could improve to compete with leading airlines like Qantas Airlines on similar routes. That being said, the hard product […]
A dream I’ve had for years: flying on a Singapore Airlines A380 in business class. Award winning, endlessly touted for its excellence, and striving to always improve, Singapore Airlines has quite the reputation. So when I booked a full-fare business class ticket from Mumbai (BOM) to Singapore and on to Hong Kong (HKG), you better […]
Face it – your chances to fly in business class on the iconic 747-400 are pretty limited, and they’re only getting slimmer. So when I had the choice of flying in a brand new 787, A350, or a nearly-30 year old 747 from Europe to India… well, I think the title gives it away. Lufthansa […]
When an incredibly low fare from Santiago de Chile to Orlando via Houston on United’s newly retrofitted Boeing 767-300ER in Polaris class popped up, I could not resist splurging. As someone intimately familiar with the 763ER, I love both flying and being flown on it, even if they’re getting quite old. I’m also quite fond […]