Friday, July 08, 2011

Getting ready for the longest flight of my life Washington DC to Dubai on United

N788UA B777-200 United

I have been paying a lot of attention to the UA 976 United's Flight from Washington Dulles to Dubai which began service on October 26th 2008. The folks at Flyer Talk have some  pretty good discussions the experience in this thread United's IAD-DXB flights [Experiences, Questions, Etc.] I am excited that I am going to experience the flight myself tomorrow. It is 14 hours to fly from Washington Dulles IAD to Dubai DXB and I have been that each seat has a entertainment console and service is pretty good. I will be among 90 odd passengers in the Economy Class and the flight has a total capacity of 253 passengers. Since this plane has to carry a double crew, they may have a section fo the crew as well. The good thing is that the flight leaves at 10.18 at night which means if you can get 8 hours sleep you only have to worry about a 6 hour waking time.  I travel a lot and occupying myself on a flight is not a problem. I only wish there was Wifi on board the plane as well.

United in it's new avatar is expanding internationally and just launched  a new service between Shanghai and Los Angeles with a offer of triple bonus award miles. United flies to Bahrain with a stop-over in Kuwait. If my plans for next year materialize I may even take the flight 897 from Washington Dulles (IAD)  to Beijing (PEK). There is certainly a fascination to visit countries and long flights or not I am thrilled every time I fly to a new place.

Flying between Washington DC and  India : Usually when you travel to the southern part of India from Washington DC your choice is to fly with a stopover in Europe or in London. A few times I have flown to London and then the middle east and then on to India.Since June 24, 2007 Qatar Airways started flying directly from Washington Dulles to Doha and then on to other Asian Destinations. They have a connection to Hyderabad, India so that is a flight my parents and a lot of my friends have taken and have said it is a good experience.

Routes me and our family  have flown  to and from India in the last decade.

Hyderabad- Mumbai-Paris-Washington DC
Washington DC - London - Dubai - Hyderabad
Hyderabad - Frankfurt-Geneva- Washington DC- Brussels-Frankfurt- Hyderabad
Hyderabad- Doha - Washington DC- Doha- Hyderabad
Washington DC - London - Dubai - Hyderabad
Washington DC- Amsterdam- Hyderabad

Some of my tips for travelers specially on International flights:

a) As far as possible try not to have a transfer within the country of origin or destination.I never want to transfer within the US or within  India.
b) As soon as I board the flight I change my watch to the time zone of the country I am visiting
c) Drink a lot of water on the flight and get up from your seat to go and ask the crew for water and you get your exercise and a chance to move your legs.
d) Try to get as much sleep as possible
e) After you land try to get in the routine of your destination , you may be tempted to sleep or wake up at odd hours.

Have you done any long flights? What has your experience been? Let us know .

Photo credit : Mark Murdock Flickr photo

1 comment:

Mark Murdock said...

Good and informative article. Glad you put my photo to good use too.
Best regards
Msrk

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