I have long used the phrase, “if everyone is VIP, no one is” and I live by both in my life and in my work within the travel industry. I’m definitely not, so why I’ve been so lucky to experience some true VIP air travel moments, I’ll never know, but I’ll be forever grateful.
As some of you will know, the ethos of GSTP in regards to airline “freebies” is that if I can pay for something myself, I will. I’ll just buy it so I don’t owe anyone anything. If, however, there’s an experience that the general public can’t buy and i’m being granted some sort of meaningful access or exclusive look, it’s always worth a look. YOLO?
File this post under brag worthy, showing off or just reflecting, I really don’t care. What matters to me is these things actually happened, they’re really cool to me, and I hope that at least some of you find these stories create great nostalgia or passion for travel. 747 forever!
Flight Deck For Landing On Long Haul
In a post 9/11 world, much has changed. Flight deck visits still happen when stars align on the ground, but they are definitely not easy to come by in the air. During an engagement I had with an airline (which will remain nameless) my schedule happened to sync with pilots who would fly the same outbound and return I was on.
After meeting on the outbound, on the return segment, to my utter joy, I was asked if I’d like to join the flight deck for landing.
I probably wasn’t as excited for my wedding and my wife takes no offense to that, knowing how much I love planes. I strapped into the extra seat, donned my headphones and mostly kept my mouth shut as I marveled at the efficiency of a well executed approach and landing. If we ever meet in person, I’ll share more! Spoiler alert: landing looks so much cooler from the front!
Free Private Jet Ride From Airline Status
Among the more “what could go wrong?” offers of the last decade was one by a ‘semi’ private jet company expanding into Europe. The premise was that they’d win business travelers over by flying private jets, through private jet terminals between key European banking hubs.
People would pay for the elevated semi private experience to ditch commercial travel, or so they thought. So, how do you reach the current top tier travelers? Easy, right?
The company (Surf Air) offered a completely free trial jet ride for anyone with top tier elite status in a European airline program. I shared my BA Gold credentials and booked a flight from Geneva to London. My wife did the same. No one showed, except my wife, so we had the jet to ourselves for free. Again!
Private Boeing Factor Tour
As we’ll dive into more through this post, I’ve been lucky to receive some very cool invites. Among the very best, was from the lovely Michele Kropf, who was at BA for a long time. In the earlier 787 Dreamliner delivery days, I was invited to Washington state to pick up a jet with the BA delivery team.
This included an epic private tour of the floor of the Boeing factory, which being a ‘VIP’ tour, meant we could actually keep our phones and access more areas. The scale of this place simply cannot be reckoned with. It’s truly immense, it’s incredibly impressive (despite recent events) and it was awe inspiring.
For any wine nerds who read the blog, this was also the trip I learned about Quilceda Creek and I’ve never been the same since!
Special Escort Through Security
If you’ve been through an international airport often enough, you’ve probably seen someone get escorted through airport security. Sometimes its like woah, that’s Brad Pitt. Other times, it’s just some schmuck like me on a lucky day.
I’ve been fortunate a few times, when working for an airline, to receive an escort through security. What’s so special about it? A lot.
This is the process where someone from the airport team at the airline who has an airside badge walks you right past all the people in all the priority queues and sends you right to the front. You go through security, obviously, but there’s no waiting no matter what and the person stays with you as a liaison until you board, and sometimes even walks you onto the plane! This is VIP on top of TSA Pre.
Northern Lights Ferry Flight
I was once invited on a flight which was not open to the general public, as part of picking up an aircraft. We flew a very polar route and got incredibly lucky with a very strong magnetic storm which meant that Aurora Borealis, or Northern lights, was very strong.
Because it wasn’t a commercial flight, the captain was able to turn off all the in-flight entertainment and other cabin lights so that we could gaze out the windows from 40,000 feet as the lights danced through the sky. I cannot stress what a difference this made. I’ve seen the lights many times from commercial flights but all the cabin light from screens makes it hard to fully appreciate.
I also managed to catch a brief glimpse from the flight deck, which looked just insane.
PS @ LAX And Singapore CIP
Of all the VIP experiences offered by airlines or airports, these two really take the cake. The Singapore Changi CIP Terminal and PS @ LAX (now also at Miami and Atlanta) are something to behold.
These experiences involve bypassing the airline terminals entirely. Private security and immigration are just the start of the delight, and each offers their own suite in a private facility pre-flight. You get driven to your plane at the perfect moment and they check your bags for you.
Sleeping In An Airline Lounge
This doesn’t sound cool, it sounds like I had a bad layover. Truth be told, it was. Virgin Atlantic and Onefinestay partnered many years back on a bedroom concept in the Virgin Clubhouse at LHR.
I was kindly invited to do a social takeover of the Clubhouse and got to make the room my bedroom for the night. I believe I’m the only one to have gotten to do so. I had the entire lounge to myself overnight and took full advantage.
747 Simulators For Pilot Training
Forever one of my favorite things will be time in an actual 747 simulator. Before an airline retired their 747’s, I was able to visit a full functioning massive 747 simulator and try my luck at various takeoff and landing sequences, including the old Hong Kong Kai Tak approach.
This is an exhilarating experience I recommend to anyone and there are many public sims that can be booked, albeit not often with full motion. I’ll tell ya, you really feel the bounce and every little move on these. Naturally, I greased the landing. Wink, wink.
Very Limited Edition Amenity Kit
When airlines get new seats, they obviously get new fabric with them. I’ve gotten probably thousands of amenity kits through my years flying, including some nostalgic ones like the old Rimowa hardshell kits, but none top one made from the airline’s new leather seats.
A few of these were made for the design team and someone was kind enough to share one with me. It’s the only one I haven’t thrown away!