Paul is joined by Paolo, one his best friends, to compare notes on a big tour of Cambodia and Vietnam (Paul flew to Cambodia, Paolo flew to Vietnam and Cambodia) with many airports, and airlines along the way (not sure about the water on-board

136 DXB - Vegan First Class, lounge bouncers, jet stream rush, intermittent flying fasting, improper JFK

Mar 7th, 2024 2h 1m

Is Emirates low key encouraging membership to the high mile club? (And how Alex and Layovers saved Paul's Emirates First upgrade. The controller goes "oh that sucks", or why Alex keeps listening to ground whilst traveling (but he always gets th

135 RAK - Epic tropical lounge, composite burn, full row downgrade, going veg, MAXed out Boeing rant

Feb 1st, 2024 2h 7m

Qatar'd? No, that new Al Mourjan Lounge at Doha is stunning — one thing we can't say about that RAK one.Turkish'd? Not really, when a downgrade gets you full emergency exit rows — though that 333 seat made Paul act like an animal.Boeing has gon

134 HKG - All business class 321neo, biometrics AI airports, Qatar 2.0, boarding group 0, IFE gold standard

Nov 29th, 2023 2h 2m

Alex tells us all about his return to Hong Kong, with Cathay setting a new gold standard in IFE over Emirates (Greg flew China Southern, and, errr, well). Paul flies the all business class 321neo from La Compagnie from Orly to Newark (road traf

133 ALA - Bundling the unbundling, Condor Brewdog, BER secret door, overhead bin booking, inaugural JetBlue, LH sneakers, with Alex Vukolova

Oct 22nd, 2023 1h 51m

So small, cozy, cute, a very special airport, that was Tegel, not BER: can the finally (nearly) finished Berlin Brandenburg measure up to the "poor but sexy" German capital? At least the cleverly named lounges have an even cleverer backdoor (an

132 BLQ - Finnair hippos, IST hugeness, fast track lounge, Super NES passport, Midfield Tom Cruise run

Sep 30th, 2023 1h 49m

Paul tries multiple Italian airports, Alex finally visits the new Istanbul (and flies Turkish for the first time!). The passport blowing border official trick (it doesn't work better than the Super NES cartridge blowing). BA will soon introduce

131 NRT - The Amazing Zipair Race from London to California to Tokyo to Osaka and back

Aug 18th, 2023 2h 12m

Combini, tamago sando, Skyliner, vending machines, ekiben, baseball Suica cards, yes we discuss Japan, where Alex was earlier this summer. And yes we talk (err, Alex talks) about air travel too, British Airways, Southwest, Hawaiian, ANA, and, d

130 MSP - Cheap travel and the hamster wheel of miles and status in the post-Covid devaluation times, with Kyle 'Hello Kitty' Potter

Jul 20th, 2023 1h 49m

Kyle Potter, Executive Editor at Thrifty Traveler, all-around awesome(ly smart) dude, Hello Kitty enthusiast (well, it's that EVA Air flight, you'll see!), and (very) long time Layovers listener and friend, tells us all about why MSP is the bes

129 GVA - Attaché bromance, Air Force Ones, 777X windows, fly with film, Covid weight, Vomit Pro, Brian Shul

Jun 19th, 2023 2h 7m

We flew to Geneva to record an episode of Attaché (now on YouTube, link below), so how were our flights, and what did we think of the airport (the new C-Gates are excellent, the time at immigration not always). Does too much info add unnecessar

128 AUH - Etihad 2.0, Midfield mirage, Swiss cheeseboard, 40000ft silent floating, Louis Vuitton lounging

Jun 2nd, 2023 2h

Do you have a number? The saga of Alex trying to beat boarding time at Lisbon (you won't believe he, of all people, made that mistake). A completely charming SWISS cheese board on-board (and cows in the Zurich airport train). Etihad 2.0 are qui

127 JFK T8 - Mint Studio wow, airfare inflation, BEY dual time, increased turbulences, why do you go to a lounge?

Apr 27th, 2023 1h 59m

Alex gets lost at JFK T8, only to encounter crazy turbulences over the Atlantic (a future worsening trend). But how did he get there? Finally testing what Paul did in 2021, the Mint Studio — a hope for the future of long haul narrow bodies. Air

126 MAD - Mad dash at MADrid, skip the JAL banana, BA/LHR chagrin, Lufthansa seat Tetris, Emirates is Apple

Mar 9th, 2023 2h 2m

How is it we had never actually done MAD as an episode title? This ends today, however the mad MADrid dash from T4S to T4 never does. Alex has lots to say about BA and it's …not great (he's not alone to think like this). Paul calls it, the bett

125 CDG T2 - The 747 is forever, a London NY bridge at JFK T8, Air France lounge joie de vivre, 777 guillotine, the airport game

Feb 18th, 2023 2h 10m

The airport you think is overrated, the airport you like, the airport you love, the airport you feel yourself in, the airport you need to visit — play the airport game with us (and feel free to tweet us your answers!). The new Air France lounge

124 LAX — In and out LAX, the rise of Turkish Airlines, frequent flyer free agents, airline consulting, LA celebrity handling, with Hakan aka LAFlyr

Jan 21st, 2023 1h 46m

Friend of the show, and very long time listener (since episode 1!), Hakan Yılmaz, aka @LAFlyr on Twitter, grew up wanting to go early at the airport to see the planes, and collect avgeek paraphernalia, and never stopped being a kid, by still go

123 BRR — Flying the Concorde, visiting all the Concordes, accessing the Concorde Room, a Concorde episode with GGL Ed Parsons

Dec 31st, 2022 1h 47m

Ed Parsons, the Google Maps guy, is our guest today. He's heard the Concorde prototype noise as a kid, flown on the Concorde before it got retired, explored all the Concordes in existence around the world since — a true fan — and we discuss it

122 FLR — Joyful Norse, Doha Changi Gardens, in-flight 5G, A380 returns, Avios loot boxes, limitless UK liquids, nacho cheese lounge

Dec 15th, 2022 2h 6m

Alex has a joyful experience to Oslo with Norse Atlantic Airways (he flies to Stockholm too, the Nordics know how to handle snow, whilst the UK clearly doesn't). Finland sees record traffic to meet Santa Claus, whilst Air Greenland celebrates a

121 JED — Flying to Saudi Arabia to see AlUla, Jeddah airport aquarium, Emirates cost cutting, desert driving, Indy travel philosophy

Nov 22nd, 2022 1h 50m

"What are you going to Saudi Arabia for?" asked the puzzled flight attendant — Paul was flying to Jeddah, to then drive 8 hours, to reach one of the places of his dreams: the Nabataeans tombs of Al-'Ula. From sand to copper, the massive new Jed

120 YUL — World Cup flights, Avios stash, Alaska royalty, Nein to AirTags, Upper First Class, Trudeau Dorval or Mirabel

Oct 31st, 2022 1h 58m

Alex needed to be in Quebec City, so he obviously flew to Montreal — that made him try Air Transat (is that a controversial airline, Canadian friends?). Our friend Greg sadly never got to fly WestJet however …and Paul still hasn't been to Canad

119 KHI — Flying in and around Pakistan, Queen NOTAMs, Japan rush, United x Emirates, ticket inflation, Virgin plusgrade, Argo escape

Sep 28th, 2022 2h 5m

Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, three cities, three cultures, and three airports that correspond them well — Paul flies in and around Pakistan (flying out was not a given on one of those trips!). The retro liveries of PIA and QR. Japan opens up on

118 LAP — Victorville overfly, 2bn Emirates refresh, Star losing Lufthansa, taxiing EWR for 9hrs, Windsor Suites, smuggling McMuffins

Aug 25th, 2022 1h 58m

No, the other La Paz — the Southern/Baja California Alex Hunter 2022 Tour, with Megan as a VERY supporting avgeek act (aka Alex is the supporting act, Megan is the star, but you all knew that already). Emirates refreshes its fleet on a crazy ti

117 VLC - Summer of discontent, Alitalia hit-and-run, AirTag anxiety, A380 comeback, so long Comair, Vuelinggedon

Jul 8th, 2022 1h 58m

Alex lives and sweats the travel chaos, trying to get to Valencia with Vueling (what was he thinking?!) with an epic (FAIL) journey that ended up with Easyjet saving the day. Paul develops some Apple AirTag anxiety. The A380 is back with a veng

116 MDE - Brace for travel chaos, turbulence forecast, Medellin missed approach, 747-200m fine, air-bus routes, cascading wet leases

Jun 23rd, 2022 2h 6m

Brace brace brace, travel chaos ahead — from staff shortages, to strikes, to supply chain issues, to a global recession, it's going to be a messy year (and more) ahead. The mess will however make for an interesting wet-lease global puzzle (Mel

115 RTW - Mark Vanhoenacker: Imagine a City, a (787) Pilot Sees the World

May 12th, 2022 2h 10m

A Round the World conversation with our friend Mark Vanhoenacker for the launch of his new book 'Imagine a City, A Pilot Sees the World', a sequel to 'Skyfaring'. We talk about our love for cities, the small ones of our birth, the big ones of o

114 UVF — Losing Virgin(ity) from sunset to sunrise, SLU, Airbus Ecureuil, ever late 777X, who pilots Air France?

Apr 29th, 2022 2h 4m

From sunset to sunrise: Virgin Atlantic to the Caribbean and back, Paul is finally no longer a Virgin virgin. Flying from SLU over St Lucia, its Pitons, in an Airbus Helicopter (well, Aerosptiale). The (mysterious) Cathay white liveries. The 77

113 MLE - Seaplanes, A380s and (not) remembering DXB. A220 flying through the biweekly BA IT mess.

Apr 6th, 2022 2h 5m

Emirates, Emirates and more Emirates, in First, in Business, on 380s or 777s. To Male and seaplanes for Alex, to Dubai with a blank at deplaning for Paul. But also some SWISS (the savior), some BA (when it's not cancelled), the new longest rout