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 a Cambodia Angkor Air). Paul had his worst fly ever (it was no fault of Etihad, just his own!!) and circles the 380 lounge table forever like an animal, whilst Paolo has the most epic security check experience at Sihanouk International Airport (he's a giant, after all). Cambodia is building huge airports, the future Phnom Penh (still in construction), and the just-opened massive Siem Reap International which we both were pretty staggered with. Are turbulences getting worse, and should the pilot give more explanation when we hit them (Paolo compares them as being rock cradled to sleep in business class!). Does landing at SGN remind you a little of Kai Tak ("dodging the washing lines across the apartments"). Paul and Paolo disagree on BKK, but, yeah, a bit of window cleaning would be good (but the Thai government agrees with Paul, it needs a refurb!). Do you really want to board a Wamos Air?  - Cambodia Tuk Tuk driver in Siem Reap, Angkor Wat: Mr Kat, <a href="http://www.tuktukcambodia.com" target="_blank">tuktukcambodia.com</a>

<description>&lt;p&gt;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 a Cambodia Angkor Air). Paul had his worst fly ever (it was no fault of Etihad, just his own!!) and circles the 380 lounge table forever like an animal, whilst Paolo has the most epic security check experience at Sihanouk International Airport (he's a giant, after all). Cambodia is building huge airports, the future Phnom Penh (still in construction), and the just-opened massive Siem Reap International which we both were pretty staggered with. Are turbulences getting worse, and should the pilot give more explanation when we hit them (Paolo compares them as being rock cradled to sleep in business class!). Does landing at SGN remind you a little of Kai Tak ("dodging the washing lines across the apartments"). Paul and Paolo disagree on BKK, but, yeah, a bit of window cleaning would be good (but the Thai government agrees with Paul, it needs a refurb!). Do you really want to board a Wamos Air? &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Cambodia Tuk Tuk driver in Siem Reap, Angkor Wat: &lt;strong&gt;Mr Kat,&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.tuktukcambodia.com" target="_blank"&gt;tuktukcambodia.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description>

Paul and Paolo share almost the same name, almost the same birthday, nearly the same height, and a great friendship and love for air travel. We compare notes on Cambodia and Vietnam.

137 SAI - The Great Tour of Cambodia and Vietnam, with a cup of water from Cambodia Angkor Air

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 the last bag delivery ever). Lounge bouncers (not exactly, but lounge double dipping is a thing). Going against the jet stream when it reaches record speeds (and against an unbelievably bad customer representative at JFK). Wife or work wife, who gets lounge access? Plant-based food choices are increasing in quality, Emirates saw the trend early (and why some flight attendants have had enough of special meals). BA is investing billions, but could they spare some to fix their Manage My Bookings on the app? No more miles or status for non-direct bookings, a new trend?Happy flying to you all!

<description>&lt;p&gt;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 the last bag delivery ever). Lounge bouncers (not exactly, but lounge double dipping is a thing). Going against the jet stream when it reaches record speeds (and against an unbelievably bad customer representative at JFK). Wife or work wife, who gets lounge access? Plant-based food choices are increasing in quality, Emirates saw the trend early (and why some flight attendants have had enough of special meals). BA is investing billions, but could they spare some to fix their Manage My Bookings on the app? No more miles or status for non-direct bookings, a new trend?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Happy flying to you all!&lt;/p&gt;
</description>

Alex flies to New York, meets the jet stream and an unbelievably bad customer representative. Paul flies to Dubai, tries the new Emirates plant-based signature dishes with a First upgrade that this podcast made possible.

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

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 gone full MAX for its windows openings (ok, ok, poor one, but come on Boeing, do better!) — the new 350-1000 goes for a dimmable shade instead. The JAL 350 crash, a miracle for many (but not all), a testament to the crew, the industry, that aircraft, and Airbus. Alex and Paul agree, the best eye masks stays the Emirates F one (the previous version!). Go around grinning? YES.And Happy New Year to all (this was recorded on Jan 31, just in time!)

<description>&lt;p&gt;Qatar'd? No, that new Al Mourjan Lounge at Doha is stunning — one thing we can't say about that RAK one.&lt;br /&gt;Turkish'd? Not really, when a downgrade gets you full emergency exit rows — though that 333 seat made Paul act like an animal.&lt;br /&gt;Boeing has gone full MAX for its windows openings (ok, ok, poor one, but come on Boeing, do better!) — the new 350-1000 goes for a dimmable shade instead.&lt;br /&gt;The JAL 350 crash, a miracle for many (but not all), a testament to the crew, the industry, that aircraft, and Airbus.&lt;br /&gt;Alex and Paul agree, the best eye masks stays the Emirates F one (the previous version!).&lt;br /&gt;Go around grinning? YES.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And Happy New Year to all (this was recorded on Jan 31, just in time!)&lt;/p&gt;
</description>

"They looked around the region at all these great airports and gone: let's get the TK Maxx version of that"

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

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 traffic was key to that story, but traffic there is none to board, how crazily fast is that, kudos La Compagnie!). Choose your BA seat on Jordanian (neat trick), but it might come with a free infant for you. After 27 years, Qatar Airways replaces Al Baker (would some call him the Jeremy Clarkson of the airline industry?). Can reward/award finders help you spend air miles faster than they devaluate? The biometric airport experience is upon us, and AI is rising (but robots do strike in London when they drive trains). Is British Airways' customer service seeing a renaissance after having listened to Layovers? (at least they're investing quite massively in it, hopefully in IT -capital letters- too). Will we see boarding group -2 arise (group 0 is here)? ExTime, beautiful third party lounges thanks to a je ne sais quoi (the French flair surely). The bucolic murals at that -4 walkway.We did travel quite a lot, pardon the delay in getting this one out. We'll be back in December!Happy flying, all. —Paul is on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/papadimitriou" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.threads.net/@papadimitriou" target="_blank">Threads</a>, and <a href="https://www.twitter.com/papadimitriou" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. Alex is on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/cubedweller" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, and <a href="https://www.twitter.com/cubedweller" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. Layovers is on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lay_overs" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/lay_overs">Twitter</a>.

<description>&lt;p&gt;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 traffic was key to that story, but traffic there is none to board, how crazily fast is that, kudos La Compagnie!). Choose your BA seat on Jordanian (neat trick), but it might come with a free infant for you. After 27 years, Qatar Airways replaces Al Baker (would some call him the Jeremy Clarkson of the airline industry?). Can reward/award finders help you spend air miles faster than they devaluate? The biometric airport experience is upon us, and AI is rising (but robots do strike in London when they drive trains). Is British Airways' customer service seeing a renaissance after having listened to Layovers? (at least they're investing quite massively in it, hopefully in IT -capital letters- too). Will we see boarding group -2 arise (group 0 is here)? ExTime, beautiful third party lounges thanks to a je ne sais quoi (the French flair surely). The bucolic murals at that -4 walkway.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We did travel quite a lot, pardon the delay in getting this one out. We'll be back in December!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Happy flying, all.&lt;br /&gt;—&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Paul is on &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/papadimitriou" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://www.threads.net/@papadimitriou" target="_blank"&gt;Threads&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href="https://www.twitter.com/papadimitriou" target="_blank"&gt;Twitter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;Alex is on &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/cubedweller" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href="https://www.twitter.com/cubedweller" target="_blank"&gt;Twitter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;Layovers is on &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/lay_overs" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/lay_overs"&gt;Twitter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
</description>

Alex returns to Hong Kong, Paul discovers La Compagnie. So much travel, so little time to record!

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

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 (and, hey, it's not a poor bus station like Schoenfeld).Bundling the unbundling: a (great) rant by Alex (Hunter, but Vukolova chimes in, and Paul got confused having two Alex on the show).  Do the Adidas Lufthansa sneakers give you extra status (you can now buy them, unlike the staff limited editions that Paul bought off from an employee a few years ago, in order to pair them with the Family Mart socks he just got).  Condor offers you a branded beer (another Brewdog airline brew!), but also booking your …overhead bin?? (Alex tested it, and we look at everything that could go wrong).  JetBlue and the inaugural massive dog.  The admirable journey out of fear of flying. Air Astana is amazing, Almaty airport not so much (the former gives you amenity kits, and slippers, in economy, for 3 hours!! The latter does not have free water in its lounge WTF). Thanks a million to Alex Vukolova for having joined us (and for having waited FOREVER to be on our podcast).You should follow Alex on LinkedIn (she posts great avgeek stuff!): <a href="http://linkedin.com/in/alexandravukolova">http://linkedin.com/in/alexandravukolova</a>On Instagram (Paul messed up her username all this time!!): <a href="https://www.instagram.com/avixalex/">https://www.instagram.com/avixalex/</a>Give a listen to her aviation podcast, Sky Lounge: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/sky-lounge-podcast/id1678045129">https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/sky-lounge-podcast/id1678045129</a>And here's the Ladies Beyond Flying group she mentioned: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12451302">https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12451302</a>(See, there are links in our show notes for once). Apologies for the audio quality, we had to work around a ton of glitches, and preferred recording than postponing.See you in the next one! Happy flying!

<description>&lt;p&gt;So small, cozy, cute, a very special airport, that was Tegel, not BER: can the finally (nearly) finished &lt;strong&gt;Berlin Brandenburg&lt;/strong&gt; measure up to the "poor but sexy" German capital? At least the cleverly named lounges have an even cleverer backdoor (and, hey, it's not a poor bus station like Schoenfeld).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bundling the unbundling&lt;/strong&gt;: a (great) rant by Alex (Hunter, but Vukolova chimes in, and Paul got confused having two Alex on the show). &lt;br /&gt;Do the &lt;strong&gt;Adidas Lufthansa&lt;/strong&gt; sneakers give you extra status (you can now buy them, unlike the staff limited editions that Paul bought off from an employee a few years ago, in order to pair them with the Family Mart socks he just got). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Condor&lt;/strong&gt; offers you a branded beer (another Brewdog airline brew!), but also booking your …overhead bin?? (Alex tested it, and we look at everything that could go wrong). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;JetBlue&lt;/strong&gt; and the inaugural massive dog. &lt;br /&gt;The admirable journey out of &lt;strong&gt;fear of flying&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Air Astana&lt;/strong&gt; is amazing, &lt;strong&gt;Almaty&lt;/strong&gt; airport not so much (the former gives you amenity kits, and slippers, in economy, for 3 hours!! The latter does not have free water in its lounge WTF).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thanks a million to &lt;strong&gt;Alex&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Vukolova&lt;/strong&gt; for having joined us (and for having waited FOREVER to be on our podcast).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You should follow Alex on LinkedIn (she posts great avgeek stuff!): &lt;a href="http://linkedin.com/in/alexandravukolova"&gt;http://linkedin.com/in/alexandravukolova&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On Instagram (Paul messed up her username all this time!!): &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/avixalex/"&gt;https://www.instagram.com/avixalex/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give a listen to her aviation podcast, Sky Lounge: &lt;a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/sky-lounge-podcast/id1678045129"&gt;https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/sky-lounge-podcast/id1678045129&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And here's the Ladies Beyond Flying group she mentioned: &lt;a href="https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12451302"&gt;https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12451302&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(See, there are links in our show notes for once).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Apologies for the audio quality, we had to work around a ton of glitches, and preferred recording than postponing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;See you in the next one! Happy flying!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
</description>

At Layovers, we keep our promises: long time listener Alex Vukolova waited 5 years to be a guest, and this is the day, she's been awesome, for a very special show — we travel on Condor, JetBlue, Transavia, or BA, from Berlin to Almaty to New York to Tokyo and then some, and we geek out on aviation, from a rant about the bundling of the unbundling, to an admiration for Air Astana (not really for the current Almaty airport).

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

The Air Travel podcast — an aviation and travel show, created by Paul Papadimitriou @papadimitriou, hosted along with Alex Hunter @cubedweller — top #1 in 47 countries and counting.

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