A 380 and spotting trip
 

Suggestions please.Want to fly on A380 and do a bit of spotting.
Dubai? or is spotting to risky now?.All suggestions greatly received

BA to LAX...go to the In'n'Out burger joint. Loads of pics on the web to show you what you can expect.

That may depend on what sort of pictures you want to take. Personally I find it a terrible location for my tastes. Plenty of other and better locations. If you're just number crunching then I think the best location would be the Imperial Hill. Not bad for photos either.

Other current BA A380 destinations that might be worth considering include SFO, YVR and SIN.

How can you say that? Sure the burgers are lovely! :E

Without a doubt, Miami. Florida's a great holiday point in its own right, and much more relaxed than Dubai. Additionally, there are a number of other "spotting" airports within easy striking distance of Miami International.

However, on the downside, then you might have to tolerate BA (meaning Barely Acceptable) service. Personally, over recent years I have avoided using BA whenever possible (all the more since being caught out by their 27 May I.T. debacle!), and by far preferring Aer Lingus to Florida.

Depends what else you want from your vacation. San Francisco has SFO, OAK and SJC all within easy reach. When the planes at SFO are landing up the bay (over the San Mateo Bridge) go to Coyote Point and watch the stream passing you. There are GA fields at Half Moon Bay and San Carlos on either side of the Peninsular and at Palo Alto further down. NASA is at Ames Field and they have a visitor centre; they used to do tours and I can remember seeing various research aircraft and the big wind tunnel.

Take I-80 east and you will find Travis AFB near Fairfield about half way to Sacramento.

If you go in mid September The Reno Air Races will be on.

That's quite apart from the other reasons for going to the Bay Area!

PS you could come back on a 787 from San Jose if that's of any interest.

Also the excellent Hiller Museum at San Carlos Airport, well worth a visit. I think there's also a floatplane Beaver sight seeing operation north of Sausalito, the other end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Wish I'd given it a go when I was there!

Except that you can't fly there from the UK on an A380, which was the OP's other criterion.

Except in the winter season. Conversely you can only fly to YVR in the summer season.

Well, I did! Unless I imagined my BA A380 trip to & from Miami, two years ago? Incidentally, that was also my last voluntary long haul flight with Barely Acceptable's service!

Btw thank you, Peter47


DaveReidUK, read it again, the OP did NOT specify an A380 flight from a UK airport as a criterion - you've just assumed that. From my side however, and not wishing to invent criteria, that's why I chose my words carefully, i.e: "you might have to tolerate BA" .

That was bearing in mind that Lufthansa are currently offering some reasonable fares via FRA, plus Air France via CDG. Apart from the fact Manchester is perhaps being more convenient for the OP than LHR, those two airlines might open up more destination choices - including Miami. Additionally, keen spotters might enjoy the opportunity for another aircraft type, to & from their chosen mainland-Europe A380 hub.


Meanwhile, the OP might find this "I fly A380" link useful:

https://www.iflya380.com/?cmpid=sem-...wcB&origin=FRA

It could be a Red Herring but my guess is that the OP might be a Welsh resident.

At the end of the day there are lots of good spotting airports around the world served by the A380. A tip, however, check the general climate conditions for the period you wish to travel in. I would definitely not recommend Miami in the Summer months for instance!

Hotel Tango - Definitely agree with you about the OP's likely Welsh location, that why I threw MAN into the hat! I also concur with your comments regarding visiting Florida, and also the "deep south" of the USA - places that many prefer to avoid in high summer.

As already hinted at above, if Floridian humidity leads to reduced demand over that period, it makes good sense for BA to put a seasonal A380 to YVR.

Now with bated breath, we await news of the OP's actual decision!:)


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Thankyou for all your replies.All are interesting, perhaps the most interesting being the decline of BA service, which my wife can verify from recent experience.
I now live in the south so would probably be LHR to depart from, should add my wife will probably travel with me so that is a consideration.
Have not made up my mind as trip will be next year, but thanks again, I will post where I eventually end up.

Was the assumption that you would want your outbound flight from LHR to be on an A380 a reasonable one?

I'd say that's pretty much a given, now considering the new information - available only after the original proposition.:D Possibly a bit of wriggle-room still left though, between the compass points?