Just flew Spanair from Barcelona to Stockholm. Talking abot tight seating. At 5 feet 9 inches, my knees touched the seat in front of me. I am guessing 29 inches of leg room. I paid two Euros for coffee and a muffin. The temperature has dropped from 95 in Barcelona to 55 in Estocolmo.

Anyway, they gave me a boarding pass that said Stockholm and on the gate it said Estocolmo. A little confusing, but I made it.

You should see the new airport terminal they are building in Barcelona. Huge and incredible. Did you read my post on the Europe board about Do not throw away those water bottles.

www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2

Barcelona is one of my favorite cities, however, the tourist pee everywhere and it smells like it. Do not blame it on the locals. All of the beaches in Barcelona were man made for the 92 Olympics and is a beautiful walk. Plus the fact that most ladies in Barcelona are topless makes the walk enjoyable.

Estocolmo is Spanish for Stockholm.

So, wally, do you like the European low-cost carriers better than US mainlines now?

Well, I have said it once and I will say it again. I can handle a 2 or 3 hour flight with few amenities. However, when an airline is going to fly me for nine or more hours and they want to keep the fasten seat belt sign on all the time, serve no food, and charge for beer and wine, I will look for another airline.

I think a U.S. airline could make some money by advertising, We are raising our fares 5 Dollars and this is what you will get in return on all flights to Europe, Asia, and South America. A three course meal, free earphones, free wine with dinner and three or more movies.

Are there nine-hour flights with no food? On my trans-Atlantic flights, the US carriers have served as many meals as the European ones. And the earphones have been free.

Try flying American from Miami to Honolulu. Were the meals 3 course meals as British Airways advertises with free beer and wine and full bar

American charges for earphones on international flights. So if the BA price is 995 and the American price is 990, BA with be cheaper after the first drink.

Since when has American started for earphones on flights to Europe? I hadn't heard of that, so I just checked their website, which says they're free.

As for BA's "3-course" meals: that's salad, main course, and dessert, just like US carriers' trans-Atlantic meals.

And here's a shocker: not everybody pays for drinks on flights, because not everybody drinks. And even some of those who do drink aren't obsessed with the idea of free drinks.

wally - How many minutes during your Spanair flight is the "Fasten Seat Belt" sign on, and how many off?

For those who're not familiar with wally's posts, let me explain. All of his threads are about booze and seat belts.

No need to spend too much time arguing over this. wally will tolerate anything, and will pay whatever fare, as long as there's free booze and the crew turn off the seat belt sign for as long as possible.

I know, I know, rkkwan. And I don't know what possessed me to talk to the wall.

Well, actually, they turned it off five minutes after taking off, but then they had to turn it back on. When they turned it back on I waited for the announcement about how the captain had turned on the sign, but the announcement was about buying Duty Free items.

Also, on British Airways, when they turned on the seat belt sign in the middle of the night, there was no announcement but just the light came on.

Everyone I have spoken to in Europe who flew Delta, Continental and American, said the fasten seat belt sign was on for almost the entire flight coming over to Europe. On BA coming over, it was on for maybe 50 minutes of the 8 hour flight.

I think US airlines should be required to have more toilets on the plane than the foreign airlines since we are not allowed to cue for the toilet and on a 9 hour flight, the fasten seat belt sign is off for only about 10 minutes.

By the way, I spoke to a pilot for American Airlines and he said it does not bother him if people are cueing for the toilet in the middle or back of the plane. However, he does not want people cueing up in first class next to the cabin door. This makes a lot of sense to me. What do you guys think.

"Try flying American from Miami to Honolulu. Were the meals 3 course meals as British Airways advertises with free beer and wine and full bar"

Wally.....MIA-HNL is a domestic flight. BA does not fly it. Domestic, international.....big difference. You don't get superior service on any airline in the world on their own terrain.

Hey, wally, did you hear that DL will be offering cocktails on their international flights from July 1 during mealtime? <b>They are calling your name!</b>

Saw this yesterday http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/060628/101433.html and the first thing that sprang to mind was our dear wally

And today I learned that &quot;cue&quot; is an acceptable variant of &quot;queue&quot;. Thanks wally!

Wally, after consuming so much booze, do you still care if some silly sign is on or off?

I sent American Airlines an Email suggesting that they offer a free red or white wine during their meals. So many people have switched to a foreign airline for flying to Europe because the U.S. airlines want to nickle and dime one to death. How much can a free wine cost during mealtime.

I refuse to drink a soda during my meal. I can understand that they do not want to fly the plane with a bunch of drunks, but come on, if you are going to serve a meal, make it enjoyable.

Might give Delta a try. When do they get individual tv monitors on their 767s