English
Layovers - Air Travel podcast
by Paul Papadimitriou
Layovers — The Air Travel podcast. For the Love of Air Travel - by Paul Papadimitriou
Episodes
164 FUK - Japan, the Long Way Round: Planes, Trains & Ferries
30 Oct 2026 · 2 h 41
Paul has just got back from Fukuoka, and the route he took makes no sense on paper - a true scenic route: 8 flights, 6 layovers, including sleeping at airports. Add two Shinkansen trains, a laminate wood floor train, a smoky first class, a ferry, and more, and it's been a real fun adventure. Along…
163 OSA - Tokyo, Sapporo, Osaka: The Delight of Flying Domestic in Japan
30 Sept 2026 · 2 h 27
Vinod returns to share a three-week family journey through Tokyo, Sapporo, and Osaka, plus more in between — and the choices along the way: fly or ride the Shinkansen, explore the airport or head into the city, and which flight is worth taking just for the aircraft. Paul and Vinod compare Air…
162 LAX - Premiumization in the Front, Shrinkflation in the Back: The State of Air Travel Today with Hakan Yilmaz
3 Sept 2026 · 2 h 22
Hakan Yilmaz is an airline management and operations consultant, and a longtime listener to the show. He returns to the podcast to share everything relevant in aviation today, what he sees through his work and travels. Notably, we discuss the trend of the enhancement (and increase) of the premium…
161 AAR - The Visual Culture of Air Travel: The Maps, the Designs, the Voyages That Made Us Fall in Love With Flying, with Christian Nolle
4 Aug 2026 · 2 h 31
Christian Nolle is a maker, designer, photographer, whose work focuses on aviation culture, the stories behind route maps, and the historical impact of flying on what ties us all together and makes us dream. He is the editor of Direction of Travel . We discuss everything, from his obsession with…
160 SDU - The Airports and Airlines That Made Brazil, and Inspired Us to Fly There
29 Jun 2026 · 2 h 16
Varig, VASP, Panair, the names are long gone, but they put Brazil on the map for us, alongside iconic cinema imagery and a legendary national football team that captured every kid's imagination. Grab a caipirinha (and some black licorice) as we chart how the jet age shaped our vision of the…
159 HEL - Finnair cocoon, Air North to Kelowna, boarding zone police, Dubai plane spotting, tug slippage
18 May 2026 · 2 h 37
Two sagas of snow and ice: going to Dubai via Helsinki, in that unconventional (revolutionary?) cocoon seat by Finnair, and to Kelowna (YLW) with the appropriately named Air North — snowy take offs, blueberry juice and de-icing drama (no blueberry juice was used to de-ice, but an in-flight…
158 LIN - American Flagship hopes, Cortina Olympics ride, Flighty Intelligence, crew cosplay, LH on-demand cleaning
16 Apr 2026 · 2 h 18
Vinod's Olympics adventure: Flagship lounge, Flagship upgrade, Flagship Wifi (err), Flagship chicken, Flagship plane (well…), all the hopes and expectations of American Airlines Flagship were placed into that trip. And that Black Card! That vintage boarding pass! Does the British Airways return…
157 KMJ - Japan by air, 17 hours to Perth, tensions and airfare rising, uniforms and identity, Qsuite ganache
17 Mar 2026 · 2 h 34
Ever wondered what it’s like to fly 17+ hours straight? Matt Drinkwater comes to share his experience with Qantas on the near-Kangaroo route to Perth (we talk the past and present of that route), and more, onto Brisbane. Matt and Paul share a deep bond with Japan, and discuss the beauty, and…
156 JFK T1 - Lufthansa Allegris Tetris, Air Canada A330, JFK faster than fast-track, 100th liveries, JetClock, how to choose a seat
22 Feb 2026 · 2 h 34
The road that Lufthansa took to get to their new business class seemed somewhat long and convoluted, Paul is finally able to tell you if it was worth the wait (choosing a seat on Allegris might be as long and convoluted a process though). And hey, there are no less than 5 outside cameras on their…
155 FLIGHTY - Flighty: Reinventing Flight Tracking and the air travel experience, with Ryan Jones, Founder CEO at Flighty
20 Jan 2026 · 2 h 05
Flighty has changed how we experience air travel. The flight tracking app, which obsessively focuses on the user experience and data accuracy, has been mentioned in nearly all our episodes since Paul got on the beta in early 2019, and we're so pleased to welcome Ryan Jones, the Founder CEO of…
154 LGA - United fairly tale, Qatar-ish premium economy, SeatGuru farewell, Hanoi underground tension, ORD forever taxiing
25 Dec 2025 · 2 h 30
Alex finally boards a Qatar Airways flight, and finds how to get a premium economy seat in this airline that doesn't have premium economy (not through that ethernet port though). Paul completely changes his mind about United, a true Christmas miracle (and a possible playbook for BA), what an…
153 ROLLS-ROYCE - Inside Rolls-Royce: engineering excellence, how airplane turbine blades are born at the edge of science
30 Nov 2025 · 2 h 21
We are at Rolls-Royce , exploring the engineering marvels behind aviation engines, the inner workings behind the quiet hums of those incredible machine. We dive into the importance of expertise, heat management, and innovation in ensuring engine durability and performance. Most importantly, we…
152 ZNZ - Is Premium Economy premium, when BA was Emirates, Precision Air approximation, caravaning Cessna, Emirates A350
10 Nov 2025 · 2 h 26
A lot of Premium Economy, a lot of BA, a bit of Safari Link, some Precision Air, and a sparkle of Emirates.
151 WDH - Skeleton Coast driving, Canada wide-body bingo, Namibia airfields, Airlink Embraer, SWISS chocolate, ZRH dance
15 Oct 2025 · 2 h 60
A Skeleton Coast drive, a wide-body bingo, and some SWISS chocolates.
150 CND - cookware security, voltage chaos, airline excellence truths, boarding Tetris, the one real European business class
31 Aug 2025 · 2 h 22
More adventures for our 150th, from seemingly attempting to cook mid-flight, to landing in an abandoned primary school.
149 TYO - Narita rave, airline soundtracks, arrivals hell, Tokyo's airport of tomorrow, LEGO MUC, pre-recorded captain
29 Jul 2025 · 2 h 13
Raves at Narita? On the apron? Can you bring your own air vent? What?
148 JTR - double upgrade bug, Hoper islands copters, BA transatlantic variance, 747s of the seas, easyJet Plus, Air India tragedy
18 Jun 2025 · 2 h 19
Alex listens to LiveATC as ASMR, whilst Paul recaptures the Greece of his youth.
147 LIR - new JAL 350 to Haneda, ode to the 757, cockpit cigars and whisky, ATL golden hour, exclusive airline statuses
23 May 2025 · 2 h 23
From Tokyo in what may be the best business class there is, to Costa Rica for the battle of the carts, with a joyful ode to the wild horse of aircrafts, the 757.
146 CUR - KLM timeline, Starlink is airborne, Doha First ceilings, Heathrow fire, UK ETA, bubbly for the pilot
22 Apr 2025 · 2 h 08
From tech glitches to pristine skies, from the hustle of DXB T1 to an unexpected flyby in Curaçao, we taste turbulences, KLM food, and airborne Starlink speeds.
145 KUL - AF001 fragrance, long-haul family, blue liveries, Jewel bathtub plug, hidden runways, what is premium economy
14 Mar 2025 · 2 h 25
YVR-SIN-KUL-SIN-TPE-NRT, a long-haul family adventure, and not on a dusty train.