For all the complaints about award travel, and this is something I’ve written about before (and by no means to brag), I really don’t have too much trouble finding award seats. That’s partly because I have a critical mass account balance with several different airlines and major alliances, so when I go to redeem if there isn’t availability with one I simply query another. But it’s also because I redeem nmostly for premium class international travel, and while those tickets aren’t always available on all routes by any means, I’ve often seen the biggest complaints – with a few notable exceptions – to be about the old fashioned 25,000 mile domestic awards. And those are hardly the best value anyway. I’d just assume pay my $250 – $400 for a flight between DC and California,…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for July 2007.
What Transportation Used to Cost
Tyler Cowen points to what the cost of transportation used to be, from The Pursuit of Glory, Europe 1648-1815 In England it was calculated that one horse was needed for every mile of a journey on a well-maintained turnpike road. So, for the 185 miles from Manchester to London, 185 horses had to be kept stabled and fed to deal with the seventeen changes required by the stagecoaches which traveled the route. Those horses in turn required an army of coachmen, postillions, guards, grooms, ostlers and stable-boys to keep them running. …A journey from Augsburg to Innsbruck by stagecoach, although little more than 60 miles as the crow flies, would have cost an unskilled laborer more than a month’s wages just for the fare. Kinda puts gripes about airfare in perspective.
More Thai Culinary Blogging
This past weekend I cooked some more of the Thai food I learned to make in a cooking class earlier in the month in Khao Lak. This time, in addition to remaking the soup and chicken dishes previously mentioned, I made duck in red curry. Gaeng Phet Ped Yang (Roasted Duck in Red Curry) roast duck red curry paste veggie oil coconut milk light coconut milk baby eggplant cherry tomato kaffir lime leaf lychee diced pineapple sugar palm fish sauce Heat the oil, add chili paste, then add and saute thinly sliced duck. Add coconut milk, light coconut milk, tomato, eggplant, kaffir lime leaf, sugar palm, salt, and fish sauce. Serve with rice. Yum!
3-cabin Planes Sold as Two Class
I have a hard time understanding why Thai Airways runs their updated 3-class 747s with angled lay flat business seats and true flat first class seats on a short run like Bangkok-Phuket. Seems like poor fleet planning at first glance, though I haven’t looked at whether the planes also fly internationally and this is just a way to get a few extra hours’ of flying time out of them. Asiana does something similar, flying 3-class planes sold as 2-class. (I flew Hong Kong-Seoul earlier this month, and an old style 747 was running the route on the day I traveled.) Trick is just to request the first rows of the plane when traveling on a business class ticket. Worked no problem for me on both carriers.Of course, American still does the same thing on certain…
Freudian Slip Fare Basis Codes
Cranky Flier used to work in revenue management for America West (which has since acquired USAirways and took their name). He points to the fare basis code for a USAirways one-way B fare codeshare from LAX to Sydney. Hint: it’s not family friendly. He speculates that this one was inadvertant, though I do occasionally see fare basis codes designed to telegraph competitive intentions or otherwise send messages to competing carriers (the occasional ‘FU’ in the up to eight letter designation). In this case, the fare Cranky Flier refers to is likely not sending a message… just a funny confluence of designators. I verified this myself, pulling up one-way USAirways fares using the KVS Availability Tool: [KVS Availability Tool 2.8.5/Platinum – Sabre: Fares/ZUJ/SG/USD] LAX Los Angeles Int’l CA US [KLAX] SYD Sydney Kingsford Smith NS AU…
Hopefully United Has Thought of This…
Jul
24
2007
As United rolls out the new international premium class product, some aircraft will have the new configuration and some will not — and the planes have very different configurations, very different number of premium class seats. United is famous for aircraft swaps, unfortunately this has happened most recently with mainline A320s to TED (no first class) and before that it was downgrading regular 737s to old Shuttle aircraft that used to service the West Coast only. These aircraft swaps are disruptive, with different seating configurations. And ticketed first class passengers, in the TED example, go to an all-coach configuration. Not as big a deal on domestic routes as long-haul international. But dropping 21 business class seats from the 747 has the potentially to be hugely disruptive. Either United will hold back most upgrades until the…
Bic Lighters Still Dangerous for a Few More Days
We have to take off our shoes walking through TSA security checkpoints, because Richard Reid’s shoes had wires coming out of them and nobody noticed. And lighters were banned because if Richard Reid had had a lighter he might have been able to light his shoes on fire. But even the TSA now admits the lighter part is silly. Lighters are safe. At least they will be on August 4th. But as Mike Boyd points out, until midnight on August 3rd they are apparently still dangerous.At least at some point in the future shampoo may no longer be dangerous. But I won’t count on it. Update: Upgrade: Travel Better points out just how surreal it is that lighters carrying fluid that’s flammable are ok.. but water is still somehow a security threat.
Should Priceline like, um, book hotels for its own guests on Priceline?
According to HotelChatter, when Priceline books rooms for out of town guests to its corporate headquarters, they reserve the nearby Doubletree… they don’t actually name their own price on Priceline.
United’s New Premium Cabin Seats
Jul
23
2007
United is refitting its international widebody fleet with new first and business class seats beginning in the fall (with the 767s) and ending two and a half years from now. United’s promo site is here. Business class will feature: true lie-flat seats (not the angled-flat wedgie seats) some rear-facing seats in business class 15″ lcd video screens and video on demand iPod adapter and standard outlets for seat power This will give United the best seats among US-based carriers. But they’re hardly world-leading. Virgin, Air New Zealand, Singapore, British Airways, and Cathay Pacific already offer similar business class seats. Those last three all offer first class as well, with products that will still surpass United’s (and we’re not even getting into the ‘soft product’ of food, service, and amenities – more about that below). Along…
$17 Radisson Shanghai
For the second half of September the Shanghai Radisson is pricing at $17 instead of $117 at GTAHotels.com. It’s an ‘on request’ booking, so far from guaranteed that it will be honored.
