As part of the American and US Airways settlement with the Department of Justice which allowed the two airlines to merge, the new carrier was required to divest itself of 52 “slot pairs” at Washington National airport. Basically, US Airways wasn’t going to be allowed to get any bigger at National than it was already. So they’re giving up takeoffs and landings the size of the existing American Airlines operation there. Washington National has slot controls, limitations on the number of flights that can operate there. Though they had to give up 52 takeoffs and landings, it’s actually just 44 flights since American was already leasing out some of their slots. While the required slot sales aren’t final, the result of some communities losing service. We don’t have details of all of the schedule changes…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for January 2014.
A Quick Jaunt to Southern India: Etihad First Class Lounge, and Etihad First Class Abu Dhabi – Washington Dulles
Jan
15
2014
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles Etihad First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Etihad Business Class Lounge, Abu Dhabi Terminal 1, and Abu Dhabi – Chennai Business Class Park Hyatt Chennai Eating South Indian Food in Chennai Chennai – Abu Dhabi, Etihad Business Class Transit security entering terminal 3, just like the regular security queue after passport control for Abu Dhabi-originating passengers, drops you off right in front of Etihad’s business and first class lounges (which share a common entrance). The lounges are upstairs, so you can either take an elevator up or a stairway where you’re greeted by Etihad agents ready to check your credentials, guide you to the appropriate lounge, and encourage you to make a spa booking. I visited this Etihad First Class lounge earlier in the…
New Routes With Great Award Space, Free Room Nights With Account Signup, and a Whole Lotta Cash (Bits ‘n Pieces for January 15, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: New Airbnb customers get a free night worth up to $300 and how to do very bad things with it. American is finally releasing business class award and upgrade space on its Dallas – Hong Kong flight. Lots of it. Too much. Either it’s a mistake and won’t last long, or the route is already on the chopping block with new management. Or both. Etihad is adding a second New York JFK – Abu Dhabi flight. Award availability is amazing (as are most Etihad flights). They’re going to be using a Jet Airways aircraft, rather than one of their own (still suites in first class) and eventually this Etihad flight will be operated by Jet Airways. I find Etihad an excellent use of American Airlines miles for travel…
100% Bonus Buying US Airways Miles: Cheapest Way to Buy American Airlines Miles, But Only If You Bought Miles Last Year
US Airways is running a 100% bonus for mileage purchases through January 31st for people who purchased miles in 2013. Thank you for buying miles in 2013! For a limited time, as a special “thank you”, enjoy 100% bonus miles when you buy Dividend Miles -up to 50,000 miles Hurry, this exclusive 100% bonus offer ends January 31, 2014. They first verify your account information before showing you the offer (or not, if you aren’t eligible). US Airways ran — both targeted and non-targeted — versions of the 100% purchase miles or share miles bonus for most of 2013. This airline has been the single most aggressive in selling miles, and at a price point lower than most other carriers offer their miles. That’s why frequent flyer forum member and View from the Wing commenter…
JetBlue Offering Double Points That Count Towards Elite Status
For tickets purchased and flown between today and March 3, JetBlue is offering ‘double base points’ — 6 points per dollar spent instead of the 3 and they count towards ‘Mosaic’ status. Registration is required and previously purchased tickets for travel during the promotion period don’t count (hate that). You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
A Quick Jaunt to Southern India: Clipper Lounge and Chennai – Abu Dhabi in Etihad Business Class
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles Etihad First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Etihad Business Class Lounge, Abu Dhabi Terminal 1, and Abu Dhabi – Chennai Business Class Park Hyatt Chennai Eating South Indian Food in Chennai Etihad has one flight a day in and out of Chennai. It arrives and departs in the middle of the night, scheduled for just over an hour on the ground. It departs Abu Dhabi from a bus gate, and perhaps that’s why the flight perenially runs a few minutes late and squeezes the turnaround time in Chennai. And as a result if leaves Abu Dhabi a bit late too. That’s interesting to me not because the flight is unreliable, it isn’t, delays tend to be short. But because in the Middle East and…
Is Air France KLM’s Flying Blue Getting Even More Frustrating to Deal With in Issuing Awards?
Some of the Best Programs Have Frustrating Quirks I’m a big fan of Avianca’s LifeMiles program because they offer a reasonable Star Alliance award chart, one-way awards, you can buy the bulk of the miles you need either when they run a (frequent) 100% purchase bonus or at time of ticketing through their ‘cash and points’ option. What I don’t like about the program is that they have a sometimes-frustrating website and an always-frustrating call center, and they don’t permit “mixed cabin” awards. If you have a business class award to Europe, you cannot include a domestic flight segment in coach. Every flight has to be booked into the same cabin. Flying Blue Has Long Been Difficult With Mixed Cabin Awards Here’s the thing I haven’t seen much written about. Air France KLM’s Flying Blue…
American Eagle Gives Itself a Name That It Can’t Possibly Live Up To
American Eagle Airlines will change its name to Envoy. Here’s the trick. American Eagle is a wholly owned subsidiary operating feeder flights and thin routes for American. Recently American has taken on more regional partners to do flying for them. And US Airways has non-owned regional airline partners flying for them. And that regional flying needs a name. Like United Express and US Airways Express, a brand that encompasses all of the contracted airlines flying small aircraft. So American wants to use ‘American Eagle’ to represent all of these airlines, not just their one subsidiary. As a result they’re renaming the subsidiary. So far, so good. But… Envoy? “By taking on the Envoy name, we can better differentiate ourselves from the competition and better market ourselves. …The name was chosen because Envoy is reflective of…
2500 Free Miles, 25% Off Redemptions, and 15% Off Shopping (Bits ‘n Pieces for January 14, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb:ANA Mileage Club members save 15% at Bloomingdale’s 2500 bonus miles for joining Jet Airways JetPrivilege 25% off Virgin Atlantic economy redemptions This actually exists. You can Starwood’s Take a Spin Game each day through February 7. American settled a 9/11 negligence suite over 9/11 with Cantor Fitzgerald for $135 million. Perhaps a reader familiar with bankruptcy law can explain why American’s liability wasn’t discharged in their chapter 11 proceedings? (I’m no suggesting it should have been, I am not at all an expert in this, but I’m curious.) You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me…
A Quick Jaunt to Southern India: A Taste of South Indian Food and My Hero, Park Hyatt Assistant Duty Manager Arun
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles Etihad First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Etihad Business Class Lounge, Abu Dhabi Terminal 1, and Abu Dhabi – Chennai Business Class Park Hyatt Chennai Chennai isn’t a tourist city the way that Delhi or Mumbai are (not that those are primarily tourist cities). Nonetheless there are certainly things to see and do there, a former colleague from there flagged especially Mahabalipuram a UNESCO World Heritage Site an hour and a half outside the city center, 11th century temple Varadaraja Perumal temple, 7th century temple Kapaleeshwarar,m and 8th century temple Triplicane where you’ll see elephants as well. Marina Beach in Chennai is the world’s second longest, and there’s Ashtalakshmi Temple which is on Besant Nagar beach. There’s plenty of shopping for silks, handicrafts, and…
