Brian Sumers expresses concern at the silly naming of LAX as the best airport in North America by Business Traveller magazine. There’s no conceivable universe in which LAX is the best airport in North America. In many ways it belongs grouped with the worst airports. Unquestionably the Tom Bradley terminal is one of the most improved. But many of the terminals are unconnected inside security, and it can take 20 minutes or more just to drive around the terminals. Traffic at that airport is horrendous. Over the summer I named LAX the second worst airport in the U.S.. I grouped it with Miami, New York JFK, and Washington Dulles. You take a train outside security between terminals at JFK.. and a train to where you can pick up hotel shuttles. But what are the best…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for January 2015.
Review: American Airlines “Flagship” First Class Lounge, Los Angeles
Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal Cathay Pacific First Class, Los Angeles – Hong Kong Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok Grand Hyatt Bangkok: Suite, Club Lounge, and Facilities Thai Molecular Gastronomy at Sra Bua in Bangkok Getting Custom Tailored Suits Made in Bangkok at Empire Tailors Nahm at the Metropolitan: the Best Thai Food in Thailand? Thailand’s Iron Chef Cooks Ancient Recipes in a Deserted Top Notch Restaurant Eating The Best Local Thai Dishes in the Bangrak Neighborhood of Bangkok Louis Tavern CIP Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Bangkok-Singapore Grand…
An Air Traffic Controller Pay Dispute Led to Unmanned Airspace, Aer Lingus Doesn’t Want to Be Swallowed by British Airways, and bmi Still Flying!
News and notes from around the interweb: Sign up your family for Aegean frequent flyer accounts, and pool their signup bonuses to use yourself. Free miles! Aer Lingus has rejected a second, increased takeover offer from British Airways and Iberia parent IAG Minor news for sure, but bmi regional will operate 4 European routes on behalf of Lufthansa from Munich. It’s just good to see the bmi name live on in some form, as a former bmi elite member from the time the airline was a part of the Star Alliance and before it was acquired by British Airways. bmi regional represents the stuff BA didn’t want, and operates fourteen Embraer ERJ-145s and four 135s. The ‘few bad apples’ at the TSA are going to start screening a whole lot more airport employees because of…
All Is Not Well in Labor Land at the New American Airlines: America West Pilots Gain an Independent Seat at the Table
When US Airways and America West merged, the airline faced contentious labor integration issues. The pilots in particular never formally got to a new contract with merged senior list. For them, the merger with American Airlines presented a final opportunity not just for increased pay but for finally overcoming the wounds the US Airways and America West pilots inflicted on each other. America West and US Airways pilots were both represented by the same umbrella union organization. As such, they had a built-in mechanism for determining how the senior lists of the two airlines would be integrated. US Airways had gone through two bankruptcies. It was judged to be a ‘failed carrier.’ As a result, US Airways furloughed pilots were supposed to go to the bottom of the seniority list at the merged airline for…
Chase Sapphire Preferred Remains the Best Rewards Card for 2015
I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Key Link: Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Chase Sapphire Preferred has been — and remains — the best all-around, most rewarding personal credit card for the past four years. If you’re just getting started in the hobby, it’s the card you should get. And it plays a key role in the wallets of many of the most experienced miles and points enthusiasts. Here’s why. There are three key value…
Review: Qantas A380 First Class, Sydney – Los Angeles
Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal Cathay Pacific First Class, Los Angeles – Hong Kong Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok Grand Hyatt Bangkok: Suite, Club Lounge, and Facilities Thai Molecular Gastronomy at Sra Bua in Bangkok Getting Custom Tailored Suits Made in Bangkok at Empire Tailors Nahm at the Metropolitan: the Best Thai Food in Thailand? Thailand’s Iron Chef Cooks Ancient Recipes in a Deserted Top Notch Restaurant Eating The Best Local Thai Dishes in the Bangrak Neighborhood of Bangkok Louis Tavern CIP Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Bangkok-Singapore Grand…
American AAdvantage Suffers a Data Hack, in Process of Re-Assigning Some Member Frequent Flyer Account Numbers
United MileagePlus was the victim of a data security breach at the end of last month. They’re hardly the first loyalty program to face this. Hilton HHonors members now have to certify that they aren’t robots every time they log into their accounts. This follows Hilton points for sale in large quantities on the DarkNet. My general understanding of why Starwood points were set up to take so long in transferring to airline miles, years ago, was to combat fraud — points pushed to outside accounts were hard to retrieve. (Specifically there was a fear of fraud by insiders.) It’s not really surprising then that some American AAdvantage accounts have been compromised. American is locking accounts that were accessed by an unauthorized third party, and e-mailing the members with a new account number. This process…
Did You Wonder What a Hotel Has to Actually Do For You If You’re Dissatisfied?
I’ve found that Starwood hotels are the best overall at responding to complaints. If something goes wrong on a stay, an email to Corporate Customer Service (customercare -at- starwoodhotels.com) generally takes care of it. I find that most of the time a meaningful complaint yields points equal to a free night’s stay at a given hotel. It seems that Starwood seems to have the most control over its individual properties, and corporate headquarters is the most empowered to make things right unilaterally. The hotel itself, of course, it the one that’s going to wind up paying for any ‘make good’. Most chains aren’t quite as responsive as Starwood. But thanks to the Hilton brand standards documents we know exactly what Hilton hotels are responsible for. Hilton has separate documents for each of their brands and…
Hilton Has an Elite Status Level I Didn’t Even Know Existed. Here’s What It Is.
I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Prompted by my post on Accor’s loyalty manual, which follows summaries I’ve written of private ‘hotel eyes only’ documents for several chains: Secrets that Holiday Inn Express Tells Hotel Owners Secret Rules of the Club Carlson Hotel Program Best Western’s Hotel Manual Revealed …reader Bryan pointed me to Hilton’s proprietary standards documents for each of their regions and brands which are available unprotected online. One interesting tidbit that…
Frequent Traveler University Dallas in April: the Only Large FTU Event in 2015
The next USA TODAY TRAVEL Frequent Traveler University is April 17-19 at the Hyatt Regency DFW, minutes from the Dallas Fort Worth airport. I’ve had conversations at the last week, and with a number of other commitments through 2015 this will be the only large Frequent Traveler University this year. As you’re only chance to go to an FTU, with hundreds of other like-minded frequent flyers for a weekend and great speakers, you’ll want to get your tickets right away! Frequent Traveler University ($149) Hotel booking link – Hyatt Regency DFW special $99 rate Some of the speakers include: Seth Miller, Wandering Aramean Gary Leff, View from the Wing Ben Schlappig, One Mile at a Time Summer Hull, Mommy Points Ed Pizzarello, Pizza in Motion Greg Davis-Keane, Frequent Miler Stefan Krasowski, Rapid Travel Chai Scott…
