Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for July 2016.

A Simple Opportunity That Nearly Every Credit Card is Missing

by Gary Leff

Jul 08 2016

When I wrote about the sharia-compliant credit card in the UAE with a built-in compass so that cardmembers would always know what direction to pray, I said that feature seemed a bit much. And then I realized it helped to solve a practical problem that would give a reason for customers to carry it — and keep it top of wallet.

There aren’t very many practical problems that credit cards can solve beyond payments, rewards, and bundled benefits that aren’t easily duplicated by a smartphone.

Then I was reminded of the 1990 Dana Carvey film, Opportunity Knocks.

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Review: How the W Doha Hotel Called Out My Blog (But Was Still a Great Platinum Experience)

by Gary Leff

Jul 08 2016

The W Doha hotel is a great property, much more in line with the Ws of Asia than the US. It’s gorgeous, with friendly staff, and they treat Platinums well.

Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum members regularly receive upgrades to suites here. The breakfast benefit is the hotel’s full Market restaurant buffet. And the property is one of only 2 W hotels I know of with a club lounge.

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The DOT’s One Big Mistake in Awarding Havana, Cuba Flights to US Airlines

by Gary Leff

Jul 07 2016

The US gets to offer 20 daily flights to Havana, and 10 daily flights to each of Cuba’s 9 other international airports. There weren’t very many requests to fly to other cities, so all of those were granted as-requested last month.

American carriers submitted their requests to the Department of Transportation for Havana flights and there were requests for nearly 60. DOT had the task of divvying out 20 flights.

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American Airlines Announces the Debut of the Boeing 787-9 and Premium Economy

by Gary Leff

Jul 07 2016

This morning American announced the launch date for their brand new Boeing 787-9 to go into international service. These are the first planes from a US airline with an international premium economy cabin.

Service will commence to Madrid and to Sao Paulo on November 4 with the following schedule. Dallas – Madrid is the inaugural international flight. These flights will be available for booking starting July 10.

Here’s what you want to know.

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Review: Qatar Airways Airbus A380 First Class, Bangkok – Doha

by Gary Leff

Jul 07 2016

I was super excited for this flight because it’s an aircraft and a first class I hadn’t ever flown before. This would be the second of three Gulf carrier Airbus A380s I’d get to sample on this trip, which was exciting in itself for me. It wasn’t just one airline, it was all three of the Gulf carriers and sampling literally the best of what each had to offer over the course of about a week.

This would be the shortest of the flights, costing 45,000 miles and $22.35 in taxes apiece. Bangkok – Doha is less than seven hours. Qatar Airways only offers first class on their A380, and has only regularly scheduled the plane on medium-haul routes like London and Paris in the past. (There’s an A380 scheduled to Sydney starting in mid-September, but Melbourne and Auckland remain on Boeing 777s and US routes are either on 777s or Airbus A350s.)

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