Monthly Archives for November 2017.
I booked myself onto American’s inaugural Boeing 737 MAX 8 this morning from Miami to New York LaGuardia to see what American’s new tighter seating was like up close and personal.
It turns out the seats themselves are no worse than American’s current coach product. The power and overhead bin situation is an improvement. The problem was the lavatories.
The lounge is bright with fantastic views, which is really the only great thing you can say about it. There aren’t any servers to assist you, though plenty of staff are around to bus tables. And there aren’t any ‘plus’ features to speak of either.
The lounge was fine for what it was, a nice bright atmosphere to catch up between flights and a place for a shower. But it’s really more of a business class lounge that’s not too crowded than a first class lounge.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Earlier in the month I needed to be in Singapore. I booked Korean Air first class Houston – Seoul – Singapore for 95,000 points that I had transferred over from Chase.
Unfortunately Korean cancelled their Houston – Seoul flight. They were super accommodating though, and offered to buy me a flight out of Houston to connect to their Chicago flight. Even better I got them to buy me American Airlines first class Austin – Chicago.
Air Canada today announced what can reasonably be called a revolutionary lounge product for paid business class passengers: the Air Canada Signature Suite in Toronto. Last night I had the opportunity to tour the suite.
In order to come up with comparisons I have to talk about Qantas first class lounge, Etihad and Emirates first class sit down dining in their hubs. Those are first class experiences, and this is business class.
What’s truly deserving of derision is a hotel that introduces a new kind of resort fee into a market where they didn’t previously exist. So the title for either the dumbest fee, or the most underhanded management, goes to the Hilton New York.
They can’t really call the Hilton New York a resort. So they have an “Urban Destination Charge.”
My own take is that if you’ve got cash in your pocket then $5 for a 15 minute spa treatment is appropriate, and a buck or two per drink unless the bartender is going out of their way for you and doing something special.
If you think my approach to tipping generally is wrong, you should feel free to tip more, but American Express says you’re not expected to.
Since it’s been two years since Marriott bid to acquire Marriott so it’s easy to forget that the merger only closed 14 months ago.
They were never going to be fully integrated in 2018. The most optimistic assessments suggested a minimum of 18 months’ work. And there are two major constraints.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
The Associated Press‘s David Koenig asks American Airlines President Robert Isom about Basic Economy.
There’s a bit of hand waving in his answer, and a claim that is demonstrably false.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
