Monthly Archives for March 2018.
A little over a year ago British Airways laid out their plans to offer a product that’s a close as possible to economy on Norwegian’s Boeing 787s. Their London Gatwick-based 777s would get 10-across seating in coach and in total add 52 seats.
The plan is to offer a product that won’t be better than a low cost carrier, so they don’t appear to be going for a revenue premium. They want to push cost per seat as low as possible and just compete on price.
American’s Flagship First Dining is the best lounge offering in the United States. I used to argue that distinction went to the Qantas first class lounge at LAX, but all three American spaces open so far are more peaceful and JFK especially but also the others have better views.
There are really just two shortcomings, in my opinion.
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.
Just over a year ago Carlson Hotels was purchased by Chinese travel conglomerate HNA. And the loyalty program has now rebranded.
The airline gets a lot of buzz out of its flashy first class products, a halo effect that convinces people they’re a premium airline. But the truth is somewhat more complicated. Their business class lags most of the world on the majority of their fleet.
Emirates has unveiled a new new business class. Here are photos of the new product which begins flying tomorrow.
An American Airlines flight attendant recently asked the carrier’s President Robert Isom, “What is being done to create more consistency in onboard service for example I commute through Denver, Denver-Phoenix you might see one service with a different crew base side you might see a different service.”
Isom, though, saw this as an opportunity to emphasize the theme of consistency which is important to the airline all of a sudden.
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.
Traditionally ‘premium’ domestic markets have been limited to New York – Los Angeles and San Francisco because they’re premium revenue markets and East Coast – Hawaii because though it’s primarily leisure it’s a longer flight than Europe. That means at a minimum lie flat seats up front.
There’s increasing competition offering a premium product on other routes from United, Delta, and JetBlue.
Regular readers know that I’m thrilled by the support travel companies have given to same sex marriage. Travel providers do tend to be more socially liberally than the countries in which they’re based. That’s true all over the world, they bring people into contact with other cultures and bring foreign experiences home.
But now, in the aftermath of Delta’s PR debacle ending a discount arrangement with the NRA, Delta says they may stop offering discounts to “any group of a politically divisive nature.” Will that end Delta’s support for LGBT groups?
On Friday United sent out a memo that they’re eliminating quarterly performance bonuses of up to $300 and replacing those with a lottery which fewer than 2% of United’s employees will receive anything from.
Employees are not happy about this change. A flight attendant created a change.org petition detailing grievances, but was forced to close it.
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 »
