Monthly Archives for August 2019.
I’m often tired when I travel. Doing some exercises before bed helps, but between flights, time zone changes, and extremely long work days I find when I’m back home Friday morning that I’m dragging. In fact I can get up dragging while I’m on the road too. Coffee is part of my morning ritual.
But I won’t make coffee in my room.
The best airports are the ones get are easiest to get to and get through. They make your travel more efficient, rather than adding to an already cumbersome and stressful experience. That has little to do with how much high-end retail there is (airports offer expensive shopping for their benefit, not for yours).
That means the best airports are close-in, and once you get there security is near the entrance and gates are near security. There’s enough taxiway space and runway capacity to handle flights, too, minimizing delays.
Christopher Elliott bends himself into a pretzel to support whatever new narrative produces a pro-consumer, anti-business, populist column. He used to argue that coach passengers were subsidizing first class. He used to argue that loyalty programs are bad for you and should be avoided and also that the existence of first class was an affront to democracy.
Elliott seems to forget which direction traffic flowed over the Berlin Wall, and indeed not to realize that even North Korea’s Air Koryo and Cuba’s Cubana de Aviacion offer business class.
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.
If breakfast matters to you remember that IHG doesn’t promise it; Hilton offers just a continental breakfast but doesn’t exclude brands; Marriott’s breakfast benefit is improved but understanding it is like something out of a Fellini film; while Hyatt’s offerings are both more robust and more clear.
A requirement to avoid Chinese airspace for Cathay Pacific would add time and fuel expense to flights. The airline might choose to exert pressure on employees not to protest and even express support for protests in social media or be penalized by being unable to work.
Meanwhile Chinese media is reporting on state-owned enterprises instructing employees not to fly Cathay Pacific when other airline flights are available.
This is an attack on Cathay Pacific. It’s also an effort to leverage Cathay Pacific’s influence over its employees. And it’s a demonstration of the ability of mainland China to punish Hong Kong companies and workers for defiance.
Things got so bad yesterday that “the Port Authority shut down Terminals C and D to all traffic except Port Authority buses.” There were children walking down the highway, like refugees, hoping to escape the war zone for the airport.
Today? Things could even be worse.
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.
British Airways pilots have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, their right to strike has been upheld by the courts, but no strike has yet been scheduled. The airline and its pilots have been in government-facilitated negotiations, much like American Airlines and its mechanics.
Ultimately pilots can bring down an airline in a way no other work group can. Here’s what BA’s pilots reportedly want.
On May 19, 1967, Roy Knight, Jr. was shot down in Vietnam. The Air Force major was “attacking a target on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. He was missing in action, promoted to Colonel, and seven years later declared killed in action.
The Southwest Captain, who brought his father back to Dallas where he’d said his goodbyes 52 years earlier, can now close a chapter on a life that was “posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart and six Air Medals for his actions.”
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 »
