Monthly Archives for November 2023.
Delta Airlines has increased the price of its Sky Club memberships and limited lounge access for American Express cardholders, leading to creative cost-offsetting tactics by members, including one who calculates breaking even by taking salami slices from the lounge. This behavior, reminiscent of past incidents where lounge amenities were exploited, raises questions about the impact of such strategies on airline policies and lounge experiences.
The blog post explores unconventional strategies for navigating long lines at airport security, particularly when facing the risk of missing a flight, suggesting that in dire circumstances, cutting lines or using guerilla tactics can be justified. It delves into the ethical and practical aspects of these actions, using personal experiences and examples to illustrate situations where bending the usual airport norms might be necessary for catching a flight.
The best flyers prefer aisle seats, and airlines even value the business more of those who do. Aisle seats are just better than window seats, and we don’t even need to talk about the dreaded middle.
If you’re in the aisle seat you don’t get those window seat views, but those are better in theory than practice outside of the first and final minutes of a flight. And you do have to get up to let other passengers into the aisle if they need to use the restroom. So there are tradeoffs, but they’re minor compared to the 6 reasons that aisle seats are best.
Qatar has one of the best business class product in the world in its ‘QSuites’ that offer doors and movable partitions that allow two and even four passengers to travel together in their own space. Their QSuite is a fantastic hard product, and service and food in the air are outstanding.
Right now there’s amazing award availability at the end of the booking window. Specifically you’ll find 2 business class award seats across late August and beyond. You can use this for travel from the U.S. to Doha and onward to the Mideast, India, the Maldives and even to Africa.
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.
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan has announced new award charts to go live in March that are based on distance and now cover all of their partners. Some awards get more expensive, others less expensive, but overall the changes aren’t nearly as significant as I would expect for such a revamp – while moving to clear, consistent pricing across all of their partner airlines which has been a problem in the past. They’re giving us far more notice than usual. And many of their best non-stop awards become cheaper with this change.
Around 900 Jews from Detroit flew to D.C. to join a protest march against Hamas, seeking return of hostages taken on October 7th. However bus drivers who had been contracted to pick up the group from Washington Dulles airport learned of the purpose of the trip, and reportedly engaged in a sick out, refusing to pick up the group. After scrambling for transportation around 600 people made it, while 300 – stuck on the tarmac for hours – eventually returned home
American Airlines pilot Jeff Fell made a tear-jerker of an announcement to the cabin of his last flight, from Charlotte to Chicago O’Hare. A pilot’s last flight is very special, and can be accompanied by family and friends and will often receive a water cannon salute. “If I get a little emotional, please forgive me for that.”
You run into someone at the airport that you haven’t seen for years. You wind up on the same flight together – seated next to each other! They want to chat, you want to sleep. How do you handle this “without coming across as rude?”
A recent discussion created online buzz wondering whether it’s necessary to tip the person who cleans airport lounge showers between each use? The poster prompting the discussion tipped $5 at a Delta Sky Club and felt bad for not tipping $10. This seems to be thinking about the issue all wrong.
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 »
