News and notes from around the interweb:
- Best value Hyatt redemptions comparing room rates to points cost.
- Lufthansa June ‘Mileage Bargains’ include 55,000 Miles & More mile roundtrips from Los Angeles, Detroit, and Philadelphia.
- Emirates says they’ll keep flying Airbus A380s until the mid-2030s
- Is he lying or truly out of touch with customers? The Chairman of Cathay Pacific claims most passengers like their new 10-across Boeing 777 coach configuration better than the old 9-across
- British Airways is testing redeeming Avios for last minute upgrades at the airport through end of month at London Heathrow Terminal 5 and only during the week.
- Korean Air is planning a new business class seat, but it’s at least 3 years off they’re also finally going to do inflight wifi.
@ Gary — Most people prefer a $90,000 salary over $100,000. Doesn’t everyone know that?
FYI Lufthansa says that as of May 24th 2019 they no longer are accepting Marriott points for transfers to Lufthansa miles. The agent told me they were instructed to say they did not know why this happened to who initiated it or whether it was permanent, only that it is no longer possible.
I’m with @Gene. To paraphrase a segment in Joe Dirt, you shouldn’t drink the bong water.
The Lufthansa link shows that possible destinations for business redemptions to Vienna are all from German cities, not “Los Angeles, Detroit, and Philadelphia.” Then again, I just polished off half a bottle of Turley Zin so I probably just missed something.
I bet the typical once per year traveler in long-haul economy, particularly to Asia, probably doesn’t notice any material difference in seat width between 9 across and 10 across configurations.
The experience is something to be endured either way. Putting myself in the typical traveler’s shoes, especially those traveling with a couple kids, i could definitely see a large fraction of people preferring the section of 4x in the middle. Some could even argue that more seats makes the same plane feel wider, psychologically.
@Robert F : just change the filter of departures to the Unites States.
When I read a comment like that from Cathay, I wonder: Who are these people on these planes who don’t care about comfort? I travel a lot, and I choose my flights so I don’t fly 10-abreast 777s. I bet most of you here do too.
But maybe most people on the plane don’t? So my question is – really! this is a question! – On a typical plane, what proportion of the passengers fly x numbers of times per year (x=<1, 1, 2, 3, etc.)? I mean: If 80% of the folks on the plane travel once per year or fewer times, then statements like that from Cathay make sense … and I could see why the airlines don't really care about me and I'm fine with that. Does anyone have that info? My googling didn't find it.
Requested transfer 5/15, received 5/20 (11,000 miles–exactly the extra amount I needed for RT 1st class since the devaluation).