Avianca LifeMiles is the only Star Alliance frequent flyer program with an award chart that doesn’t add surcharges to any awards when redeeming miles. I’ll show you how to get some awards for even fewer miles than the award chart promises, and other tricks of the program to make your redemptions go farther.
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.
Since Delta has been on a long-term path to end do.mestic first class upgrades they want you to think of extra legroom coach seats as an ‘upgrade’. They don’t let you just select these extra legroom ‘Comfort+’ seats if you have elite status.
Flewber sounds like Uber, and it’s app-based booking of private flights in the Northeast. They serve Boston, New York, East Hampton and Nantucket. And at $700 roundtrip — or $400 one-way — they even include a rebate to Uber to the airport.
They’re expanding to Philadelphia and DC and within 2 years to “Florida, Texas, California, Washington state, and Chicago.”
It doesn’t appear this worked, and I think I know why. $500 on a domestic midcon flight should be enough, the premium over extra legroom coach to buy first class is usually much less than that, and there’s a good chance that someone up front didn’t pay anything at all. However if flight attendants are going to get into the middle of a transaction, they’re going to need to be afforded a cut.
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.
Virgin Atlantic announced their brand new business class in April but it wasn’t yet possible to buy a flight with these news seats.
The product will debut on the airline’s new Airbus A350 aircraft. Every seat is angled towards the window, has power, and the center seats in the 1-2-1 configuration have privacy screens. All seats are fully flat with direct aisle access.
Seat switching etiquette is – I think – fairly well established, at least here in the United States. You’re entitled to the seat on your boarding pass. If someone prefers a seat other than the one to which they’re assigned they should ask politely, but it’s entirely up to the person with the desired seat whether or not to switch. They can say no for any reason, or no reason.
If you want to switch seats it pays to have a generally desirable seat. Don’t offer me a bulkhead window seat in first class, or a middle seat by the lavatory in coach. If you have a poor seat and you’re asking to switch be extra nice, have an extra good reason, and even consider offering something (find a Coasian solution: offer your worse seat plus cash).
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.
I’ve reviewed this property several times, and a review (there’s a great pool!) isn’t the point of this post. Instead it’s elite benefits on a simple trip that I didn’t have to go halfway around the world to take advantage of.
There’s an important lesson for airlines, too. Increasingly airlines treat you based on how much you’re spending on a given ticket. But when you’re spending a lot on a ticket, at least when it’s not transatlantic business class where you need a night’s sleep before going straight to work on the other end, you may not even care much about the treatment. Real loyalty is secured on cheaper stays or points redemptions when you’re creating moments with family.
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 »
