Sep 19 2016

Nearly three years ago the story went viral about a man who would buy and refund an airline ticket each day using that ticket to gain lounge access and eat free for a year.

Two years ago a man did this 36 times with Lufthansa’s lounges and they sent him a bill for 2000 euros. Airlines often have requirements in their contracts of carriage saying that you actually have to intend to fly when buying a ticket and this sort of behavior is highly suggestive that the man never intended to actually fly.

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Sep 19 2016

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.

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Sep 18 2016

You can use Virgin America’s points for about 2.2 cents apiece towards travel on Virgin America, or for fixed-point redemptions on their partners. So 1000 points are worth ~ $22. You can get more value than that with partner awards.

And these will eventually become Alaska Airlines miles, as well.

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Sep 18 2016

Rapper Coolio and his crew were found with a stolen gun at LAX. Coolio had passed through the security checkpoint and boarded his flight, while his security guard was detained by TSA when a bag was discovered with a loaded gun inside.

Coolio was removed from the flight. It was determined other items in the confiscated bag were his, and though his security guard first claimed the Compton-born star had nothing to do with it, he fessed up to being its own. The gun, however, was stolen. But the story gets better…

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Sep 18 2016

In the two years I’ve lived in Austin I’ve developed some real favorite foods — Lamberts for barbecue in a sit-down restaurant, Home Slice for Pizza, Clark’s Oyster Bar, Peached Tortilla, Chi’lantro for kimchee fries and bulgogi tacos.

On the whole the biggest thing I’ve given up compared to DC is Asian food. Though plenty of people have their favorites, I don’t find the Thai or Vietnamese up to par (though there are places I’ll go to in a pinch). But there’s one Asian cuisine where Austin beats DC, and that’s sushi (though Takumi in Falls Church is recommendable). And the best of the bunch is brand new.

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Sep 18 2016

A year ago I highlighted excitement over roundtrip fares to Amsterdam for under $600 roundtrip. Several cities were available in the $700s. I wouldn’t even bother posting about those fares today.

Right now we’re seeing United non-stops from New York and Chicago to Amsterdam from $394 roundtrip. And DC and Chicago – Paris on United from $430 roundtrip non-stop.

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Sep 18 2016

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.

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Sep 17 2016

Here’s the cheapest first class upsell fare I’ve ever seen. And it offers lessons about airfare search and also crediting miles — to American and to partners.

American Airlines will sell you coach one-way for the 834 mile flight between Portland and Los Angeles for $58.10. That’s a pretty good price. But it gets so much better…

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Sep 17 2016

Last night I wrote about Austrian’s new flight between Vienna and Los Angeles.

Austrian is a Star Alliance airline, you can use miles with United, Aeroplan, ANA, LifeMiles, and many other programs to book awards to and through Vienna to most places you’d want to go in Europe and even Asia.

And I shared that there were days after this new flight goes into the schedule April 10 where there are 6 or more business class seats available. Most dates weren’t showing up for United, though, although they were bookable by some Star Alliance partners.

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Sep 17 2016

Last month I reported that was discontinuing the sale of fare ‘bundles’ and would change the way they handle upsells.

We don’t yet know exactly what that’s going to look like, since it will be heavily influenced by new stripped-down ‘basic economy’ economy fares whose details haven’t been released yet — we’ll see that before the end of the year. Odds on they’ll follow Delta, which has taken heat for ‘hate selling’.

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