Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker just warned of protectionism sweeping the industry. And new claims by Virgin Atlantic and British Airways may just prove him right. Meanwhile the French government just awarded him the Legion of Honor, so Air France itself may just go insane…
A collection of interesting links you’ll want to see, many you’ll want to click.
Cairns is a city, that’s where you’ll fly into when going up to the Great Barrier Reef. And you can use it as a jumping off point to the Reef to be sure. But ever since I was a kid I preferred to stay in the town of Port Douglas about an hour away.
There’s only one place though where you can use points from one of the major hotel loyalty programs there. Oh, there’s a Best Western and a Ramada. But Starwood has a property — the Sheraton Mirage — which was the first big resort in the area (formerly just Mirage).
It’s a large hotel with meandering pools and is nestled just beside the beach, but it’s a drive out from town. Many will rent cars, though there’s convenient van transport as well.
Delta changed their award FAQ to say “SkyMiles members do not have the ability to combine Main Cabin, First, Business and Delta One™ Class into one round-trip Award Ticket.”
Except Delta’s rules aren’t actually what this appears to say. Here’s what Delta really changed, and what it means for booking award tickets with SkyMiles.
American is bringing US Airways onto its reservation system slowly between July and October. But there’s also going to be a test on June 23, when 10 US Airways Express flights will operate as American flights, and are loaded onto American’s Sabre reservation system.
IATA has issued new recommendations for maximum carry on size — and it’s smaller than what the major US airlines currently allow. Is it just a ploy to extract more checked bag fees from passengers?
American and Qantas have announced a joint venture that begins with American flying Los Angeles – Sydney and Qantas restarting San Francisco – Sydney service… and is expected to grow, possibly adding new service to Auckland as well.
Virgin Money subverts (or reveals…) the very meaning of the Sex Pistols with the new Sex Pistols MasterCard. Almost as much irony as the Karl Marx MasterCard from Sparkasse bank!
There was apparently a technical glitch preventing American AAdvantage from booking Etihad first class award seats. That’s been resolved — first class awards are back!
At 4pm Eastern today American Airlines will announce Australia service! I’m betting that it’s Los Angeles – Sydney in a joint venture with Qantas, served by a Boeing 777-300ER.
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 »
