It’s common for airlines to have photography policies, even if they aren’t well known or publicized and even if they are ignored for the most part. They usually are something like “you may photograph your own personal events” (which is fairly undefined) but may not photograph crew or equipment. People break this rules every day without knowing it, the rules are mostly there to be enforced when the airline wishes to do so or when a particular flight attendant is having a bad day (reasonable people can disagree on the appropriateness of photographing people which in the US is generally fine to do in public out in the open, but I don’t think there’s much of an argument against photographing your seat, meal, or the inflight entertainment system). Last month extended their onboard photography restrictions…
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Transatlantic Economy Awards From 13,125 Miles Each Way
If you book by January 22, you can redeem Virgin Atlantic economy travel for 25% off. Travel dates appear to work through the end of 2015. Here’s mileage pricing for flights between North America and the UK under this promotion:
Delta Will Overcharge You For Awards: Their Pricing Engine Is Still Very, Very Broken
Jeffrey R. emails his frustration with an ongoing Delta award booking issue — that Skymiles simply prices awards incorrectly and it’s nearly impossible to get an agent to fix matters. I’ve written for years about this issue, that some connections that are both (a) legal/permissible and (b) have award availability will not price at the right amount of miles per the published award chart. Classic examples used to be New York – Los Angeles via Las Vegas which would always price as two separate awards. And getting Delta domestic flights available at the lowest award level included in an Air Tahiti Nui partner award was rarely possible — again, Delta would price as two awards. There are real improvements (and real non-improvements) at Skymiles, with one-way awards now available and a much more functional award…
United Top Tier Elites Flying First Class Now Get Lufthansa First Class Lounge Access!
Last month One Mile at a Time reported that Lufthansa’s top tier HON Circle members now get access to United’s first class lounges when traveling on intercontinental flights in business class on either Lufthansa or United. HON Circle members get access to Lufthansa’s first class lounges, including the First Class Terminal, regardless of class of service flown. But flying United, or flying business class on Lufthansa from one of the seven United airports with a ‘Global First’ lounge, these members wouldn’t otherwise have gotten access to that first class lounge. (Not that, in my experience, these lounges are all that special — but they are incrementally better than the alternative United Club offerings.) When sharing this news, Lucky wrote, I wouldn’t expect this to be reciprocal (in other words, I wouldn’t expect Global Services members…
The State of the Hobby: Frequent Flyer Miles in 2015
Whether the frequent flyer miles game seems to be historically rewarding, or in dire straits, depends on your perspective and time horizon. The game is different than it was 2 years ago, very different than it was 5 years ago, and orders of magnitude different than it was fifteen years ago. If you got into the game any time since 2008, the current state of affairs must be downright depressing. You got in at one of the most generous times in history. As a result of the Great Recession, the worst economic times in 70 years, hotels leveraged their loyalty programs to put heads in beds. It’s hard to even fathom the generosity of Hyatt’s Faster Free Nights promotions (2 stays at any hotel yielded a free night at any hotel) stackable with thousands and…
Review: Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Suites Class, Singapore – Sydney
Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal Cathay Pacific First Class, Los Angeles – Hong Kong Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok Grand Hyatt Bangkok: Suite, Club Lounge, and Facilities Thai Molecular Gastronomy at Sra Bua in Bangkok Getting Custom Tailored Suits Made in Bangkok at Empire Tailors Nahm at the Metropolitan: the Best Thai Food in Thailand? Thailand’s Iron Chef Cooks Ancient Recipes in a Deserted Top Notch Restaurant Eating The Best Local Thai Dishes in the Bangrak Neighborhood of Bangkok Louis Tavern CIP Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Bangkok-Singapore Grand…
American Has Launched Their New Inflight Magazine
American Airlines has re-launched their inflight magazine, American Way. I spoke with American’s Vice President of Marketing, Fern Fernandez (regular readers may know him from US Airways, since the Dividend Miles program reported up to him). Fern told me that they produce 700,000 copies of the magazine each month, and they estimate that it gets 500,000 eyeballs each day and claim annual reach of 193 million people. Inflight Magazines Are Big Business At a time when print advertising is facing major challenges, inflight magazines still present a real opportunity. Fifteen years ago a friend was trying to launch a project to put advertising on aircraft overhead bins. That didn’t really take off, but the demographic is irresistible — high average income, confined.. and bored. American West was the first airline to do tray table advertising,…
Halle Barry’s Husband Assaults an Airport Employee, Ryanair Falls for a Joke, More on That Delta Gun Smuggler, and Avoid United Express in Denver!
News and notes from around the interweb: Halle Barry’s husband hit an airport employee with an empty child’s car seat at LAX’s Tom Bradley International terminal yesterday. TMZ has video. It doesn’t look like much harm was done to me, but the employee went to the hospital. (HT: Alan H.) At the Freddie Awards last year in Seattle, the told the crowd that I’d had a rough flight getting in, I understand how passengers can hate the airlines since American just made me pay for my emotional baggage. Ryanair, though, fell for the joke on twitter. (HT: Alan H.) The Delta employee accused of smuggling guns at Atlanta airport was already a convicted felon. (HT: Reid F.) Take 3 Amtrak Acela roundtrips by February 28, and get a free Acela roundtrip to use in July…
Who Has the Best Business Class to Europe for Using Your Miles?
Reader Pamela wants to know, Which is your favorite airline for business class from the east coast to Europe? I have tons of points and miles for any alliance. To date we have preferred Lufthansa (but don’t even mention Air Berlin around me!). Any gateway is fine and any destination can work. I believe that business class is all about the seat. That’s the biggest thing, do you have personal space and can you sleep? Of course you need to eat, it’s nice when you get good service, and storage space makes things more convenient. See also: Business class is all about the seat These Are the World’s Best Business Class Airlines – You’ll Be Surprised Who Makes the List There’s no question that the single US-Europe flight is Singapore Airlines A380 between New York…
Less Than $400 Roundtrip to Russia, Less Than $500 to Turkey, Act Quickly!
Here are the Turkey deals and here are the Russia deals. According to The Flight Deal, Delta is attacking United’s hubs with deep discount airfares priced at $1 plus taxes and fees. They report these fares to Moscow from San Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, and Washington Dulles — all of United’s hubs (and in the case of Cleveland, an ex-hub) except Newark. This is for travel on Delta between January 12 and March 12, and between April 20 and May 14. Your outbound must be Sunday through Wednesday (no Thursday, Friday, or Saturday departures) and your return must be Monday through Thursday. There are $25 fares to Turkey, which total $400 – $500 depending on where you’re flying from and the routing. TFD reports: San Francisco – Istanbul $482 roundtrip Chicago – Istanbul $408…
