Aug
30
2015
I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Quit Pretending You Like Monuments on Vacation and Do What You Want… And More
About Gary Leff
Delta’s Gorgeous New SFO Sky Club Has a Celebrity Chef and Adventurous Menu
Aug
30
2015
I’m very impressed by what Delta has done with their brand new San Francisco Sky Club that opened this past week. It’s aesthetically gorgeous. And while complimentary food items remain limited (no matter how they trumpet the improvements there) they have a strong paid menu with a celebrity chef.
Delta’s Sky Club celebrity chef is Mai Pham who has two restaurants in Northern California and a Food Network show on Vietnamese food.
OUCH: Amtrak’s New Revenue-Based Program Will Be Much Worse Than We First Thought
Aug
30
2015
Amtrak announced their new revenue-based program which goes into effect January 24. And they laid out details that suggest points will be worth 2.56 apiece (Acela trains) or 2.9 cents apiece (all other service).
It turns out that the value of points presented is not true at all.
How a Simple Ticketing Technique Can Save You Money on Airfare
Aug
30
2015
A reader asks about buying a connecting flight beyond their destination, instead of just buying a non-stop flight to their destination. They fly the same non-stop flight anyway, and just skip the connection. Good idea? Bad idea? What are the benefits, and what are the risks?
The Simple Reason Amtrak Guest Rewards 2.0 is a Good Transfer Partner, But Poor Travel Rewards Progam
Aug
30
2015
Amtrak launches their new revenue-based loyalty program January 24. I breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t nearly as bad as expected. But make no mistake that it is bad for the people it’s actually meant to reward.
Much of the analysis on other sites has focused on the strong points value, so folks accumulating points by methods other than actual train travel do fine (if not quite as well as the peak end as before). But I’m at least as interested in how the program performs as a mechanism of rewarding customers for train travel. And there it doesn’t fare well at all.
Is it Ok to Book Mistake Fares? Is it Ok for Airlines to Cancel Them? And Where Do You Find Them?
Aug
29
2015
Air Canada published mistake business class prices for bundles of flight passes last week and they’re refusing to honor them. The only people who got to fly were those who booked immediate travel, before Air Canada acted.
I spoke to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s CBC News about mistake fares.
United Wants to Be as Good as Delta… Will Start Trying Next Year, TSA Screener Arrested for Sexual Assualt & W Tel Aviv
Aug
29
2015
I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
The 15 Busiest Airline Routes in the World. None are in the US or Europe.
Aug
29
2015
Data for 2015 is available and I find it fascinating what the 15 airline routes with the greatest capacity are for the year.
Will Chase and Starwood Points Still Transfer to Amtrak?
Aug
29
2015
A couple of weeks ago when it became clear that Bank of America would get the Amtrak co-brand I reached out to Chase to ask whether Ultimate Rewards points would continue to be transferrable to Amtrak Guest Rewards. This was their reply:
Finding Award Seats to Koh Samui, Thailand
Aug
29
2015
Thai Airways has two flights and they’re on Boeing 737s. Bangkok Airways – which owns the Samui airport – has up to 20 flights a day between Bangkok and Samui.
Compare that to Thai Airways service to Phuket where they offer at least flights a day (not including Thai Smile flights), with many of those operated by widebodies (Airbus A330s and Boeing 777s). I’ve flown the route on a 747 several times.
With only two flights a day to a popular resort destination, award seats can be tough to get.
