The Alaska Airlines Boston – Seattle flight this morning is delayed 12 hours. Per Flyertalk the reason is a drunk flight attendant: They report that first, the flight was delayed as everyone waited for the missing FA to show up. When she arrived, the flight was delayed >12 hours since she was drunk. 740am departure is now scheduled for 745pm. The crew was sent back to their hotel for rest (not sure what was done with the drunk one). I assume AS is deadheading an extra FA in via the 915am SEA-BOS flight to work the flight tonight. …So far, they have magnanimously refunded checked bag fees. By the way, as you might expect, AS is only acknowledging a “sick” flight attendant, but family reports indicate that all pax are well aware she showed up…
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Delta SkyMiles Has a New VP, Amex Loses Costco, and the Korean Air Nut Rage VP Gets Sentenced to Work for United
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: American Express is losing its Costco co-brand relationship. (HT: Alan H.) That will also mean the end of buying with Visa/MasterCard on their website and returning in-store where they can’t return payment to your non-Amex card and have to cut you a check. Amex is also expected to lose its JetBlue co-brand to Barclays. Delta has a new Vice President in charge of SkyMiles. Sandeep Dube started last month, though I never saw any announcement. He comes from Wells Fargo and HSBC, with a background in credit cards and consumer lending. Just hours left: New day room booking site and app Hotels By Day is giving away free day rooms. There are surprisingly few entries, so your chances of winning are good. So enter. Korean Air’s ‘nut rage’…
14,000 Miles of oneworld Business Class Flying for $1300, and Where the Best Fares Are
@deovratk tweets: Found this deal from CMB-AKL $1300 RT in Biz. Do share If this can help your readers. Colombo, Sri Lanka has long been one of the cheaper places in the world from which to buy airline tickets — and a place where mistake fares seem to originate with regularity as well. Just last year there was an Etihad first class mistake fare between Colombo and Dallas. One of my all-time favorites was Colombo to New York one-way for $1100 in business class without any routing or maximum mileage restrictions, which meant that folks could fly on a ton of different airlines, all over the world, as long as they started in Colombo and the ticket concluded in New York. Folks flew well over 20,000 miles one-way. Not a mistake fare, but for quite…
How to Find Mistake Fares Like $85 First Class Between Europe and the US
Yesterday I wrote about one of the most amazing fares I’ve ever seen, under $100 roundtrip in business or first class between the UK and most anywhere in the world. United isn’t honoring the tickets. But there have been many amazing deals that airlines and hotels have chosen to make good on in the past. I traveled on those Alitalia $33+tax business class fare to Larnaca, Cyprus with Italy stopovers I stayed in the $33 per night The Le Meridien Khao Lak Oceanfront Villa And the $3 Hilton Tokyo (Executive Floor) I booked the Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort $120 Overwater Bungalow with Breakfast and Dinner, but wound up cancelling in favor of the 50 euro a night deal at the Prince de Galles Paris …to name just a few Naturally several readers wanted to know,…
You’re About to Lose Choices in How You Book Travel. What the Expedia/Orbitz deals Means For You.
Expedia, which was already announced a deal last month to purchase Travelocity. Orbitz also made clear they were shopping themselves, and now Expedia is buying them, too. (HT: S.) The Travelocity deal wasn’t meaningful, they had long since given up investing in their search and booking platform. The Orbitz acquisition is a much bigger deal.
Marriott Elites May Not Have More Benefits, But Members Get a Movie.. Plus an Awesome Opportunity to See WW2 Jets Fly!
News and notes from around the interweb: Etihad may be far more interested in growth of its Abu Dhabi hub than profits, but there are limits to its deep pockets it seems: the Swiss Airline operating as Etihad Regional faces restructuring and possible layoffs of 20% of staff. A good reason to be in DC that day: On May 8, two dozen types of vintage World War 2 aircraft will fly over DC to commemorate the 70th anniversary of V-E Day. The historical aircraft expected to participate include the P-40 Warhawk, P-39 Aerocobra, P-38 Lightning, P-51 Mustang, P-47 Thunderbolt, FG-1D Corsair, B-25 Mitchell, B-17 Flying Fortress, and many others. IronyWatch: A Kuwaiti firm has been awarded a 45 year contract to develop and operate a new airport in Iraq. Will Boeing develop a new 757…
Hyatt Launching Two New Diamond Benefits March 1: Gifting Status on Award Nights, and Lounge Access
Hyatt Gold Passport is introducing two new benefits for top tier Diamond members. Ability to Make Your Friends and Family Diamond for an Award Stay Hyatt calls the program ‘Guest of Honor‘ — starting March 1 when a Diamond member redeems points for someone else’s award stay, that person will receive Diamond benefits for the stay. That way Diamond members can treat their family and friends to the same kind of experience with Hyatt that they receive themselves. I love the idea of letting Diamond members give their friends and family the same Hyatt experience that they have, it lets them share their love for the brand in a way they can be proud of. Having a spouse, child, or good friend taken care of I think really reinforces a connection that’s more than transactional.…
United Voiding All Those Cheap Business and First Class Tickets They Issued Today
This morning flights originating in the UK were pricing in Danish Kroner at a price that’s pennies on the dollar what they normally run. You could fly from the UK to pretty much anywhere in the world in business or first class at price hovering around $100 or less. This wasn’t a United-specific glitch, but United.com was the most common place to buy these tickets. That’s because: United.com lets you choose your country and thus currency in which to be charged, so it allowed booking UK-originating tickets in Danish Kroner It was possible to book there with a US-issued credit card. Not all Danish sites were offering this pricing. For instance, Expedia.dk seemed to price much higher. United’s twitter team was just as excited about this as frequent flyers were: However United tells Ben Mutzabaugh…
Does Thailand’s Government Want to Ban Orgies, Save on UK Departure Tax from These Cities, and 4 Ways You’re Using Miles Wrong…
News and notes from around the interweb: New day room booking site and app Hotels By Day is giving away free day rooms. There are surprisingly few entries, so your chances of winning are good. So enter. The inside scoop on United’s ellusive Global Services status. In addition to everything mentioned there, Global Services members departing Frankfurt or Munich in United first class get access to Lufthansa first class lounges. The cities in the UK where you can originate your return from Europe without paying the premium cabin luxury tax on a BA Avios redemption. 4 Ways You’re Probably Using Your Airline Miles Incorrectly (from me over at USA Today Travel). Does Thailand’s military government want to ban orgies? Orbitz and Skiplagged — the website that helps you find throwaway tickets to save money on…
Book American’s Brand New 787 Starting This Saturday
American has released details of its plans for the Boeing 787. As hinted previously, The plane will be based at DFW. Its initial domestic revenue flights, before it begins international service, will be Dallas – Chicago starting May 7 It will fly Dallas – Beijing June 2 And Dallas – Buenos Aires June 4 The 787 should be loaded into the schedule this Saturday, February 14. American has 42 firm orders for the 787-8 and 787-9 and options on an additional 58 planes. American plans to load 28 lie-flat business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration and then 198 main cabin seats in a 3-3-3 configuration. 48 of those main cabin seats will be used for Main Cabin Extra The business class product — or at least photos they’re releasing — appears similar to the…
