There’s a new police chief in Pattaya, a beach town just a bit more than an hour’s drive from Bangkok that was a significant R&R destination for US servicemen during the Vietnam War. It became the sort of place that US servicemen, spending US dollars, could buy anything they wished. Pattaya has been cleaned up some compared to what it once was. I’ve stayed at the Sheraton, the property was lovely, though it wasn’t uncommon to spot an older Russian man with young Thai female who spoke neither Russian nor English.. or an older American man with a young Thai male at breakfast. The new police chief is the brother of the national police chief yet is focused on his officers not taking bribes. New Pattaya police chief, Pol. Col. Sukthat Pumpunmuang told officers to…
About Gary Leff
The Business Class Award Flights to Asia You Can Always Get Because No One Is Competing With You For Them
I attended a talk by a legendary fundraiser, probably 15 years ago, where he told a story about not going to visit with the wealthiest donor in a state. When making a trip to Arkansas everyone assumed they knew he was going to see the Waltons of Wal-Mart but he explained, ‘the line’s too long.’ One of the reasons I’ve loved redeeming Chase points for Korean Air first class, American miles for Etihad first class, and Alaska miles for Emirates first class, is that in those cases there are relatively few programs able to redeem for the seats. Etihad and Emirates aren’t part of global alliances, and Korean’s Skyteam partner Delta doesn’t allow redemptions for first class. In other words, the line is shorter. One of the shortest lines in award redemption is for Philippine…
Transatlantic Business Class Awards Wide Open Again for Summer With No Fuel Surcharges!
A couple of weeks ago, immediately after US Airways transitioned to using American’s fare class codes, the floodgates opened on US Airways international awards in business class. Krystyna F points out to me that US Airways transatlantic business class space is again very very good. Not quite what it was a few weeks ago, most dates on most routes with a whole cabin wide open. But still excellent for summer travel. You can use US Airways or American miles, and not pay fuel surcharges. Using American miles across the Atlantic in business class without fuel surcharges has been a real challenge the past couple of years. You can use British Airways points prior to the April 28 Aviosgeddon. Here are some samples of what I’m seeing — in all cases business class for 2 people,…
Singapore Airlines Eliminating Half Its First Class Seats from Long Haul 777s Getting Premium Economy
AirlineRoute.net has the lowdown on the Singapore Airlines Premium Economy retrofit. Their A380s getting premium economy go from 12 first class, 60 business, and 399 coach (or 86 business, 311 coach) to 36 premium economy and 333 coach in the low-density business configuration or 36 premium economy and 245 coach in the high-density business configuration. Premium economy is coming at the expense of fewer coach seats. Their 777-300ERs getting premium economy go from 8 first class, 42 business, and 228 coach to 4 first class, 48 business, 28 premium economy, and 184 coach. That’s 10% more business class, half the first class, and 20% fewer economy seats to make room for premium economy. I’m not especially interested, then, in the A380 retrofit except to the extent that I know someone interested in buying premium economy.…
Would You Fly Okay Airways? (Yes, They’re Real, and They Just Took Delivery of a New Boeing…)
Okay Airways (OKAir) is China’s first fully privately owned airline, based in Tianjin. They’ve been flying for a decade, and nearly sold a 49% stake in themselves to Korean Air shortly after receiving their operating certificate. Along with ‘Joy Air’ they’re the launch customer for a Chinese-designed turboprop aircraft, the MA700, anticipated to begin flying in 2017. They already operated a dozen MA60s. Their mainline fleet consists of 13 Boeing 737-800s. They fly from Tianjin to Krabi, and are adding four weekly flights from Xi’an to Krabi and three from Xi’an to Bangkok in the coming months. In addition, they fly Tianjin to Changsha, Chengdu, Haikou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Hefei, Jiamusi, Kunming, Nanjing and Zhangjiajie. They’ve now taken delivery of a 737-900, becoming the first operator of that model. Boeing’s press release says they fly “more…
Uber $30 First Ride Credit is Back!
Readers know that I’m a big fan of Uber, the on-demand car service. You download an app to your phone, request a pickup with the press of a button. You watch your vehicle on a map as it drives to you and shows you how many minutes away the car is. You can stay inside at home or at a restaurant until it shows up. Your payment details are on file, so when the trip is over you just get out and you’re emailed a receipt. There are several options in different markets — like black cars, UberX which is individuals with their own cars that drive you, and in some cities even UberTaxi where you’re just requesting a cab through the app. They haven’t offered this in a few months, but they are back…
How to Earn Unlimited Free Starbucks Stars, How to Search Travel to Cuba, and Spanish Airports May Go On Strike
News and notes from around the interweb: Starbucks gift cards earn ‘Stars’ so you can earn free drinks just buy loading your app. But by buying your gift cards from Starbucks, rather than an office supply store, you’re giving up 5x points-earning. So only do this on a ‘first Friday’ with a Chase Sapphire Preferred.. Unions at Aena, the Spanish airport operator, have called for 25 days of strikes to be taken between February 11 and August 25 in protest of the company’s partial privatization. On the one hand, strikes at European airports and airlines make me shrug at this point. On the other hand, this could get ugly. Kayak will now search and sell Cuba travel. Kayak users can search for more than 300 hotels in Cuba, but for now, the site’s flight-search results…
In Defense of Korean Air’s “Nut Rage” Executive, And Why a US Airline Should Hire Her
We’ve all heard the story by now about Cho Hyun-ah, Korean Air’s Vice President for inflight services and daughter of the airline’s Chairman, who flew New York JFK – Seoul at the beginning of December and had an altercation with a crew member. She was flying first class, and a flight attendant presented her with an unopened bag of macadamia nuts, rather than asking her if she wanted the nuts and then serving them on a plate per proper procedure. Ms. Cho scolded the flight attendant, and dressed down the purser. She apparently hit the flight attendant, as this assault is the only charge she faces that she pled guilty to. She ordered the purser off the plane. The aircraft, which was apparently 56 feet toward the runway at this point, returned to the gate…
United’s Secret Award Discount Still Works: Save Up to 25,000 Miles Roundtrip for Business Class Partner Awards
Two months ago I wrote about United’s unpublished business class partner award discount. United has been charging less for partner awards than their award chart says they will, charging as though you were flying just on United (perhaps a technical glitch rollings back a big chunk of the Great Devaluation). For US – Europe, business class awards are supposed to cost: 57,500 miles if you fly United (115,000 roundtrip) 70,000 miles if you fly a partner (140,000 roundtrip) But many partner awards are still pricing at the United price, a savings of 25,000 miles on a roundtrip. When this ‘discount’ first started pricing, it appeared to work only through March. But it works farther out in the calendar now as well. Here’s an Austrian itinerary in April: Here’s a Lufthansa itinerary in May: And LOT…
American’s Fleet Plans for 2015: Here are the Planes They’re Getting, and What They’re Getting Rid Of
American’s fleet will shrink by about 30 aircraft over the next year, netting new planes coming in and more than 100 retirements. Nonetheless, total available seats will rise because the airline has been adding seats to their existing planes. On the whole they won’t have more seats in each plane type than their competitors, which just underscores how generous they used to be. Their full fleet plans, by aircraft: Airbus A319: They’re adding (7) A319s bringing the combined American and US Airways fleet up to 125. I visited American’s first A319 in the hanger about 18 months ago. It’s an aircraft type that US Airways has long operated. Here’s what the new one looks like:
