Wow. A DOJ anti-trust suit was’t expected. There has long been the belief that there would need to be some divestiture of takeoff and landing slots at Washington’s National airport for the deal to go through — US Airways is already the dominant carrier there, and had to divest some slots when they did their swap of LaGuardia slots with Delta. So it wasn’t expected they could just combine their National airport position with American’s. But the DOJ position is apparently based on the overall competitive environment. US Airways and American currently overlap on very few non-stop routes, so it isn’t about specific city pairs that will see reduced competition. The European Union has already signed off on the deal, seeking only to deal with the Philadelphia – London route. A DOJ suit clearly puts…
About Gary Leff
Cathay Pacific Adding Newark Service, and Award Space is Amazing
Cathay Pacific’s new route is Hong Kong – Newark. The flight will be operated by a 777 with 3 classes of service — business, premium economy, and economy. There’s no first class on the Newark route, but Cathay Pacific has my absolute favorite business class, reasonable people can make the case that EVA Airways is better with a very similar seat and as the only airline that serves Dom Perignon in (long haul) business. The flight times are: Depart Hong Kong 5pm, Arrive Newark 9pm (same day) Depart Newark 1:50a, Arrive Hong Kong 540am (next day) These are well timed for connections from other Asian destinations enroute to Newark, and for connections on both ends for the Newark – Hong Kong flight. This won’t really allow for any connections beyond Newark when arriving from Hong…
Bits ‘n Pieces for August 13, 2013
News and notes from around the interweb: Plane makes an emergency landing in a Wawa parking lot. Frequent Miler covers targeted offers for the Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa of 70,000 points with fee waiver and 140,000 points without fee waiver. I’d prefer the fee waived version of the card (rather than buying incremental Marriott points at over half a cent apiece, unless using those points as part of a travel package). It’s a great card for regular Marriott guests who don’t stay enough to earn Gold status, and it’s made from some pretty serious metal. Alaska Airlines is offering a 40% bonus on purchased miles through September 30. That prices miles at about 2.1 cents apiece. You can buy up to 40,000 miles (plus bonus) per transaction, and can make as many transactions as you wish,…
Sometimes It’s Worth it Not to Fill Up the Gas Tank Before Returning the Rental Car
Rental car gas: I never “prepay the gas tank” when renting a car, since with most rental agencies you’re prepaying the entire tank and you aren’t going to come out well unless you return the car almost empty. But that doesn’t mean it always makes sense to bother refueling the vehicle yourself. It depends on what the rental company’s penalty rate is. While they may post a per-gallon price, usually you’re going to be charged a per-mile price … if you don’t fill the tank up at all they will multiply miles driven by the per mile gas cost which is based on an average fuel economy and their current price for gas. Here’s the pricing at the gas station next to the rental car return at Miami: Wow. $4.79 per gallon. The default rate…
In China, If You Know Your Air Traffic Controller You’ll Take Off On Time
Via Marginal Revolution. Much of modern air traffic control and the aviation system generally in China was set up in conjunction with Boeing. It was important to describe the process not as modeling the U.S., but as “bringing China up to world standards.” Nonetheless, the Chinese military controls most air space in China. There were excellent discussions of these phenomenon in James Fallows’ China Airborne which I enjoyed reading last year. As a result, with a burgeoning aviation market, congestion around major cities is common. Apparently priority is given to flights with ‘important’ passengers, international flights, and flights where a crew member knows the air traffic controller. The latest statistics shows that the flow of air traffic accounts for as high as 40 percent of the total number of flight delays during the first half…
San Diego is a Great Town for Sushi.. and Dessert
The Gaslamp district of San Diego is great, lots of things to do, it can be fun. But though there are tons of restaurants, the point of those restaurants is something to do (and of course, like the Checkers commercials say, ‘Ya Gotta Eat!’). On the one hand it means there’s competition – but it’s mostly competition for fun and a scene. So if you want to eat well, you need to choose carefully. I much enjoyed Taka for sushi. Online reviews were good, and it turned out to be better than expected though not at all inexpensive (you’ll pay extra for something to be good in the Gaslamp area, I think, the rents are relatively high). There’s a menu of specials and their list of sushi and sashimi I decided to add their live…
New York State Assembly Speaker Under Fire for Turning His Commute into Mileage Runs
@pcpontificates tweets, Sheldon Silver should talk to @garyleff about racking up airline miles. No need to do this kind of nonsense How would you like New York State taxpayers to fund your mileage runs? The Speaker of the New York State Assembly needs to retain US Airways Chairmans Preferred status and takes circuitous routings between New York City and Albany. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver spent $20,219 in taxpayer money over the past three years jetting from New York City to Albany — but the top-flight pol turned easy 150-mile, one-hour jaunts into epic 500-mile, five-hour odysseys in a greedy quest to rack up frequent-flier miles, according to sources and expense records. …“He brags about his ability to build up mileage,” said one Albany insider. “Taxpayers are footing the bill to allow Shelly to fly halfway…
You Really Don’t Have an American Express Bluebird Yet?
There was a tremendous frenzy last year when you could buy reloadable money cards at office supply stores, earn huge bonuses, load the money onto the Bluebird by American Express. It was an almost free way to generate large numbers of points. That opportunity didn’t last forever, they never do. But Bluebird remains a very useful, valuable tool in the arsenal. There are plenty of times you’ll say, “gosh, I’m reading about all these things I can do with Bluebird and I don’t have one.” Since it gets sent in the mail it can take time to get, so it’s better to have it now and use it later than not to have it when you want to use it. And it’s free to get. That’s why I genuinely don’t understand folks who don’t get…
Why Does Coffee Taste So Much Better in Asia?
There are coffee shops strewn about all around Singapore serving specialty coffees. I see more (non-Starbucks) chain shops in Kuala Lumpur — there’s an Old Town White Coffee everywhere — but more craft coffee purveyors in Singapore than anywhere else I’ve been. (Disclosure: I live in Arlington, Virginia and — as memorialized by GoRemy in the Arlington Rap we mostly have Starbucks.) A few months ago I had a fantastic cup of coffee at Oriole Cafe & Bar at the Pan Pacific off Orchard Road. Singapore is one of the heaviest coffee drinking countries per-capita. But the phenomenon of really good coffee in Southeast Asia is hardly limited to Singapore. I’ve only tried Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee in the air (on Singapore, Asiana, and ANA in first class). It’s good but not my favorite and…
The Best View from Any Airline Lounge, Anywhere: Review of the Premier Lounge – Denpesar, Bali
The best planespotting is probably from the fence off the beach at the end of the runway at Princess Juliana International Airport, Saint Martin. Close behind would be sitting down at the outside tables at the In ‘n Out Burger at the edge of LAX. The best view from any terminal has to be the airport in Bora Bora. Like many of the airports in the Maldives you approach by boat. But instead of sailing to the island which houses an airport, the Bora Bora airport is simply its own small island (motu). And the waters are indeed stunning. But here I’m interested in the very best view from an actual airline lounge. And I’d venture to say that honor may go to the Premier Lounge at the Denpasar Bali airport. It won’t be around…
