A colleague today asked me whether I was going to blog about the ‘open letter’ from a dozen airline CEOs calling for regulation of oil speculation, blaming Congressional inaction for their fuel price woes. I scoffed, and said no. Of course, others have scoffed online and I didn’t want to feel left out. Holly Hegemen of PlaneBuzz sticks a picture of Dr. Evil on her website and suggests that the airline industry is posturing the role of “victim”. I surmise it’s pressure for Congress to do something and if Congress can’t solve the fuel problems, then this is just act one… As victims there will be future calls for handouts, and it doesn’t matter a whit whether speculation is driving the price of oil or not. On balance there’s probably not much impact on price,…
About Gary Leff
Northwest Will Sell You a Free Ticket for $100, Plus Taxes and Call Center Fees
Northwest has played follow the leader introducing a $15 1st checked bag fee on tickets sold beginning tomorrow for travel beginning >>. Elites and full fare passengers are exempt from the fee. But they also dropped a bomb. They’re imposing “fuel surcharges” on all award tickets issued on or after September 15th. $25 for flights within North America, $50 transatlantic, $100 transpacific, $75 intra-Asia (unless travel originates in Hong Kong, in which case it’s $44), and $50 on all other itineraries. Of course, fuel surcharges are just part of the price of a paid ticket and have nothing to do with fuel per se. But just as I predicted in January, the allure of fees is just too compelling. Merger suitor Delta announced this sort of fee two weeks ago. They somehow believe it’s free…
Air Tahiti Nui, Christmas Awards to the South Pacific, and Wisdom of the Ages
(If only wisdom of the ages referred to me, it does not, so keep reading.) Air Tahiti Nui used to be one of the great undiscovered award options (for American Airlines miles, then also for Northwest miles also requiring quite a few more points than with American’s chart). Los Angeles to Papeete and on to… Auckland and Sydney. Premium class awards were easy. Air Tahiti Nui even introduced New York-JFk to Papeete service, giving them one-stop options from New York to Sydney and Auckland, which was precisely what Qantas offered. (They also fly Los Angeles to Paris, meaning a nice easy Paris – Down Under possibility in addition to West Coast – Europe, and Papeete really isn’t a bad place to connect given same-plane service.) The nicest thing about Air Tahiti Nui, besides the food…
Sweet Suite Deal on the Vegas Strip
Via Spirit Air, Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas is offering Panorama suites for $177. Rate calendar for booking and availability is here. It’s a 1,255 square foot suite with a 180-degree view of the Strip. Not bad! Hat tip to SC Flier on Flyertalk.
Photos of the A380 First Class Suites
I think I’ll be severely impressed and envious of travel in Singapore’s Airbus A380 first class cabin until I finally try it myself. But Singapore doesn’t offer award availability for their A380 suites, so I’m probably out of luck. Some folks have lucked out by booking awards on routes that then turn into A380 routes. But I haven’t been gambling and chasing the seat, so… I’m left to read reports such as this one on Flyertalk with lots of photos of the suite itself and the first class cabin. Definitely outstanding first class airline porn, for the luxury travel voyeurs among us.
Picking Up My First Rental Car for 9,999 Delta Miles
Some followup on the Delta 9,999 bonus miles for a single day car rental offer. First, some have been interpreting that the offer is good three times with Avis and three times with Budget. My read was three times total between Avis and Budget. I could be proven wrong, but I’m not making a 4th rental to try it out. Second, print everything and I mean everything. I printed the offer itself. I printed the page where I enter all the information about the rental (including my Skymiles number, etc). I printed the confirmation page. I’m saving all of those, and will save my rental receipt as well. There are tons of things that could go wrong here and mess with the bonus posting. Somehow rentals are flagged as being booked through iSeatz, which provides…
Atlantis Casino, Reno
Reno’s Atlantis Casino has been a perennially easy hotel to score on Priceline, it’s been the only four-star property in Reno for awhile – or so Priceline says. It strikes me as rather three-star, but there’s no hard and fast Priceline rule distinguishing the two categories. Still, targeting Atlantis is easy if that’s your bag. Although at some point the Peppermill may get an upgrade to four stars as they complete a renovation. Last week I was there on a $39 Priceline rate. At check-in I was told that no king bed rooms were available (I had put in a request for one in advance). I insisted and was offered a king in the motor lodge. There’s a no-tell motel facility out back, pretty dodgy, a separate facility that I wanted nothing to do with. After…
9999 Delta Miles with an Avis or Budget Rental
It’s a pretty rich offer. Book the car using the Delta.com Car Search Engine. Offer is valid until August 1, 2008 for rentals of one day or longer at participating airport locations in the United States and Canada. The bonus can be earned up to 3 times. And don’t add any other AWD number (Avis) or BCD number (budget) to the reservation.
Virgin Atlantic Award Sale
Via Inside Flyer (subscription required), Virgin Atlantic awards departing the US are being discounted for booking through July 31. Virgin Atlantic Airways flying club members can take advantage of an award sale through July 31, 2008. You can spend up to 50 percent fewer miles when flying in coach and up to 20 percent fewer miles when flying in Premium Economy. You could fly roundtrip coach between New York (JFK and Newark) and London for 22,500 miles if you complete your travel by July 31. You can get 25 percent off if you book by July 31 for later travel — that’s 33,750 miles for a roundtrip flight between New York and London. For the same flight in Premium Economy during this promotion, the mileage cost would be 54,000 miles (normally 67,500).
Singapore’s New First Class “Private Room”
Singapore may be a great airline, but on the whole their lounges don’t meet tip top standards. At Heathrow their premium class customers get access to the Virgin Clubhouse, certainly one of the world’s better offerings, and a better option than Singapore’s lounge at that airport. Their home base lounges don’t compare to similar offerings by Thai, Asiana, or Lufthansa. The new first class lounge at Singapore’s new Terminal 3 was generally disappointing. But this past Tuesday they introduced a new product for paid first class passengers (apparently not those traveling in award first, not their top tier elites, and not the first class passengers of other Star Alliance carriers). It’s called The Private Room and over at sqtalk.com there are photos of the lounge here and here. Nice and exclusive to be sure, but…
