I have a hard time understanding why Thai Airways runs their updated 3-class 747s with angled lay flat business seats and true flat first class seats on a short run like Bangkok-Phuket. Seems like poor fleet planning at first glance, though I haven’t looked at whether the planes also fly internationally and this is just a way to get a few extra hours’ of flying time out of them. Asiana does something similar, flying 3-class planes sold as 2-class. (I flew Hong Kong-Seoul earlier this month, and an old style 747 was running the route on the day I traveled.) Trick is just to request the first rows of the plane when traveling on a business class ticket. Worked no problem for me on both carriers.Of course, American still does the same thing on certain…
About Gary Leff
Freudian Slip Fare Basis Codes
Cranky Flier used to work in revenue management for America West (which has since acquired USAirways and took their name). He points to the fare basis code for a USAirways one-way B fare codeshare from LAX to Sydney. Hint: it’s not family friendly. He speculates that this one was inadvertant, though I do occasionally see fare basis codes designed to telegraph competitive intentions or otherwise send messages to competing carriers (the occasional ‘FU’ in the up to eight letter designation). In this case, the fare Cranky Flier refers to is likely not sending a message… just a funny confluence of designators. I verified this myself, pulling up one-way USAirways fares using the KVS Availability Tool: [KVS Availability Tool 2.8.5/Platinum – Sabre: Fares/ZUJ/SG/USD] LAX Los Angeles Int’l CA US [KLAX] SYD Sydney Kingsford Smith NS AU…
Hopefully United Has Thought of This…
Jul
24
2007
As United rolls out the new international premium class product, some aircraft will have the new configuration and some will not — and the planes have very different configurations, very different number of premium class seats. United is famous for aircraft swaps, unfortunately this has happened most recently with mainline A320s to TED (no first class) and before that it was downgrading regular 737s to old Shuttle aircraft that used to service the West Coast only. These aircraft swaps are disruptive, with different seating configurations. And ticketed first class passengers, in the TED example, go to an all-coach configuration. Not as big a deal on domestic routes as long-haul international. But dropping 21 business class seats from the 747 has the potentially to be hugely disruptive. Either United will hold back most upgrades until the…
Bic Lighters Still Dangerous for a Few More Days
We have to take off our shoes walking through TSA security checkpoints, because Richard Reid’s shoes had wires coming out of them and nobody noticed. And lighters were banned because if Richard Reid had had a lighter he might have been able to light his shoes on fire. But even the TSA now admits the lighter part is silly. Lighters are safe. At least they will be on August 4th. But as Mike Boyd points out, until midnight on August 3rd they are apparently still dangerous.At least at some point in the future shampoo may no longer be dangerous. But I won’t count on it. Update: Upgrade: Travel Better points out just how surreal it is that lighters carrying fluid that’s flammable are ok.. but water is still somehow a security threat.
Should Priceline like, um, book hotels for its own guests on Priceline?
According to HotelChatter, when Priceline books rooms for out of town guests to its corporate headquarters, they reserve the nearby Doubletree… they don’t actually name their own price on Priceline.
United’s New Premium Cabin Seats
Jul
23
2007
United is refitting its international widebody fleet with new first and business class seats beginning in the fall (with the 767s) and ending two and a half years from now. United’s promo site is here. Business class will feature: true lie-flat seats (not the angled-flat wedgie seats) some rear-facing seats in business class 15″ lcd video screens and video on demand iPod adapter and standard outlets for seat power This will give United the best seats among US-based carriers. But they’re hardly world-leading. Virgin, Air New Zealand, Singapore, British Airways, and Cathay Pacific already offer similar business class seats. Those last three all offer first class as well, with products that will still surpass United’s (and we’re not even getting into the ‘soft product’ of food, service, and amenities – more about that below). Along…
$17 Radisson Shanghai
For the second half of September the Shanghai Radisson is pricing at $17 instead of $117 at GTAHotels.com. It’s an ‘on request’ booking, so far from guaranteed that it will be honored.
Lufthansa Suspends Accra Operations
Ghana withdrew Lufthansa’s right to offer daily service from Accra to Frankfurt (via Lagos) because Lufthansa refused to pay royalties to the Ghana state airline. That meant that, by treaty, they retained the right to twice weekly service, which they have chosen not to offer — viewing it as a money loser (most of the fixed costs without many seats to amortize them over). And then Ghana goes ballistic over Lufthansa’s “bad faith” decision to pull out of Accra! Ultimately the government was unsuccessful at blackmailing Lufthansa for US$4 million, refused to back down from its threats, and now has lost Lufthansa’s international service. Clearly the people of Ghana are not better off for the actions of its government. Sad, really.
A Variation on the Usual Myth: Buy Your Airline Tickets on Saturdays?
Consumerist says you should shop for airfare on Saturdays. Like the traditional story about Wednesday at midnight, the idea of a specific day of the week that you’ll get the lowest price is a myth.They do, at least, helpfully point readers to ITA Software, a powerful search tool — but only marginally useful for novices. The real usefulness of ITA Software comes into play when narrowing searching with their advanced route language. Folks who don’t want to go crazy learning it might be best advised to start their airfare searches with Kayak.
Le Meridien Khao Lak’s Presidential Oceanfront Villa
I’m recently back from Khao Lak, Thailand among other destinations in Asia. The trip was prompted by the Ugandan Schillings rate at the Le Meridien. My wife had three nights booked in the Presidential Oceanfront Villa and I had three nights booked in the Royal Suite. That satisfied the requirement that they’d only honor one reservation per person, and together we had six consecutive nights at the resort. The Presidential Villa wasn’t showing up for all six nights when we booked, so we had to settle for the smaller Royal Suite for half the stay when making our booking. As I saw pictures from others who had stayed in both rooms, I was actually getting disappointed. While the Royal Suite looked fabulous, the Presidential Oceanfront Villa was just breathtaking — how I’d hate to move!…
