Christina Valhouli offers a basic course in international first class travel — what it gives you, why people pay so much for it. On the whole it’s basic but good, though I can’t imagine how she ranks Lufthansa and Air France’s first class cabins as superior to Cathay Pacific and ANA’s. As for me, I’ll take ANA’s new first class (available only on certain routes like JFK-Narita) over anything else in the world. And I’m looking forward to trying Qantas and Air Tahiti Nui up front for the first time next year.
About Gary Leff
Airline Contortions
Nov
12
2004
Via USA Today‘s Today in the Sky are two stories that show airline executives making statements that just aren’t credible. Scratch that. The executives are doing verbal backflips and come off looking silly. USAirways is closing four airport lounges. Why? Because it’s “a key element of our Transformation Plan to offer our customers the full service associated with the Club network” … Since clubs are important, we’re closing them! Huh? The truthful answer is “clubs are important, they’re part of our plan to make money, but we can’t spend too much money on them or we’ll lose money.” But that would be too straightforward. Meanwhile, Delta is verbally contorting itself over service to Beijing. Since a new route to China is something to be doled out by the government, and the justification for a decision…
Summary of Free Stuff Offers
Nov
12
2004
A summary of all the Gratis Networks free offers I’m aware of: free photoiPod free handbag free iPod free desktop computer free flatscreen TV Please email me if you come across another Gratis Network offer that I haven’t found yet. The offers are pretty simple. Sign up for the sites. Just click on the links and create your account. It’s quick. With most of the sites you’ll be given a bunch of offers and asked to say “yes” or “no” to them. Just say no, because replying in the affirmative doesn’t get you anything – those offers don’t help you get free electronics. (They’re just an extra moneymaker for Gratis Internet.) Check out the offers that you’re able to complete. My favorite by far is Infone, but it seems to be only sporadically available. If…
MilesFiles Debuts
Nov
11
2004
Randy Petersen has a new blog. Anyone interested in miles and points should check it out.
Biscoff Cookies
Nov
10
2004
One of the things I love about flying Skywest, a regional carrier in the Western U.S. for both United and Delta, is that they’ve long served Biscoff cookies. The Gourmet Center in San Francisco (which sells these wonderful treats) is now offering one Delta mile per dollar spent at their online store, plus 250 miles for each order (500 miles on orders of $75 or more). This isn’t the most lucrative offer on its own terms, but for folks like me who have long considered ordering the cookies anyway this gives me a pretty good excuse.
Continental Bonus Miles for Online Ticket Changes
Nov
10
2004
Continental Airlines continues to push their website, this time in a new and interesting way.Airlines began by offering mileage bonuses for online flight bookings. This was win-win. They took business away from travel agents, and even reduced their telephone agent costs at the same time. This was worth well more than the cost of awarding bonus miles. Plus they figured they were changing consumer behavior at the same time, creating substantial long-run cost savings. Some of the most lucrative offers (such as America West’s offering 3,000 bonus miles per booking) have gone away as consumers have taken to the web for making travel arrangements. Then airlines began offering bonuses for booking award tickets online. While this doesn’t take business away from the travel agents, it does save substantial labor costs for the airline. Award tickets…
One for the ladies…
Nov
10
2004
The free photoiPod people also have an offer for a free handbag — a Prada mini-hobo, Kate Spade Pia Pochette, Burburry Novacheck Minisling, or Coach Signature Demi-pouch. For the record, I don’t know what any of those things are. But they’re authentic, and they’re supposed to be good. As with all of these offers, the key is to sign up for a free trial that doesn’t require you to spend any money. The best offer is infone, as it doesn’t even need to be cancelled. AOL is another good offer, you don’t get charged anything and have 45 days to cancel.Then you need to refer folks to the site who need to complete an offer. Unlike the free computer, which takes 10 referrals, the free handbag takes only five.
Priority Club Blog
Priority Club, the loyalty program for Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, and Intercontinental Hotels, has a blog which lists bonus point and redemption offers.Strictly speaking, I don’t know that this is an official blog of the program, but the offers read as though they originate directly with Priority Club and without any additional commentary.
It’s amazing how much bad advice is out there…
One of the more common questions about miles and points is, “are my miles safe when files for bankruptcy?” And it’s amazing how many bad answers there are. This story in today’s Daytona Beach News-Journal may take the award for the worst advice yet. Responding to a question about Delta miles, Bob Desiderio writes:You have cause for concern, because while survivor airlines have in the past honored the mileage programs of bankrupt airlines (As Delta did for TWA customers), the major airlines now are hanging on the ropes and no one is stepping forward to help them. If an airline goes bankrupt and sells off its assets, mileage programs disappear because they are viewed as a liability; the eventual cost is transporting a passenger for free. So, in addition to using them or losing them,…
New Travel Search Tools Online
Frommer’s has a new article on travel metasearch tools like Mobissimo, Kayak, and FareChase. These are sites which regular readers of this column should all be familiar with. The piece lumps these companies together with tools like ITA Software (perhaps the most powerful search tool, but rather complicated in some of its functionality) and deal advertising site Travel Zoo. The major item left off of Frommer’s list is downloadable hotel search tool TravelAxe.There are good descriptions of each of the sites in the Frommer’s piece, though you’re still better off using my own FAQs as a reference: How to find the best airfare dealsHow to find the best hotel deals
