Category Archives for Airlines.
A year ago I wrote that Cathay Pacific planned a new first class product for their Boeing 777-9s on order.
Cathay wasn’t sure whether the new first class will feature enclosed suites, because according to their research passengers like a ‘society’ element (see and be seen) or how many seats the cabin would feature.
In January I wrote about wide open Singapore Airlines business class award space between Houston and Manchester, U.K. for two passengers. And in February I wrote about wide open Singapore Airlines first class award space for two passengers between Los Angeles and Tokyo.
These are the two routes where Singapore premium cabin award space to and from the U.S. tends to be the best.
After the snowstorm in the Northeast plenty of flights were zeroed and some even oversold. Center for American Progress communications staffer Allison Preiss was on a United flight that was full, but had a broken seat, and they were looking for volunteers to give up their seat in exchange for a travel voucher. The offer was $1000 but no takers.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, which will be voted on today to substantially increase spending on both Republican and Democrat priorities and avoid a government shut down, includes language to subtly call out the Administration’s overuse of premium cabin airline travel — without actually doing anything about it.
Here’s why.
There’s a smattering of New York JFK – London Heathrow award availability for two passengers in three-cabin first class on American Airlines in April and May. There’s a smattering of Dallas Fort-Worth – Hong Kong availability for two passengers in three-cabin first class on American Airlines May through July. And a smattering of Los Angeles – Hong Kong availability for two passengers in three-cabin first class on American Airlines April, May and July through September.
However where space is absolutely best right now is:
It’s better to buy miles at a lower price than a higher price so if you’re likely to need to do it anyway, great to know that there’s a bonus for it. However don’t bet this is the last time you’ll see this kind of pricing.
Yesterday Delta updated the terms and conditions of the SkyMiles program to say 3 day advance purchase was required for any awards not starting or ending in the US or Canada.
Delta contacted me to let me know that this was a mistake.
Delta has updated their terms and conditions again. Now there’s a 3 day advance purchase requirement for all awards that do not start or end in the U.S. or Canada. Unless earlier versions of the rule you cannot get out of it with airport ticketing.
United’s poor handling of pets has been in the news a lot over what’s really just the last week but given the barrage of media feels like far longer.
After forcing a dog into an overhead bin where it ultimately died, shipping a dog to Japan by mistake, and then loading a third dog onto the wrong aircraft — so for PR reasons they actually diverted that plane to deliver the dog to its proper destination, keeping all of the passengers onboard waiting, they are finally acknowledging what I’ve been saying for years: United has a problem with how it handles pets.
Josh Schlaich got a call from an out of service number letting him know his dog — sent to him by a breeder — wasn’t going to make it. He called Delta several times to find out what happened and he was “hung up on.”
Although United is statistically much worse, their PR team is probably cheering that they can now say “it’s not just us.”
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
