I’ve been known to wear a discrete money belt when traveling, a regular belt with a zipper lining on the inside that lets me conceal perhaps 15 bills. But if you really want to be sure that no one takes your stash of cash, well, this may be the most brilliant (and truly frightening) invention ever. Dirty underwear, complete with skid marks, to hide you funds. I’m truly speechless, and yet in awe.
General
Category Archives for General.
bmi Wants You To Know That They Don’t Operate Out of Heathrow Terminal 5
bmi is gloating over British Airways’ problems with the new Terminal 5 at London-Heathrow. bmi, London Heathrow’s second largest airline, is continuing to operate all flights as scheduled from its main hub at Terminal 1 despite disruption at the newly-opened Terminal 5. Problems at Terminal 5, which opened to passengers yesterday (Thursday 27 March), have resulted in significant delay and disruption to BA flights operating from the new facility. In contrast Terminal 1, which now has 40 per cent less passengers to accommodate following BA’s move to Terminal 5, is running like clockwork as is bmi, the principal competitor to BA at Heathrow. New bmi Diamond Club members receive 4,500 miles just for enrolling. That’s enough for a one-way flight within the U.K. or betweek the U.K. and Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, or…
Thai Airways Business Class: Denpasar, Bali to Bangkok
Monday, March 24, 2008 Checked out in the club lounge, and the hotel car was ready for us this time with our bags ready to load into it. A quick drive over to the airport and airport porter’s met us at the curb (there’s very few as aggressive in Bali in search of tips). This is one of those ‘failure of the last mile’ sorts of moments. The club lounge experience at the Intercontinental Bali – small issues aside – really is quite sublime. They provide you with complimentary transportation back to the airport. I understand they may not be able to leave the vehicle on the curb and come inside, but it seems easy enough to provide an extra staff member who could help you with your bags, through security, and to the checkin…
Delta’s Round of Junk Fee Increases
Lots of new fees in the airline industry, limited only by the creativity of the folks coming up with them. United, USAirways, Delta, and Northwest now have $25 fees for second checked bags, with various exemptions for various passengers. None of this is big news, it’s been written about ad naseum elsewhere. I’ve offered detailed explanations of the economics and motivations behind tacking on fees rather than straightforwardly increasing prices. For example here, here, here, and here. But a new Flyertalk thread yesterday shows Delta raising the ante to a new level. CRC one-visit pass to go from $25 to $30 Unaccompanied Minor fee to go from $50 nonstop/$100 connecting to $100 for all Pets in cabin fee from $75 to $100 Pets as checked luggage to go from $150 to $200 Curbside checked bags…
Singapore Airlines Short-haul Business Class: Singapore – Denpasar (Bali)
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 We arrived at Singapore’s Terminal 2, and the Lufthansa arrival gate was right next to our Singapore Airlines Denpasar flight’s departure gate. We went to the Silverkris lounge in Terminal 2, alas the business class side since we were connecting to a 2-cabin Singapore Airlines flight. I heard my name paged over the loudspeaker, and I went to the service desk just inside the First Class section of the lounge. It seems that I had left a DVD on the Lufthansa flight. The Lufthansa staff offered to bring it to the lounge, but since we’d be departing for Bali around the same time that the Lufthansa plane made its way onward to Jakarta, I just met them back at the gate prior to departure. But for us, Lufthansa had certainly redeemed itself from an otherwise unspectacular First Class flight.…
Departing for Singapore, I Can Almost Taste Our Destination of Bali…
Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to Singapore, Singapore (SIN) 10:10 pm Lufthansa 0778, Boeing 747, First Class, Seats 81C, 81A Scheduled flight time: 11h 45m Our Mercedes van arrived planeside, up a staircase into the terminal and down the jetway where we were handed over to the FAs and led upstairs once again to the upper deck of a 747. And once again to my pre-selected bulkhead seats. This time the load was 8 out of 16, so 6 other people instead of just two. And the FAs, which weren’t all that memorable on the first segment, were downright disappointing on this one (with one redeeming piece of assistance, in a moment). Service was rushed. Now, it’s a 10pm departure so passengers may want to sleep. But I’ll let them know when I want their “Dreamer’s Delight”…
500 Bonus Starwood Points Per Night at Participating Properties
Starwood is offering 500 bonus Starpoints per night, up to 1,500 Starpoints per stay, at participating hotels throughout the Southeast, Midwest, New England, Caribbean and Eastern Canada. Registration is required and the bonus can be earned with each Sunday through Thursday stay between April 1 and May 31, 2008.
Lufthansa First Class: Washington-Dulles to Frankfurt
This is the second post of my trip report, since the posts start from the beginning of the trip you’ll need to scroll down and read posts in reverse order. Or just take the post-modern approach and just dive into the middle! Monday, March 17, 2008Washington, DC (IAD) to Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) 7:00pm Lufthansa 0419, Boeing 747, First Class, Seats 81A, 81C Scheduled flight time: 7h 40mI took the metro to work today with my bags loaded into my wife’s Acura. She came by the office to pick me up around 4pm. We were at Dulles just after 4:30pm, waited about 5 minutes behind just a single customer at First Class check-in, and were told we’d have to pick up onward boarding passes at Frankfurt… except our boarding passes all the way to Denpasar spit right…
North America to South Asia via the Atlantic: a Tale of First Class Seats, Suites, Spas, and Terminals
This post contains a bit of background to the trip report that I’m working on, sitting here in the Lufthansa First Class Terminal in Frankfurt. It contains 4 long-haul Lufthansa First Class segments, a Singapore business class short-haul segment, Thai Airways in business and First Class, a lovely suite at the Intercontinental Bali Resort, the Westin Beijing, and much, much more.. plus lots of photos of lounges, food, and activities along the way and a bit about award booking techniques. When thinking about whether this was worth a trip report, it first struck me “I’m not flying Singapore Airlines first class, there’s no Airbus A380 involved, what could be more pedestrian than what I’m about to write up?” But I also thought, perhaps I can offer some specific suggestions of the hows and whys I chose to do certain…
Improved Online Tracking of Priority Club Bonuses
Priority Club added a feature to their website (you’ll have to log into your account) that lets you see what promotions you are signed up for and track your progress towards earning the relevant bonuses.
