Conventional wisdom is that international first class is a thing of the past. A dinosaur. The better business classes today are better than what first used to be. Here are the world’s best business class products. There’s a very narrow market that will pay for greater privacy and service, that isn’t paying to fly private. Back in October I explained the reasons that international first class is disappearing. And yet the data actually suggests there’s more first class than ever before, naturally led by he Middle Eastern mega-carriers. One of the big data points used to suggest that first class isn’t a broadly sustainable product is the way that British Airways has de-emphasized it. BA is one of the world carrier’s most dependent on premium cabin travel, and when they’re eliminating first class from a…
General
Category Archives for General.
An Entire Country Will Have Free Wifi By April. You’ll Never Believe Which One.
Thailand’s military government is pushing forward with a plan to offer free wifi throughout the country by April. The free Wi-Fi service will see more than 130,000 Wi-Fi hotspots installed throughout the country and is part of the government’s pledge to return happiness to the Thai people. Maj-Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd, deputy spokesman for the Information and Communication Technology Ministry said he expected the installation of the Wi-Fi hotspots would be completed by the official launch of the scheme which is in April. The timetable is… aggressive. But the government does want to move quickly. And in reality its an expansion and acceleration of a project that’s been underway for years. The acceleraton comes in the context of a military government that has put off elections until early 2016. Some observers expect further delays, and the…
Bad Airline Seats and Service Are Your Fault. What Kimpton Members Think of the IHG Merger, And That Woman Imprisoned For Changing Seats on United…
News and notes from around the interweb: We get uncomfortable airline seats and bad service because it’s what we actually want. Or rather, it’s what we’re actually willing to pay for — the simple idea of ‘notional demand’ (what we say we want) versus ‘effective demand’ (what we demonstrate we actually want). Matthew Klint has more details on the woman that was arrested for changing seats on United and is now suing the airline. Henry Harteveldt on what Kimpton members think of the boutique hotel chain’s acquisition by IHG: “This is like if you found out your favorite burger joint is being taken over by McDonald’s” (HT: Alan H.) Passenger barks at crew who wished him Merry Christmas, gets black coal kicked off flight. Other nearby passengers applaud. Icelandair Apologized for Serving a Vodka and…
For Those Of You Who Are Booking The Etihad $178 Fares…
If you’re going to travel on this amazing fare to Abu Dhabi, India, Africa or Asia you may wonder whom to credit the flight miles to? The key thing to know is that this deal has been booking into E class. Knowing the fare basis of your ticket will tell you what kind of miles you’ll earn with each of the possible programs you’d credit miles to.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays — From Your Favorite Airlines
Singapore Airlines Christmas Happy Holidays from Hawaiian Airlines – Christmas Luau KLM Wishing You a Magical Christmas airberlin Flying Home for Christmas Delta Airlines Seattle Santa Express (HT: World Airline News) You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
How to Score a Hotel Upgrade, Buying and Selling Hyatt Gift Cards for Fun and Profit…
News and notes from around the interweb: Buying and re-selling Hyatt gift cards while earning miles on American Express business cards. If you want a hotel upgrade, aim for a one-category upgrade (HT: Alan H.) Meh. Here’s how to ask for – and get – an upgrade. See also tipping at check-in for hotel upgrades. Lufthansa will be launching Winter 2015-2016 Maldives service. Only two days a week, I expect award space to be tough to get. But Star has made great adds to Male given the relatively recent add of Turkish from Istanbul, and new Star Alliance member Air India’s Bangalore and Trivandrum service. I contend that the distance to the Maldives is a feature, not a bug. The Inside Story of the A350 (HT: Alan H.) Starting January 1 Delta’s ‘pay with miles’…
American’s 3-Cabin International Flights Sold as 2-Cabin, and Who Can Book International First Class Seats Free!
Back in April we learned the details of American’s plans for their Boeing 777-200s. American is dropping first class from these planes (international first class will remain only on their 777-300ERs). Business class goes fully flat. And there are some changes from the 777-300ER new business class seat. It’s fully flat, all aisle access with international wireless internet. And there are rear-facing seats and slightly bigger personal TV screens than the 777-300ER. Economy of course goes from 9 to 10 seats across. In June we learned that the initially-reconfigured 777-200s would get reconfigured again, as new management from US Airways decided to add seats to the planes – going from 260 total up to 289. The initial planes get 45 business class seats and 45 Main Cabin Extra. The higher-density planes will have 37 business…
AMAZING FARES That Won’t Last from $178 Roundtrip to Abu Dhabi; India, Asia and Africa Deals Too!
The Flight Deal is an awesome resource. Head over to their post on this for all the details. I’ve just confirmed as of this writing that the deal is still working. You won’t find it using the ITA Matrix, but search Kayak or Google Flights, purchase on sites like Priceline. (Orbitz may show a higher fare initially, but if you’ve found the lower fare on Google Flights it should show a price drop when you click through to the itinerary.) Booking through US Online Travel Agencies should give you 24 hours to cancel. Etihad has some holiday specials for you folks in New York / Dallas / Chicago / Washington D.C. / Los Angeles / San Francisco to the Middle East, India and Africa. We did some primarily checks for the following: Johannesburg [JNB] –…
How to Outsmart Immigration Screening and Sneak Into Europe, Go to Jail for Changing Seats, and an easyJet Christmas
More great links from around the web: The CIA’s Guide to Dealing With Immigration Screening. More from The Economist. American ended its frequent flyer partnership with El Al November 1. And yet they’re now expanding codesharing between Europe and Tel Aviv. Passenger suing United after she was jailed for attempting to change seats. Self-upgrading has consequences, people! A Very TSA Christmas (Grandma got indefinitely detained) and I Saw Daddy Pat Down Santa Claus Even easyJet’s YouTube Christmas video is low budget. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Singapore to Allow Driverless Cars in 2015!
Many people think of Singapore as just a stopover, but it’s one of my favorite places with a very special food culture. There are certainly reasonable complaints about the city state, especially if you’re a resident rather than a visitor. For both better and worse they have a truly unique governance system. They are both restrictive and experimental at the same time. Populist concerns don’t necessarily stand in the way of testing innovation. testing the use of driverless cars in one neighborhood next year, Uber-style it seems. And either ironically or predictability it’s all a part of Singapore’s social engineering desires: Lam Wee Shann, director of the futures division for Singapore’s Ministry of Transport, said during a panel held at MIT last month that the government wants to explore whether autonomous vehicles could reduce congestion…
