Category Archives for Trip Reports.
British Airways business class is very serviceable. The new seat (which won’t be completely installed in their fleet until 2026, despite already being four years into the roll-out) is quite good. The bedding and amenity kits are good. Their main meals are ok, snacks chintzy, and breakfast worth skipping.
Cabin crew are friendly enough, though a bit overwhelmed in the Airbus A350 in particular.
Back in July, when Etihad loaded the return of their Airbus A380 to the London – Abu Dhabi route, there was wide open award space for First Apartment award seats. That seemed like a great reason to put together an award trip with my wife and daughter.
We flew British Airways business class to London, Etihad A380 first class to Abu Dhabi and back, and stayed on points in suites at the Park Hyatts in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and at the Hyatt Regency The Churchill in London.
Last week one of my cousins from Australia was passing through Dallas. He’d been in the Northeast for a few days and didn’t have time to make a visit in Austin, since he needed to make it home for my aunt’s 70th birthday right after being in a wedding. But he booked a long layover, because he was traveling on separate tickets and very badly didn’t want a delay of his first flight to cause him to miss his business class award home. He’d be at DFW airport for about 8 hours, so I agreed to meet him there. I offered that we could leave the airport, but he actually wanted to see all the things. So we decided to make a day of DFW. I caught a 1 p.m. American Airlines flight to DFW.…
The hotel dates to 1987. Bill and Hillary Clinton have stayed there, along with Leonardo DiCaprio , John Travolta, Tom Hanks, and Mick Jagger. It was refurbished in 2004, and then again in 2015. I stayed in the first updated room where I was last at the property in 2015. The hotel sits on 360 acres and features tennis, golf, gym and spa.
I’m back from several days at the Crockfords Las Vegas LXR property. It was recommended to me by Michael Trager of TravelZork. When I was looking for a long weekend in Vegas, Michael is the expert I knew would be able to answer what’s the best overall value in Las Vegas right now and this was his answer. He was correct.
On the outbound we flew economy. There were no business seats available, and no extra legroom coach either. It was peak season and flights were full, as many flights within Australia have been since travel re-commenced.
For this flight we’d be in Virgin Australia business, which was about $100 more than economy for the three hour flight.
I spent the evening of the 4th of July at the Hyatt Regency Austin for the view of the fireworks over the lake, and it turned out to be a fantastic deal.
Cabin crew on this flight were great. Sometimes not proactive, and I had a drink order simply forgotten, but they tried to work with what they had and that was really appreciative. When they apologize for it, I sympathize with them. They are being given business class tools (and a photocopied menu isn’t even that) for international first class, but that’s not their fault at all.
While American Airlines Flagship first class largely means a bigger seat, a soup course, and more stuff in the amenity kit – and little else – departing from Sydney means access to the excellent Qantas First lounge as well.
The day began heading over to the terminal from the Rydges Hotel across the street, checking in with American, and then having breakfast in the Qantas first lounge before our flight.
We got to Cairns safely, only about 25 minutes late, so the trip was fine – just a lot more like Spirit before Spirit improved than the last time I flew Virgin Australia in economy.
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 »
