American Airlines has been adding online booking of award travel with several of their partners, most recently Japan Airlines awards in July and Etihad awards back in May.
Now Cathay Pacific awards are bookable at the aa.com website but only if you use the old search tool.
Virgin Atlantic announced an expansion plan to become Britain’s second flag carrier, adding 84 new routes. They’d fly to 12 domestic destinations in the U.K., 37 European routes, and add 35 long haul routes to places like Delhi, Havana, Jakarta and Tel Aviv.
There is absolutely no chance of their announced growth plan happening. It simply isn’t real. It’s pure posturing to bolster their case for government handouts. In fairness, they’re correct that the handouts shouldn’t all go to British Airways – but they shouldn’t be given to Virgin, either.
For some time I’ve considered Etihad’s 44,000 mile one way business class award on Royal Air Maroc to be one of the 10 best deals in all of travel.
However several reports are people are being charged now per segment instead of one way. That means it’ll be possible for some Royal Air Maroc awards to have gone up to 88,000 miles one way.
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What the mechanic did was truly beyond the pale, and both American Airlines and their mechanics unions say so. The government is going to be as aggressive as possible in going after him, invoking the specter of terror, especially since his name is Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani. So far the man seems more deranged than a terrorist.
British Airways is offering double Avios on flights, including not just British Airways flights but transatlantic BA codeshares on their joint venture partners (American, Iberia, Finnair) too.
Double Avios applies to your first 10 flights through June 30, 2020 as long as they’re booked by December 13. And unlike past versions of the promotion, already-booked flights earn double Avios too – this isn’t just for new bookings
Qatar Airways announced a loss of 2.3 billion Qatari riyals (US$632 million) for the fiscal year ended March 31, for a -4.8% margin. That’s their second straight year of losses and ten times the loss of the prior year.
The airline basically gets a pass on its financial performance while the country is being blockaded by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt. That eliminates travel to 20 destinations in the region, and forces the airline to take circuitous flight routes – increasing fuel costs and flight times (and making the carrier’s schedules less desirable for customers).
Dubai International Airport has launched a new “TaxiDXB” service making “hailing a taxi” possible inside the terminal. So far offered just in Concourse B, the airport plans to expand this “to other concourses in the coming months.”
The New York City Food Policy Center tested for coliform bacteria as well as E. coli. They looked at the number of violations at each airline of the EPA’s s Aircraft Drinking Water Rule.
Study authors recommend not drinking any way water that didn’t come from a bottle, not drinking on board coffee or tea, and not even using water from the lavatory to wash your hands. Please wash your hands!
Six years ago the airline was fined 20 million Dong over unapproved inflight entertainment. It wasn’t a problem with the installation of a seatback video system. Instead, 5 bikini-clad candidates in a local beauty contest performed a dance onboard the airline’s inaugural flight to Nha Trang. The 3-minute show had not been approved in advance, it was deemed a violation of aviation and security regulations. And the airline was fine — the equivalent of $959.
Since then they’ve branded themselves the bikini airline.
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 »
