First class currently is a cube, lacking a door. The new seat will be a suite with doors and will be called The Suite. It will offer access to windows for window seat passengers, and a better divider between middle seats offering a choice of privacy or access to a seatmate.
ANA’s business class will be a suite with doors called The Room, and according to the airline will offer twice the width of the current business seat.
The latest from Italy is that the government is driving to close on a restructuring of the airline with the government continuing to pump in money and take a majority stake of the airline (35% of which would be through the state railway) while Delta takes 10% ownership though presumably exercises outsized influence.
All business class airline La Compagnie is advertising a special roundtrip Newark – Paris fare of $1400. But that’s not even their best deal.
La Compagnie also flies Newark – Nice. Prices start around the same. However they will also book you to Monaco and include the helicopter transfers to and from the Nice airport.
Forget the TWA Hotel as an avgeek’s paradise, the Haneda Excel Hotel Tokyu attached to terminal 2 at Tokyo Haneda airport has them beat, hands down.
The property has just introduced a “Superior Cockpit Room” which includes a full sized Boeing 737-800 flight simulator. And they offer one of the best deals anywhere for experiencing a sim.
American Airlines went to court to get an injunction against their mechanics union, claiming they were engaged in an illegal action to sabotage the performance of the airline. But two of the airline’s lawyers failed to show up for a meeting with mechanics’ representatives — because their flight was cancelled.
“Resort fees” are extra charges, on top of a room rate, that aren’t optional. In other words they’re part of the price of a room, but the hotel advertises a lower price instead. That’s on face deceptive.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
British Airways opened their refurbished lounge in San Francisco today after a six month closure. The lounge is in the international terminal between gates A4 and A6. You’re greeted at reception where your credentials for the lounge will be checked and then the lounge is down one level by elevator.
Flight attendants reportedly thanked this woman “multiple times for being a team player” and moving away from the passenger who didn’t want to sit next to a black woman — when they should have given that passenger a choice to either stop harassing her assigned seat mate or get off the aircraft.
Marriott hasn’t talked about the really valuable data that’s been breached, preferring to focus on expired credit cards and passports. The EU proposes to fine Marriott for a criminal hack of their systems, which is how the law works, but it’s not clearly the best way to drive collaboration between large companies and government agencies protecting against nation state attacks.
And indeed it’s government agencies that are the biggest violators of data privacy.
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 »
