One of my most frequent and best uses of American AAdvantage miles over the past 7 years has been booking first class awards on Etihad. I’ve used them to fly to the Maldives four times, to India, to the Gulf region and from the Mideast to Australia to name just a few.
And they offer an excellent hard product in first class – on their Airbus A380 the ‘First Apartment’ with an on board shower.
American already eliminated their rule that basic economy passengers couldn’t bring on a full sized carry on bag. Now they’re making it easier for passengers on basic economy fares to get advance seat assignments – allowing paid seats 7 days prior to travel. And with bigger overhead bins, boarding last isn’t even a big deal anymore either.
She’s proposing to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require credit scores to take into account more types of payments. Paying rent, cell phone bills, and utility bills on time would give you a better credit score. And a better credit score gives you better access to credit, the theory goes.
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.
Timberline Steaks at the Denver Airport has become one of the 100 busiest independent restaurants in the country on the strength of Priority Pass.
On February 22, 2017 Delta flight DL1583 arrived at New York JFK from San Francisco and passengers were greeted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection demanding to see ID from everyone getting off the aircraft. Apparently they were looking for an individual who had been ordered to be deported.
Except that US CBP has no authority to do that.
The biggest mistake the average member of a frequent flyer program makes when it comes to using their miles for travel is believing that you just go to your airline’s website, enter the city you’re traveling from and where you want to go, and the website will spit out your options.
It’s a perfectly reasonable expectation in 2019, but it’s not how it works. Although with American AAdvantage it’s one step closer today.
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.
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 »
