United’s Newark – Hong Kong flight diverted to Goose Bay on Saturday for a medical emergency and that’s when things went bad.
The plane went mechanical and passengers had to stay on the aircraft overnight because there were no customs agents available. They were running out of food, and the cabin started getting cold. It was basically the plot of the 1993 film Alive.
My wife and I just flew British Airways first class. This was our daughter’s first international flight.
British Airways offers two types of seats for lap infants. They call bassinets “carrycots” and they also have “child seats.” Only the child seat was an option in first.
If you just need to power your phone and laptop, all you need is an adapter to plug it into the wall. A razor or electric toothbrush may work that way as well, you just want to know if your device is dual voltage.
If you need to use hair devices that operate on high heat you’re going to need a converter. You just need to know how many watts the device needs, and get a converter that supports materially higher wattage than that.
But if you’re using electronics that aren’t dual voltage you need a transformer. For travel you want the smallest one possible based on the wattage of your device — because 7 pounds works much better in checked luggage than 30 pounds or more!
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.
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.
When you fly domestically in “first class” you get a bigger seat usually it’s two seats next to each other versus three in coach. You get something that passes for a meal, free drinks, and a checked baggage allowance. You get early boarding so you aren’t forced to get check your carry on bag when overhead bins fill up. But as a general matter there’s not a whole lot that’s special about the experience.
Many Americans are surprised – shocked even – at what passes for business class in Europe, though. And the remarkable thing is that over the past five or six years it’s generally gotten worse.
TSA is telling individual airports not to reveal the percentage of screeners calling in sick. Nationally though they’re releasing airport wait time statistics and those are bad – very bad.
The Governor of California is encouraging TSA workers to claim unemployment benefits in his state despite guidance from the US Department of Labor saying it’s not legal to offer such payments.
Several blogs have reported that United Airlines is currently unable to book award space on Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways. In fact it goes beyond that to include TAP Air Portugal as well.
They are able to book the space sometimes — but when space gets cancelled out by a partner they’ve got a real problem on their hands. It makes sense to stop making these bookings until they can get the problem fixed, recognizing this is a huge inconvenience to members (especially those trying to change close-in travel plans).
Six or seven years ago Lucky from One Mile at a Time and I debated whether British Airways first class was ‘the world’s best business class.’ At the time I still felt like BA’s first offered something approximating a first class product, even if it wasn’t one of the better or flashier ones.
Now that same product, which BA is still flying, doesn’t even qualify as the best business class out there.
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.
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 »
