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.
Virgin Atlantic’s New Departure Lounge on the Beach Has Opened
Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays have opened a new departure ‘lounge’ on Barbados. It’s a departure beach that includes check-in and baggage dropoff.
Emirates in Talks to Buy Etihad, Create World’s Largest Airline
Emirates is in negotiations to acquire Etihad, forming the world’s largest airline by number of passengers carried.
Etihad has been cutting costs and slashing routes after a $1.5 billion loss last year and a $2 billion loss the year before. They’ve been expected to walk away from some aircraft orders. I’ve read much of the changes at Emirates as cleaning up the balance sheet before getting acquired.
Up to 43% Off Singapore Airlines Awards From the U.S. on New Non-Stop Flights
Singapore Airlines offers much better award availability to people using their own KrisFlyer miles than to people using miles from partner frequent flyer programs like United.
Right now Singapore Airlines is offering discounts on awards for their non-stop flights between the US and Singapore: business for the price of premium economy, and premium economy for the price of coach, which means up to 43% off.
Delta Lost Woman’s Bag, Called Police on Her for Recording Poor Customer Service
Ever since David Dao was dragged off a United Express flight by police and beaten last April it’s been clear to most people that we have a problem in the airline industry. Customer service problems are turned into law enforcement problems.
Delta called the police on a woman who began taping her interaction in the baggage service office at Boston Logan airport. No law was being broken and no one was in physical danger.
Delta Raises Checked Bag Fees
A month ago JetBlue raised its first checked bag fee to $30. United followed the Friday afternoon of Labor Day Weekend presumably looking for the news to get buried with the rest of the trash when no one was watching.
Now Delta has jumped on board with $30 first checked bag fees (up from $25) and $40 second checked bag fees (up from $35).
New Award Option to Tahiti and 737 Typhoon Video Was Faked!
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.
Five Hours Only: Buy Miles at a Great Price and Get Hotel Stays Thrown In No Extra Cost
Star Alliance program Avianca LifeMiles has a hotel booking site that is really Rocketmiles. And they have a quintuple (5x) miles offer for five hours only.
Five hours limits their exposure, because this is incredibly rich. When they ran triple miles for a single day last month I saw 15,000 miles on a $380 stay. This would yield 25,000 miles for the same stay. It can be like buying miles for what they’re worth and getting hotel stays free.
This Major Airline Painted a Plane – And Spelled Its Own Name Wrong
Cathay Pacific misspelled their own name on a freshly painted plane. Apparently the painters doing the job had no F’s left to give.
The airline dubbed this ‘a special livery’ while acknowledging the plane would need to go in for warranty work.
Transatlantic Business Class From $650 One Way
Business class fares originating in Europe to the US are often cheaper than fares which originate in the U.S. I occasionally see $1000 roundtrip fares originating in Europe. Last year there was even a $400 one-way Europe-US fare on Star Alliance member TAP Air Portugal.
TAP is back with amazing fares across the Pond, originating in Europe. You can book them either one way (Europe to U.S.) or roundtrip (Europe – U.S. – Europe). In fact $651 or $656 one way fares are available most days from mid-November through summer.