Hong Kong Airlines has one of the most amazing business class fares I’ve seen in a long time. You can fly to Asia for less than $600 roundtrip. That’s a good price for coach and this is for business.
In fact you can fly Los Angeles – Shanghai between September and March for as little as $560 roundtrip in business class using Hong Kong Airlines’ daily service onboard a new Airbus A350. And Shanghai isn’t the only destination.
I visited United’s new Polaris business class lounge in Chicago 18 months ago. At the time I thought it was the best business class lounge in the United States (and I really enjoy the outdoor deck of the Star Alliance lounge at LAX).
Over the past three and a half months United has picked up the pace of new lounge openings, with Polaris lounges also now in San Francisco, Newark, and Houston.
The United Polaris lounge Newark solidifies my impression of the Polaris lounge project: this is perhaps the nicest thing that United has done. The dining is very good. The lounge amenities are top notch. And there’s a real thoughtfulness that has gone into the details.
Developing. Washington’s National airport (DCA) is currently without power.
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.
While both Etihad and Jet Airways would retain stakes in the program after a deal with Blackstone it’s not clear the relative shares each party would give up. For Etihad even a partial sale would them out of their worldwide expansion, which they’ve retrenched from after losing their shirts in Alitalia and air berlin. For Jet Airways it would provide them desperately-needed cash.
Reportedly the deal would value the program at $429 – $569 billion, which is 43% – 90% higher than in 2013. At the same time though membership in the program has grown 220% during that period so its value would be lower on a per-member basis.
At the beginning of the month Barclays increased the offer on its AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard to 60,000 bonus miles after first purchase in the first 90 days and paying the card’s $95 annual fee (the fee on this card is not waived the first year).
These are the cards flight attendants advertise onboard American. ComputerPlayerOne says flight attendants have been told this offer will last through August 31.
Last night American Airlines started showing some award space online for Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar, and SriLankan. That’s been pulled and is no longer available.
At a meeting between American Airlines employees and airline President Robert Isom last week, a sim instructor asked whether – with higher fuel prices – there’s an ‘industry initiative to increase fares’ to compensate. Isom explains that American is lagging behind on premium revenue.
However he thinks that premium economy will drive higher performance, and that basic economy and segmentation will “offer our customers what they want to buy, trying to encourage that move up the ladder” and that this will fix things.
No one offers a free airline ticket for answering three questions and sharing the (scam) offer with friends.
Anyone offering something for free but asking you for a credit card to claim your prize is suspect. However scammers are getting good at making themselves look like the brands you know and maybe even trust.
American appears to have at least partially added the ability to book awards online with four more partners: Cathay Pacific, Qatar, SriLankan, and Malaysia Airlines.
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 »
