In May I wrote that Phoenix airport would replace the small The Club lounge there with a new 9,532 square foot lounge.
At the time I speculated it would be “a Centurion lounge — or perhaps less likely could become an Escape or Airspace lounge.” It turns out the recommendation is for two lounges.
A couple of weeks ago there was a rumor circulating that a new American Express Centurion Lounge would open in Charlotte. I confirmed it through City Council documents. American Express for their part now confirms the project:
In addition, American Express announced a new London Heathrow Centurion Lounge in terminal 3.
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.
Through January 4 the card has an initial bonus of 100,000 points for the very first time — 50,000 after first purchase and 50,000 more after $2500 spend on the card within 90 days of account opening.
In general the chain isn’t my bag. Radissons, especially Radisson Blu properties in Europe, can be quite good though.
LAX airport offers The Private Suite facility which — for a significant fee — allows private security and immigration along with BMW tarmac transfer to your plane. It’s a way to travel commercial yet still be discrete.
Access is available now to passengers on all United flights at LAX — and they have an amazing introductory offer.
All business class French airline La Compagnie flies from Newark to Paris-Orly airport and now is launching Newark to Nice, France seasonally. And pricing is an amazing $1199.23 roundtrip.
In contrast Delta generally charges over $1000 roundtrip for basic economy and pulling up business class on Delta for the same dates I picked as a La Compagnie example shows a price over $11,000.
It seems the woman wasn’t as unable to communicate as her son reports. And she wasn’t actually left overnight at the airport. Nor was her family left unaware of her situation — indeed, they rebooked her travel.
We’re inclined to believe the worst stories of customer service about an airline though, because in large measure dealing with an airline is like dealing with the IRS, DMV, and TSA all wrapped into one.
American’s offer to let you buy back your elite status or buy a higher status launched a month ago. People used to mileage run. Airlines figured out they could charge more taking the money for the ticket plus even more money to save members’ time. Although I already have enough travel booked to requalify as an Executive Platinum they’ll let me lock in next year’s status for a fee right now. Delta’s offer is now live, too. SkyMiles buy ups seemed like they were more expensive at least at the top end — and more expensive than American. Three years ago a common offer for an existing Platinum member was, Buy 2,500 MQMs for $2,195 Buy 5,000 MQMs for $2,495 Buy 7,500 MQMs for $2,795 Buy 10,000 MQMs for $2,995 While someone with lower status…
Two years ago someone was pretending to be Melbourne, Australia air traffic control. A Virgin Australia flight from Gold Coast was instructed to land by this person — the plane came witin 275 feet of the runway before the real air traffic control waved them off. The Boeing 737 climbed to 3800 feet and made a go-round.
Frighteningly that seems not to have been a one-off. A man has been arrested for pulling that same stunt in Buenos Aires.
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 »
