For a decade it was unheard of to see roundtrip fares to Southeast Asia for under $600. I don’t even bother sharing fares to Europe unless they’re under $500… preferably under $400. There was a time these would be presumed to be mistake fares. Airlines would have claimed they were mistake fares. Now they’re just a good fare sale, the kind of thing that pops up now and again if you’re watching.
China’s Anbang Insurage Group, which owns the Waldorf=Astoria New York and other hotels in the U.S. and which tried to buy Starwood before ultimately being outbid by Marriott, has been ordered by the Chinese government to sell overseas assets and repatriate the proceeds to China.
Anbang says they have no plans to do that.
The only North American city on sale in July is New York JFK – Paris Orly (so excluding Air France’s De Gaulle flights). Disappointing…
Good on American for offering a legitimate craft beer. Beer Advocate describes it as “[b]ursting with tropical aromas and juicy fruit flavors from Mosaic and Amarillo hops” and “perfectly bitter with a refreshing, sublime finish.”
I’m not a fan of Airbnb because they don’t do a great job standing behind reservations. In fairness, hotels overbook and walk guests too.
However I’m also not a fan of the disingenuous scare campaigns hotels band together to use in lobbying to get government to shut down the competition, to get people to narc on their neighbors to regulators, and running sting operations against unsuspecting hosts.
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.
Flights in and out of Qatar have become more difficult. Airlines like Etihad, Emirates, and Gulf Air stopped flying to Doha. And the severing of relations has created limits on Qatari-registered aircraft flying through the airspace of some of the countries involved.
Qatar does not have its own flight information region, it’s within the Bahrain region. The Doha terminal control area is from ground to 24,500 feet, and above 24,500 feet is the Bahrain Upper Information Region. Traffic is re-routing primarily via Iran. There are only two routes for air traffic in and out of Qatar.
Malaysia Airlines is planning 16 fully flat business class seats with direct aisle access for their Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
The mental model is jetBlue’s Mint product, but with each seat offering direct aisle access.
When I get on a long flight the first thing I do is take my pants off. That is, I change into pajamas. If I’m flying first class the airline usually gives me a pair (to keep, though my home is full of airline pajamas I rarely taken them along anymore).
If I’m flying business class some airlines provide pajamas, others don’t. United offers them on flights of 12 hours or more but only stocks enough for 60% of passengers to take them.
This fall Barclaycard will launch an Uber co-brand Visa.
Uber is losing a billion dollars per quarter but the biggest co-brand credit card deals run into the billions, it would be a twist if like the airlines which flew through rough times to preserve the underlying credit card business the ultimate road to profitability for Uber rode through the banks as well.
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 »
