May 10 2016

Alaska Airlines partners with many of the airlines both in oneworld (like American, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, LAN) and Skyteam (like Delta, Air France, Korean) and also non-alliance airlines like Emirates. You cannot book first class awards on either Air France or Korean (business is the highest cabin offered).

I really like Alaska Airlines miles because they offer one-way awards on nearly all of their partners and most booking functionality is available on their website. One way awards allow an enroute stopover. So booking roundtrip allows two stopovers in addition to your destination.

Continue Reading »

May 09 2016

Workers spent 6 hours loading a Boeing 767 onto a barge at Ireland’s Shannon airport.

The 767, which had been operated by defunct Russian airline Transaero, was headed for a new resort in Inishcrone, a seaside town in Ireland, that will offer ‘glamour camping’: Quirky Nights Glamping Village (“The resort will see other modes of transportation such as buses, taxis and a train also turned into accommodation for visitors.”)

Continue Reading »

May 09 2016

The next Star MegaDO has launched for sale. Everyone who goes on the trip gets Star Alliance Gold status for a year from Aegean Airlines.

It’s a European adventure with a charter flight from Zurich to Hamburg to Mykonos and then Athens. The “program covers a close and personal encounter with the brand new Bombardier C series, landing at Airbus private airport in Hamburg, Finkenwerder, home of the A320 NEO, all interior installations for the A380 and the A350, a sundowner at the Santa Marina hotel in Mykonos and much more”

Continue Reading »

May 09 2016

If you’re looking for a cheap fare from New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco to someplace in Southeast Asia — Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta — now is the time with trips available from $417 all-in.

Fares are available September through December. You’ll find United fares for travel on United and ANA.

While there are cheap fares (~ $600) to and from the same cities, the cheapest fares are open jaw trips like New York – Bangkok, return from Kuala Lumpur. Similarly fly into Jakarta and back from Singapore.

Continue Reading »

May 09 2016

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.

Continue Reading »

May 09 2016

It seems so obvious, given Hilton’s URL structure, now that a reader mentions it…

Continue Reading »

May 08 2016

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.

Continue Reading »

May 08 2016

A passenger onboard Thursday’s Ryanair flight 1123 from Tenerife to Santiago de Compostela caused an incident when flight attendants refused to serve him beer. The man claimed to have a bomb which he threatened to detonate.

Continue Reading »

May 08 2016

Hilton HHonors has the best mid-tier hotel status, in my opinion, a mix of easy to get (they give it away for the price of a credit card signup) and rich benefits (it includes breakfast).

Here’s an offer for free Hilton Gold status with signup. Hilton is offering bonus points and an accelerated path towards keeping the status as well.

Continue Reading »

May 08 2016

On Friday American made a change to their oneworld and other partner award chart. They split up two regions that used to be a single region on the web page.

The “Middle East / Indian Subcontinent” region has now become two separate regions: “Middle East” and “Indian Subcontinent” There has been no change to award pricing, however.

Continue Reading »