For a 13 hour flight though I will choose Etihad’s First Apartment over pretty much anything else every single time, and even adding a connection I’ll choose it over Qantas first. It’s not merely an academic argument that Etihad’s A380 has the best first class, it’s how I actually behave in practice when making flight choices.
United has taken away the ability for customers booking basic economy fares to check in online if they aren’t checking a bag.
This a restriction that United hasn’t told customers about during the booking process or elsewhere. And as @RyanRadia points out it directly contradicts what United says on its own website about online check-in.
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I read late last week in a post on Facebook that United didn’t allow Basic Economy customers to check in online and thought surely that was wrong. It turns out it isn’t wrong.
If you say you’re checking a bag when you check-in online, and pay for the bag, you can complete the check-in process. But if you say you aren’t going to check a bag, United won’t check you in and tells you to deal with it at the airport.
You get free airport parking if you agree to rent out your car while you’re gone. (Parking is free even if no one rents your car.) And you get paid per mile your car is driven.
(Photo via PopCultureGeek.com taken by Doug Kline, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0)
This is an excellent first class lounge, with plenty of space so that you never feel crowded by other passengers and very good service along with all of the features you’d expect. I’d rate dining here among the top 5 first class lounge epicurean experiences, probably somewhere around number 5 and the overall lounge itself I’d place in the top 10.
However there were no private nap rooms and Etihad’s first class ground service lacks personalized escort from check-in to lounge and from lounge to gate.
Saturday night’s United flight 830 from Chicago O’Hare to Buffalo was delayed an hour, according to United, “due to crew positioning.”
Instead of taking off at 9:25pm they took off at 10:28pm. That presented a problem because Buffalo airport would be closed when the plane got there.
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.
In March Alaska Airlines announced that they expect to end Virgin America Elevate at the close of 2017. They project a ‘single operating certificate’ to fly as one airline at the beginning of 2018. They’re working towards mid-year 2018 labor agreements and a move to a single reservation system at the end of 2018 (with a trickle of final merger-related activities running through 2020).
As part of this process Virgin America Elevate has announced the last day for transactions with their various partners.
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 »
