Mar 16 2016

The narrative about air travel has been that basic economy fares get less and less, and pay for more and more things. About 8 years ago the trend began charging for checked bags in economy.

On the other hand, it’s usually expected that premium cabins get more. There’s more perks for people who pay more.

That’s not always true. And continuing the trend of taking away from premium passengers, American shared with me today that they’re eliminating the 3rd free checked bag from domestic first class and international business class.

Continue Reading »

Mar 16 2016

Back in November Starwood brought their 11th brand Design Hotels into the SPG program.

Now Starwood is letting you earn free nights when you stay at their ‘Deisgn Hotels’ properties.

Continue Reading »

Mar 16 2016

With American AAdvantage devaluing its award chart March 22 there’s a ton of last minute requests for space.

And for the conspiracy theorists out there expecting American to remove all award space until March 22 arrives, I’ve pointed out fantastic space to South America. There’s decent Asia availability come the end of the year. And here’s a route to try when nothing else works.

You can go to Europe for the holidays as well.

Continue Reading »

Mar 16 2016

Last month an Alaska Airlines a passenger brought their own booze onboard, drank it, and screamed “we’re all gonna die!” This was deemed a customer service issue. (Just like with their frequent flyer program, they do things a little differently up in Seattle.)

Because a mere few weeks later, another drunk passenger forced an Alaska Airlines diversion.

Continue Reading »

Mar 16 2016

With American AAdvantage devaluing its award chart March 22 there’s a ton of last minute requests for space.

For quite some time American has been really really tough with award space on their own international flights. However American has been going to lengths to improve their premium cabin award availability. At the end of last year American finally opened pretty good award space on their new Sydney flight. I covered the floodgates opening for award space on London routes. And how they opened up China flying. That was just the start. And they opened up space to Auckland, too.

It seems though that right as the window is about to close to book at current prices, American has shut the window on availability for many of its own flights. But that’s not true in every market. Want to redeem premium cabin miles at current pricing? Look to South America.

Continue Reading »

Mar 15 2016

The bottom-line, no matter what anyone else tells you, is who makes the biggest credible offer to buy Starwood.

Contra the claim that “Starwood’s board has to determine whether or not it wants to go with this cash deal or whether it wants to go with Marriott, and see how Marriott’s stock does over the long term” they really won’t be deciding whether they think long-term Marriott’s stock will do better than cash now.

If they get more cash for their shareholders, those shareholders can choose to buy even more Marriott stock or anything else they wish. Turning down a substantially more lucrative offer isn’t just a recipe for shareholder lawsuits, it’s a recipe for successful shareholder lawsuits for a breach of the board’s fiduciary duty.

NWA‘s “Gangsta Gangsta” pretty much summed up the decision tree here, Starwood’s life ain’t nothin but money. The only question for Starwood’s board, then, comes down to how real the Anbang offer is and whether Marriott raises their offer to match it.

Continue Reading »

Mar 15 2016

Book an award ticket for travel on British Airways across the Pond, and you’re going to pay pretty hefty fuel surcharges.

But if you originate in the UK and don’t fly British Airways you’re still going to pay hefty taxes. That’s because of the UK’s Air Passenger Duty (APD) also referred to as the UK luxury tax or premium cabin departure tax, even though it applies to coach tickets as well.

The amount of this tax is based on distance and class of service. And it applies to most departures originating in the UK. However, there are exceptions to the fee.

Continue Reading »

Mar 15 2016

I recently needed to fly home from San Francisco and decided to book non-stop to Austin on Virgin America. For an extra $154 over the cheapest economy ticket I booked Virgin America’s first class – largely because I hadn’t flown it, had heard good things, and wanted to see it for myself.

The first thing you notice about first class is that there’s standard width leather first class seats but: tons of additional legroom, and legrests.

The seats also have personal television sets. And there was a shrink wrapped pillow and blanket set as well as colored headphones at the seat. The flight attendant charged with tending to first class handed out bottled water and eye masks and took predeparture drink orders.

Continue Reading »

Mar 14 2016

With American AAdvantage devaluing its award chart March 22 there’s a ton of last minute requests for space.

For quite some time American has been really really tough with award space on their own international flights. However American has been going to lengths to improve their premium cabin award availability. At the end of last year American finally opened pretty good award space on their new Sydney flight. I covered the floodgates opening for award space on London routes. And how they opened up China flying. That was just the start. And they opened up space to Auckland, too.

It seems though that right as the window is about to close to book at current prices, American has shut the window on availability for many of its own flights.

Continue Reading »