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.
Japan Airlines is upgrading one of its two daily New York – Tokyo flights from a Boeing 787 to a Boeing 777. That means a lot more premium cabin seats, and tons of award space.
Here’s business class availability for 4 passengers New York JFK – Tokyo non-stop in April on Japan Airlines.
Non-stop award space in premium cabins between the US and Australia is one of the toughest things to find out of any frequent flyer award in the world.
And American has been anything but generous with premium cabin international award space generally, except during spurts when they open up space. So when they do you need to act quickly. And when they do for Australia and New Zealand it’s worth paying attention.
Pizza in Motion wrote about a woman who is suing Atlantis Resort, Paradise Island in the Bahamas over what appears to be one of the worst cases of bed bug bites I’ve ever seen and their alleged unwillingness to address the situation.
I reached out both to the woman that’s suing the property, and to Atlantis, in order to learn more.
Yesterday the Department of Transportation published a ‘supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking’ on their existing rulemaking docket regarding transparency of ancillary fees.
DOT proposed to require airlines and ticket agents to disclose either customer-specific or itinerary-specific fees for: First checked bag, Second checked bag, Carry on bag.
American Airlines will be rolling out a new boarding system March 1.
For the most part they’re changing how boarding is called rather than the order in which people are called. Everyone gets a group number. Agents are supposed to call boarding group numbers, rather than describing qualifications like first class, Executive Platinum, oneworld emerald, etc.
Last week I wrote that Hilton eliminated ‘AXON awards’ December 31 without notice. These are discounted awards for four night stays in category 5 through 10 hotels which could be booked over the phone by American Express co-brand cardholders.
I spoke with Hilton HHonors Vice President Aaron Glick this afternoon. He apologized to members, says they made a mistake and that “we want to give advance notice of changes in the program.”
Last night JonNYC shared some details of new American Airlines Basic Economy fares, which follow the path laid down by Delta and doubled down on by United. I wrote about these changes American is planning to make to its cheapest fares.
And then this morning American put out a press release on the changes. But there’s more to it than what was in the press release.
When American Airlines starts selling premium economy as a separate international cabin, mileage and systemwide upgrades will still let you move from economy to business class. And it will be possible to for top elites to get complimentary day of departure upgrades to premium economy as well.
Singapore Airlines flew its first Airbus A350 out of Houston last night. Indeed, it was the first A350 in Houston period.
This is the new plane which will become the workhorse of the Singapore Airlines long haul fleet. They’re replacing a large Boeing 777 on the Houston run, and have also changed the city it connects in enroute to Singapore. Houston – Moscow no longer makes sense with low oil prices, so they’re flying Houston – Manchester – Singapore. And with a smaller aircraft they may be able to make the 5 times a week service work.
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 »
