Testing Out American’s Brand New Super Diamond Business Class on the Boeing 787-9

by Gary Leff

airline cabin first class
Oct 08 2016

American’s new business class seat is the B/E Aerospace Super Diamond going into their Boeing 787-9, Airbus A350, and later retrofits of Boeing 777-200s.

I had the opportunity to try out the new seat on American’s inaugural domestic run of its first Boeing 787-9, flying Dallas – Los Angeles. For the return flight I opted for premium economy (removing my upgrade request from the reservation just to be safe) so I could compare that other new product, a first in this aircraft, as well.

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100% Bonus Lets You Buy Hilton Points for Just Half a Cent Each

by Gary Leff

Oct 08 2016

Through October 21 Hilton HHonors is running bonus on purchased Hilton points.

Hilton usually charges a penny apiece for points, so with this bonus is selling points for half a cent each. That’s tied for the cheapest I’ve ever seen (in June 2015 they offered a 100% bonus on purchased points also, and a few months back they ran 50% off). They’re selling points for just about what they’re worth.

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Delta Puts Tokyo Awards on Sale, From 25,000 Miles Each Way

by Gary Leff

Oct 08 2016

I week ago I wrote about truly amazing business class award availability on Delta’s new Minneapolis – Tokyo Haneda flight with 6 or more saver award seats per flight.

This was what availability looked like for 6 passengers in business class during the flight’s first full month of service (Minneapolis – Tokyo Haneda starts October 29). Most dates actually showed 9 business seats.

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Qatar Airways Just Ordered Up to 100 Boeing Jets

by Gary Leff

Oct 07 2016

Boeing and Qatar announced a big jet order today for 787, 777, and 737 MAX aircraft.

Along with facing the end of 747 production, Boeing has been talking about slowing the line for 777s as well. Boeing says 10 777s — in particular their delivery dates — goes a long way towards helping to sustain the 777 program.

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Hilton Considering New Top Tier Elite Level Above Diamond

by Gary Leff

Oct 07 2016

Hilton’s current top elite tier doesn’t much differentiate itself from mid-tier Gold. And Gold comes just from signing up either for the Citi Hilton Reserve Card or the Hilton HHonorsTM Surpass® Card from American Express.

But we know about a survey of potential new benefits for a “Diamond+” level — in conjunction with a possible new premium credit card to boot.

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