Apr 11 2016

airberlin is a oneworld airline, partner of American and British Airways, that’s largely controlled by UAE-based Etihad.

They have a great business class product for long haul travel, and they do not add fuel surcharges to their fares. That means when redeeming miles, even British Airways miles for travel across the Atlantic, there are no fuel surcharges.

airberlin award space isn’t searchable at aa.com. You can search for it on the British Airways website and the Qantas frequent flyer site, then call American if using AAdvantage miles.

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Apr 10 2016

Yesterday I wrote about some amazing airfares on United Airlines between the US and Australia.

The fares were ~ $550 roundtrip from many of Delta’s hubs — not a mistake fare, but clearly a fare war aimed at Delta. Those fares are still available. And you can get the fare down as low as $380 by starting in any of these cities and returning to Los Angeles.

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Apr 10 2016

Oh, Air India. Your pilots refuse to fly unless you send them women. You fire co-pilots that have already quit. Your catering carts have rats, and you feed customers from them anyway figuring it’s your passengers that are the bigger problem anyway.

Bus gates are the bane of your existence. So it should really come as no surprise that when it was time to retire an old Airbus A320 to a training facility, they decided to use a crane that apparently couldn’t withstand the weight of an aircraft.

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Apr 10 2016

Back in February I detailed Starbucks plans to gut their rewards program for many customers. As is the trend in the airline loyalty game, Starbucks is moving to a revenue-based program. High-spenders will mostly break even. Folks who just buy a cup of coffee will see their rewards slashed drastically.

Starbucks is informing members that the IT work for the changeover starts tomorrow, with new earning going into effect on Tuesday.

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Apr 10 2016

A British Airways flight attendant who tried to hide being drunk by keeping her nose in a book has been fired. She gave up the game because she was holding the book upside down.

She was fired by BA. She appealed. She lost her appeal. Then she took her case to an employment tribunal. One claim was that while “she was seen swaying from side to side and stumbling ..dressed in her BA uniform, before she fell over” it was actually several hours before the flight she’d be working. And the officer who questioned her really smelled alcohol from a nearby bar, not her breath.

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Apr 10 2016

Jillian Michaels has taken to social media to decry American Airlines for sexism over having been bumped from her seat. That wouldn’t be the Occam’s Razor explanation here, of course (just like this man wasn’t denied boarding because he was overweight and this man wasn’t denied boarding because he was a Nobel laureate).

Here’s what you’re actually entitled to when you’re denied boarding, and how to avoid being the passenger who gets bumped.

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Apr 10 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.

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Apr 09 2016

Liberal commentator Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, was delayed last night flying out of Los Angeles. He started taping the delay and commenting on it from the start. As the wait creeps on, passengers start to lose it and become belligerent with each other and with American Airlines personnel.

Police were called to the gate. At one point Uygur joins in yelling at staff ‘where’s the plane? where’s the plane?’

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Apr 09 2016

Here’s another great deal from SecretFlying: United is offering roundtrips between many US cities (generally Delta hubs) and Australia for as little as $532.

This does not appear to be a mistake fare, just a serious fare war. And it’s as cheap as I have ever seen Australia flights. The fares appear available through at least end of November for the outbound flight.

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Apr 09 2016

There’s nothing as awkward in the world as a bathroom with an attendant, except a bathroom with an attendant who works for tips. Bathroom attendant tipping induces confusion, and fear.

The Charlotte airport has bathroom attendants, and those aren’t going away, but the way they get paid is changing.

Changing the way attendants are paid isn’t going to obviously change passenger expectations. It’s not going to do anything to diminish confusion and fear. So it’s important to get the word out: starting in July, no tipping required in the airport restrooms in Charlotte. Pass it on.

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