An Atlas Air Boeing 767 was landing in Phoenix when an emergency slide deployed. The aircraft was at 2800 feet.
“It was a loud bang and then the house actually shook ..It just smelled like sulfur burning.. Someone else had called 911 and said that they had seen an object falling from an airplane”
When I first started traveling on business 20 years ago, and signing up for all of the loyalty programs of the airlines I was flying, people used to talk about saving their miles up over a lifetime.
It was common to think of miles as a retirement fund. Some people would travel for work and tell an annual vacation with their family on points. But others just wouldn’t have the time, such is the way Americans think of work and leisure. So they’d accumulate miles over many years with a plan to use those miles ‘some day’. And some day was often thought of as retirement, when there’d be nothing but time.
Devaluations changed all of that. It’s clear that the miles you earn now will never be worth more in the future than they are worth today. In fact pretty much any stash that you sit on for more than a couple of years will become worth less.
In mid-November American offered a purchase miles bonus through November 30 that they extended through January 4 which allowed you to buy miles at 2 cents apiece.
Then they dropped the price even further to 1.8 cents. The promo pricing went back to 2 cents for February. Now they’ve returned to 1.8 cents.
Emirates, Etihad, ANA, Asiana, Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Swiss — fantastic airlines which offer fantastic first class products. We can (and do!) get into debates all day about which airlines are the best, at least if you’re an ‘avgeek’ like me, and even have intense disagreements over which one belongs in the number 5 spot versus number 6.
But the very best first class products all have something in common. They’re offered onboard the superjumbo Airbus A380s which simply have more space to offer more privacy and more amenities. So the A380 first class product has things in each case that the ‘normal’ first class product does not.
Three airlines, on their flagship A380s, offer a first class that’s beyond all others. And I think any fair-minded observer will rank these as the three best first class offerings in the world, the A380 first class onboard Etihad, Emirates, and Singapore.
I’ve been a huge fan of Uber since they began disrupting the taxi industry.
But Uber’s market position, while greater than Lyft’s, isn’t really protected by significant barriers to entry.. though in becoming in many cases pro-regulation they’ve tried to impose costs on other services that might start.
I like competition and so I’ve been using Lyft more. Lyft gives out $50 in new rider credits, which is more than Uber’s been doing ($15 – $20).
Not long after a passenger was banned by British Airways for walking around inflight, a United flight turned around to have a passenger arrested for refusing to stop doing yoga.
Overnight last night Alaska Airlines made no-notice changes to their Emirates award charts for business and first class travel, raising prices by as much as 100%.
Alaska has now offered an explanation.
Last Monday Marriott increased their offer substantially to take the lead in the acquisition of Starwood. Marriott’s offer is 0.8 Marriott shares and $21 in cash for each Starwood share. A shareholder vote was scheduled for April 8.
On Monday Chinese insurer Anbang came back with a higher offer. However Anbang is reportedly dropping out of the race to acquire Starwood.
Via Extreme Hotel Deals, the Park Hyatt Aviara (used to be a Four Seasons) in Carlsbad, California has a Park Deluxe Suite available for as little as $229+tax. I reviewed this property several years ago.
This room is a level above the basic Park Suite. However the room type is on sale for less than the base level suite (and indeed for the same price as an entry level room).
On March 20 I wrote that American would be eliminating free 24 hour reservation holds on April 1 and switching to 24 hour refunds instead.
American reached out to tell me that wasn’t accurate, only it turns out that it is accurate. Nonetheless, there’s still going to be a way to put reservations on a 24 hour hold at least for some period of time.
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 »
