Thank goodness the hijacking of an Egyptair flight MS181 ended peacefully. The hijacker claimed to be wearing an explosives belt. The plane diverted to Larnaca, Cyprus. The hijacker demanded to speak to his ex-wife. The President of Cyprus said, “There’s always a woman involved.”
And that wasn’t the most awkward moment of the day.
We may ask, “should you go to the restroom prior to boarding?” or “should coach passengers be able to use the first class lavatory onboard?”
But we rarely ask, “where’s the lavatory? Oh, is this it?” before opening the aircraft door.
Since I was flying Etihad’s First Apartment three times in January and February, I reached out to Etihad to see if it might be possible to take a look at their ‘seat’ that’s even beyond first class (provided no one had booked it on my flight, of course): The Residence.
I’ve already written about the separate Etihad Residence lounge at New York JFK. And while I’m going to write a trip report about Etihad’s A380 First Class, I’m especially excited to share the inside of Etihad’s super-exclusive Residence.
Ever since the product was announced nearly two years ago, it’s been the subject of awe. It’s the product that Nicole Kidman is flying in her commercial for Etihad.
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.
Virgin America has a formal status match campaign for folks with status with a competing airline. They’ll give you temporary status and an accelerated path towards keeping it.
Through end of day today (Tuesday, March 29) Virgin America is also offering a 25% discount on Hawaii and Mexico bookings.
This morning word came out that Chinese consortium Anbang had raised its bid for Starwood to $82.75 in cash.
Marriott had offered 0.8 Marriott shares and $21 in cash last Monday, worth a little over $79 at the time, to outbid Anbang’s previous $78 offer. Marriott’s shares had fallen since then.
Instead of countering with a higher offer — continuing the potentially irrational bidding war — Marriott has issued a statement saying that Starwood’s shareholders to vote to sell for Marriott’s cash and stock offer anyway.
American has made it pretty clear they want to win Los Angeles, the way that Delta has worked to win New York. Both are major US markets, and hyper-competitive.
American has grown both with its own flights — they recently added a Sydney flight (with an improved inflight service), they’re adding Auckland, New Zealand, and they’re adding Tokyo Haneda service and Hong Kong as well not to mention Shanghai with a 787 — and those are all international routes that face competition.
There’s been speculation about JetBlue, Delta, and Etihad as Virgin America investors.
Now we know that there are two bidders and we know who they are: JetBlue and Alaska Airlines
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.
The deal for Anbang — instead of Marriott — to acquire Starwood – may be back on.
I wrote on Saturday that the door was open for the consortium led by Chinese insurer Anbang to make another offer for several reasons.
Things could ultimately now work out for Starwood to remain independent!
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 »
