Mar 06 2016

Bali is one of my favorite relaxing places in the world. I go to the Maldives often, but it can be tough to get to and tough to get awards to. When folks come to me looking for French Polynesia and can’t find awards I’ll often suggest Bali.

It’s an interesting place with good food, cultural activities, and some of the world’s friendliest people. And there’s fantastic luxury accommodations available at reasonable prices for those spending US dollars.

Viceroy Bali is a family-owned resort with just 25 private pool villas. It’s in the artistic region of Ubud, so a nice departure from the more sterile Nusa Dua area of Westernized resorts. It’s a TripAdvisor 5-star and 2016 Travelers Choice award winner. I’ve seen very few properties with reviews this good. In fact, It’s TripAdvisor’s #11 of top 25 luxury hotels in the world.

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Mar 06 2016

This is a short trip report, British Airways first class enroute Paris and back in business class — a great opportunity to compare two very controversial products. Some say BA’s first class is really just a good business class. While not the over-the-top experiences offered by some Asian or Middle Eastern airlines, I found it to be solid. Business class, on the other hand, was… certainly better than coach.

Along with that another return to the Park Hyatt Vendome, which in many ways is an overrated hotel but that I also believe is one of the best award values going for a very nice hotel in a part of the city I much enjoy. Coupled with the benefits of a Hyatt Diamond, it’s still hard to beat in my opinion.

Upcoming installments will cover the Park Hyatt, Paris, and the return journey. This post covers planning and executing the flights and travel from Austin to London.

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Mar 06 2016

Delta’s incoming President doesn’t want you to redeem your miles for free tickets. Instead he wants you to use your miles at a penny apiece for Stella Artois beer in the airline’s SkyClubs. That’s a bad idea.

Don’t use your points for a new LCD toaster. Do consider using your points (when it won’t break the bank) for an up close performance, with just a few other folks, by a world-renowned artist if that’s the kind of thing that interests you. Or go to the Oscars, because without the contacts your bank has when in the world would you ever get to otherwise?

Both Starwood and Hilton have some great new opportunities.

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Mar 06 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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Mar 05 2016

Dining for miles is one of the easy and free ways you can rack up points. Register, use your credit card when you dine out, and if it happens to be at a participating restaurant you’ll earn miles automatically.

Through April 10 you can get 1000 miles just for registering to earn United miles for your dines. The best I’ve seen offered before a couple of times is 500 for joining. And if you haven’t taken advantage of it yet you should — there’s no reason not to. Plus tthere’s 500 additional miles for each of your first 5 dines of $25 or more (including tax and tip).

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Mar 05 2016

Yesterday I flew United Express from Austin to Denver. It was a Canadair CRJ-700 operated by GoJet. Katarina was working the first class cabin. She’s been flying for only a month, and has probably worked about 50 flights. She’s still finding her confidence making inflight announcements. But she hustled, and she showed real care for her passengers.

And that made me think of Jenna. United CEO Oscar Munoz, a month in to the job and before taking medical leave, was traveling the United system on something of a mystery tour. And he was telling the story of a flight attendant he had come across.

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Mar 05 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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Mar 05 2016

Last year a Singapore Airlines Airbus A330 retracted while the aircraft was undergoing a check. Now, a plane can land without a nose gear if it really has to.

But a plane certainly isn’t going to be able to taxi out and take off without a working nose gear. Via Aviation Herald, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 flight ET-702 had finished boarding and was preparing for departure when “the aircraft settled on its nose after the nose gear collapsed.”

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Mar 04 2016

I used to think 500 mile upgrades made sense. I no longer do — although I still don’t believe complimentary unlimited upgrades for all elites make sense.

There’s two changes that have happened. (1) American has raised the price of 500 mile upgrades from $30 to $40 apiece. (2) The price of buying first class outright has gone done.

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Mar 04 2016

Incoming Delta President Glen Hauenstein, the key architect of the airline’s revenue-based this-and-that over the past decade (hint: Jeff Robertson was always a great cheerleader for the efforts, but not their driver), has declared the end of awards.

He told Bloomberg‘s Justin Bachman, “We want people to be able to use those miles not to fly for free but to control your experience,” says Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s incoming president and architect of the airline’s revenue plans.”

Instead of free flights he wants SkyMiles used at a penny apiece towards more spending on Delta products. And that’s the value many internally wanted to place on miles in a revenue-based redemption program.

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