Wendy Perrin shares very good advice similar that what I’ve offered here in the past. When snowstorms hit, or operations melt down for other reasons, it can be tough to get help. There are just too many people chasing too few agents. A year ago during an ice storm in Dallas American Airlines’ operations were so impacted (yes, that’s a word) that the hold time for a 100,000 mile flyer was frequently four hours. But there’s no reason to wait on the phone that long even though you do need help. The most frustrating thing for me about long telephone hold times is that I can find myself flights that are still operating, and with availability (using Expert Flyer) but by the time an agent gets around to the call that space is likely already…
Hacking Your Drugstore for a Free Flight, Your Bank for More Interest, and the Cockpit of the Last Qantas 767…
News and notes from around the interweb: Free flight offer from Rite-Aid. The highest interest rates for deposit accounts. Will airlines and hotels use your aggregated reputation information from companies like Uber and Airbnb? Imagine the outrage if this guy had been driving for Uber… (HT: Jeff B.) Start thinking about your 2015 holiday plans now. Really.. Inside the cockpit of the final retiring Qantas 767. (HT: World Airline News) You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Thai Beach Destination: Police Chief Wants Officers to Stop Taking Bribes
There’s a new police chief in Pattaya, a beach town just a bit more than an hour’s drive from Bangkok that was a significant R&R destination for US servicemen during the Vietnam War. It became the sort of place that US servicemen, spending US dollars, could buy anything they wished. Pattaya has been cleaned up some compared to what it once was. I’ve stayed at the Sheraton, the property was lovely, though it wasn’t uncommon to spot an older Russian man with young Thai female who spoke neither Russian nor English.. or an older American man with a young Thai male at breakfast. The new police chief is the brother of the national police chief yet is focused on his officers not taking bribes. New Pattaya police chief, Pol. Col. Sukthat Pumpunmuang told officers to…
The Business Class Award Flights to Asia You Can Always Get Because No One Is Competing With You For Them
I attended a talk by a legendary fundraiser, probably 15 years ago, where he told a story about not going to visit with the wealthiest donor in a state. When making a trip to Arkansas everyone assumed they knew he was going to see the Waltons of Wal-Mart but he explained, ‘the line’s too long.’ One of the reasons I’ve loved redeeming Chase points for Korean Air first class, American miles for Etihad first class, and Alaska miles for Emirates first class, is that in those cases there are relatively few programs able to redeem for the seats. Etihad and Emirates aren’t part of global alliances, and Korean’s Skyteam partner Delta doesn’t allow redemptions for first class. In other words, the line is shorter. One of the shortest lines in award redemption is for Philippine…
Transatlantic Business Class Awards Wide Open Again for Summer With No Fuel Surcharges!
A couple of weeks ago, immediately after US Airways transitioned to using American’s fare class codes, the floodgates opened on US Airways international awards in business class. Krystyna F points out to me that US Airways transatlantic business class space is again very very good. Not quite what it was a few weeks ago, most dates on most routes with a whole cabin wide open. But still excellent for summer travel. You can use US Airways or American miles, and not pay fuel surcharges. Using American miles across the Atlantic in business class without fuel surcharges has been a real challenge the past couple of years. You can use British Airways points prior to the April 28 Aviosgeddon. Here are some samples of what I’m seeing — in all cases business class for 2 people,…
Singapore Airlines Eliminating Half Its First Class Seats from Long Haul 777s Getting Premium Economy
AirlineRoute.net has the lowdown on the Singapore Airlines Premium Economy retrofit. Their A380s getting premium economy go from 12 first class, 60 business, and 399 coach (or 86 business, 311 coach) to 36 premium economy and 333 coach in the low-density business configuration or 36 premium economy and 245 coach in the high-density business configuration. Premium economy is coming at the expense of fewer coach seats. Their 777-300ERs getting premium economy go from 8 first class, 42 business, and 228 coach to 4 first class, 48 business, 28 premium economy, and 184 coach. That’s 10% more business class, half the first class, and 20% fewer economy seats to make room for premium economy. I’m not especially interested, then, in the A380 retrofit except to the extent that I know someone interested in buying premium economy.…
Would You Fly Okay Airways? (Yes, They’re Real, and They Just Took Delivery of a New Boeing…)
Okay Airways (OKAir) is China’s first fully privately owned airline, based in Tianjin. They’ve been flying for a decade, and nearly sold a 49% stake in themselves to Korean Air shortly after receiving their operating certificate. Along with ‘Joy Air’ they’re the launch customer for a Chinese-designed turboprop aircraft, the MA700, anticipated to begin flying in 2017. They already operated a dozen MA60s. Their mainline fleet consists of 13 Boeing 737-800s. They fly from Tianjin to Krabi, and are adding four weekly flights from Xi’an to Krabi and three from Xi’an to Bangkok in the coming months. In addition, they fly Tianjin to Changsha, Chengdu, Haikou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Hefei, Jiamusi, Kunming, Nanjing and Zhangjiajie. They’ve now taken delivery of a 737-900, becoming the first operator of that model. Boeing’s press release says they fly “more…
Uber $30 First Ride Credit is Back!
Readers know that I’m a big fan of Uber, the on-demand car service. You download an app to your phone, request a pickup with the press of a button. You watch your vehicle on a map as it drives to you and shows you how many minutes away the car is. You can stay inside at home or at a restaurant until it shows up. Your payment details are on file, so when the trip is over you just get out and you’re emailed a receipt. There are several options in different markets — like black cars, UberX which is individuals with their own cars that drive you, and in some cities even UberTaxi where you’re just requesting a cab through the app. They haven’t offered this in a few months, but they are back…
How to Earn Unlimited Free Starbucks Stars, How to Search Travel to Cuba, and Spanish Airports May Go On Strike
News and notes from around the interweb: Starbucks gift cards earn ‘Stars’ so you can earn free drinks just buy loading your app. But by buying your gift cards from Starbucks, rather than an office supply store, you’re giving up 5x points-earning. So only do this on a ‘first Friday’ with a Chase Sapphire Preferred.. Unions at Aena, the Spanish airport operator, have called for 25 days of strikes to be taken between February 11 and August 25 in protest of the company’s partial privatization. On the one hand, strikes at European airports and airlines make me shrug at this point. On the other hand, this could get ugly. Kayak will now search and sell Cuba travel. Kayak users can search for more than 300 hotels in Cuba, but for now, the site’s flight-search results…
In Defense of Korean Air’s “Nut Rage” Executive, And Why a US Airline Should Hire Her
We’ve all heard the story by now about Cho Hyun-ah, Korean Air’s Vice President for inflight services and daughter of the airline’s Chairman, who flew New York JFK – Seoul at the beginning of December and had an altercation with a crew member. She was flying first class, and a flight attendant presented her with an unopened bag of macadamia nuts, rather than asking her if she wanted the nuts and then serving them on a plate per proper procedure. Ms. Cho scolded the flight attendant, and dressed down the purser. She apparently hit the flight attendant, as this assault is the only charge she faces that she pled guilty to. She ordered the purser off the plane. The aircraft, which was apparently 56 feet toward the runway at this point, returned to the gate…
