Apr 03 2016

Designer Seymourpowell has come up with a new ‘First Spaces’ interior for the Airbus A380 that could rival the most revolutionary and luxurious first class seat in the skies.

It doesn’t quite offer as much space as Etihad’s ‘beyond product’ The Residence which even offers a private shower onboard.

The idea is akin to the First Apartment onboard Etihad’s Airbus A380s, but instead of a separate seat and bench that folds out into a bed — with some passengers complaining that the seat doesn’t really recline much — the seat here does turn into a bed so offers an in-between lounging mode.

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Apr 03 2016

Qantas and Tesla raced a Boeing 737-800 against a Model S P90D in ludicrous mode on a runway at Avalon airport Southwest of Melbourne.

I drove a Tesla last summer at a Hyatt event. It was super cool, I loved it, but would never buy a $100,000 car even factoring tax breaks and savings on gas. (I also wouldn’t pre-commit to a cheaper model with a quarter million preorders, that’s too much demand outstripping supply and despite the price won’t be a ‘good deal’.)

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Apr 03 2016

An Air China co-pilot going by ‘Andy’ attracted a social media following of 72,000 on Weibo under the username 90000xiaobao posting videos of himself performing his duties. His posts went viral and he’s been suspended.

One criticism of the pilot? Use of prohibited electronic devices inflight.

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Apr 03 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 02 2016

A passenger successfully sued Lufthansa Group for failing to provide his pre-ordered kosher meal. Those of us in the U.S. consider would consider it a ‘man bites dog’ event.

Lufthansa argued that he paid for and received transportation. The court rejected this.

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Apr 02 2016

Air France is scheduled to restart Paris – Tehran service in two weeks time. However, there’s a backlash against rules imposed on Air France crews who will be operating the flights.

France is largely secular, and attitudes towards Islam are in many ways quite negative. France, and Air France, is also quite unionized. So imposing working conditions that subjugate women to the demands of Islam is naturally unpopular.

Air France is threatening ‘penalties against crew not observing the dress code suggesting that “air crew were ‘obliged like other foreign visitors to respect the laws of the countries to which they travelled’.”

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Apr 02 2016

A week and a half ago word got out that Virgin America was shopping itself to potential buyers. There was plenty of speculation about who those buyers could be.

While some speculated it could be Delta, Hainan Airlines, or Etihad, on Monday it was reported that both JetBlue and Alaska were bidding for the airline.

Now it appears that Alaska Airlines is close to a deal to acquire Virgin America at a big price premium and it could be announced as soon as Monday.

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Apr 02 2016

American offers its co-brand credit card holders a discount of up to 3750 miles each way (7500 miles roundtrip) on domestic award tickets for a rotating series of destinations. (US Airways used to offer a discount on all awards taken on their own flights for their co-brand credit card holders.)

With the introduction of new 7500 mile one-way redemptions for flights up to 500 miles, a 3,750 mile award (7500 – 3750) for co-brand cardholders seemed like it would be too good a deal to be true. And it was — while the new short haul awards went into effect March 22, the airline suspended discounts on short haul awards through March 31.

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Apr 02 2016

Starwood’s new 8-K filing with the SEC walks through the timeline of Anbang’s attempt to top Marriott’s offer to acquire the chain.

I believe Anbang’s $78 offer for Starwood was likely better than Marriott’s offer of 0.8 shares and $21. While worth just over $79 at the time the offer was made, the Marriott deal is worth closer to $75 today. The only real benefit of the revised Marriott offer to Starwood’s shareholders is the possibility of tax deferment.

However Starwood’s board disagreed (and the near-doubling of Starwood officers’ golden parachutes in the second Marriott deal surely had nothing to do with it).

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Apr 02 2016

Turkish Airlines is offering amazing award availability between several US cities and Istanbul. I’d act quickly because 8 or more award seats in business class per flight simply will not last.

Turkish flights are feast or famine for award space. They opened business awards every day when they launched their San Francisco route. Historically Chicago – Istanbul has been the easiest flight on which to secure space. I’ve always had a tough time with Washington Dulles – Istanbul.

In the US they serve Boston, Chicago, New York JFK, Washington Dulles, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Houston, and Atlanta.

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