Help Me Try Something New, What Luggage Should I Buy?

by Gary Leff

Dec 27 2015

For the longest time I was a ‘whatever bag I can buy for $35’ guy. But I travel enough that a quality bag isn’t really that expensive — it’s one thing to spend a few hundred dollars on a bag that you’ll use once or twice a year, but on a per-trip basis the extra cost for a quality bag isn’t all that much when you’re using it every week.

I’ve been using my 19-inch Briggs & Riley Baseline for several years. It’s the old two wheel kind, and I’ve finally been converted to preferring four wheels….

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Airline Starts Serving Hot Meals on Flights Over 1 Hour, Passengers Complain

by Gary Leff

Dec 27 2015

Air India will offer only hot vegetarian meals on domestic flights 61 to 90 minutes long.

They used to serve cold sandwiches. Then introduced hot meals. But they received many complaints about the hot items not being vegetarian so they will serve only vegetarian. Because the flights aren’t long enough to offer a choice of meal options. This is highly controversial.

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Turkish Aircraft Makes Emergency Landing in Russia

by Gary Leff

Dec 27 2015

Turkish Airlines has some really interesting ‘fifth freedom’ routes — flights between two countries other than their home country. Last I checked they were fourth in the world for number of destinations served, and they served the most countries at 110.

Here’s a fifth freedom route I didn’t know about: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The flight operates 3 times a week in each direction.

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American Express Platinum and Starwood Cards Will Get You HIGH SPEED Internet at Several Major US Airports

by Gary Leff

Dec 26 2015

Last year American Express announced that Platinum (and Centurion) cardholders would get unlimited Boingo internet hot spot access. This year the benefit was expanded to Starwood co-brand credit card holders. The retail price of this benefit would exceed $700 per year.

The benefit is going to be really useful for me, because Boingo will be providing true high speed internet to members at 7 major US airports.

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American and Qantas Planning 3 New Routes Together, and Other Secrets Revealed in Government Filing

by Gary Leff

Dec 26 2015

When American announced Sydney service starting in December, they did so as part of an enhanced joint venture with Qantas.

Although American’s new Sydney flight launched a week ago and Qantas has touched down in San Francisco, the Department of Transportation has yet to approve the tighter cooperation between the two airlines. Instead, after several months, the DOT requested more information.

American and Qantas have responded, and the filing makes for interesting reading.

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Your SkyMiles are Now Worth 1 Cent Apiece for Booze in the Club. How Long Until That Low Valuation Spreads?

by Gary Leff

Dec 25 2015

A key takeaway for me from Delta’s investor day was that they expect to sell buy ups for 70% of their first class cabins, for all intents and purposes eliminating elite upgrades. Whether the policy changes, or the supply or unmonetized first class seats simply approaches zero, if they’re successful that will transform US airline elite programs.

But there was a lot more in the presentation — like Delta’s plan to expand basic economy fares to long haul markets, a continuation of a strategy they’ve been working on for the past year. More markets with stripped down fares offering few services, and more opportunity for upselling.

As predicted there, you can now use Delta SkyMiles to pay for premium booze in the airline’s club. At a very poor valuation. And it’s more or less what the airline was planning to do across the board when they went revenue-based.

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TSA’s Naked Imaging Machines Just Became Unconstitutional

by Gary Leff

airport
Dec 25 2015

We know that the TSA doesn’t actually catch contraband through the checkpoint the vast majority of the time. So their procedures aren’t actually meaningful for security, leaving aside that they’ve never caught a terrorist.

But now with news that the TSA will make the imaging devices mandatory for some passengers, it’s likely that use of these machines violate the fourth amendment since a Federal Appeals Court ruled in EPIC v. DHS that the scanners were constitutionally permissible because they’re optional.

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