The Los Angeles Times asks, “Are airlines padding flight times to improve on-time performance?” This gets it exactly backwards.
Airlines adjust their schedules to reflect how long it will take to fly from one airport to another. And they absolutely hate it. Just a couple of extra minutes per flight means several more aircraft are needed to operate the same schedule for a large domestic carrier.
Going on vacation doesn’t relax us, and whatever relaxation happened while we were gone is quickly destroyed the moment we’re back with a huge list of unattended items waiting for us.
If that describes your trips, you’re doing it wrong. Here are 6 things you can do to really get the most out of vacation.
A new Boeing patent published November 19 details how an airline could go to 12-across seating in business class. Forget the dorm-style 8-across that United still has on some Boeing 777s, or the 6-across they have on others. American, Cathay Pacific, EVA Air and others have moved or are moving to a largely 4-across seating concept.
Boeing shows airlines how they can triple that, or even put six-across flat beds in a Boeing 737. “Business class” would never be the same again.
Avianca is a Star Alliance airline that regularly sells miles cheap, I bought quite a haul at around 1.35 cents per mile recently.
They offer one way awards, cash and points awards, and make their Star Alliance partner awards bookable online. They do not add fuel surcharges to award tickets.
And Avianca LifeMiles can once again book Lufthansa First Class awards!
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.
American Airlines flight AA199 from Milan to New York JFK made an emergency landing at London Heathrow yesterday when the plane’s windshield shattered.
Given the story about Alaska Airlines luggage handlers playing a 30 minute game of horseshoes with luggage not to mention the care shown by these Air Canada baggage handlers, and that you never know when your bags will have bullets planted in them or your personal items stolen right out from inside them, it seemed worth flagging an interesting kickstarter idea.
BagSentry plans to let you monitor your luggage throughout the trip.
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.
Bangkok has some of the world’s worst traffic. It may not be quite as bad as Jakarta or Manila, but traffic in Bangkok is certainly far worse than anything most Americans have ever experienced.
So the Thai military junta is trying a new approach: The city’s police chief has been given 3 months to fix the problem. That’s the approach.
Yesterday morning my flying day started super early in Yakima, Washington. I had a 6:35 a.m. flight on Horizon Air to Seattle. On the way to the airport I stopped at Starbucks.
By the time I made it to the check-in counter I was almost done with my coffee. I placed it on the counter to hand the agent my ID. And it tipped over and spilled.
The agent played a practical joke on me, poking fun at how uncoordinated I was I suppose…
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 »
