What’s the Best First Class for West Coast – Asia?

by Gary Leff

Jul 05 2015

The choice here is ultimately going to be driven by availability, although there are plenty of airlines worth checking given the miles that are available.

Consider that it’s entirely possible to use a different airline for the outbound as the return — not just to try different products, but because schedules and availability may differ, especially for an outbound to North Asia and a return from Southeast Asia.

I’d generally rank the first class products of airlines flying from the US West Coast across the Pacific as follows:

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Review: Delta Business Class, Sydney – Los Angeles

by Gary Leff

Jul 05 2015

After missing my Virgin Australia flight to Los Angeles and spending the night at the Rydges hotel at the airport, I was re-booked onto Delta’s own Sydney – Los Angeles flight.

I was actually excited to be able to compare Virgin Australia’s 7-across business class to Delta’s four-across. Delta operates the flight with a Boeing 777 fitted with (not reverse) herringbone seats and unfortunately no internet. So not the airline’s best product, but decent enough.

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How the Selfie May Limit Your Credit Card Rewards

by Gary Leff

Jul 04 2015

Some people sign up for credit cards in the name of family members (who are willing participants) — they want the bonus miles, but spouse or sibling doesn’t want to deal with meeting minimum spend and doesn’t themselves value the miles.

Things get tricky when it comes time to cancelling, a male voice may have a hard time calling to cancel a woman’s card (so cancel by mail or online). And meeting minimum spend either needs to be done with an authorized user card, or online.

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Review: Air New Zealand Temporary Lounge Sydney

by Gary Leff

Jul 04 2015

The last stop on my Sydney lounge tour was the Air New Zealand temporary lounge.

The temporary lounge was.. interesting. It’s a drab, windowless space that was definitely too small for all of the passengers it was servicing. Like the rest of the downstairs lounges, the ceilings weren’t especially high. This one had no windows.

But it did retain the Air New Zealand hot dog stand.

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Review: Skyteam Lounge Sydney Airport

by Gary Leff

Jul 04 2015

Right beside the American Express lounge is the Skyteam lounge, and as a Delta business class passenger I had access. So that became my second stop on the day’s lounge tour of the Sydney airport before my flight back to Los Angeles. Hence I have the opportunity to offer this Skyteam Lounge Sydney review.

The lounge features internet, showers and power at each seat. The lounge is about 8000 square feet and advertised to support either 140 or 150 passengers.

There’s ample seating and tarmac views to be sure, though I found the ceilings a bit low and the overall feel of the lounge to be less uplifting than the windows and bright furnishings would have you expect.

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What If Retailers Had No Liability on Their Books for Redeeming Rewards?

by Gary Leff

Jul 03 2015

Frequent flyer miles are proprietary currency where the issuer offers the promise of redemptions (although airlines at least have no obligation to honor that promise).

What if a retailer created their own currency but didn’t promise to accept it for redemptions? That seems to me like a bad idea, but there’s a company promoting just such a thing. Somehow other businesses would still accept the currency as payments for their merchandise.

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How Hot is Too Hot? Should Airlines Refuse to Board Aircraft When Cabins Heat Up Over the Summer?

by Gary Leff

Jul 03 2015

Planes can get pretty hot on the ground during the summer, especially when they’re not running the air conditioning with auxiliary power.

Passengers are often asked to close the shades upon landing, keeping out the sun keeps the cabin from heating up as much. On boarding all the windows are closed and most passengers leave them that way. Once the engines start running, and the plane gets up in the air, things cool down quickly.

American Airlines will board a plane if the temperature is less than 90 degrees, though as always this is at the discretion of the pilot. US Airways’ policy has been an 85 degree maximum…

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