May 08 2015

At the beginning of April I reported that American Airlines would be bringing back entree salads as a lunch choice on flights between 2 hours 45 minutes (1000 miles) and 4.5 hours effective May 1. This was a popular offering prior to September when American and US Airways synced up their meal times, and moved their catering options closer to the US Airways standard. This was a very bad change. I was flying a ton of American domestic flights (with pretty much a 100% upgrade success rate) in April, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I wound up on a lunch flight with the new May catering. Here’s the salad, with goat cheese, apples, and nuts and a vinaigrette dressing. For dessert I was given a choice of a cheesecake or the cookie. And since…

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May 08 2015

A collection of interesting links you’ll want to see, many you’ll want to click.

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May 08 2015

The US Bank Korean Visa increased its signup bonus. That’s great because Korean miles are really valuable, and because Chase points also transfer to Korean so it’s easy to get more. Here’s how to use them.

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May 07 2015

Shortly after Hyatt introduced a lucrative partnership with MGM hotels giving them a footprint in Las Vegas and members an option to earn and redeem points, earn elite status, and receive status benefits at casino resort properties Starwood introduced a more limited partnership with Caesars. You can earn up to 10 elite night credits per year with Caesars properties (but not stay credits) While there’s reciprocal earn and burn there wasn’t reciprocal elite recognition That’s now changed. Starwood Platinum members who are register for the SPG/Total Rewards partnership can sign up for VIP Access with Caesars. To sign up, show your Platinum card at the Total Rewards Center at Planet Hollywood, Caesars Palace or The Cromwell in Las Vegas. Here are the benefits: VIP line access for hotel check-in VIP line access at participating restaurants…

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May 07 2015

In late April American flight 3215 operated by an Embraer E140 regional jet from Westchester, New York to Chicago O’Hare flew without a working lavatory. “The captain was apologetic, and furious, when he told the passengers that American couldn’t get maintenance to come out and fix the toilet,” said the passenger, whom the Tribune did not identify on her request. “The pilot said he wanted to wait, but they (the airline) told him to leave now or they would cancel the flight,” the passenger added. It turns out that the FAA requires lavatory access within two hours of a ground delay and to meet the needs of disabled passengers on widebodies. Beyond that operating without functional lavatories is at the discretion of the airline. In this case American viewed the options as: Cancelling the flight…

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May 07 2015

GringoLoco sends me to this Los Angeles Times article on the political fight over how the value of aircraft are assessed for California property tax purposes. That’s right… airlines (including cargo operators) pay about $80 million per year in business property taxes. This is based on the value of the aircraft and the amount of time the planes are in the state, and the taxes are paid to 11 different counties. County tax assessors value the aircraft, and estimate the time each aircraft spends in their county. …one “lead county” [is designated] to appraise the fleets of each firm. The lead county crunches the numbers for its assigned carriers — Los Angeles County handles American Airlines and FedEx, for example — and distributes its findings to the other counties, which calculate the time each plane…

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May 06 2015

A collection of interesting links you’ll want to see, many you’ll want to click.

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