DesignAir’s Top 10 Airport Lounges, released yesterday, is getting quite a bit of pick up. So let’s settle things quite simply with this ranking. It is downright silly. Any list of world’s 10 best lounges that does not include any of the Lufthansa First Class Terminal, Air France La Premiere lounge in Paris, Emirates A380 first class Pier in Dubai, or Thai Airways First Class Lounge and Spa in Bangkok lacks credibility. The British Airways Concorde Room at Heathrow is not one of the world’s 10 best lounges. Neither is the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at Heathrow, though it’s one of the world’s better business class lounges (along with, for instance, the Turkish Airlines CIP lounge in Istanbul). The Qantas First Class Lounge in Sydney is excellent, but it is not the world’s best. So what’s…
The Spirit Airlines Must-Watch Superbowl Commercial Revealed!
Spirit Airlines is saving $4 million, not advertising during the Superbowl, and ‘passing the savings on to you’. Here’s their ‘instead of a Superbowl ad’ ad. Me? I always thought this one fit Spirit even more closely. But that’s from the old days before Barry Biffle, whom I remember having drinks with back in his US Airways days, left Spirit to go become President at Frontier. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Upgrades Are Getting Harder and Harder… But You Can Still Get Them If You Know How.
The Wall Street Journal covers the disappearing perk of the road warrior: upgrades are getting harder and more expensive. There are (5) reasons this is true. Airlines are selling discounted first class fares far more than they ever used to. Airlines are making aggressive buy up offers to first class. The economy is doing better. Airlines aren’t expanding. As air travel grows, and the number of seats stays constant, there’s more demand for a dwindling number of available upgrade seats. Lots of people confirm their upgrades in advance – in part because of all the miles that are out there, and in part because of how tough the competition is. It used to be that 100,000 mile flyers found themselves in first class nearly all the time, and even mid-tier frequent flyers found themselves in…
Where Have the Singapore Airlines First Class Award Seats Gone?
Reader Alex R. writes to ask about the status of award space on Singapore Airlines. Just wanted to see if you knew why all the saver inventory seems to be dropped from Singapore First, even a year out? ..[New York JFK-Frankfurt] I checked every day from May to January. I less comprehensively searched [Tokyo Narita to Los Angeles] and [Houston – Moscow]. Singapore Airlines has been offering truly phenomenal award availability to members of its own KrisFlyer frequent flyer program over the past couple of years. Premium cabin seats aren’t generally available to Star Alliance partner airline programs, but for someone with KrisFlyer miles, awards have been easier to come by than on most other airlines. Although I’ve noticed them harder to get from the US over the past week or two. At one point…
Qatar Airways Buys a Stake in British Airways Parent IAG
oneworld alliance members British Airways and Qantas were once BFFs, participating in a joint venture on the London-Sydney (“Kangaroo”) route. Money-losing Qantas exited that arrangement in favor of working outside the alliance with Emirates, which has led to major Emirates growth in the Australia market. Emirates competitor and Gulf mega-carrier Qatar then joined oneworld. (And, incidentally, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad partners with American as does Gulf Air.) I predicted two years ago that British Airways and Qatar would form a joint venture. (My wild speculation about Etihad and airberlin has not borne similar fruit.) Now comes word that Qatar has purchased Herman Cain’s stake 9.99% of IAG, parent of British Airways (and Iberia, and perhaps soon Aer Lingus). If this announcement were just coming from the Qatar side, it wouldn’t be credible. But IAG chief Willie…
Hitler Discovers the British Airways Devaluation
This week British Airways announced a significant devaluation that mostly affects mileage accrual on all but the most expensive premium fares, premium cabin redemptions, and elite status earning. Fortunately for how I use their points, it does not affect spending points for cheap short distance non-stop flights on their partners. Flights under 650 miles remain just 4500 points each way in economy. So my DC-New York and DC-Chicago roundtrips remain just 9000 points roundtrip. Whenever something really bad happens, Hitler learns about it. Apparently the Downfall meme is still a thing. Although in this instance I would have guessed Hitler was member of Lufthansa’s Miles & More. (HT: Flyertalk) You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per…
Free Fruit at DFW Airport! (No, Really.)
I love DFW airport. It’s my favorite connecting airport in the country (I’ll concede that it’s pretty far from downtown Dallas, but as a physical structure it’s great as an originating airport since you’re so close to gates once you arrive there plus baggage claim is quick to get to and efficient). DFW has my favorite American Centurion lounge, it’s the only one with a spa (although the wine wall in San Francisco is great in its own right). DFW has Cousin’s Barbecue, and it has banh mi. Though some folks like Pappadeaux, most of the good restaurant options are on the D concourse. There’s ample seating, free wifi, and power throughout the airport. The DFW travel lounges are nice (they used to be sponsored by Samsung, and feature comfortable seating and televisions). I’ve never…
Adele Sings Goodbye to Skymall Magazine
Last week I wrote The Sordid Tale that Led to Skymall’s Bankruptcy. Now we have Conan offering the ‘Adele’ rendition Skymall. This is the end, my in-flight catalog and friend. Your absence pierces through my soul, like the corners of a square fishbowl. (HT: Laura C.) You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Another Delta Devaluation, United Leaking Passenger Information, and DHS Furious With Itself
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General is furious at the TSA for censoring a report on its own ineptitude. Was the United app leaking sensitive personal information about passengers like passport details, and allowing mischievous individuals to request paid upgrades for your trips? Delta’s SkyBonus program reduces points-earning and requires at least five active travelers. Since the airline is rewarding customers less when they fly, it makes sense they’d make changes to their business program too. The new American first class cookie really is an improvement, almost like the old bake on board one. I tried it yesterday for the first time and have to give them applause for it. Treasure hunter who found a fortune in gold is captured at the Hilton in Boca Raton (HT:…
Mileage Programs Adding New, Complex Rules That Make Your Head Spin. The Program Execs Themselves Don’t Even Understand Them…
On the whole I have personally liked how complicated frequent flyer programs are. The more complicated they are, the greater the opportunities for identifying unintended value opportunity and the greater opportunities for arbitrage. They’ve allowed the creation of businesses like this one to help guide folks through the morass. Programs are so complicated the the people running them don’t understand them. Pre-interviewing an executive from a major frequent flyer program for a panel I moderated last year, the individual shared that they’re in meetings frequently talking about how to build something or change something and everyone in the room will come to a stopping place and someone will have to take an action item to look up how a feature of the program actually works, what the rules are. The group in the room, managing…
