About 50 homeless people live at the Frankfurt airport. It’s a public space, they can’t be kicked out. It’s heated, and open 24 hours a day — so no need to leave at closing time. Here’s a news report in German focusing on one man who has been there over two years. He collects cans for the deposit money, earning about 7 euros a day. In a similar situation I think I’d try to mock up an online account showing frequent flyer status, match over to Star Gold, and buy a refundable airline ticket. Or really save up and buy the cheapest changeable business class ticket possible Then I’d eat free for a year like this guy did, and even have access to complimentary showers. (HT: Flyertalk) You can join the 40,000+ people who see…
This Guy Claims JetBlue Banned Him. I’m Just Glad I Don’t Have to Sit Next to Him!
Apparently things started because the video’s creator ran into an issue with a JetBlue booking, didn’t get a confirmation, and is unhappy with the customer service JetBlue provided (although he acknowledges that JetBlue offered to reduce their change fee for him). In response to what he considered unhelpful customer service, he sent out a series of tweets naming the customer service agent he dealt with. And he was apparently no longer welcome to fly the airline. This is, of course, only his version of the story. He claims that JetBlue “hates fags” though it should be noted that JetBlue “has earned the top score of 100 percent on the 2015 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a leading survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to LGBT workplace equality from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.”.…
Flyertalk: the YouTube Episode
It moves pretty slowly but is cute enough. “But I am Sky Priority!” “Can you do something about the gate lice?” Some will enjoy it: 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!
Things That Get Flight Attendants Fired, a 75,000 Point Signup Bonus, and the Most Uncomfortable Airline Seat in the World
News and notes from around the interweb: Are United’s new Slimline seats the most uncomfortable in the sky? What airplane seats were like in the 1970s Things that get you fired as a Turkish Airlines flight attendant Next Saturday Pittsburgh airport is inviting everyone to come airside to do some shopping (HT: @JohnnyJet) Doctor of Credit says you can get an American Express Business Gold Rewards card with a 75,000 point signup bonus offer. Club Carlson is offering 100% bonus on purchased points for Cyber Monday. 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!
Etihad Upgrading Their Premium Services — Starting Right Away!
I love the way that the Middle Eastern carriers are elevating the travel experience, in many ways beyond what’s supported economically by a profitable business model for the airline narrowly conceived. Here’s Etihad’s strategy for lighting huge sums of money on fire to build Abu Dhabi into a global aviation hub, investing in money-losing airlines the world over in order to direct connecting traffic through the capital of the UAE. Towards this end they’re also continually evolving their product. And they’ve just announced improvements to the service and amenities going into effect December 1. Here’s the new first class soft product improvements: And the new business soft product, although the description may describe a hard product improvement as well: Economy is getting some new features as well: It seems like some of these changes are…
Time to Act: Here’s What to Tell Delta and United About Their New Frequent Flyer Programs
Frequent flyer programs do roll back changes — but don’t like to admit they’re wrong when they do it. American did just that when they introduced a $5 online award booking fee that never went into effect. The idea was dropped, no announcement. Because it was stupid. Here are five more heroic times when consumers won against frequent flyer program changes. If you don’t like Delta’s revenue-based frequent flyer program coming in 2015, or United’s copy cat version of the same and the gutting of the United mileage currency, there’s something you should do about it. Put your money where your mouth is, buy tickets from airlines offering you a better value proposition. Fly American and Alaska Airlines. Status match. Earn status with American or Alaska. Let American and Alaska know why you’re buying tickets…
Now a oneworld Frequent Flyer Program Announces a Devaluation
On top of a new Star Alliance program devaluation, oneworld member Japan Airlines Mileage Bank — one of the surprisingly most useful frequent flyer programs out there — has announced their own devaluation. Americans care about the JAL program because: You can transfer Starwood points to JAL JAL has a reasonable distance-based award chart They partner with airlines like Emirates (and can be a cheaper way of getting Emirates awards than even Alaska Airlines) in addition to their oneworld partners. Fortunately, the devaluations aren’t bad. Awards business and first class awards on JAL itself rather than on partner airlines will be going up in price effective November 2015. That’s nearly a year’s notice. Here’s the new US-Japan pricing: Business class goes from 80,000 to 100,000 miles roundtrip (one-way awards will be half the cost of…
Book a Stopover… Even When Your Frequent Flyer Program No Longer Gives You Free Stopovers
Just because your frequent flyer program no longer allows stopovers included free as part of an international award (American eliminated them entirely, Delta sheds them completely January 1), doesn’t mean you shouldn’t book a stopover. The point of this post isn’t that it’s possible to still trick a program into giving you a stopover for free, although some programs with distance-based award charts can give you cheaper awards with a stopover than without one. (British Airways, which prices each segment separately, can be an example of this.) Rather the point is that a stopover may cost you fewer miles than you think — certainly fewer miles than making an additional trip to another region of the world. So it may make sense to spend the miles to visit another city, even though it isn’t “free.”…
Massive Airline Ticket Fraud, 22% Off Hyatt, and Pig Kicked Off of US Airways
News and notes from around the interweb: Washington Dulles airport is shrinking, and that’s a problem for Washington. The reason is simple: Washington Dulles is a very bad airport. 118 arrests in massive airline ticket fraud A woman brought a pig onboard a US Airways flight on Wednesday as an emotional support animal. The woman and the pig were asked to deplane (prior to departure) ‘after it became disruptive’. (HT: Reid F.) The FAA has ruled in favor of US Airways in the past for carrying a pig onboard (in first class). The sun will rise in the East, and United will eliminate stopovers on awards. 94 Year Old Has a Firearm Seized at New York LaGuardia Stackable Hyatt savings for 22% off. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis…
International First Class Isn’t Disappearing – It’s Surging Like Never Before!
Last month I asked, Why is International First Class Disappearing? I concluded that it isn’t — there are certain trends that are causing it to disappearing from some airlines and some markets, and for those airlines that retain it to ‘right-sze’ the cabins (no more 16 seat first class cabins on Lufthansa!). But airlines aren’t letting first class die, they’re re-investing in some of the greatest products we’ve seen — like Singapore’s Suites and Emirates’ onboard showers. And even where it’s going away, it’s merely then name that disappears — because today’s top international business class products are far better than what first class used to be. The Financial Times now makes the case that far from disappearing, international first class is seeing a resurgence (subscription may be required). In fact, the number of first…
