Getting off of a flight last week there was a bit of a celebration going on, recognizing the American Airlines Washington National airport team as “Customer Cup Winner” for the 2nd quarter of 2013. (Days away from the end of the third quarter it seemed to me like they took quite awhile to tabulate results.) The recognition was due to survey results for:Aircraft cleanliness Checked baggage delivery Overall experience with American on this flight Likelihood to recommend Flight attendant referred to passenger by name Flight attendant thanks passenger for business on deplaning Received a personal thank you for flying American Airlines Washington National itself is a great, easy airport largely because there’s not a lot of distance from the entrance to the terminal, through security, and to the gates. Rental car pickup and dropoff is…
First Look Inside Singapore Airlines’ New 777 Business Class Cabin
Last week I shared a first look at Singapore’s new 777 first class cabin, with photos taken at the aircraft’s delivery from Boeing. As with the new first class product, the new business class is an evolution on their current 777-300ER offering, not something completely different. There are (8) 777 aircraft on order with this new interior. They haven’t announced anything about retrofitting existing 777s, but they have announced it as the product for Singapore’s new Airbus A350s on order. This first aircraft is being sent to fly Singapore – London. Additional routes for future aircraft haven’t been announced, but there were suggestions that San Francisco or Houston (both currently served by 777s) could get the new interiors. The aircraft is configured with a 2-row mini-cabin behind first class, and then a galley separating it…
United Wants to Be the Friendly Skies Again — Without People That Are Actually Friendly
United’s Twitter account sent me a direct message yesterday flagging the New York Times piece about their new advertising campaign that was supposed to harken back to the classic slogan “fly the friendly skies.” The campaign, though, doesn’t actually speak the iconic phrase and words appear only briefly on screen — it doesn’t talk about its people being friendly. It talks about its features being friendly. It has lots of flights, and that’s friendly. United is now telling travelers it is everything from “legroom friendly” and “online friendly” to “shut-eye friendly” and “EWR friendly,” which refers to the hub of Continental Airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport, which United inherited when the two airlines merged in 2010 to create the world’s largest carrier in terms of passenger traffic. That’s a crucial distinction, because nobody would…
Lufthansa Devaluing Mileage Earning for Discount Economy Flights in 2014
Lufthansa’s Miles & More will be reducing miles earned in economy starting in 2014. [T]he mileage levels in the lower-priced Economy Class booking classes will be reduced, thereby reflecting the actual value of the airline ticket. So far the changes apply to flights operated by Miles & More’s own participating airlines Adria, Air Dolomiti, Austrian, Brussels, Croatia, Germanwings, LOT Polish, Lufthansa and Swiss. We will likely see additional changes in mileage earning on Star Alliance partner airlines as well, based on the timing of their contracts with those airlines. Meanwhile, elites are going to get ‘status stars’ on their membership cards reflecting how long they’ve been elites (that and a euro might buy you a Coke). And they promise new rewards for elites based on number of flights taken starting next year but are not…
Stacking Bonus On Top of Bonus On Top of Bonus For Your Next IHG Rewards Stay
Points are so easy to earn with the IHG Rewards (formerly Priority Club) program. I don’t love Priority Club. Their terms and conditions exclude most elite benefits when staying on points (though some hotels will still give you benefits). There is also no option to spend more points or a better than base room on an award night. So at many properties no matter your status or points balance you can be stuck in a base room when claiming your reward for loyalty. But piling on the points is something you can really do because they run many concurrent promotions, ostensibly targeted but that are often in practice open to everyone and can often be stacked on top of each other. You don’t always know which promotions will post and which will not with this…
Free Instant Accor Hotels Top Tier Elite Status
Leclub Accor Hotels will let you sign up for a new account and start off with top tier Platinum status. This offer won’t last long, usually just a few hours once they start getting lots of signups but sometimes a little longer. You must open a new account, it cannot be applied to existing accounts. And when you do so you must use an email address that’s not currently on file with them. Even if you don’t frequently stay at Sofitel, Novotel, Pullman, Mercure, and other related properties frequently, you never know when you might find yourself in one and having top tier status can’t hurt. Platinum status usually requires 60 nights or 25,000 points earned. It offers double points and subject to availability and on request 4pm late checkout and an upgrade. Now, this…
American Won’t Be Using Bus Gates at LAX After All
Back in July I went through a mental exercise over how a merged American and US Airways could combine their operations at LAX. I liked other ideas better, but my guess was “bus gates.” It turns out that the American operation at LAX is getting squeezed even advance of any merger due to Tom Bradley International Terminal construction. Last week they were saying they’d have to go to bus gates right away, even without additional capacity. They said they’d try to avoid assigning high yield flights (DC-Los Angeles non-stop, JFK-Los Angeles non-stop) to bus gates, and flights with lots of connecting passengers. But surely that would create a challenge for minimum connecting times there. It turns out that they’ve changed the plan again, and will be moving around international arrivals only. For the foreseeable future,…
Time Lapse Video of LAX’s New Tom Bradley International Terminal Construction
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Understanding Korean Air First Class Awards Using Chase Points
Reader Carberrie asks, Korean Air miles booking process! I know Korean miles are a good option for those of us with Ultimate Rewards points seeking transpacific F. However, I just know that the availability is great but the booking process is a pain in the butt. What I don’t know is how bad is it, and is the pain worth it? Korean is one of the really undervalued transfer partners of Chase Ultimate Rewards. Transfer to Korean Air, the transfers are usually instantaneous. Here’s the award chart. They offer one-way awards at half the cost of a roundtrip. From the US to Hong Kong via Seoul in first class is 80,000 points. They do add fuel surcharges which vary by destination, though Asia is usually less costly than Europe. The key here is that first…
Here’s the Very First Look Inside the Brand New Singapore Airlines First Class Cabin
Last August I reported here that Singapore planned to launch a new inflight product in late 2013. And they’ve done just that. I attended the aircraft delivery of Singapore’s first new-cabin 777. They previewed the seats back in July, but those seats are now onboard an aircraft that’s about to go into service. It’s an evolution on their current 777-300ER offering, not something completely different, but it’s also a real improvement in some meaningful ways and has me excited to fly Singapore again. There are 8 aircraft on order with this new interior. They haven’t announced anything about retrofitting existing 777s, but they have announced it as the product for Singapore’s new Airbus A350s on order. This first aircraft is being sent to fly Singapore – London. Additional routes for future aircraft haven’t been announced,…
