I was prepared not to like the Conrad New York. It’s the old Embassy Suites, given a facelift, and which re-opened in March. I remember staying there for the Freddie Awards in 2004 and paying 35,000 HHonors points for my room, it was my second hotel redemption ever and most of the points were earned changing my email address every quarter. The property is owned by Goldman Sachs and it’s across the street from their offices. The scuttlebutt I had heard was that their partners wouldn’t stay at the property while it was an Embassy Suites. Back before the financial crisis they would stay down at the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park. But now with austerity they want their people nearby at their own property, so it needed to be re-branded. How accurate that is I don’t…
American is Bringing New Premium Cabins to their New York – Los Angeles and San Francisco Routes
I popped into the exhibit hall at the Global Business Travel Association convention and stopped by the American Airlines booth. They were featuring 3D video of the new Airbus A321s that they’ll be bringing into the fleet to replace the 767-200s flying their New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco transcon flights. I admit I was surprised by the announcement of a dedicated fleet of Airbus A321s for this route. They’ve been the only remaining carrier with plans to operate widebodies on their premium transcon routes, and they’re ending that. When American goes to a narrowbody fleet for the route, though, they’re keeping first class. United is getting rid of their first class, and Delta only operates two-cabin planes. It’s interesting that American is keeping first class only on their Boeing 777-300 aircraft, it’s…
The Absolute Highlight of the Global Business Travel Association Convention…
The highlight of being at the Global Business Travel Association’s 2012 convention today wasn’t: Hearing JetBlue CEO Dave Barger talk about going fishing with American CEO Tom Horton, while declaring that he didn’t think it was possible to merge cultures at a company. Watching the American Airlines video on its new Airbus A321 interiors — complete with 3D glasses and with its current livery zapped off the pictures — walking through the 3-class cabin including 1-1 seating in first class and lie flat business class seats. Getting to be the designated maverick, off-the-reservation guy speaking on stage about how corporate travel policies burn out travelers and don’t save companies money — to a bunch of travel managers and suppliers of managed travel solutions Nope. The highlight was definitely getting to meet Deltalina. Now, it’s a…
Some Answers on Hilton HHonors from Jeff Diskin, Sr. VP Global Customer Marketing
I attended a Citibank/Hilton event last week at the Conrad New York which unveiled the new Hilton HHonors Reserve Card. It was held at the rooftop bar, directly across from condos where several top stars live and looking out over the river. They were pouring cocktails, but I didn’t see the executives doing the briefings drinking. So I didn’t visit the bar too often, I wanted to have my wits about me since the event gave me the opportunity to sit down with Jeff Diskin, the head of the Hilton HHonors loyalty program, and Ralph Andretta who runs co-branded cards for Citi. Most of my questions didn’t really center around the new credit card product. It more or less speaks for itself. I did ask another Citi executive earlier in the night, “how can you…
Citibank Introduces Awesome New Hilton HHonors Reserve Card
Monday morning Citibank rolls out a new Hilton co-branded premium Visa credit card, and it looks to be really outstanding. Signup Bonus: 2 free weekend nights after $2500 in spend within four months. These free nights are valid at all Hilton redemption categories including Waldorf Astoria properties. Anniversary Bonus: 1 free weekend night each year after $10,000 in spend. Earning: 10 HHonors points per dollar on Hilton spend, 5 points per dollar on air and car rental, and 3 on everything else. Elite status: Instant Hilton Gold status which you retain as long as you have the card and Diamond status after $40,000 in annual spend. No foreign currency transaction fees. Annual fee: $95 I have the Hilton American Express Surpass card, largely because $40,000 in send on that card earns Diamond status. You can…
US Airways to Stop Interlining Baggage on Separate Tickets
Reader Lane E. passes on a new US Airways baggage policy that I do not like one bit. As a result of a new mandate by the Department of Transportation, US Airways has made the following change (effective 8/1/12) to the interline baggage check procedures: Interline through baggage check discontinued Effective July 24, the DOT has mandated new baggage rules requiring that airline passengers must pay the same published baggage fees[1] and have the same allowances for their entire itinerary. As a result of this new policy, effective August 1, 2012 US Airways will no longer be through checking passengers’ bags when they have been ticketed on separate tickets. For interline itineraries where the passenger has his/her entire journey on one ticket, we will continue our practice as it is done today, but when the…
A JetBlue Trip Report!
The last time I flew JetBlue was March 2002, from Washington Dulles to Ft. Lauderdale. They were the cheapest option by far, they had to be, it was the only way at the time I would have booked away from United Airlines. JetBlue has had a decent presence at Washington Dulles over the years, and I fly out of there when I have to, but I live near National so avoid Dulles as one of the more horrendous facilities in the country whenever I can. Of course, JetBlue began flying to National airport in November 2010. But I hadn’t had occasion to fly them until now, largely because I’m a creature irrationally driven by loyalty and first class upgrades. But I had to fly to Boston, and JetBlue’s flights were by far the cheapest for…
Losing My Situational Awareness.. at the Gate
I usually pride myself on how well I travel, soup to nuts, from booking to sailing through the airport and handling irregular ops. I sweet talk hotel check-in agents for upgrades, game my flights to maximize upgrade changes, and generally maintain strong situational awareness. I love reading Lucky’s blog because it seems like he’s sharing a stupid move he’s made on almost every trip. It makes him a far more entertaining read, I think, than I’ll ever be. I tend towards a far more analytical approach which best suits my personality. But sometimes I do something stupid. Or come off like a total newbie traveler. Like this past Thursday. I was flying up to New York and I was looking at a short delay. I sat down near my gate, at National airport’s round tables…
The Best and Worst Features of American Airlines
Now that I’ve flown enough to re-qualify for American’s Executive Platinum status for next year, I figure I’m in a position to express an opinion on my biggest likes and dislikes about the airline and its AAdvantage frequent flyer program. There Are a Few of My Favorite Things: Gogo inflight internet. Delta has this too, and with even somewhat better fleet penetration. But compared to United and US Airways it’s incredible. Inflight internet has changed my life. I’d unplug on the flight and be desperately behind when I landed, with urgent messages to answer and calls to return. My flight time is now much more productive time. It’s why even the laggard carriers are getting on board with internet — not because usage fees will cover the costs of installation, but because it’s so crucial…
How the Department of Transportation Views United’s 4 Mile Hong Kong Award Tickets
This is totally in the weeds and the sort of thing that will be interesting to a small subset of my readers, but here’s a response to a Department of Transportation complaint that was shared with me. Note that I did not file such a complaint, but I do find the response interesting nonetheless, in so far as it sheds light on current DOT thinking about mistake fares and the interpretation of their current regulations which require airlines to honor tickets that they sell without raising the price of those tickets after the fact in most circumstances. Passed along without further comment: This is in regard to your complaint against United Airlines (UAL) about certain Mileage Plus Award tickets to, from, or via Hong Kong that could be acquired on UAL’s website between July 14…
