The best value from distance-based charts often comes from maxing out distance, for instance flying West Coast – Tokyo to stay within a distance band and avoid going over… but also sometimes by booking two awards to get the pricing of two shorter distance bands rather than the combined higher-distance band. I’d like to explain this a little bit more.
The holy grail of airline seating is to have an open seat next to you to spread out. An empty row is the dream. Southwest Airlines lets you pick your own seat when you board. Would you pick this window seat, where the middle and aisle next to it are guaranteed to remain empty – because they’re out of service for being “wet”…?
The signs say “do not occupy” on the aisle and middle seats. You’re probably not going to spread your stuff out on those seats, but there won’t be any passengers spreading out into your space or fighting you for the armrest. But they are… Wet. With. Something.
British Airways crew members claimed they were mugged in Brazil, perhaps leading to the cancellation of flight 248 from Rio to London. However, Brazilian authorities and surveillance footage revealed that the crew engaged in heavy drinking and drug use, with the mugging story being a cover-up for their inability to work. The incident raises questions about the crew’s behavior and their responsibility towards passenger safety.
English translations by foreign airlines can turn unfortunate, as this photo of a China Eastern business class menu shows. The airline is offering “imported dog food with okra” as a business class appetizer selection.
Delta Airlines has increased the price of its Sky Club memberships and limited lounge access for American Express cardholders, leading to creative cost-offsetting tactics by members, including one who calculates breaking even by taking salami slices from the lounge. This behavior, reminiscent of past incidents where lounge amenities were exploited, raises questions about the impact of such strategies on airline policies and lounge experiences.
The blog post explores unconventional strategies for navigating long lines at airport security, particularly when facing the risk of missing a flight, suggesting that in dire circumstances, cutting lines or using guerilla tactics can be justified. It delves into the ethical and practical aspects of these actions, using personal experiences and examples to illustrate situations where bending the usual airport norms might be necessary for catching a flight.
The best flyers prefer aisle seats, and airlines even value the business more of those who do. Aisle seats are just better than window seats, and we don’t even need to talk about the dreaded middle.
If you’re in the aisle seat you don’t get those window seat views, but those are better in theory than practice outside of the first and final minutes of a flight. And you do have to get up to let other passengers into the aisle if they need to use the restroom. So there are tradeoffs, but they’re minor compared to the 6 reasons that aisle seats are best.
Qatar has one of the best business class product in the world in its ‘QSuites’ that offer doors and movable partitions that allow two and even four passengers to travel together in their own space. Their QSuite is a fantastic hard product, and service and food in the air are outstanding.
Right now there’s amazing award availability at the end of the booking window. Specifically you’ll find 2 business class award seats across late August and beyond. You can use this for travel from the U.S. to Doha and onward to the Mideast, India, the Maldives and even to Africa.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan has announced new award charts to go live in March that are based on distance and now cover all of their partners. Some awards get more expensive, others less expensive, but overall the changes aren’t nearly as significant as I would expect for such a revamp – while moving to clear, consistent pricing across all of their partner airlines which has been a problem in the past. They’re giving us far more notice than usual. And many of their best non-stop awards become cheaper with this change.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
