From 10 Questions for Anthony Bourdain: Everyone is anticipating your new, international food market in Lower Manhattan. Care to dish on what’s coming — venue, concept, offerings? It’s about what turns me on. I’m a huge fan of Singapore and Hakka centers and the Asian-Hong Kong and Dai pai dong and the way that Singapore has been able to keep the integrity of their street food in a modern, germophobic world. I think it’d be very cool to have that in New York and I hope to riff on that model. I hope to have some great Singaporean and Southeast Asian and South American vendors and craftsmen bring in the kind of delicious food that many other people around the world see as a birthright and for one reason or another we really haven’t had.…
British Airways Promotes Trips to the Indian Ocean, United’s Cease and Desist Letter, and Inflight Internet Pricing (Bits ‘n Pieces for March 28, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: Gogo inflight internet will be raising its prices after April 13 (previously they had announced a deadline of April 6). Customers with existing monthly internet plans will be grandfathered at the old rates. Unfortunate British Airways ad campaign The Wandering Aramean blog gets a cease and desist order from United Airlines Emirates Skywards is offering a 100% – 175% bonus for paid travel on Virgin America through May 31. You can join the 30,000+ 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!
Cathay Pacific’s The Wing Newly Renovated First Class Lounge: Vietnam, Cambodia, Macau and Hong Kong Trip Report
Index: Introduction, Positioning Flight to New York, and the Hilton JFK British Airways First Class Lounge, New York JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York JFK – Hong Kong The Pier First Class Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City Park Hyatt Saigon Lunch at Pho Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Airlines Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Danang Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Vietnam Airlines Economy, Danang – Siem Reap Park Hyatt Siem Reap Angkor Wat and Other Temples Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong Turbojet, Hong Kong Airport – Macau and the Sheraton Macao Hotel The Venetian, Fernando’s, and the Ferry to Hong Kong Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Harbor View Suite Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific The…
Qantas Introduces a Simpler (Needlessly More Complex), Fairer (Fewer Miles on Cheaper Fares) Frequent Flyer Earning Program
Qantas is completely revamping its mileage-earning structure effective July 1. In general it is meant to award more points on higher fares, and fewer points on lower fares. But they haven’t gone with a revenue-based model the way that Delta has. They aren’t rewarding points based on ticket cost. Instead they have more categories, based on distance and fare class, and have created byzantine charts that I have had open on my screen for more than a day thinking about how to explain them. And in the end I’m left shaking my head at the complexity, thinking that the charts sort of speak for themselves (or express the inherent confusion on their own). Oh, and they call it a simpler, fairer flying program. Which tells me they’ve been drinking too much Fosters. * * I…
Up to 25,000 Bonus US Airways Miles for oneworld Flights
US Airways joins oneworld March 31 and has a promotion for crediting oneworld tickets to Dividend Miles. [R]egister with your Dividend Miles number and fly with oneworld partner airlines through June 30, 2014. Each partner airline will only count once, so the more partner airlines you fly, the more miles you earn – up to 25,000 bonus Dividend Miles. Here’s the earning table: Registration begins on March 31, and you can register any time up through June 30 to earn miles based on oneworld flights credited to Dividend Miles during the promotion period. Though the earning table refers to purchases, the terms and conditions are clear that — like the short description above — “You will earn bonus miles based on the number of different partner airlines flown.” You can only earn a credit for…
US Airways Improves Service Levels Starting Next Week!
I declared last year that US Airways elites are hungry. They don’t get fed in first class on a 3 hour flight. When the CEOs of US Airways and American sat down to pitch the merger to the New York Times, I had 9 quotes in the ensuing piece and pointed out that CEO-to-be of the joint airline Doug Parker has traditionally believed that all that matters is being an on-time airline and thus the importance of actual service might be diminished. Focusing on good value and good service was one of my key points in a USA Today op-ed when the merger was finally green-lighted back in December. Earlier this week I worried about the US Airways-ization of American, code for giving customers less and finding more things to charge for. So it’s only…
British Airways First Class Awards to South Africa and Kenya Wide Open
Using American Airlines miles to Africa can be tough. That’s true for any miles where you’re going to have to fly on oneworld airlines, because there simply isn’t very much oneworld service to Africa. Using British Airways miles to Africa can be tough as well. BA used to offer outstanding award availability on their flights to various destinations on the continent, but for the past couple of years that hasn’t been the case. Until now. And that’s of special interest not just to American Airlines mileage-holders (and Alaska Airlines frequent flyers), but to British Airways Visa cardholders as well. Because if you spend $30,000 in a year on the British Airways co-brand card from Chase, you earn a ‘travel together’ ticket where two passengers fly for the number of points of a single award. Flying…
A Fantastic Michelin-Starred French Meal in Hong Kong: Vietnam, Cambodia, Macau and Hong Kong Trip Report
Index: Introduction, Positioning Flight to New York, and the Hilton JFK British Airways First Class Lounge, New York JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York JFK – Hong Kong The Pier First Class Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City Park Hyatt Saigon Lunch at Pho Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Airlines Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Danang Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Vietnam Airlines Economy, Danang – Siem Reap Park Hyatt Siem Reap Angkor Wat and Other Temples Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong Turbojet, Hong Kong Airport – Macau and the Sheraton Macao Hotel The Venetian, Fernando’s, and the Ferry to Hong Kong Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Harbor View Suite Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific The…
Have an Upcoming Stay at a Hilton Property? Get $50 Back From Amex
Via Deals We Like, you can ‘sync’ an American Express card with this offer and then when you pay a Hilton bill of $250 or more you’ll get a $50 credit back on your card statement. To take advantage of this offer: First sync your Amex with TripAdvisor – this will take you no more than two minutes! Go to the TripAdvisor Amex site and click the “Save to Card” button under the Hilton offer. Spend $250+ at a US only Hilton Hotel & Resort with your synced Amex card – your total bill must be at least $250 which can include all room charges, incidentals, tax, etc. (this offer is valid only in the US and excludes Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and US territories). The transaction must hit your credit card by May 31, 2014! This is for Hilton properties…
How to Decide Which Points to Earn: It Depends on What Points You Already Have
We can assign a value to miles and points, call a point worth 1.5 cents or 1.8 cents, but that’s only a small part of the story. That doesn’t actually say what miles are most valuable to you, at any given time. The value of a mile will change based on what you’re going to do with it, and also based on how much of a given currency you already have. Know your reward goals. It helps to know what you want to do with miles in deciding which miles are right for you. If you’re going to Australia, it’s hard to beat Delta miles (with their Virgin Australia partnership, plus Asian airline partnerships where you are allowed to transit and even stopover in Asia enroute). If you’re going to South America, American miles are…
