… as captured by the camera on my blackberry. This was the biggest ‘under 2 years old’ lap infant I’ve ever seen: It’s time for US Airways to update their interiors to, umm, their own logos. They aren’t America West anymore. This was my post-takeoff beverage, water: Wine with dinner is served in the same plastic cups. But then perhaps that’s appropriate, considering US Airways’ classy passengers up front.
20 Free Drink Coupons and More from Delta’s Small Business Rewards Program
Airline small business programs are an interesting way to ‘double dip’ on rewards. They’re designed to encourage businesses to focus on one airline and make their employees fly that airline. They offer the business rewards in addition to the miles earned by the traveler. I’ve found American’s Business ExtrAA program useful in the past, I gifted gold status to a friend recently and mostly have used small points totals for club passes and the like. Even a solo regular travel can earn enough points in a year for a reasonable reward, you don’t need to actually be a separate business with plenty of travelers to benefit from the program. In contrast, United’s Perks Plus is less friendly to the solo traveler just looking to double up on rewards. Delta’s program is SkyBonus and they’re currently…
Free Priority Club Points for Quick Surveys (with Answers!)
This post on Flyertalk notes 3 quick Priority Club surveys which offer free points: 100 points: http://usa-survey.priorityclub.com/unfvmw Answers are : C,D,B 100 points: http://usa-survey.priorityclub.com/fhaidt Answers are: D,A,D 300 points: http://usa-survey.priorityclub.com/mwpvwj Answers are: D, D, D, D, C I had already taken the second and third surveys, it wouldn’t let me take them again. But it did let me take the first one.
Airlines that Tax You When You Redeem Your Miles (and Those that Do Not)
TM Travel World runs down the fuel surcharges added to award tickets by various carriers. Bottom-line is that most North American programs do not add fuel surcharges to awards, most programs in the rest of the world do. However, there are exceptions. Air Canada Aeroplan adds thesef fees to flights on Air Canada only. American adds them to flights on British Airways only. On the one hand it can seem worthwhile to pay them with American — British Airways availability in premium cabins tends to be excellent, and they offer a very good business class seat. But flying multiple long haul BA flights can really get costly. US to London, stopover, London to South Africa, and then back to the US via London can be more than $1000 cash per person in addition to miles…
Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, Potential to Be Very Good, But Still Working Out the Kinks
After pulling up to the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas by cab, I was offered assistance with my small carryon which I declined. There are two doors to walk through, the first was opened for me but the second was not. I faced long lines to check-in, which I thought was odd for 1pm on Monday. But this is a very large hotel (in terms of number of rooms, though not overall size of the physical plant). And it’s brand spanking new, just opened last month, so I was really looking forward to checking it out. A very friendly guy checked me in, he was taught to try to connect with guests, saw my home town and noted that he had been to one nearby. And later in the process he asked how long I’ve…
Lotus of Siam: NOT the Best Thai Restaurant in North America, at Least at Lunch
I caught a cab straight away from the airport. I had been planning to come straight here. So I had the driver take me well beyond the strip to a strip mall that’s home to many ethnic restaurants a few miles away from the major action of the city, where Lotus of Siam can be found. I had a wonderful dinner here a couple of years, and for many years it’s been highly touted as the best Thai restaurant in North America. The chef has won all sorts of awards. And they’re sure to let you know that, with the walls of the entrance filled with their accolades. I was eager to return, especially after a less than stellar meal at their new New York location. I wanted them to redeem themselves. I walked in…
Review of an Excellent Noise Cancelling Headset with an Awful Name
I recently got an email from a marketing guy who wanted to send me a pair of Denon noise cancelling headphones in order to give them a try and review them here on the blog. I told him that he was welcome to send them along, but I wouldn’t promise to review them and of course I wanted him to know up front that I’d write whatever I thought. He was confident enough in the product that he sent them to me anyway. A few years ago someone sent me a set of PlaneQuiet noise cancelling headphones, I tried them on a trip and my take was that they were better than not having noise cancelling headphones, they did cancel some noise and it was better to watch movies with them than a pair of…
Does the Arizona Tragedy Mean that Members of Congress Should Be…. Exempt from Airport Security?
Former House Majority Whip and current Assistant House Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn has perhaps the strangest take on the recent tragic shooting of several people in Arizona including a Member of Congress, Judge, and young girl. He believes it means that the TSA should give special treatment to Members of Congres at airports. A top House Democrat said the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) should change how members of Congress are screened at airports. “I really believe that that is the place where we feel the most ill at ease, is going through airports,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who serves as assistant minority leader in the House, said on “Fox News Sunday.” .. “We’ve had some incidents where TSA authorities think that congresspeople should be treated like everybody else,” he said. “Well, the fact…
Simply Outstanding: Elephant Jumps Thai Restaurant in Falls Church, Virgina
I’m planning to have lunch tomorrow at Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas (not their disappointing New York location). I’ve eaten there before and enjoyed it, but wanted my current favorite Thai restaurant fresh in my mind for the comparison. So I had lunch today at Elephant Jumps Thai in Falls Church. My boss reviewed the restaurant back on August 2nd. I was initially skeptical, as I wrote recently I do find his recommendations for strip mall ethnic food to be 100% spot on though as often as not disagree on fine dining. So while their ‘East Meets West’ menu options of croissant green curry sandwich and drunken spaghetti chicken frightened me, I went anyway back on the 7th of August. And I was blown away. I returned the following weekend, too. I’ve been back…
How Hyatt Undercuts Their Own Web Rates By Selling Stay Certificates for Less
Loyalty Traveler offers an extensive rundown of Hyatt stay certificates. The prices on the three bottom categories have recently gone up a bit, but the thing that’s made them less useful than they used to be is that the categories that hotels are assigned to, and thus the prices of some of the hotel values, have gone up substantially. But there are nonetheless some real values to be had. In the olden days I used to make Hyatt certificate stay reservations, and only buy the certificates once I was certain of my plans. The reservations themselves are cancellable. And if I still needed to cancel the stay after buying the certificate, that’s fine, I could always use the certificate on a future stay within a year. The cost of many of these stay certificates are…
