The most ‘In Demand Restaurant In The United States’ right now is an omakase sushi restaurant in Austin service great fish at a bargain price point. The chef’s mentor is serving one of the most expensive sushi meals in the United States in Chicago. Both are outstanding.
At the end of 12 days in Australia, my wife, three year old daughter, and I were set to fly back to the States on United award tickets in business class, Sydney – San Francisco. Flight UA870 was operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, the airline’s largest aircraft, and every seat was booked.
Here’s the experience in a nutshell: United Airlines business class is (usually now) a better seat than the airline used to offer, but one with less space than you’ll find on Delta, American, Air Canada or Air France. United has good bedding, an the wifi worked on my flight, but the rest of the soft product from food to service was subpar.
In one of the sketchier things I’ve seen out of hotels in the United States, the owner of 27 hotels in northern lower Michigan takes reservations for their more expensive properties, and walks guests to the cheaper ones. They also own a deceptive website purporting to be the area’s “Chamber of Tourism,” recommending only their own hotels.
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.
American and its pilots union have been in negotiations over a new contract. The latest company offer is for a raise of roughly 17% by the end of 2024. The union’s new President says they knew their members are going to get paid – the real negotiations are over work rules and quality of life issues.
Their negotiating strategy seems to be to trash the airline in the media, with a mix of charges that have a grain of truth combined with nonsense.
So board as early as possible, get a seat with no one next to you, and the next time your flight isn’t full just be… creepy? And on Southwest that pays off in greater comfort.
I don’t want to spend money unnecessarily, for features I won’t use or because bloated machines always have tradeoffs (like weight or battery life). At the same time cost isn’t the primary constraint since this is a productivity tool for me.
What advice can you offer?
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.
A woman waiting to check in with Southwest Airlines in Los Angeles tells another passenger, an African American man, that he’s entitled – while a Southwest employee asks her to move up in line. It seems like he’d asked her to move forward when there was plenty of room in front of her, she didn’t, and she got mad over having been asked – although exactly what transpired before the video was filmed isn’t clear.
This passenger, dubbed “LAX Karen,” yells and makes a fist at the agent who asked her to move up. That puts her on the verge of being “escorted out” of the check-in area. That’s when another agent jumps into the chat.
About a month ago I came up with 6 reasons to fly American Airlines rather than Qatar Airways on the New York JFK – Doha route, now that American serves the routes. Fly America Act – government travel and you have to stick with a U.S. carrier Price – American is cheaper for a given trip Your corporate deal requires it – what are you going to do? To use systemwide upgrades – better to fly American business than Qatar economy American has premium economy – a great option for passengers not in a position to fly business There’s sometimes semi-decent web saver award pricing on American, useful for times when Qatar redemptions aren’t available Qatar Airways is so obviously the better experience on average, but I thought that there were also edge cases worth…
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 »
