Jul
06
2022
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.
New Chase-Marriott Elite Status Offer [Roundup]
Aeroplan Credit Card: 10x Earning This Summer When You Use The Card On International Trips
Jul
05
2022
Cardmembers earn a total of ten points per dollar using their card for international purchases (purchases made outside the United States) between July 1 and September 30, 2022, up to 15,000 points ($1500 spend). No registration required.
Spanish Government Prepared To Shoot Down Flight From London
Jul
05
2022
A teenager on board an easyJet flight from London Gatwick to Menorca, Spain posted “a fake bomb threat to social media.” The Spanish government set a fighter jet to intercept the aircraft making its 808 mile flight on Sunday.
While this could have ended badly – they wouldn’t have sent the jet outside of a precaution in case they’d decided they needed to shoot it down – the military aircraft ultimately “escorted the easyJet plane all the way to its island destination.”
300,000 Lufthansa Miles, Lounge Access And Hotel Elite Status For $5350
Jul
05
2022
ASMALLWORLD is supposed to be a networking organization for ‘the elite’ but I don’t know anyone that’s ever found it to be useful. They have a 75 euro membership, with free trial but their membership is also a way to buy a lot of frequent flyer miles and elite status thrown in at a higher price point.
Normally their 5200 euro membership comes with 250,000 Lufthansa Miles & More miles, but they’re currently offering 20% more, 300,000 miles. And that’s in addition to hotel and rental car elite status.
New United Airlines MAX 9 Domestic Interior Now Flying [Roundup]
Jul
05
2022
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.
Emirates No Longer Able To Book JetBlue Business Class Awards
Jul
05
2022
A year ago Emirates introduced the ability to book award travel on JetBlue. Awards could be booked online, and over the phone they’d even put award space on hold for you to transfer points. And all the major credit card currencies transfer into Emirates Skywards plus they have their own U.S. credit card.
The pricing was good – cheaper, for instance, than using American AAdvantage miles on JetBlue. Routes like New York JFK – Los Angeles (or LA-Miami or Boston – San Francisco) ran 52,000 miles each way, while New York JFK – Aruba would be 40,000 miles.
Star Alliance Member SAS Declares Bankruptcy
Jul
05
2022
Scandinavian, or SAS, the Swedish-Danish-Norwegian Star Alliance carrier headquartered in Stockholm, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. following the start of a pilots strike that the carrier expects will cancel half of its flights.
Review: Qantas Business Class, Gold Coast – Sydney
Jul
04
2022
I flew Sydney to Gold Coast on Virgin Australia, and then back to Sydney on Qantas. That gave me a taste of two different Australian domestic options on the same route, and they were remarkably similar. (Jetstar and REX also fly between the two cities.)
While there wasn’t any award space on Qantas for my trip up to Gold Coast from Sydney, for our Thursday morning return there was plenty available. In fact the short flight can be booked in business class for just 9000 British Airways Avios one-way per person and $76, which is a nice value against a ~ $525 fare.
Review: Virgin Australia Business Class, Sydney – Gold Coast
Jul
04
2022
Normally I’d be inclined to pick up Qantas tickets in coach for the short 1 hour 20 minute flight, using my American AAdvantage status for priority check-in and boarding, lounge and extra baggage. But those were pricing at around $300 in economy for the one way trip while Virgin Australia was asking $200 for business class.
And I was really curious to see what Virgin Australia was like after having been acquired out of bankruptcy (“administration”) by private equity.
Siri Dials Fake Delta Air Lines Call Center, Costs Passenger $125
Jul
04
2022
Siri called the wrong phone number when a passenger tried to reach Delta. And it wasn’t just a wrong number, it was a scam number for someone impersonating Delta. They trusted it because they trusted Siri – and it cost them a fee.
This reinforces my priors that digital assistants don’t add as much value as people addicted to them think they do.
