Wide Open Business Class Awards, Tahiti – Los Angeles (9+ Seats Per Flight)

by Gary Leff

May 31 2021

French Polynesia is one of the toughest awards in the world to book. In part that’s because there are only 5 flights between the U.S. mainland and Tahiti, and they aren’t all offered daily. For instance the Air France flight from Los Angeles to Papeete is flown just 3 times a week.

However booking right now for next winter you can grab 9 or more business class saver award seats on the Air France flight from Papeete, Tahiti to Los Angeles – which is unprecedented. Book now, because this certainly won’t last. And operated with an Air France Boeing 777, this is the best business class product between the US and Tahiti as well.

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Southwest Passenger Decided To Check A Pool Noodle As Baggage, Because Bags Fly Free

by Gary Leff

May 30 2021

At Southwest Airlines bags fly free. And that creates a weird incentive. How many passengers are letting that second free bag benefit go to waste?

You could become a courier and ship packages. Or you could toss in supplies for the pool party like Sydney Fowls did. She decided to check a pool noodle on her recent Southwest Airlines flight from Columbus, Ohio to Tampa.

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DFW Airport Now Has Same-Day PCR Testing And Rapid Tests In Multiple Locations

by Gary Leff

May 30 2021

The people who run Priority Pass and The Club lounges also now provide Covid-19 testing at Dallas Fort-Worth airport. Collinson offers rapid tests and PCR tests, and for a premium will even turn around PCR tests same day (though it takes longer than just a layover). They tell me they have “applied to be a Trusted Partner with Hawaii and anticipates approval in June.”

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Delta Claims To Be The Premium Airline But They’re Serving 7-11 Bubbly In Airport Lounges

by Gary Leff

May 30 2021

At the Wolfe Research conference yesterday Glen Hauenstein remarked that Delta had 53 Sky Clubs open pre-pandemic and will have 53 open in June. There’s an emphasis on premium product coming out of the recent challenging period. Delta believes that by offering customers more they can get customers to spend more on premium products which are “higher margin.”

But what if they’re achieving that margin by claiming to offer a premium product, but they’re really offering something you can buy at 7-11?

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US Government May Issue Voluntary Vaccine Passports For Travel

by Gary Leff

May 29 2021

Countries that have been opening to vaccinated Americans are accepting CDC vaccine cards as ‘proof’ of vaccination. These are pieces of cardstock you can print off the internet, and real ones are often filled out by hand. There is no central federal database of who has had a vaccine, those specifics are generally held at the state level – and the quality of recordkeeping varies dramatically.

The Secretary of Homeland Security says vaccine passports are under serious consideration as a way of helping Americans meet the requirements of entry for foreign countries.

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American Airlines Says They’ll Keep Boarding Planes Before The Time Printed On Your Boarding Pass

by Gary Leff

british tail plane
May 29 2021

For six years I’ve written about the frustration where American Airlines would begin boarding planes prior to scheduled boarding time. That often meant showing up at the gate correctly, finding the aircraft mostly boarded, and not having any overhead bin space left.

Customers don’t like it, flight attendants don’t like it, but a union is telling members that the airline believes they can keep on doing it.

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To Cut Staffing At Gates, American Airlines Will Start Clearing Standbys And Nonrevs Earlier

by Gary Leff

register
May 29 2021

Unfortunately a policy change that accompanies the American Airlines move to single agent boarding for flights that are less than 80% full will make it tougher to get onto an earlier flight or to have options during irregular operations, too.

Agent Assist (automated system) will “auto clear revenue and non-revenue customers on certain domestic mainline flights with load factors below 80% …at D-60.”

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