Search Results for "ASIA".
I don’t like to see these increases. I’m saddened by them. But I still see the Mileage Bank as a strategically useful program. Their first class award prices remain better than many competitors, and that doesn’t even get into short haul business awards which are less than US airlines generally charge for coach.
I’m just back from Tokyo and Shanghai. My wife and I flew to Asia on a Virgin Atlantic 120,000 mile roundtrip ANA first class award. It’s one of the better value redemptions in all of travel — United would charge 220,000 miles roundtrip for the same thing, Aeroplan 210,000 miles, and Avianca LifeMiles 204,000. ANA itself charges 150,000 miles roundtrip.
And it turns out the deal is even better than that because most of the points for these two tickets came from American Express Membership Rewards transfers — when there was a transfer bonus. I called up Virgin Atlantic, put the award on a 24 hour hold, and then transferred the points. Not bad for a roundtrip ticket that was pricing at $22,907 apiece.
A year ago an AirAsia flight attendant was videotaped performing Britney Spears Toxic.
The conceit here of course is that Britney herself plays a flight attendant in the song’s music video. Maybe that’s why flight attendants seemingly just can’t help themselves.
Premium cabin award space between the West Coast of the US and Europe is much tougher than non-stop space to the East Coast. Folks in the West generally need a domestic connection, then, to reach their international gateway city.
So I thought it was notable enough to pass on non-stop first class award space from several cities out West to Europe.
Mere days ago I wrote a guide for asking airlines to give you elite status. Already there’s a new opportunity I hadn’t seen before.
United Airlines sent two memos to flight attendants scolding them for their personal grooming.
United’s Vice President of Inflight says “We lost our focus on the value uniform standards have on our customers’ perception of our company.”
The 2018 IdeaWorks award availability study is out.. The top line that’s getting reported is that Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards offers the best award availability. Another key takeaway is major improvement in American Airlines award availability.
Both of those conclusions can be somewhat misleading.
American’s President Robet Isom says the airline has done well with Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong flights but that China has been hard. Chicago – Beijing, which they’re cutting, “is a route that we’ve lost tens of millions of dollars for years and years and years.”
An Airbus A330-300 belonging to South Korean Star Alliance member Asiana struck the tail of Turkish Airlines Airbus A321 while taxiing in Istanbul.
It’s incredible to watch, and incredible that there happens to be video at the very moment this happened.
For three years Delta, United and American have been complaining that despite being heavily subsidized themselves, and protected from foreign competition in the U.S. market, that it’s not fair that they should have to compete against Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar.
The US airlines finally lost. But the Gulf carriers gave them a way to save face and end the charade.
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 »
