Did you book a $178 roundtrip ticket to Abu Dhabi, or a bit more expensive ticket to Africa, India, or Southeast Asia? Many readers wanted to know, but how do you find these? and how to stay in the loop for other fares like this? Two things to understand in your quest for fat finger discounts (leaving out digits on a fare or rate), currency conversion errors, and other special opportunities. There aren’t as many airline airfare mistakes as there used to be. Airlines have better tools, especially for international fares, to catch mistakes before they’re actually published. Those tools began rolling out in 2009, and now it’s mostly international airlines that haven’t really learned to use them that wind up publishing international mistakes. (This refers to price mistakes, but other kinds of mistakes like…
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Review: Thai Molecular Gastronomy at Sra Bua in Bangkok
Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal Cathay Pacific First Class, Los Angeles – Hong Kong Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok Grand Hyatt Bangkok: Suite, Club Lounge, and Facilities Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin at the Siam Kempinski hotel is quite well-regarded. It’s Copenhagen sister is the second restaurant in the world to earn a Michelin star cooking Thai food. (The first was London’s Nahm, and I ate at Nahn in Bangkok on this trip as well.) I’ve done plenty of the world’s best molecular gastronomy. The since-closed El Bulli, arguably then…
British Airways Re-committing to First Class, Converting Remaining 747s to New First!
Conventional wisdom is that international first class is a thing of the past. A dinosaur. The better business classes today are better than what first used to be. Here are the world’s best business class products. There’s a very narrow market that will pay for greater privacy and service, that isn’t paying to fly private. Back in October I explained the reasons that international first class is disappearing. And yet the data actually suggests there’s more first class than ever before, naturally led by he Middle Eastern mega-carriers. One of the big data points used to suggest that first class isn’t a broadly sustainable product is the way that British Airways has de-emphasized it. BA is one of the world carrier’s most dependent on premium cabin travel, and when they’re eliminating first class from a…
For Those Of You Who Are Booking The Etihad $178 Fares…
If you’re going to travel on this amazing fare to Abu Dhabi, India, Africa or Asia you may wonder whom to credit the flight miles to? The key thing to know is that this deal has been booking into E class. Knowing the fare basis of your ticket will tell you what kind of miles you’ll earn with each of the possible programs you’d credit miles to.
Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok
Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal Cathay Pacific First Class, Los Angeles – Hong Kong Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge, Hong Kong For more than two years I’ve been looking forward to flying Cathay Pacific’s new regional business class product but I’ve been foiled every time — I keep getting their long haul business product on my short intra-Asia flights. That streak, lucky in most ways, continued. And I was sort of banging my head against the wall over it. What better way than a short hop between Hong Kong and Bangkok would there be to try out lesser seats? Our…
3 Key Rewards Program Tools for Staying in Good Hotels at Very Little Cost
I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). I’ve never gone and spent $450 on a hotel room, but I’m not a budget traveler either. There are a lot of travel bloggers who travel year round and do their best to keep costs super low. I travel for work, and pleasure, but I don’t travel full time or live in hotels. I also never really put myself into a box like travel blogger, this is just…
Exploiting the Freshly Increased Value of Citibank’s Thank You Points
I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Citibank Points Have Gotten Much More Valuable This Year Thanks to Airline Mileage Transfers Citibank introduced airline miles as an option for redeeming Thank You points over the summer, instantly increasing the value of their Citi Thank You Cards points substantially. And a month later they even added a transfer partner, signifying that they weren’t done building the program. Thank You Premier and Prestige cardmembers can now transfer…
When Kids Scream on a Plane, the Best Approach is Not to Slam Someone’s Head on an Overhead Bin
So you know things have gone too far when a pilot threatens an emergency landing over your behavior. Of course, it’s always the other person’s fault, right? A brawl involving three women erupted on a Chinese flight from to Chongqing to Hong Kong yesterday when two of them complained to a mum that her baby was making too much noise. The women, all believed to be Chinese, were warned that the pilot would be forced to turn back and make an emergency landing if they didn’t stop fighting. Naturally, “[T]he two women reclined their seats fully backwards, which aggravated things further. A scuffle ensued, with one of the women hitting on her head on the overhead locker..” There’s a video. When there are screaming kids on a plane, don’t do this. A year ago I…
Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney
I’m about to head off on another trip, which I’m somewhat ambivalent about because of how much I’ve been on the road lately. But I’ve also done vacation and I’m much happier to share that trip with you in the coming days. It was a return to cities I’ve been to many times, it was visiting with family at the back end on the other side of the world, but it was also some top notch airline products including first class on two A380s (taking an A380 to visit family for the holidays really improves holiday travel). Some great hotels, and amazing meals. Qantas, Singapore and Cathay First – Oh My! Late last year I stumbled upon two Qantas A380 first class award seats, Sydney – Los Angeles for the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
Here’s Why Airbus Says They May Discontinue the A380
Over the summer I made the controversial claim that the Airbus A380 is a failure. Let’s just say plenty of people disagreed with me in the comments. As a passenger I like the plane. I love flying Singapore’s A380 in first class for sure, there’s nothing yet in the skies like the Emirates shower. And the Etihad Residence should top even that. In August I wrote: There are no buyers in the U.S., South America, or Africa. They’ve barely penetrated China or Japan. In 7 years Airbus has delivered only 138 planes to 11 airlines. Word is the plane is being discounted by 50% off list. While aircraft manufactures don’t really sell for list, that’s still a significant discount and early buyers generally get ‘most favored nation’ status where future discounted sales entail rebates to…
