Business Insider runs a piece on “10 First-Class Airplane Seats That Are Nicer Than Your Apartment” and it’s probably better than many of these pieces since it actually lists products that are mostly actually good (United and American do not make the list). On the other hand, it includes products that don’t exist yet — Etihad’s 3-room Residence which will debut in late December on the airline’s new A380, and Air France’s new La Premier cabin which features curtains instead of doors and doesn’t much impress me. And it does include products like British Airways’ which simply doesn’t belong, classy a cabin as though it may be. My own view is that it’s really hard to put together a list like this if you haven’t flown a lot of the products involved. And that the…
ASIA
Search Results for "ASIA".
Should You Take Advantage of This 50,000 Point Bonus? Can You Get Expedited Immigration? And Should You Jump on Amex Daily Getaways? (Bits ‘n Pieces for May 16, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: Lots of buzz that the 50,000 point Southwest Visa signup offer is back. It’s a very good offer, worth over $700 in airfare when redeeming for ‘Wanna Get Away’ fares. But it never did go away, Chase just hadn’t been marketing it. I’ve been writing with it regularly and including it on lists of best offers. The Miles Professor talks about how she uses Paypal to generate spending and miles and offers her perspective on how not to raise Paypal’s ire while doing so. Tons of digital ink spilled over American Express/US Travel Association Daily Getaways deals that come around once a year. I haven’t covered them because I haven’t seen any that have especially appealed (today for instance you can speculatively pre-purchase one night at a Super8…
Why Are US Airports So Bad?
A Hong Kong-based journalist emails to ask, “Why are US airports so bad?” The thing about US airports is they aren’t all bad. The most frequent experiences that non-US residents have are bad, but that’s mostly a function of Miami, New York JFK, and Los Angeles (the international terminal – egads – even with recent improvements). The airports that such folks see represent the worst of American aviation. Now, I actually like JFK’s terminal 7. It’s small and easy in/out. And terminal 8 is rather attractive. Much has been made of the massive revamp of the Delta terminal. But the airport itself remains a mess: there terminals aren’t connected at all airside, and in many cases you even need to go outside and cross a road to reach the interterminal train. You can’t even get…
The Best Airline and Hotel Mistake Deals — and What to Do When You Find One
Frequent flyer award tickets are one thing, you can get amazing value. But when airlines and hotels give away their product nearly for free, you can do even better — and usually without having to constrain yourself to dates that are available on points. here are some of the best deals that have come along, and what to do when they appear.
Don’t Be Fooled by the New Fatally Flawed Study on Award Availability
Each year, for five years now, IdeaWorks has published a study (.pdf) on which airlines offer the best award availability and each year Scott McCartney picks it up approvingly in the Wall Street Journal without a recognition of its flaws. Roughly speaking this year’s piece finds that: Overall airline award availability is getting better despite an improving economy (more seats sold). Low cost carriers are better for flyers looking for award seats than legacy airlines. International airlines are better at offering award seats than US ones. But the only way it reaches these conclusions is by assuming away virtually everything we know about how these programs actually work. Nowhere in the study do they account for the value or quality of what the low cost carriers like Southwest Airlines are getting you for your miles.…
Air France Reveals Its New First Class Suite!
It doesn’t even come close to the just-announced Etihad A380 First Class Residence, but Air France has just unveiled its new La Premier First Class Suite. It has curtains. Curtains. It’s not even a suite with doors. I suppose I didn’t take this rendition seriously enough. I like the lighting, though, something that British Airways already does quite well up front. The colors are nice. They’re going with Sofitel bedding. And they’ll have caviar. While it does seem very ‘Air France’ it also doesn’t seem very revolutionary, or for that matter better than what other airlines that continue to invest in their first class experience offer. They’re nowhere near the standard of better Asian or Middle Eastern carriers — though no paying passenger will likely ‘route around’ Air France in favor of Lufthansa or British…
First Class Going Away November 1, 50% Off Award Tickets, and a Transfer Bonus (Bits ‘n Pieces for May 2, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: Uber referral credits are now worth only $10 for new members (and for the person referring them) but new users can still get $25 with their first use (HT: Delta Points) Back in February South American airline (and then-Star Alliance member, now member of oneworld) TAM started releasing most of their first class seats as awards. Those seats were still available, and I booked some myself. Though TAM had pretty much never released first class awards before in any meaningful way, the availability remained even after TAM joined oneworld a month ago. The seats certainly weren’t selling, and now we learn that TAM is eliminating first class altogether after November 1. Flying Blue 50% off Promo Awards for July/August travel are out. Book in May, travel in July…
Always Print Your Travel Itinerary (All-Electronic Isn’t)
There are many times it helps to have a printed e-ticket itinerary, and even a printed boarding pass. An itinerary can be helpful: Getting into the airport Many airports in Asia — such as Bali, Male and Manila — will have security checking for itineraries on the way into the terminal. Showing your onward travel plans at immigration. You may need to demonstrate you have an onward ticket when being admitted into a country, or for that matter when transiting. Transi security will often need to see either a boarding pass or itinerary. Interlining bags across multiple itineraries. If you are traveling on separate tickets and checking bags, and want the airline you’re checking in with to interline those bags to the next airline in your journey, they’ll be much more willing to do so…
ACT NOW: US Airways Award Tickets On British Airways Without Fuel Surcharges
Debating Whether or Not to Share This I struggled with whether to post this or not. Since US Airways joined oneworld a month ago there’s been a big opportunity. But I also suspected that once I posted it, the opportunity would disappear quickly. There’s always a balance. I want as many people as possible to benefit from a deal, but I also don’t want to overexpose something either. If I think something is sustainable I will post it. If I think that an opportunity will end from my shedding a light on it I won’t. I don’t always get the balance right, but I do my best. This deal was posted on a handful of minor blog sites, and I didn’t take the bait. But this morning I saw The Points Guy cover it. And…
100% Bonus on Purchased US Airways Miles Expected to Return May 3
According to Loyalty Lobby, US Airways will be back with a purchase miles bonus of up to 100% between May 3 and May 25. Over the past few years they’ve run buy miles bonuses — sometimes targeted — about 75% of the year. Which means that the 100% bonus is more or less ‘regular price’. Nonetheless, that means they sell miles less expensively than most airlines including less expensively than American Airlines — and these miles will become American miles when the two programs merge. As a long-term play it’s cheaper to buy miles from US Airways and have them become American miles than to buy those miles from American. (One imagines that when the programs do merge, that the higher price of American miles will prevail.) Good Deal? At a 100% bonus, priced at…
