News and notes from around the interweb: Pizza in Motion follows my advice when a taxi in Paris tries to scam him: wait until you’ve reached your hotel and your luggage is out of the vehicle, then get the hotel’s assistance. You – not the driver – are the hotel’s customer, and they know what a taxi should be charging you. Indispensable if you travel internationally with a child under age 2: Guide to booking award travel with lap infants In the fall when Emirates Skywards became an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner, I noted that one of the best features of that program is international upgrades from any fare without cash co-pay (although some fares are upgradable only at the airport). Unfortunately that is apparently changing, effective May 1 some Emirates economy tickets…
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Vietnam, Cambodia, Macau and Hong Kong Trip Report: Cathay Pacific First Class New York JFK – Hong Kong
Index: Introduction, Positioning Flight to New York, and the Hilton JFK British Airways First Class Lounge, New York JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York JFK – Hong Kong The Pier First Class Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City Park Hyatt Saigon Lunch at Pho Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Airlines Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Danang Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Vietnam Airlines Economy, Danang – Siem Reap Park Hyatt Siem Reap Angkor Wat and Other Temples Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong Turbojet, Hong Kong Airport – Macau and the Sheraton Macao Hotel The Venetian, Fernando’s, and the Ferry to Hong Kong Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Harbor View Suite Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific The…
Clearing Up Misperceptions About Booking Korean Air Using Delta Miles
Points, Miles, and Martinis wrote about Korean Air’s Houston flight and how new routes are often an opportunity for award booking. Korean is a partner of Delta Skymiles (in the loosest sense of the term). But there are many misconceptions about booking Korean Air space using Delta miles, so I thought I’d try to clear some of those up. You need to call Delta to look up availability The Points, Miles, and Martinis blog notes that searching for award space on Korean at Expertflyer.com find “plenty of days where you can pick up 2 award seats in First Class.” However Delta does not allow mileage redemption in international first class. Business class is the top cabin permitted. He goes on to say, “Business Class is harder to find. I couldn’t find it on Expert Flyer”…
How to Assign Seats on Cathay Pacific (It’s Harder Than You’d Think)
Cathay Pacific is strange (though not unique among Asian airlines, see also ‘Asiana’) in blocking many of the seats in their first class cabin. With only 6 seats in their first class cabin on the 777 though that can be frustrating. It makes it tough to assign seats together (as if such a thing exists on this aircraft) when traveling together. In addition, Cathay Pacific will only assign seats 6 months in advance on its website, through airline partners, or if you call the US call center. But you can assign any seats you wish if you call Hong Kong. And they will do so more than 6 months in advance. That’s useful for getting first class seats together, or getting your preferred first class seats. It’s also useful as a business class passenger, because…
I Have Nothing to Add About the Malaysia Airlines 777 Tragedy
A couple of readers have emailed me to ask why I haven’t written anything about the Malaysia Airlines MH370 Boeing 777-200ER flight that disappeared enroute between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing. There are two reasons, and I think both are straightforward. I really do not have much to add to the discussion, that others better qualified to speak aren’t already saying. It’s really hard and I don’t do emotion well, let alone in public on the internet. I am not an expert on the mechanics of aviation, on the engineering details of how planes fly or don’t. I don’t have better sources that give me insight into what’s going on before the rest of the media gets their information (although there are of course plenty of ill-informed commenters on television talking about this). I think Scott…
SriLankan Airlines Set to Join the oneworld Alliance May 1
SriLankan now has an official joining date of May 1 for entry into oneworld, making them an alliance partner of American (and US Airways) as well as British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and more. And they’re a great addition to oneworld for frequent flyers. With American you’ll be able to include them in AAdvantage distance-based oneworld awards, for instance flying over the Atlantic and connecting in Europe to Asia, or including them on trips to the Maldives or India and Pakistan. Bangalore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, and Tiruchirappalli in India as well as Male in the Maldives are short hops from Colombo, Sri Lanka that will only cost 4500 British Airways points each way. (Of course many of these short hops are also quite inexpensive to buy.) In Europe SriLankan flies to Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Paris, and…
Vietnam, Cambodia, Macau and Hong Kong Trip Report: Introduction, Positioning and the Hilton New York JFK
Index: Introduction, Positioning Flight to New York, and the Hilton JFK British Airways First Class Lounge, New York JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York JFK – Hong Kong The Pier First Class Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City Park Hyatt Saigon Lunch at Pho Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Airlines Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Danang Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Vietnam Airlines Economy, Danang – Siem Reap Park Hyatt Siem Reap Angkor Wat and Other Temples Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong Turbojet, Hong Kong Airport – Macau and the Sheraton Macao Hotel The Venetian, Fernando’s, and the Ferry to Hong Kong Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Harbor View Suite Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific The…
1000 Free Miles, Another Program Revamps, New Option for Using SkyMiles, and Making Airport Bathrooms Better (Bits ‘n Pieces for March 2, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: Sixt car rental is offering 1000 Lufthansa Miles & More miles for taking their emails. (HT: Greg L.) News on the SAS EuroBonus program revamp is out. A better way to design airport bathroom stalls? Garuda Indonesia is expected to join Skyteam this week (Wednesday), the alliance that includes Delta. This may create some interesting redemption opportunities for Skymiles. Garuda flies to Amsterdam, and several cities in Australia. There may be additional opportunities to route via Asia to Australia, and possibly to combine with Virgin Australia on a single award ticket (US – Australia – Bali on Virgin Australia, then Indonesia to North Asia and connect on a third carrier to the US on the return). We’ll see how Delta’s pricing engines treat all of this. Vienna airport…
What the Envy-Inducing Stories About Fabulous First Class Air Travel Miss: the Trend is Really Away from First Class, and Towards Business Instead
The AP’s Scott Mayerowitz offers the mainstream public a look into the offerings in international first class. Airlines certainly offer premium passengers rarified experiences such as tarmac transfers to the plane, gourmet meals onboard and on the ground, top wines, and space — personal space in their seat and general separation from the masses. Although this last is a bit of a mischaracterization, I think — it’s less about avoiding the ‘sort of people who travel coach’ and more about avoiding lots of people which brings with it stress. Yet some of the most cherished new international first-class perks have nothing to do with meals, drinks or seats. Global airlines are increasingly rewarding wealthy fliers with something more intangible: physical distance between them and everyone else. The idea is to provide an exclusive experience —…
Big Changes Coming to Qantas to Stem Losses
Qantas used to have more or less a license to print money. In the early part of the last decade its main domestic rival Ansett Australia had gone under. And it had strong pricing power on key long haul routes. Come the latter half of the last decade, its international routes were hemorrhaging but a near monopoly domestically helped hide losses. Qantas’ expansion in Asia, and its shift to a joint business venture with Emirates rather than British Airways, has helped shore up its international business to some extent (although mainline expansion in Asia has done less well than that of its low cost subsidiary). As has their cutback in routes offering international first class, and offering of more seats on the same planes as a result. But an increasingly competitive domestic market has caused…
