Malaysia Airlines Joins oneworld Tomorrow Malaysia Airlines joins oneworld February 1. That’s not news, since it was long ago announced and is proceeding based on recently expected schedules. (It was originally set to join in late 2012, so even the first deadline was only missed by a wee bit.) It’s a great addition for folks using American miles in the U.S. — oneworld is light on Asian partners, this expands South Asian reach, plus it’s another option to Asia from the U.S. (Los Angeles – TaipeiTokyo – Kuala Lumpur). And they offer a great premium product. Hey, their satellite terminal first class in Kuala Lumpur even has lobster on the buffet. While American’s standard partner award rules will not permit travel from the US to Malaysia via Europe, or to destinations like India via Malaysia,…
ASIA
Search Results for "ASIA".
Where the Award Seats Are: Summer Travel to Europe via Brussels
Star Alliance remains the best program if you want to get to Europe or Asia in business class on points, largely because they have the most carriers with the most routes, and of course neither United nor US Airways adds fuel surcharges to awards on any of their partners. LufthansaFlyer wrote this morning that Brussels Airlines has announced 5 times weekly service between Washington Dulles and Brussels beginning June 18. Lucky discussed this morning his recent business class flight on Brussels. They have a new flat business class seat, though Lucky finds it a bit narrow especially at the feet. Flight times: Washington Dulles – Brussels, 10:35pm – 12:10pm+1, SN516 (Sun/Tues/Thurs/Fri/Sat) Brussels – Washington Dulles, 5:30pm – 8:15pm, SN515 (Sun/Tues/Thurs/Fri/Sat) Since I happen to be based in DC this was exciting news. I figured I…
Are Airports What’s Wrong With Travel — And A Symbol of What’s Wrong Everywhere?
Seth Godin writes about 10 things organizations can learn from airports. The lessons for organizations may be right, or more right than wrong in many cases, but the underlying understanding of airports seems off the mark to me. Godin seems not to like (1) commodity products, whose production is (2) intertwined with several bureaucracies (FAA, TSA, airports authority) in conjunction with highly a regulated industry (commercial aviation). But I find that airports are surprising diverse, and while many remain soulless places run by bureaucrats and featuring little innovation there is tremendous variation — geographically (there are some amazingly impressive airports in Asia, like Singapore and Seoul-Incheon) and in terms of innovation (Dallas Fort Worth is trying to do a lot to make their experience more pleasant, Miami is making a ton of infrastructure investments without…
What Would the Frequent Flyer Program Look Like if American and US Airways Merge?
I’ve been getting tons of questions about what happens to frequent flyer miles in a merger between American and US Airways, and what to expect from the various elite and upgrade programs that the two airlines offer if they combine. And the answer of course is that for the most part we don’t know. But there are plenty of things we can make fairly educated guesses about. To be clear, my predictions are just that — guesses about the future — rather than leaks of plans that have been made by any of the parties to a potential merger. I imagine that there haven’t even been any decisions made as yet, since until and unless a merger actually happens the two airlines remain competitors and I doubt that they are working through the nuances of…
New Years in Paris: British Airways “New” First Class, London – Washington Dulles
A trip report in five parts Air France A380 Business Class, Washington Dulles – Paris Park Hyatt Vendome Mostly Eating in Paris British Airways Paris Orly – London and the Concorde Room British Airways “New” First Class, London – Washington Dulles I’ve only ever departed terminal 5 from bus gates. But that took me past the Starbucks, and it was going to be an (admittedly short of a Westbound transatlantic) long flight and I really didn’t want to sleep much, I wanted to arrive in DC tired and fall straight to sleep, adjusting back to my own time right away. Which isn’t to say I wouldn’t allow myself a nap – I was happy to for a couple of hours — but I felt like I could conk right out. Here’s an interesting thing about…
New Years in Paris: Air France Business, British Airways First, and the Park Hyatt Vendome: British Airways Club Europe Paris Orly – London and the Concorde Room
A trip report in five parts Air France A380 Business Class, Washington Dulles – Paris Park Hyatt Vendome Mostly Eating in Paris British Airways Paris Orly – London and the Concorde Room British Airways “New” First Class, London – Washington Dulles The return trip was going to start at Paris Orly airport, that’s the ‘close-in’ and some would say convenient airport, which mostly services intra-Europe flying. Really, though, it’s a pit of an airport, old and without modern facilities. But since the goal is to get in and out, and not spend time there, it’s relatively compact. If you can time it so that you breeze through formalities and without much to do airside, it’s a perfectly convenient place. I had checked in online, having learned from my outbound with Air France that I don’t…
Requalifying for Intercontinental Royal Ambassador Status the Easy Way
Intercontinental’s Royal Ambassador elite level is in some ways the best elite status of any hotel program (although Lucky makes a pretty good case for Kimpton’s Inner Circle). But first, the areas where it really falls short. Very few benefits are guaranteed on award stays No guaranteed club lounge access Very few properties — this is status at Intercontinental hotels only, and while it comes with ‘Platinum’ status in the Priority Club program that’s not especially meaningful either. Still, the positives are remarkable. On top of the usual elite level benefits one finds with the major chains, they offer: Guaranteed 8am check-in, not just 4pm late checkout Complimentary free drinks from the mini-bar Now, the minibar thing is ultra-cool. But after a few times over-indulging, and hosting parties in your suite, at least I find…
New Years in Paris: Air France Business, British Airways First, and the Park Hyatt Vendome: In and Around Paris
A trip report in five parts Air France A380 Business Class, Washington Dulles – Paris Park Hyatt Vendome Mostly Eating in Paris British Airways Paris Orly – London and the Concorde Room British Airways “New” First Class, London – Washington Dulles The first night’s dinner was a bit impromptu, the Park Hyatt’s concierge stepped in with a recommendation based on my request for something nearby (walkable), casual bistro, reasonably priced (I didn’t want to spend 50 euros per person), and good food — that was available at the last minute by reservation, so that it wouldn’t entail a wait. The recommendation was for Restaurant L’ardoise, which fit the bill perfectly. We walked in and the place was packed. I mentioned that we had a reservation and the woman greeting us said, “You talked to me??”…
New Years in Paris: Air France Business, British Airways First, and the Park Hyatt Vendome: Washington Dulles-Paris Onboard the A380
A trip report in five parts Air France A380 Business Class, Washington Dulles – Paris Park Hyatt Vendome Mostly Eating in Paris British Airways Paris Orly – London and the Concorde Room British Airways “New” First Class, London – Washington Dulles Looking for something to do for New Years I settled on Paris, there was non-stop business class availability on the Washington Dulles – Paris non-stop. And it’s their Airbus A380. I’m not one to chase aircraft. I’m much more interested in the inflight product than the model of the plane itself. And believe it or not (it’s sort of something I hadn’t even realized until I stopped to think about it), I hadn’t actually ever been on an A380 other than crawling around one of Qantas’ during the oneworld MegaDO back at the end…
Renting a Wireless Internet Device for International Travel
Renting Wireless Internet for International Travel: I first learned about XCOM Global from this Milepoint thread which is a good discussion of getting wireless internet access while traveling abroad. XCOM Global offers pocket-sized wireless internet routers (“MiFi”) that will work in most any of the destinations you’ll be traveling to, and they give you unlimited data for a fixed per-day price. My Usual Solution On most of my trips I just turn my phone into airplane mode so that I don’t eat any roaming charges, and log into the hotel’s wireless internet. If I want to make calls I use the Skype app and I’m only paying about 3 cents a minute to talk to the U.S. And this works well for me because (1) just about anywhere I stay, I get free internet —…
