This was only maybe my sixth stay of the year at the Andaz 5th Avenue. I’ve been trying out a variety of hotels this year in New York — sometimes due to location (like the Conrad New York when I was attending an event there, or the Renaissance Newark for the Freddie Awards), sometimes due to getting simply too good a deal to pass up (the couple of times I stayed at the Andaz Wall Street), and sometimes because the 5th Avenue Andaz was full and I don’t have deep enough pockets to cover a Diamond guaranteed availability stay (so I took refuge at the Grand Hyatt and the Parker Meridien). Every time I stay in New York and it’s not at the Andaz 5th Avenue, I’m disappointed. It’s not the single best hotel in…
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Cathay Pacific Introducing New Regional Business Class Product
Yesterday Cathay Pacific announced their new regional business class product. Cathay Pacific has an outstanding long haul business class.. fully flat, direct aisle access, they took the innovative seat that US Airways first introduced and improved on it. But their regional (intra-Asia) product is fairly antiquated. I’ve written about it in the past, such as here and here. I’d liken it to flying in United’s old recliner-style business class seats, better than US domestic first class for sure and better than flying business class inside Europe by miles, but not the same seat you get for transpacific or transatlantic flying on better carriers — and not what Singapore offers on its new regional (Airbus A330-300) product, examples here and here. Here’s how Cathay describes the new regional product: The principal feature of the new product…
New Features at View from the Wing
Somehow I wound up in a nostalgic mood yesterday, the kind you feel when you go through old drawers or old boxes and look through each and every item, bringing back memories of childhood or high school. Only for me, it was reading through the old archives of this blog, which I’ve been writing for over 10 years. I was struck by the early posts, how I was trying to figure out what the blog was supposed to be, it was as much postings of weird news as it was travel deals, and the deals and offers I posted were really just the things I wanted to keep track of, this website was just a convenient bookmark or repository for links and my notes on them so I could find them more easily later. Writing…
Trip Reports – Air
An index of View from the Wing airline reports back through 2008: 2015 Delta Business Class, Sydney – Los Angeles Virgin Australia Business Class, Cairns – Sydney Virgin Australia Business Class, Brisbane – Cairns Virgin Australia Business Class, Los Angeles – Brisbane Emirates First Class, Dubai – Dallas Emirates First Class, Colombo – Dubai (Alone In) Emirates First Class, Male – Colombo Boat Transfer and Maldivian Domestic Flight from the Park Hyatt Maldives to Male American Airlines inaugural 787 flights in economy and business class, Dallas – Chicago – Dallas Maldivian economy, Male – Kooddoo Etihad First Class, Los Angeles – Abu Dhabi American Airlines New Business Class, Paris – New York JFK American Airlines Business Class, Chicago – Paris Qantas A380 First Class, Sydney – Los Angeles Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class, Singapore –…
Trip Reports – Lounges
An index of View from the Wing lounge reports back through 2008: 2015 American Express Centurion Studio, Seattle Air New Zealand (Temporary) Lounge, Sydney Skyteam Lounge, Sydney American Express Lounge, Sydney Virgin Australia Cairns Lounge Virgin Australia Brisbane Domestic Lounge American Express Centurion Lounge, Miami Star Alliance Business Class Lounge, LAX Emirates First Class A380 Concourse Lounge in Dubai Emirates First and Business Class Lounge, Colombo Plaza Premium Lounge, Male (Maldives) Etihad business class lounge, Abu Dhabi terminal 3 Star Alliance Business Class Lounge, Los Angeles Star Alliance First Class Lounge, Los Angeles Mobile, Alabama Airport Authority Executive Lounge American Airlines Admirals Club, Paris MAA Executive Lounge, Mobile, Alabama American Airlines Flagship First Class Lounge, Chicago American Flagship First Class Lounge, Los Angeles Qantas First Class Lounge, Sydney Singapore Airlines ‘The Private Room’ First Class…
When You Should (and Shouldn’t) Collect Delta Miles
Delta miles really are among the least valuable of any airline currency, certainly any major North American airline currency. My feelings about Delta are well-known, I’m the guy who coined the term ‘Skypesos.’ At one point I was told that Delta was ‘building a dossier’ on me. Still, sometimes Delta miles are exceptionally easy to earn, and that can make them attractive (if you can earn twice as many miles per dollar with Delta, it doesn’t matter all that much that it costs twice as many miles to redeem). Sadly there haven’t been any American Express Membership Rewards transfer bonuses to Delta this year, 40% – 67% were common in recent times. In response to a suggestion by the Delta Points Blog that it made sense to credit Rewards Network dining miles to the Delta…
A Few Hours Left to Book Awards on Qatar Using United Miles
Yesterday Qatar award inventory was pulled from the United website, even though the partnership which is ending was supposed to allow award booking with United miles on Qatar through September 14. Already the ability to book awards on Qatar by phone, calling up United, had all but disappeared. Finding a telephone agent who even believed award booking was still permitted on Qatar was a challenge, and finding one who knew it was possible and knew how to do it became almost impossible some time over the summer. Strangely, the ability to book Qatar awards on the website has come back. Here’s an example of Qatar business class, JFK-Doha. It’s unclear when exactly this ability will disappear again. Normally I’m a big fan of putting awards on hold (you can choose to call in your credit…
Eating Around the Grand Hyatt New York
I was staying at the Grand Hyatt, and as folks who read the review know I had a bit of room service on arrival. So I wasn’t hungry early, but headed out to get a little bit of dinner around 8pm. First stop was Schnitzel & Things, a small restaurant that started off as a food truck with both excellent schnitzel and sides, it’s counter service and a few tables in back. Unfortunately they close at 8pm and were cleaning up as I arrived. So had to go looking for something else to try. That neighborhood has plenty of Japanese restaurants, and wherever there are clusters of one type of food you have competition which gives you a good shot that the food at any given place will be ok. And walking down the side…
Bits ‘n Pieces for September 7, 2012
News and Notables from Around the Interweb: American AAdvantage Transfer Bonus. American is offering up to a 25% bonus on miles transferred between accounts through September 30th. The airline based on a range of points transferred but roughly speaking a penny a mile plus tax and a $30 ‘processing fee’. The $300 is costs to transfer 25,000 miles will yield 31,250 miles under this promo. Good for topping off between accounts, but not worth it just to do it. Scoring Business Class Awards to Australia During High Season with Skypesos. Some folks will recall my pointing out that Delta’s Skyteam partner China Southern offers amazing business class award availability on its Los Angeles – Guangzhou, China route and the seats on its Airbus A380 look really good. Point Me to the Plane highlights that Delta…
Some Non-obvious Frequent Flyer Programs to Consider
Gabriel Leigh has a CNNgo column on 7 top frequent flyer programs — offering a perspective on the unique value proposition of each. For the most part, he’s spot on, worth highlighting and also some modest disagreement. Aegean Airlines Miles&Bonus. Easiest Star Alliance status, you get 1000 qualifying miles for signing up and 3000 more within the first year means Star Alliance Silver (so some boarding priority and a free checked bag on your domestic US flying on United and US Airways). 16,000 more qualifying miles to hit Star Alliance Gold which gets you lounge access. I outlined the pluses and minuses of the program when I became an Aegean Airlines Gold member, since then they’ve made it possible to change date and time on award tickets and also cancel awards and redeposit miles (both…
