Ripped from Frugal Travel Guy: A bank is giving away BW status with a new account, but it seems you can sign up without a banking relationship. Here is the info you’ll need: Go to www.gcciasia.com/scb Enter promo code: BWSCB2008 First 6 Digits of Card: 486419 You’ll get room upgrades, bonus points and the right to buy points at $10 per thousand Haven’t done this myself, so your mileage may vary.
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A Few Quick Thoughts on Last Night’s Freddie Awards
Just a few brief thoughts on last night’s Freddie Awards. Marriott did exceptionally well this year. I’m not sure why. There haven’t been any real improvements to their program that I can point to. I can only figure that it’s their get out the vote efforts (of which they did quite a lot) rather than a reflection of substantive improvements. Starwood did well in Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East, Africa. But they really didn’t excel in the Americas. I’m not really sure why the split. Starwood didn’t even win for best award redemption in the Americas, which is just bizarre since they really do structurally offer the best award redemption. Hilton has introduced a system to match Starwood, but presumably too late to influence this year’s Freddie Awards. If the voting public is paying attention…
Air Traffic Delays Are Awful, Everything Else is Worse
Economic growth in general and deregulation in particular have brought about lower real airline ticket prices and substantial increases in passenger traffic. Infrastructure hasn’t kept pace and air traffic control hasn’t kept pace. And so we face congested airports and airspace. This frustrates travelers, who live in a world of tradeoffs but take what they have as given and long for what they’ve given up. Richard Posner is one such business traveler. And the usually sober, sometimes brilliant, and certainly prolific judge and scholar offers up an unusually misguided rant on why he believes “airline service is so bad” over at the Becker-Posner Blog, Becker rebuts. Posner lays out a myriad of unsupported gripes and mixes in blatantly incorrect facts, leading him to circle around some rather silly notions about re-regulating the aviation industry. Becker…
Starwood Changes Singapore Airlines Mileage Transfer Ratio – Without Notice
Starwood has – without notice – changed the transfer ratio of Starpoints into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles. Instead of a 1:1 ratio the ratio is now 2:1. This change apparently went into effect yesterday. Starwood will say it’s a function of the particular airline contractual arrangement. And it’s possible that Singapore insisted on this, they haven’t been particularly friendly or generous partners with anybody really. And they’re profitable, perhaps they don’t need to be. On the other hand, none of Starwood’s transfer arrangements have been improving for members over the past few years. United and Continental also moved to 2:1 ratios, though it also made sense in those cases that the changes were more or less dictated by those airlines’ credit card partner (Chase) who didn’t like the Starwood American Express offering a better deal…
My Next Trip Report – Flying to Barcelona for Dinner
To some people it probably seems crazy to fly from Washington, DC to Barcelona for dinner. Somehow it doesn’t seem so crazy to me. And for foodies of the world, knowing that the dinner was at El Bulli probably means it doesn’t seem crazy at all. This will once again be a trip report in parts, so here’s the beginning. Pre-trip: Dinner Reservations and Flights In the fall of 2006 on a lark I shot off an email to El Bulli, asking them for a Friday or Saturday night dinner any time April through July. I thought I was being flexible, and that I was getting in at just the right time – about three days after their reservation book opened for the year. I knew that this was a well-regarded restaurant. All the rankings are subjective, controversial, and…
What a United-Continental Merger Would Mean for Their Frequent Flyer Programs
The New Jersey Star Ledger quotes me on the affect of a hypothetical United-Continental merger on frequent flyer. Frequent-flier customers of both airlines would not lose their miles because they would be combined into one program. However, Continental’s OnePass customers would benefit if United’s Mileage Plus is the surviving program, said Gary Leff, a loyalty rewards expert with Boardingarea.com, a travel website. “United’s rewards chart requires fewer miles than Continental does,” he said. “So, each Continental mile will go farther.” However, the combined airline might adopt Continental’s policy of charging for upgrades to business class on international flights, he said. I leave aside route effects and service levels on domestic flights. I’m just talking about loyalty programs here. Unquestionably, Continental OnePass members would be better off after a merger with United. The combined entity would…
Bali and Beijing Trip Report Wrapup
Here’s a guide to all of the posts from my recent trip to Bali and Beijing in Lufthansa First Class and Thai Airways First Class. Hope it’s been a useful and enjoyable read. Lufthansa First Class: Washington-Dulles to Frankfurt A Complimentary Day Room at Frankfurt: Kempinski Hotel Gravenbruch Frankfurt Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal in Frankfurt Lufthansa First Class, Frankfurt to Singapore Singapore Airlines Short-haul Business Class: Singapore – Denpasar (Bali) Intercontinental Bali Resort & Spa – Jimbaran Bay Bali – Central Mountain Tour Bali – Dinner at Mozaic Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay Balinese Cooking Class Thai Airways Business Class: Denpasar, Bali to Bangkok Bangkok Overnight at the Airport Novotel Thai Airways First Class, Bangkok to Beijing Westin Beijing Financial Street One Day to Tour Beijing Beijing’s New Teminal 3 Lufthansa First Class – Beijing to…
A Second Trip Through Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal in Frankfurt
Friday, March 28, 2008 The First Class Terminal is eminently walkable from the Sheraton, although it did involve being outside on a rather crisp morning. Back across the passenger bridge to Terminal 1, downstairs to the arrivals level, to the very end of Hall A and out by the hotel shuttle pickup we just continued walking against the direction of vehicle traffic and there was the First Class Terminal, lower level. We buzzed the entrance and someone came down to meet us and let us in. Back up the elevator and through ever-so-polite security, and now I’m ensconced in here a bit before 8am with a bloody mary in hand. Here’s a view outside the terminal, where staff were washing the cars: We arrived a full 5.5 hours before flight time, but figured it was…
Westin Beijing Financial Street
About 1h15m in traffic, the cab deposited us at the Westin for 118RMB. I had had a map to the hotel with the address in Chinese (which I had emailed the hotel for), but the dispatcher simply asked us our destination and communicated it to the driver and all was fine. Upstairs to the club lounge to checkin (since Platinums have access to the lounge, they can necessarily check in there). I had reserved the hotel on a cash and points award, US$60 + 4000 points a night. 500 point Plat amenity has already posted, along with points from two room service coffee orders, but no points for the cash portion of the rate – will have to followup. We were informed the hotel was full (and it certainly was, with a huge American tour…
Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal in Frankfurt
First Class Terminal For those who haven’t been, or might be visiting for the first time, the First Class Terminal is on the upper, departure level in a separate building, just west of Terminal 1. The building has a large “First Class Terminal” sign. There’s a pretty sharp turn-off, though, as you approach, which can be easy to miss. (It’s also walkable back from the Terminal 1 arrivals level where the hotel vans pickup and dropoff.) Our car pulled up and a personal assistant met us out front. She asked for our passports, and I handed them over along with our boarding passes. She asked about luggage to check and I noted that our bags were already checked. She took our bag tags in order to check on them. We were quickly through a perfectly…
