Search Results for "ASIA".
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Air Canada’s new Aeroplan program eliminated fuel surcharges on award travel and introduced a region and distanced-based award chart.
Two years after the new program’s award pricing was announced they’re making several changes, in general reducing the price of partner short-distance awards between different regions of the world while increasing the price of the longest trips in premium cabins. These go into effect September 1.
After flying between Dallas – Fort Worth and Detroit, a woman took to twitter to share her experience trying to use the first class lavatory as a passenger sitting at the front of the coach cabin. She’s not a frequent flyer, asked a flight attendant where the restroom was, and she says she was told to use the restroom in front.
However when she got there she felt scolded and was sent back to use the coach lavatory. And while she’s black, she reports that white passengers were allowed to use that lavatory without a scolding.
The Economist produces a research report on the top 10 most livable cities in the world. How many have you been to? How do your favorites fare? What Are The World’s Most Livable Cities? This year’s top 10 most livable cities are ranked as: Vienna Copenhagen Zurich + Calgary Vancouver Geneva Frankfurt Toronto Amsterdam Osaka and Melbourne Can this list make any sense at all? Many of these cities are awesome, I'm sure, but these lists tend to be biased towards cities that are cold, expensive, or boring, which suggests that the listmakers have a shitty definition of "livability". — Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 25, 2022 Vienna is incredible, but I wouldn’t want to live there though I’ve been attached to it since Richard Linklater’s 1995 classic Before Sunrise where young American Ethan Hawke is…
American Airlines’ own data shows that following devaluations of the AAdvantage program elite members moved flying away from the program. AAdvantage itself generated more revenue, because its credit card deals became more lucrative. That earn-burn program grew, while the most engaged members stepped back.
That may even be the right business decision! Flying has frequently been unprofitable for American while net revenue has been driven by selling miles to banks. Maybe they should reward flying less if they’re not making money on it.
The most ‘In Demand Restaurant In The United States’ right now is an omakase sushi restaurant in Austin service great fish at a bargain price point. The chef’s mentor is serving one of the most expensive sushi meals in the United States in Chicago. Both are outstanding.
ASMALLWORLD is supposed to be a networking organization for ‘the elite’ but I don’t know anyone that’s ever found it to be useful. They have a 75 euro membership, with free trial but their membership is also a way to buy a lot of frequent flyer miles and elite status thrown in at a higher price point.
Normally their 5200 euro membership comes with 250,000 Lufthansa Miles & More miles, but they’re currently offering 20% more, 300,000 miles. And that’s in addition to hotel and rental car elite status.
Normally I’d be inclined to pick up Qantas tickets in coach for the short 1 hour 20 minute flight, using my American AAdvantage status for priority check-in and boarding, lounge and extra baggage. But those were pricing at around $300 in economy for the one way trip while Virgin Australia was asking $200 for business class.
And I was really curious to see what Virgin Australia was like after having been acquired out of bankruptcy (“administration”) by private equity.
There’s one place to look if you want to use American AAdvantage, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, or British Airways Executive Club points to Europe. (If you’re using miles from Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles, you’ll actually pay lower fuel surcharges for those British Airways awards.) That place is Iberia which is very good about releasing two business class award seats from 6 U.S. cities when booking six months or more in advance.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
