News and notes from around the interweb:
- American Airlines clubs at Dallas Fort-Worth no longer make you buy food in order to get an alcoholic drink on Sundays. Apparently since there’s now some free food in the lounge, they’re able to satisfy local (backward) liquor laws.
- Today’s Daily Getaways offer comes from Avis, including a year of Chairmans Club status. There are only 15 available, starting at 1pm Eastern today. Given the $1115 price they may not go right away, but some will find incredible value. If you rent a lot of cars consider having cars delivered to you and picked up from you, skipping the bus back to the terminal and being driven back in your vehicle. Also best car on the lot excluding specialty vehicles.
- Colorado considering letting tourists buy more pot
- Cambodia has train service again
- No fee Visa gift cards from AAA
- Air India’s 40% award redemption discount
- Emirates shows off their new narrow (2-3-2) short (only 72 inches from seatback to seatback) business class seat that will appear on new Boeing 777s delivered from November onward… while existing 777s will keep their angled business class product. What was it about Gulf carriers investing impossibly in their products thanks to subsidies, again?
Still waiting for a kiosk selling “edibles” to open at DEN! Or now SEA…
As for the EK decision not to refurb existing business cabins, note that the oil revenues that kept the carrier (and its terminal) going have diminished and led to a reduction of those subsidies (which extends to all the Gulf emirates) buried as they’ve been in the arcane nature of Islamic banking. Don’t forget the UAE is introducing a tax on non-EK/QF passengers to raise more money to fill the gaps left by government cutbacks. PTY flight not happening is another example of pressure to pare back on routes that don’t feed enough customers onto onward flights at DXB. The tap is being turned to a dribble to keep EK, EY and QR growing.
@DavidB the Dubai airport tax going into effect June 1 applies to all passengers, not “non-EK/QF passengers”
Before the drop in energy prices [and remember DXB isn’t the energy market that AUH – oil – and DOH – gas are] EK had a subpar business class and 10-across economy seating on their 777s.
@DavidB – You don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story, do you?
The Emirate of Dubai (where Emirates is from), has never relied heavily on gas and oil as it’s major revenue stream, and since the GFC has struggled to keep financing projects as business and tourism declined.
The new “transit” tax, imposed on any passenger (not just EK or QF, and QF passengers booked as MEL/SYD-LHR aren’t taxed as long as flight no. stays the same), is going straight to the Emirate of Dubai as a new revenue stream, and IS NOT a UAE tax.
The reason PTY isn’t going ahead as planned is that EK was hoping to sign codesharing agreements with south american airlines to feed the flight from Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela etc. Without this in place, the flight was not profitable, and rightly so it was cancelled. To measure EK by one yard stick, and every other airline by another (which you have done here) is petty.