2014 was a great year for earning miles and points. I travelled more than I had ever travelled before, hence earning more Airline Miles and Hotel Points than ever before. I also made good redemptions taking my family on a Business Class trip to Asia and not paying a single dollar for any personal hotel…
A real life Scrooge? – AA passenger obejcts to Merry Christmas Wishes
An American Airlines passenger was escorted off the plane at La Guardia (LGA) this morning for getting agitated because crew members repeatedly wished him ‘Merry Christmas’. I know not everyone celebrates Christmas, but really? Personally I am sick of all this ‘PC’ business. Everyone should have the right to wish someone else Merry Christmas, Happy…
Emirates’ $1 WiFi
Airlines are getting on the WiFi bandwagon in droves. I remember Lufthansa testing WiFi in their long haul planes over a decade ago . Most airlines in the US have WiFi now – however, most of them have terrestrial (ground based) WiFi. The challenge with that is that it only works when over the mainland.…
Goodbye USAirways (soon!) – You will not be missed
The end of US Airways is coming near. American Airlines and US Airways have both sent out emails stating that the mileage programs of US Airways will be combined with that of American sometime in Q2 2015. This is just one step of the merger process, but it is a major one. The rebranding and…
ATC, we have a wingman…
On a recent flight back from UK to the US, there was a sudden hubbub on the flight as people started looking out the widows and taking pictures. (After a few seconds of panic) when I looked out the window I found that we had picked up a wingman. A Swiss Air aircraft was flying…
Redeeming Barclaycard arrival points for past travel
Barclaycard’s Arrival+ card is one of the most flexible when it comes to redeeming points for travel one has already spent money on. The redeeming process is fairly straightforward. When one logs into the Barclaycards account and goes to the rewards page, one sees as one of the options – ‘Travel statement credits’. This option allows…
20 Years of flying United!
I got a pleasant surprise on my last flight. I got a card from the Gate Agent. Apparently I have been flying United as a MileagePlus member for 20 years. Now I was ‘pleasantly’ surprised because I had no idea. Once I boarded the flight and looked at the card, I went – that’s it? A…
BA to start A380 to Washington Dulles
British Airways has been flying 787s to Austin (AUS) and Newark (EWR) for some time now. They have just added Washington Dulles (IAD) to their A380 destinations. The other US city to get the BA A380 is Los Angeles (LAX). IAD already has a A380. Air France has a flight in place. I fly a…
Watch out! $500 fine for writing a negative review
The Union Street Guest House, Hudson, NY: I had never heard if this hotel before. And I hope I never get invited to an event there either. There is a negative review prevention policy hidden in the Union Street Guest House’s contract fine print for events: If you have booked the Inn for a wedding or other type…
Planespotting: National Car Rental lot, Chicago O’Hare
I fly in and out of Chicago O’Hare airport a lot. One of my favorite things to do is to look at planes landing from the National Car Rental lot. The lot is right at the end of the runway and the planes come in real low. This time I got a real treat. There…
