I fly a lot of international flights in coach. My employer only buys me coach tickets. I upgrade a lot of my long haul flights using upgrade instruments (GPUs for United). But GPUs are limited, so I use them only on really long haul flights (10+ hours) or on overnight flights for shorter ones. For…
United’s new revenue based miles – Good, Bad or Ugly?
As you all probably know by now, United has switched to a revenue based earning model for miles as of March 1st. This change only impacts how redeemable miles (RDM) are earned. It does not impact how Elite Qualification miles (EQM) are earned. EQM (or PQM as United calls it) earning remains the same as…
Hotel Review: ITC Gardenia Bangalore – Refreshingly good!
Every time I head over to Asia, especially India or Southeast Asia, I am always pleasantly surprised by the awesomeness of the hotels there. And of their relatively low prices for the product they provided. After spending most of my traveling nights in hotels in North America and Europe, it is pleasant to see a…
Hotel Review: DCs newest gem – The Marriott Marquee
DC has a new hotel. It is the Marriott Marquis in Downtown DC. It opened last year and is a gem in a city with several good, but mostly aging hotels. The first thing that hits you about this hotel is the openness. The vast sky high lobby with its exquisite layout is a breath…
My first A380 flight
I took my first flight on an Airbus A380 a few weeks ago. It was a Lufthansa operated flight – and a long one – from Johannesburg (JNB) to Frankfurt (FRA). The flight was 5,380 miles long and pretty much goes across the length of the entire continent of Africa, over the Mediterranean and then…
Upgraded to the Presidential Suite
Every once in a while one gets lucky – an upgrade to a suite in a hotel. I was staying for one night at the Westchester Marriott in Westchester County, NY. It was an uneventful stay and a nondescript Marriott, in a non-so-exciting location. I showed up really late and was in for a surprise…
787-9 in Washington Dulles (IAD)
The new ’stretch’ version of Boeing’s 787 ‘Dreamliner’ (787-9) are now being put into service. I happened to see my first 787-9 at Dulles airport (IAD) last week, operated by Virgin Atlantic. Virgin replaced it’s aging A340 that it used to fly to to Washington Dulles from London Heathrow (LHR). The schedule of operations is:…
Bloomberg: US Airlines are whiners
Great article on Bloomberg this morning. US based airlines – mainly the large ones with huge international networks – United, Delta and American, have been in Washington, DC asking for help in competing against Gulf based carriers. The Gulf based carriers – Emirates, Qatar and Etihad are making big inroads into the US market and…
Full Fares – Earning bonus Elite miles on United Partners
As I discussed in my last blog post, if you book a full-fare or flexible-fare economy ticket that is booked as a Y or a B fare, you will earn 150% of the miles flown on the trip. This is not a reason to buy these tickets as they can cost several times the cost…
Earning more miles than you actually fly – the how and why?
When I looked at the miles I have earned over the years, I have found a consistent trend – my earned Award miles (RQM) and Elite miles (EQM) are always are greater than the actual miles flown (BIS – Butt-in-Seat Miles). This is not unique to me, you will see this in your accounts too.…
