Over the past year or so we've seen some incredible opportunities to redeem a small number of points towards an Amazon purchase to score a heck of a deal. Another one of these promotions is back, and I'm even targeted even though I've taken advantage…
Hilton Honors has just rolled out their latest promotion on purchased points. Through July 4, 2019, Hilton Honors members can receive a 100% bonus when they purchase Honors points. Note that this promotion is marketed as having "limited packages available,"…
Online shopping portals can be a great way to pick up additional miles & points for purchases you’d make anyway. Just for following a specific link you can earn bonus points in addition to the ones you’d earn anyway for credit card spend. Whenever I…
Next year Lufthansa will take delivery of their first Boeing 777-9, of which they have 20 on order. These planes are exciting because they'll be the first to feature Lufthansa's all new business class, offering direct aisle access from every seat (though…
Since the beginning of this year, Qatar Airways has been selling business class passengers access to their first class lounge in Doha. Specifically, I'm talking about the Al Safwa First Class Lounge, which is spectacular, and which I rank as one of the…
It's amazing how American Airlines has transformed their fleet over the years, both for better and worse. When I started flying American the MD-80s were the backbone of their domestic fleet, and the 737s were mostly still new. Back in the day American…
This is super exciting. While Hilton has a huge global portfolio, historically one of the issues they've had is that they've been lagging in the luxury market. They don't have as many "aspirational" properties as Marriott and Hyatt, in my opinion. The…
I'm a sucker for some good airline marketing, and in particular I love a well done airline brand video. Not only does it often involve some drool-worthy airplane shots, but it really gives you a sense of how the airline is trying to position themselves…
The Airbus A321XLR was officially launched early last week, and has been incredibly popular with airlines. Many airlines have even called it a game changer (#KenyaAirways). The airplane has been one of the fastest selling models we've ever seen in the…
Currently Russia requires visitors from most countries to get a "proper" visa to visit, which typically means that you have to go to the consulate, or send someone on your behalf. It's not exactly an easy process, and doesn't really do much to encourage…
Last week I wrote about how India's Civil Aviation Minister announced that Air India would resume flights to Toronto. I didn't put too much weight on it at the time, given that Air India officials have a tendency to announce routes and then not follow…
I've written in passing about The Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Credit Card, though in chatting with a reader last night realized that many people still haven't heard of this card and the situations in which it can be quite lucrative. Simply put,…
Several days ago I wrote about how I was desperately in need of a luggage makeover. You guys had a lot of amazing suggestions, which I really appreciated. As I explained, I needed to make a decision by this past weekend, not just because both my bags…
Well that didn't last very long. American's most comfortably equipped domestic aircraft are their Airbus A321Ts. These planes are in a three cabin configuration with only 102 seats, including 10 first class seats, 20 business class seats, and 72 economy…
Unfortunately at the moment Hyatt doesn't have a global promotion for members (the last one ended on May 15, 2019), though they have been offering some specific promotions for various, hotels, brands, and qualifying activity. They've just rolled out…
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is one of my favorite programs to buy miles from, both thanks to the frequency with which they sell miles, and what a good deal their redemptions can be. Alaska Mileage Plan has just launched their latest promotion on purchased…
I got to Gatwick Airport at around 7:30AM, plenty early for my 9:55AM flight to Madrid. My flight on Air Europa was departing from Gatwick's South Terminal. The first stop at the airport was The Grain Store, which is the Priority Pass restaurant at the…
I had just under 24 hours in London, as I was arriving from Calgary at around 11AM, and departing the next morning to Madrid around 10AM. While I would have loved to go into London and spend the day walking around, I decided to just book an airport hotel…
I love trying new products, so I was so excited when I boarded the WestJet 787! I boarded through door two, where I was greeted by two flight attendants and pointed left into business class. WestJet has a fairly premium-light configuration on their 787.…
My layover in Calgary was about 3.5 hours, as I arrived from Denver shortly before 4PM, and my flight to London departed at 7:20PM. Calgary is a fairly small airport, so I was expecting the transit experience to be quite easy. First I followed the signage…
Since I had flown in from Miami the same day and wanted to leave a buffer in Denver (given American's on-time performance) I had quite a long layover. I spent my time in the American Admirals Club getting caught up on work, and also walked around the…
Welcome to my next trip report, covering travel in WestJet's new 787 business class, Air Europa's 787 business class, and more. The motivation for this trip was really simple. This spring WestJet started service with the 787-9, which represents an exciting…
For those of you not familiar with Amex Offers, it’s a program available through most Amex cards, where different cards are eligible for different savings and bonus offers. In many cases the offers can be huge, and more than offset the annual fee on…
I am so excited about this development! One of Hyatt’s disadvantages is that they don’t have nearly the global footprint of Hilton, Marriott, or IHG. However, I’ve been impressed by the ways in which they’ve creatively tried to expand their portfolio,…
Yesterday I wrote about how I was hoping to have a mini meet-up at LAX either today or tomorrow -- I appreciate all the interest (and I guess we need to do these in other places as well!), and promised I'd share an update ASAP. Based on the responses,…
Yesterday evening I flew American Airlines from Miami to Los Angeles, and my flight was spectacular. While I've had some "highs" on other flights, this was the most well rounded American Airlines flight I've had in months, or probably even longer than…
For a while transatlantic ultra low cost airlines were all the rage. The sole focus of most of these airlines seemed to be to gain market share, with little regard for actually being profitable. However, with financing for airlines getting tougher to…
This stings... Earlier I wrote about how Citi is dropping their Price Rewind benefit as of September 22, 2019. As it turns out, that's not the only thing changing about Citi cards as of that date. Looking at the Citi card benefits website, quite a bit…
This story is pretty incredible, and I don't really know what to make of it. NFL star Cam Newton, who allegedly makes $20 million per year, was flying from Paris to the US on Friday. Apparently he was supposed to fly from Paris to Charlotte in American…
Credit card issuers sometimes offer benefits that may not be part of a card's core value proposition, but that still add value for many. A price match program is one of those, though over time we've seen fewer and fewer card issuers offer this. The concept…
Well I'm happy that I'm not the only one who isn't sure what to make of this... Several weeks ago I wrote about how a 20+ year old 747-400 touched down in St. Vincent. The plane used to fly for China Airlines, and the plan is now for it to be based in…
Let me cut to the chase, since I realize this is last-minute, not to mention we're talking about a weekday and I also know many people travel in summer. While there were a few small OMAAT meetups last summer in London and Washington D.C, I've also been…
