Earlier I wrote about how Air Belgium is planning on resuming scheduled flights as of this December, after canceling their sole Brussels Charleroi to Hong Kong route in September 2018, just weeks after launching it. Since then the airline has just been…
Earlier I wrote about Garuda Indonesia's very, very bad logic. A popular Indonesian vlogger was on a Garuda Indonesia flight from Sydney to Bali in business class. The flight wasn't great, as they ran out of alcohol quickly and didn't have printed menus.…
British Airways Executive Club is known for their outrageously high "carrier imposed surcharges" on award tickets. On transatlantic flights in first or business class you can expect to pay $1,000+ in cash in addition to the Avios required. In my opinion…
LifeMiles is one of the most useful frequent flyer programs out there, in my opinion, given that they frequently sell miles at a discount, and have great award redemption rates. So they're often my go-to program for booking premium cabin Star Alliance…
Back in the day, Starwood Preferred Guest had some awesome partnerships with Delta, Emirates, and China Eastern. With Marriott and SPG combining their loyalty programs, some of these partnerships have been discontinued or put on hold, as they figured…
LifeMiles has just launched their latest promotion on purchased miles. The publicly available promotion offers up to a 125% bonus on purchased miles. I'm happy to announce that through July 31, 2019, LifeMiles is offering a special 145% bonus to OMAAT…
In late February 2019, Pakistan closed their airspace to foreign airlines. This followed escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, though the impacts of the closures were felt far beyond that. Pakistan airspace is frequently used by airlines operating…
Oh Garuda Indonesia... It seems that Garuda Indonesia isn't very good at taking feedback from customers/those reviewing their flights. Several readers have emailed me regarding an incident that has unfolded at the airline over the past couple of days.…
This is sort of like that time Baltia changed their business model to go from flying 747s between New York and Russia, to flying regional jets between BALtimore, Trenton, Islip, and Albany. Okay, maybe it's not quite as bad, but it sure does represent…
This route has been in the works for a long time, and it looks like it's finally happening. Emirates will launch daily flights from Dubai to Mexico City via Barcelona as of December 9, 2019. The airline will operate the route with the following schedule:…
There are lots of businesses that leave a lot of rewards on the table by not using the right credit card. In this post I wanted to take an in-depth look at the Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card -- this is a credit that I personally have, and that I love.…
Long time readers will know that I'm not exaggerating when I say that I have a slight obsession with quirky airline startups. Air Belgium was perhaps the perfect example of that, and I was lucky enough to be one of the (relatively) few passengers to…
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…
Hainan Airlines is generally regarded as the best airline in mainland China. They have an excellent onboard product, in terms of the seats, service, and even food and drinks. Hainan often has attractive business class fares, which can be a great way…
Avianca LifeMiles is one of the most useful frequent flyer programs for Star Alliance award redemptions. LifeMiles often sells miles at a discount directly, which can be a great value, and they also have some transfer partners, making their miles easy…
We can expect significant changes to Air Canada's loyalty program over the next year or so. Initially Air Canada was going to form their own frequent flyer program in 2020, which came after their contract with Aeroplan was due to expire. In the end Air…
This past week I finally had the chance to stay at the TWA Hotel JFK. I don't think I've ever been this excited about staying at an airport hotel... or even about staying at any hotel, for that matter. Not only is this hotel an aviation geek's dream,…
My layover in Madrid was only about two hours. Madrid is a deceivingly massive airport, and a great place to connect if you're looking to meet your daily quota for steps in one layover. To be honest I actually have no clue what gate we arrived at, though…
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…
In 2018, Qatar Airways bought a 49% stake in Air Italy, which was formerly known as Meridiana. The airline currently operates A330s on long haul flights, and hasn't quite grown the way Qatar Airways had planned (initially the plan was for the airline…
The Boeing 737 MAX has been grounded for months, with no end in sight to the grounding, given that they keep finding problems with the plane. Even once the plane is fixed and certified by the FAA, there will be a lot of work required to get the plane…
Kuwait Airways is a quirky airline, and they've been going great lengths to modernize their fleet in the past few years. The airline has taken delivery of new 777-300ERs and A330-200s, and in the next couple of years will start taking delivery of A320neos,…
Singapore Airlines' KrisFlyer program offers monthly "Spontaneous Escapes" promotions, where they constantly have a list of flights that can be booked at a discount when redeeming miles. Presumably they're primarily discounting flights that they don't…
Hyatt has just announced a fantastic promotion. Those with either of Hyatt's co-branded credit cards, including The World of Hyatt Credit Card, can receive a 10% refund on points redemptions for stays between July 1 and September 2, 2019. In order to…
While some hotel programs are aggressive about offering status challenges (like Hilton Honors), IHG Rewards Cub is generally pretty stingy in this regard. That's surprising, since the program isn't that rewarding, and also because they make it easy to…
Estelar Latinoamerica is a Venezuelan airline based in Caracas. The airline has a small fleet consisting of just six ancient 737s (three 737-200s and three 737-300s), and they're also currently leasing an A340 from Portuguese leasing company Hi Fly to…
This past week, DC's Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Marriott regarding their resort fees. This is something that many consumers have been pleased about, given the frustration largely associated with the spread of these fees (known as resort…
There are lots of businesses that leave a lot of rewards on the table by not using the right credit card. In this post I wanted to take an in-depth look at the Ink Business UnlimitedSM Credit Card. This card was only introduced last year, and in my opinion…
There are a lot of people from Metropolitan France who like to vacation in Tahiti, though it's a long way between the two places, and almost all ways involve transiting the US: -- Air Tahiti Nui and Air France both fly from Paris to Los Angeles to Tahiti…
