Often buying miles can represent a great value, especially for first and business class award redemptions, where redeeming miles represents a disproportionately good value. It's worth noting that a promotion that was rolled out at the beginning of the…
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Cathay Pacific's rebranding. Cathay Pacific's previous slogan was "Life Well Travelled," but they changed it to "Move Beyond." For a variety of reasons I don't like the rebranding, as they go from one of my favorite…
In May 2017, WestJet placed an order for up to 20 Boeing 787-9s (10 firm orders and 10 options), which was a huge move for the Canadian carrier. Historically WestJet primarily had 737s, along with a few 767s that they used for a few international routes.…
Up until now, e-gates at immigration in the UK have only been available to those with passports from the UK, EU, EEA, and Switzerland. As of today, eligibility has been expanded by seven countries. This is awesome, since initially this change was only…
La Compagnie is the all business class airline offering flights between New York and France (they used to just fly to Paris, but are also now seasonally operating flights to Nice). Up until now the airline has just used two Boeing 757-200s for their…
Through June 22, 2019, the US Citi ThankYou program is offering a 30% bonus when you convert points into Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles. Points ordinarily convert at a 1:1 ratio, though during this promotion you can convert 1,000 Citi points into…
Let's start this off with an unpopular opinion that I'm probably going to regret sharing: While Satri House felt like the hotel you'd obviously stay at when disembarking from The Jungle Cruise, that paled in comparison to the Adventureland-without-the-Dole-Whip…
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles are among my favorite mileage currencies out there. On a per mile basis, I value Alaska miles more than any other airline miles. In this post I wanted to talk a bit more about actually redeeming Alaska miles -- the…
Emirates’ new first class is the best first class product in the world, as far as I'm concerned. The bad news is that Emirates only has a total of nine 777-300ERs featuring their new first class, and they don’t have any immediate plans to reconfigure…
Lufthansa offers one of the best first class ground experiences in the world. I love the Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, as well as the Lufthansa First Class Lounge Munich. There are many things that make lounges like the First Class Terminal…
The UAE can be a funny place sometimes. Construction in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi is seemingly endless, and often one has to wonder about the business sense behind some of the development. When you look at hotel rates in the UAE, overall they're as low…
While Best Western perhaps isn't a fan favorite around here, I think it's worth highlighting their promotions as well, especially given how reasonably priced many of their properties are. Not only can you score a great deal on a hotel stay, but you can…
It has been a rough week (as I covered in a previous post), thought I'm happy to have a bit of downtime. Ford and I are supposed to go to Japan next week, and we're still deciding whether or not to take that trip. On the points & travel front, this week…
This year Aer Lingus will start taking delivery of their A321LRs. The airline has eight of these aircraft on order. These fuel efficient narrow body planes will allow them to first replace the leased 757s that they operate on some flights, and then also…
I've written about the awesome-looking TWA Hotel JFK, which just opened this week. The hotel looks like a dream for aviation geeks, given all its TWA branding. Furthermore, JFK Airport is otherwise one that has a lack of decent hotels, so to have a great…
Airlines are increasingly looking for ways to engage with loyalty program members in non-traditional ways. This week Qantas announced their first ever "points plane," where they'd fly an A380 from Melbourne to Tokyo on October 21, 2019, and would exclusively…
Let's start this off with an unpopular opinion that I'm probably going to regret sharing: While Satri House felt like the hotel you'd obviously stay at when disembarking from The Jungle Cruise, that paled in comparison to the Adventureland-without-the-Dole-Whip…
Sorry for the delay on this folks -- not to get too much into the sausage-making, but we had planned to pause this particular narrative while Ben finished sharing details on his trip to Sri Lanka, with the idea being that I'd publish the rest of this…
I had only ever flown SriLankan's A330-300 business class on the very short flight from Colombo to Male, so was looking forward to seeing how their long haul product compared. We boarded through the forward door, and turned right into the business class…
Our boarding gate was close to the lounge, and as we had checked our bags we were in no particular rush. I also suspected we'd be at a remote stand, so we did a bit of shopping on our way in hopes of avoiding lengthy bus queues. We arrived at the gate…
The next stop on our itinerary was to be Luang Prabang, in Laos. Vietnam Airlines operates a direct flight between Hanoi and Luang Prabang, but their mid-day flight only operates 5x per week. Laos Airlines, meanwhile, has a daily flight in the evening…
We only had a quick 30ish hours in Hanoi. That was enough to get a taste of the city, begin to appreciate the culture and mix of architectural styles, and of course enjoy some great local cuisine. We loved strolling in the neighborhoods around Hoàn Kiếm…
This is an update to the below post from a couple of days ago to note that this issue has been fixed. All Choice Privileges properties appear to once again be bookable as normal. Earlier I wrote about how Daily Getaways is selling discounted Choice Privileges…
Sorry for the delay on this folks -- not to get too much into the sausage-making, but we had planned to pause this particular narrative while Ben finished sharing details on his trip to Sri Lanka, with the idea being that I'd publish the rest of this…
Here's a shocking and sad story that's only making headlines months after the actual occurrence. On October 28, 2018, Ming Kou Chan (a Stanford scholar) was scheduled to fly Cathay Pacific from San Francisco to Hong Kong, and was using the Cathay Pacific…
If you're based in Canada or can easily position to Canada, Aeromexico has some exceptional business class fares at the moment, including out of Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. There are some great fares available to Mexico, though perhaps the best…
All airlines have some sort of routing rules when it comes to the type of award tickets they will and won't allow. Every airline has different rules, and I'd say American has among the strictest out there. I've written about American's award routing…
JetBlue is making some changes to their inflight catering that might make some people pretty angry. The topic of Coke vs. Pepsi can be pretty divisive. There are those who prefer Coke products, and those who have bad taste (I'm kidding... I'm kidding...…
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. In mid-April Alaska Mileage Plan launched their best promotion of the…
Air Italy has today revealed the details of their revamped loyalty program. Until last year, Air Italy was known as Meridiana, and the loyalty program was called Meridiana Club. Then when the airline was rebranded, the frequent flyer program was as well,…
In mid-March the Boeing 737 MAX was grounded globally, so it has now been well over two months since the plane has been flying commercially. This has had significant impacts on airline operations, though seemed like a necessary move. Airlines have been…
Bora Bora is one of the most picturesque places in the world, and the Four Seasons Bora Bora is regarded as the best major hotel there. If you're considering a trip to this island paradise, below is some information, including how to maximize value at…
