Good morning, and welcome to today's community discussion thread! Today's posts will appear here throughout the day, but this thread is for going off-topic. Did you love/hate something about today's coverage? Are you tracking other news I missed? Or, do you just have a general question about rewards travel? This is the place for your wandering thoughts.
Today's posts on OMAAT:
- Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card Review: Worth The $95 Fee For The Free Night
- Chase Sapphire Lounges Cut Priority Pass Access: Probably Good News
- Roomers ParkView: Frankfurt’s Pricey New Marriott Luxury Collection Hotel
- American Airlines Five Star Service: How This $350+ Airport VIP Experience Works
- Review: Priority Lounge Frankfurt Airport Terminal 3 (FRA)
Daily threads stay open for a week, so it's never too late to jump into a recent conversation.
An ode to Tim Dunn
Like many of you, I regarded Mr. Dunn as somewhat of a nuisance for a time. But seeing his comments on the recent Delta SEA-SIN article, I have realized he has truly become part of every US3 article on this site. Jetlagged and sleepy, I posted a joking comment on that article that AA should connect Singapore to the world since I fly to SIN from the US often, an allegory to our now-fallen most hated AA network planner Vasu Raja's famed "El Paso to the world" comment. I thought nothing of it. And yet, like clockwork, Mr. Dunn wrote me a 7-paragraph reply, hitting on DL's superior Pacific ASM relative to AA's unprofitability. And seeing it, I grinned. Whenever I'm stuck with yet another QR aircraft swap away from Qsuites or IST remote gate, hearing about DL's ASM across the Pacific in his trademark style never fails to brighten my day. So thank you, Tim Dunn!
You gotta admire Tim's passion.
Also, what is up with Qatar Airways aircraft swaps?! Seriously. I've been pointing that out for a while now (because it keeps happening to me, too). Like, when you book Q-Suites, but get 2-2-2 oldest 777, that's a pretty major let-down. Hope that improves. (And it's kinda related to Delta with the lack of D1 cabin consistency... book a350, get 763/333, c'mon!)
@1990_ Yeah, it's infuriating to swap so often and have such great variation in product quality... and those MiniPod 2-2-2 777s are the bane of my (QR-flying) existence. I would rank QR the best J in the world if not for the swaps
@quorumcall And yet, QR can also be remarkably consistent, depending on the route. For instance, for the DOH-MLE flights, previously (like 2020-2022), they were all sorts of aircraft, sometimes Q-Suite, other times 787, a320, etc.; however, since 2023, it's been consistently the former CX 773 (white exterior) it seems. I donno why they did that, but I've just noticed that nuance.
Random BA question. At present the 772s (12) that BA bases at LGW feature the Yin-Yang Club World seats. Does BA plan to maintain that configuration, or will the cabins be refreshed as the aircraft cycle through heavy maintenance?
I recognize this fleet serves the leisure market, so there is not much incentive to update the product. It's an issue BA will need to address at some point as competitors leapfrog the BA aircraft and onboard product.