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:
- Buy Hilton Honors Points With 100% Bonus, 0.5 Cents Each: Worth It?
- Alaska Atmos Rewards’ Global Getaways Award Sale: Save Up To 50%
- United 787 Polaris Business Class Suite Doors Can Finally Be Used… Gradually
- Bizarre: Boeing 747 Flies Toward Wrong Airport, Has Fuel Emergency
- British Airways Customer Dials Wrong Phone Number, Scammers Answer
- Air India’s New CEO Is Former Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam
- Marriott Bonvoy Economics Get Worse, And Members Will Pay The Price
- Which Airlines Offer Complimentary Chauffeur Service?
Daily threads stay open for a week, so it's never too late to jump into a recent conversation.
I was talking to a friend of mine about status, he showed me he is Diamond on Delta, Premier 1k on United and EP on AA.
I know there's no way of finding out how many people in USA is all three, but estimate do you have?
@notbad41 That translates to a lot of flying... or maybe a lot of credit card spending? I have to imagine that's a pretty exclusive "club," simply because I can't imagine many people actually put in effort in that was. I'm curious, does your friend live in a non-hub city, where all airlines offer roughly equal service? And do you know how much of that status is earned with flying vs. credit card spending?
If I had to guess a number, I'd say maybe it's in the low hundreds, at most (in terms of people who have that status with all three airlines).
@lucky He lives in Indiana and travels a lot. I don't think he travels enough to receive all 3 status. It must be a lot of credit card spending. He owns a couple companies, I'm guessing he spends a lot on credit cards.
@notbad41 If he has the cards (one Visa, one Mastercard, and one Amex...a well-balanced wallet) and throws all of the corporate spending on them, he can definitely get upper-tier status on all three. I don't have a business but throw a lot of my personal expenses on my AA card, and I'm easily going to retain my ExP. The moment that I reach ExP, I'll transfer my spending to my United Club Card or my Alaska Atmos Card (probably the former to claw back a little status on UA when I need to fly them).
good morning and thank you. when will the youtube OMAAT start? maybe a live chat as well.
@michael23 Thanks for the interest! The goal is to launch it before the end of August. While it will be an interview series, I'm also open to doing other things, so just let me know what y'all would find most useful. Q&As, a happy hour-style live concept, or something else?
Happy to see this forum coming alive, I hope it gets popular.
Excited for this new format. Long time reader, first time poster!
This AP article caught my eye given how important keeping flights on schedule is.
@beleza Great topic for a future post, thank you. I think I've covered this some years back, but it has been quite a long time.
Heat is the new cold. Seriously both extremes have impacts on airframes, passengers, airline crew, field conditions, . . .
@jb84usa Lol, obviously this is fake as could be, especially about the professional security. But what's the theory as to her connection to the resort? Obviously she has some sort of travel agency business, but is there a closer connection we know of?
@lucky Oh... they are all family of the GM's. Look closer at the names.
GM: Diego Lozano Vara
5/5 Reviews all within minutes of each other: Matilda Lozano Fredberg (owns travel agency Abbecue), Emil Fredberg, Linus Fredberg, Luisa Lazano, Reuben Lozano Vara, Lidia Vara Lopez.
Nice updated post today! Deafening silence. So true.
Google removed all of the fake positive reviews in addition to removing the negative review bombing.
Ben,
Congrats on the new rollout!
Given you’ve recently posted some luxury cruise reviews, have you ever considered doing the same for luxury train travel? There are some amazing train itineraries out there so curious.
Thanks!
@oldcrowaz Thank you! Great question, and the short answer is YES, I'm fascinated by some of the train trips, and would love to review them at some point. Any in particular that you think would be most interesting? My only reservation is that the prices of some of those journeys are eye-watering, even compared to safaris and the top end of the cruise world.
@lucky Thanks for the reply Ben. I’ve been taking a deeper dive into this and you are right on the cost. A bucket list trip for sure. As for trains, I’m intrigued with the Belmond Royal Scotsman, The Golden Eagle Silk Road Express, and The Ravos Rail Pride of Africa. The Rocky Mountaineer looks cool too but I want something not in North America. Of course, the Venice Simplon Orient Express looks amazing but cost is off the charts.
@oldcrowaz Appreciate all the thoughts, will look into all of those. I guess one thing I'm curious about is if people actually sleep well on trains? I sleep fine on boats and planes, but I feel like trains are a whole different beast. Or are non-Amtrak trains somehow smoother, heh?
@lucky Morning Ben. After looking at the cost of a luxury train (Royal Belmond Scotsman), I’ve decided to totally pivot to a safari! Doing this I can actually get more value for my money on a safari than a luxury train for a few days. I will do a luxury train at some point, but since I’ve never done a safari I’m going that route. I’ll let you know how it goes!!
@oldcrowaz I think that's a fantastic idea! Safaris truly are unlike anything else, so I can't recommend one enough. Hope you have a great time, whichever one you decide to go with!
Starlux is now bookable via Etihad Guest, albiet rates are much higher than Alaska