Weekly Review: December 23, 2017

I’m spending the week with my family not flying for once, which I’m quite happy about. However, come the first of January I have some big international trips planned, which I’m looking forward to as well. However, it’s nice not to be jetlagged for once. I hope everyone has an amazing holiday and is able to spend it with loved ones.

On the miles & points front, this week a few major hotel chains announced their first promotions of 2018, Aegean introduced attractive points transfers between accounts, Emirates published some incredible first class fares, and much more.

With that out of the way, here’s a recap of this week on the blog:

Featured Stories

Reflecting On My First Year As A Hyatt Globalist Member

In October 2016 we learned the details of Hyatt’s revamped loyalty program, as they were retiring Hyatt Gold Passport and replacing it with World of Hyatt. The program kicked off as of March 1, 2017, so we’re coming up on 10 months.

As I just finish up my last stay that requalifies me for Globalist status for 2018, I wanted to reflect on my thoughts on the program, now that I’ve had plenty of firsthand experience.

LAX Showdown: American Flagship First Dining Vs. Qantas First Class Lounge

This past week American’s new Flagship First Dining opened in Terminal 4 at LAX.

Otherwise I consider the best lounge at LAX to be the Qantas First Class Lounge, which I’ve also reviewed before.

Several people have asked which of the two lounges is better (given that both are technically international first class lounges belonging to oneworld carriers), so in this post I figured I’d do a comparison across a few different areas.

Swiss Responds To My DOT Complaint

On December 7, 2017, I filed a complaint with the DOT regarding an Aeroplan award ticket for travel in Swiss first class that was canceled. As a reminder, on November 30, 2017, Swiss made some first class award seats available through partner programs. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened — for example, last year a similar thing occurred, and Swiss honored all those tickets (I even flew them in first class from Zurich to Los Angeles).

While Aeroplan issued the tickets, Swiss unilaterally decided to cancel them.

I had never filed a DOT complaint before, but figured this was an occasion on which it would be interesting to do so. What makes this different than other situations is that this wasn’t a mistake fare — this was an award ticket sold at the published cost.

TIPS: Earning Miles & Promos

Chase Sapphire Preferred Review: The Best Starter Travel Rewards Card
180K+ American Miles With Three Best-Ever Citi Offers
OMG: The Best Emirates First Class Fare I’ve Ever Seen
Great Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Fares To The US
Register Now For Hilton Honors’ First Promotion Of 2018
Great Emirates First Class Fares From North America!
CRAZY AIR FRANCE FIRST CLASS FARES: $1,500 Roundtrip From The US To Europe
Register Now For Starwood’s First Promotion Of 2018
Register Now For Marriott’s First MegaBonus Promotion Of 2018
10 Best Credit Card Offers For December
1,000 Free Marriott Rewards Points!

TRICKS: Redeeming Miles

You Can Now Redeem Delta SkyMiles To Upgrade On Aeromexico
Aegean Now Lets You Easily Transfer Miles Between Accounts
Singapore KrisFlyer’s December “Spontaneous Escapes” Awards
Great Deal: Conrad Maldives Overwater Villa For 95K Points Per Night
Cathay Pacific’s New Washington Dulles Flight Has Plenty Of Award Availability
Hilton Now Lets You Restore Expired Points, But Is It Worth It?
Limited Time: Alaska Is Allowing Elite Members To Transfer Miles For Free

TRAVEL With Ben (Lucky)

The Airlines I’m Most Excited To Review In 2018
My Response To Swiss & The DOT
Reflecting On My First Year As A Hyatt Globalist Member
The AMAZING Emirates First Class Ticket I Just Booked

REVIEWS & Trip Reports

Introduction: Easter In December
Review: Delta One 767 New York To Los Angeles
Review: Delta SkyClub New York JFK Airport
Review: Aer Lingus Business Class A330 Dublin To New York
LAX Showdown: American Flagship First Dining Vs. Qantas First Class Lounge
Review: 51st & Green US Pre-Clearance Lounge Dublin Airport
Review: Hilton Garden Inn Dublin Custom House
Review: American Flagship First Dining LAX

NEWS & Updates

At What Point Do You Assume A Great Fare Will Be Honored By The Airline?
Hyatt Introduces Strict New Cancelation Policy, Exempts Elites
Swiss Responds To My DOT Complaint
Virgin Australia Crews Now Use LAX’s “Celebrity Terminal”
China Airlines Moving One Daily LAX Flight To Ontario As Of March 25, 2018
Boeing Reportedly In Talks To Acquire Embraer
Oy: This Is How Thai VietJet Celebrates An Inaugural Flight
Emirates Is Adding Flights To London Stansted With Their New First Class
Discounted Uber & iTunes Gift Cards On Amazon
Delta Is Discontinuing West Coast Shuttle Flights
Update On Cheap Air France First Class Tickets
How Much Should You Tip At American Flagship First Dining?
What Are The Odds Of Air France Honoring Cheap First Class Fares?
The Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse Heathrow Now Has A Rooftop Igloo
Fascinating New 737 Transatlantic Route: Paris To Saint Pierre and Miquelon
LATAM Is Adding Nonstop Flights Between Sao Paulo & Las Vegas
Azores Airlines Is Replacing Their A310s With A321s
American Reveals 777-300ER Premium Economy Plans
Delta Announces Their First A350 Route Out Of LAX
Atlanta Airport Completely Shuts Down
Alaska Airlines Loses Their Primary SFO Lounge

I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend and an awesome holiday!