If you ask me, the one biggest downside to the Copa passenger experience has been the carrier’s lack of inflight connectivity. That will finally be changing, and Copa sure is going from zero to hero on this front.

Copa Airlines rolling out free Starlink Wi-Fi

Up until now, Copa doesn’t have Wi-Fi on any aircraft, making it the largest airline in Latin America to not at all have committed to connectivity. Fortunately this strategy has suddenly shifted.

Copa has announced that it plans to introduce free Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its fleet. So not only will the airline finally be getting inflight connectivity, but it’ll be free and very fast.

Starlink is known for its high-speed, low-latency broadband internet, and the service is offered gate to gate. Starlink Wi-Fi allows for live streaming, productivity similar to on the ground (with high upload and download speeds), gaming, e-commerce, and more.

Starlink is becoming increasingly popular with airlines. So far we’ve seen carriers like Aer Lingus, airBaltic, Air France, Air New Zealand, British Airways, Emirates, Gulf Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Iberia, Korean Air, Lufthansa Group, Qatar Airways, SAS, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and WestJet, all announce plans to install the service. Copa is the first airline in Latin America to commit to Starlink.

Copa Airlines’ Starlink Wi-Fi rollout plan

So, with what timeline can we expect Copa to introduce Starlink Wi-Fi? The airline states that installation will begin later this year. Some reports suggest that by October 2026, a majority of the fleet will have Starlink Wi-Fi. I’d be surprised if that’s accurate, and I think it’s more likely that widespread installation will start around that time, and wrap up at some point in 2027.

Copa currently has a fleet of just over 100 Boeing 737s, including the 737-700, 737-800, 737 MAX 8, and 737 MAX 9. I’ve gotta say, Wi-Fi on Copa will be a game changer. The airline has a very convenient network, but lack of Wi-Fi when traveling on a very long journey between north and south is less than ideal.

Bottom line

Copa Airlines is the latest airline to commit to Starlink, and it might be one of the most exciting Starlink announcements to date. Copa currently has no inflight Wi-Fi on any planes, so to go from that to free Starlink Wi-Fi fleetwide is quite the improvement… now we’ll just have to be patient.

What do you make of Copa rolling out free Starlink Wi-Fi?

At the time, I wasn’t entirely clear on how this system for tipping works, given the limited details. I finally had my first stay with Marriott that had this, and would like to report back with my experience.

Marriott tries to make digital tipping easier… yay?

In late 2025, an update to the Marriott app included the following new feature:

Had a great stay? Show your appreciation by tipping hotel associates directly in the app with the new Digital Tipping feature.

This concept is live at most properties in the United States and Canada. This is being facilitated through Canary Technologies, a hospitality software company. So if you choose to tip, it doesn’t appear on your folio, doesn’t earn Bonvoy bonus points, etc.

So, how does this actually work in practice? Let me share my experience. I just had a stay where when I went into the Marriott app, there was a “Tip Staff” button.

You’ll then see the option of which department you’d like to tip, with options including front desk, housekeeping, food and beverage, valet, maintenance, bell, and breakfast.

When you select the department, you can then enter your room number plus the amount that you’d like to tip.

You have to pay for your tip on the spot, either via Apple Pay or a credit card. You’re also given the option as to whether or not you want to cover the processing fee of the tip. This came out to $0.46 on a $5 tip, $0.61 on a $10 tip, and $0.91 on a $20 tip.

I’m conflicted about making digital tipping easier

Of course the concern is that the easier you make it to tip, the more employers essentially pass on the cost of labor to customers, in order to pad their bottom lines. Will we eventually be pressured into tipping for interactions that previously wouldn’t have typically come with a tip expectation? I mean, we have seen tipping front desk staff become a thing, so…

At the same time, I think that in-app tipping is almost just a way to catch up with the times, and a logical development:

• Many hotels already have QR codes or envelopes in rooms so that you can tip housekeeping, so this is another way to facilitate that
• There are hotel employees in the United States who do generally expect tips, so making it easier to tip those people seems like a positive (again, for those who intend to tip)
• I’m also really frustrated nowadays when trying to tip in cash, by the lack of change at hotels; often the hotel front desk doesn’t have change for a $20, and the shuttle bus driver can’t break a $20 either

So I don’t mind the concept in general (as much as I wish more employees were paid decent wages), but I find the execution here to be really poor:

• If you want to go out of your way to tip someone, you typically want one specific person to be tipped, rather than an entire department; it’s a shame that this system can’t help facilitate that
• It would be nice if this were much more seamless; the Marriott app is basically just directing you to a third party, and then you have to enter credit card details immediately, so that’s not ideal

Bottom line

In recent times, Marriott has rolled out digital tipping in its app, and it’s live at most properties in the United States and Canada. I just had my first stay where I noticed this feature.

This is available in partnership with Canary Technologies, and if you choose to tip, you can indicate which department you’d like to do it for (though not which person), and you can specify the amount. You’ll then have to enter your payment details, since this will be processed completely separately from the folio.

I don’t love the precedent this sets, and the potential increase in the number of employees who will solicit tips. At the same time, it does seem there should be better options in place for facilitating tipping, in situations where guests want to. I’m just disappointed by the execution here, as this just doesn’t strike me as a great solution.

What do you make of Marriott’s in-app digital tipping concept?

JetBlue adds fuel surcharges on United awards

JetBlue and United have the Blue Sky partnership, as it’s called, and that’s progressively being rolled out over time. In late 2025, we saw the two airlines introduce reciprocal points redemptions. While I wouldn’t say that redemptions ever represented a great deal, we’ve just seen a significantly negative change — JetBlue TrueBlue has just added carrier imposed surcharges for travel on United.

This doesn’t apply on domestic flights (which don’t generally have carrier imposed surcharges), so it’s mainly international flights that are impacted. For example, a one-way economy award from Newark (EWR) to London (LHR) costs 40,000 points, but will now cost you $265.60, rather than the $5.60 you would’ve paid before.

Meanwhile a one-way economy award from San Francisco (SFO) to Hong Kong (HKG) costs 55,000 points, but will now cost you $205.60, rather than the $5.60 you would’ve paid before.

So as you can see, long haul awards now have carrier imposed surcharges of $200-260 one-way, which is substantial.

Presumably these would also apply on United Polaris business class awards, but nowadays those tickets are mostly limited to United MileagePlus members, as partner programs have been cut off.

Are there bigger implications for this change?

While I don’t generally consider redeeming JetBlue TrueBlue points on United to be a great deal, I do think this change could potentially be significant, bigger picture.

Keep in mind the issue here isn’t whether United has fuel surcharges on revenue tickets, or how much those are. Instead, it’s that JetBlue TrueBlue has just started passing those on to consumers redeeming points, despite this partnership having just gone live months ago.

Generally when airlines pass on carrier imposed surcharges on award tickets, those surcharges aren’t actually going to the operating airline, but instead, are used as part of the overall math on reimbursement between airlines. In other words, if one airline passes on $500 in surcharges on an a partner award and another airline passes on $0 in surcharges, that doesn’t mean that the former airline is actually paying the operating airline $500 more.

The reason I find this to be interesting is because United has increasingly been exerting control over its partners when its comes to its loyalty program. As United pushes forward to try and improve its margins, increased profitability of MileagePlus is a key part of that strategy.

In recent times, we’ve seen United do virtually everything to encourage people to engage in MileagePlus rather than engage in partner programs, and that includes even controlling how many points partners charge for awards, to prevent arbitrage opportunities.

Perhaps this is just a one-off change, though I can’t help but wonder if this could be the first of several airlines adding surcharges on United awards. If so, is that driven by United demanding increased reimbursement for awards, is it just United forcing higher pricing on partners so that MileagePlus looks more compelling by comparison, or what?

Bottom line

JetBlue TrueBlue has quietly started adding carrier imposed surcharges to awards on United, just months after the two airlines launched a frequent flyer partnership. So if you do redeem JetBlue points for an international flight on United, expect that it could cost you as much as $260 one-way, beyond the government imposed taxes.

In isolation this isn’t a huge deal, since I don’t consider international United flights to be a good use of TrueBlue points. However, I can’t help but be curious about the bigger implications here.

What do you make of these TrueBlue changes for redemptions on United?

Second Air Canada Cafes open at two big hubs

Air Canada Cafe is a concept by the Star Alliance airline, whereby the carrier has what are essentially grab and go cafes. The idea is that those with lounge can grab a drink or snack if they’re short on time, and take it to their gate (or there’s a limited amount of seating to enjoy it on premises).

So far, this lounge network has consisted of four locations, at Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ), Toronto Billy Bishop Airport (YTZ), Montreal Trudeau Airport (YUL), and Vancouver Airport (YVR). Air Canada has now doubled down on this concept, and has opened two more Air Canada Cafe locations at airports that already have them.

First, we’ve seen the opening of a second Air Canada Cafe at Vancouver Airport. This is located in the domestic departures area, in Concourse C, near gate 50. The lounge has 84 seats, and covers 4,489 square feet. This is the second Air Canada Cafe location in the domestic departures area of the airport.

The lounge boasts a full-service bar with barista made coffee, craft beers, and local wines. The menu is described as drawing from seasonal and locally sourced ingredients, with options like warm char siu pork bao buns, vegan curry bao, freshly made vegetarian Kimbap, and sweet treats from the Granville Island institution Lee’s Donuts.

Second, we’ve seen the opening of a second Air Canada Cafe at Montreal Airport. This is located in the US Preclearance facility. The lounge has 62 seats, and it’s the second Air Canada Cafe location at the airport, with the other one being in the domestic departures area.

This lounge is described as being inspired by Montreal’s “third wave” coffee culture, so it boasts barista coffee. It also has a menu featuring Montreal classics, like smoked meat sandwiches, fresh bagels, vegan soup created by Sagamité Watso, and pistachio croissant pastries. The beverage selection includes wines from L’Orpailleur Winery, gin from distillerie du Fjord, and craft beers from Montreal’s RJ Brasseur brewery.

As far as access goes, the Air Canada Cafes are available to customers traveling on a business class ticket, Star Alliance Gold members, Aeroplan premium co-brand cardholders, and Aeroplan 50K, 75K, and Super Elite members.

If you ask me, this is the lounge concept of the future

Airport lounges have evolved a lot over the years, and in particular, the way they’re monetized has changed. These updates have largely democratized the concept of lounge access, but when “everyone” has lounge access, it starts to feel like less of a quiet retreat.

Of course there are different kinds of lounges, and your typical domestic lounge is going to be different than an international first class lounge. But frankly when it comes to standard domestic lounges, I find myself just often skipping them and going straight to the gate. Nowadays you’ll almost always find a gate area that’s much quieter than a lounge, and to me that eliminates one of the main reasons to visit a lounge. So unless I really want something to eat or drink, I just sit in the gate area.

These grab and go concepts are perfect for these situations. They offer all the food and drinks you could possibly want, and you can just take them straight to a quiet gate area. I’m happy to see this concept slowly catching on in the United States, with the United Club Fly and Provisions by Admirals Club concept.

Bottom line

We’ve just seen the opening of additional Air Canada Cafes in Montreal and Vancouver, meaning that each of the airports now has two Air Canada Cafe locations. This total network now consists of six locations, so that’s pretty impressive, as this is an area where Air Canada is continuing to lead. Well done!

What do you make of the Air Canada Cafe concept?

Alaska Lounge SFO now belongs to Priority Pass

The Alaska Lounge at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has just joined Priority Pass, as flagged on FlyerTalk. The catch is that in order to access the lounge as a Priority Pass member, you’re on the hook for a $15 co-pay. Furthermore, you must be flying on Alaska or a partner airline, and you can stay for a maximum of four hours (which is at least longer than many other lounges allow).

For context, the Alaska Lounge SFO is located in Terminal 1, and it’s roughly 11,000 square feet, so it’s quite a good size. Currently this is the only Alaska Lounge location that’s participating in Priority Pass.

Obviously Priority Pass members like more options, though some people won’t like the co-pay. These kinds of co-pays are rare for simply wanting to enter a Priority Pass lounge, though we do sometimes see fees to “reserve” a spot in a lounge. This is a way that lounges can monetize their popularity, given that there’s often more demand than supply.

However, this concept also isn’t unheard of. We recently saw the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse Los Angeles Airport (LAX) join Priority Pass, but with a $35 co-pay. People have mixed feelings on this concept — while it helps with crowding, it also seems rather arbitrary, to start charging for lounge access on top of a standard access benefit.

Alaska Lounges have an interesting history with Priority Pass

As it currently stands, the Alaska Lounge at SFO is the only one in the network to belong to Priority Pass. Back in the day, virtually all Alaska Lounges belonged to Priority Pass, but obviously the way that lounge monetization works has evolved drastically over the years.

With Alaska increasingly focusing on its co-branded credit cards, plus belonging to oneworld and having a partnership with American, that ultimately makes lounges so crowded that there’s not much extra capacity.

The SFO location is an exception, and I imagine that reflects Alaska’s lack of success at the airport. Keep in mind that when Alaska acquired Virgin America, a bigger presence in the Bay Area was one of the main selling points of the deal. However, over time, Alaska’s presence at the airport has continued to decrease.

At this point, Alaska obviously has more lounge capacity at the airport than it needs, which is why we’re seeing this monetization.

Bottom line

The Alaska Lounge SFO has just joined Priority Pass, but there’s a $15 co-pay, in addition to needing a Priority Pass membership. Furthermore, you must be flying on Alaska or a partner airline, so this is also a way to increase demand for flights on Alaska or for the Atmos Rewards program, by making this perk related to airline choice.

It’s good to see more lounge options, though understandably many won’t like the precedent of a co-pay to access a lounge with a program like Priority Pass.

What do you make of the Alaska Lounge SFO joining Priority Pass?

Turkish Airlines appoints new Chairman & CEO

Turkish Airlines has just announced that its two most senior executives have retired:

• Turkish Airlines’ Chairman, Ahmet Bolat, has retired, and is being replaced by Murat Şeker, who has served as Chief Financial Officer up until now
• Turkish Airlines’ CEO, Bilal Ekşi, has retired, and is being replaced by Ahmet Olmuştur, who has served as Chief Commercial Officer up until now
• With the two roles being freed up, Metin Gülşen will become Chief Financial Officer (he was previously SVP of Accounting and Financial Control), and Harun Baştürk will become Chief Commercial Officer (he was previously SVP of Sales)

In recent times, Turkish Airlines has been growing at an incredibly fast pace, as the airline plans to basically double in size over a decade. Turkish Airlines flies to more countries than any other airline in the world, and the airline really takes advantage of its strategically located hub and low cost structure (though the inflationary issues with the country’s currency do pose a challenge).

I have to imagine this is politically motivated?

By all accounts, Turkish Airlines’ Chairman and CEO were both respected, and did a great job running the airline. I don’t have any inside knowledge here, but this certainly seems to me like it’s more politically motivated than anything.

For one, Turkish Airlines is largely owned by the government, so obviously politics plays into everything. Furthermore, the fact that there are no quotes from the outgoing executives, plus the sudden nature of this, suggests these two were removed, rather than them voluntarily retiring. Furthermore, the fact that they’re promoting people who have been responsible for Turkish Airlines’ direction in recent times suggests the government isn’t necessarily even looking for a change in strategy.

Unlike other government owned airlines, I do have to give the country’s government credit for putting knowledgable and competent people in charge, and that’s why it has become such a success. Both the outgoing and incoming executives are highly qualified, and the airline is choosing one (basically) lifelong Turkish Airlines employee, and one brilliant guy who has been at the airline for a long time.

Bottom line

Turkish Airlines’ Chairman and CEO have both suddenly “retired,” and have been replaced by two other longtime Turkish Airlines executives. Given the lack of notice plus the lack of quotes from the outgoing executives, I have to imagine they were pushed out, rather than actually wanting to retire.

I don’t have enough context on the politics here, but to the carrier’s credit, the two new people in top spots seem highly qualified.

What do you make of Turkish Airlines’ management shakeup?

Anyway, while carriers in the Gulf are hoping that things get better from here, that’s far from a sure bet. So Dubai is taking what can only be described as an extreme stance when it comes to the normalization of flights being resumed.

Dubai caps foreign airline service through May 31

A few weeks ago, we saw Dubai ban all foreign airlines. This came at a time when fuel tanks near the airport were being blown up, so I think we can all sort of make sense of that on safety grounds. However, now there’s a new policy in place, as reported by Reuters — through May 31, 2026, Dubai has restricted foreign airlines to offering a single flight per day to the city’s airports.

Per a note from Dubai Airports, “carriers continue to be limited to one rotation per day, until capacity allows more to be ​facilitated,” and “additional slots will be allocated if capacity is available.”

As you’d expect, a policy like this isn’t being well received by some airlines. For example, an airline like United wouldn’t care, because even if it did fly to Dubai right now (service is suspended), the airline has only one daily flight. Meanwhile for Indian airlines this has much bigger implications, since some of them have dozens of flights per day to Dubai, and the UAE is often their biggest international destination.

Groups representing Indian airlines are demanding that the Indian government take action, and impose reciprocal policies against airlines based in Dubai, like Emirates and FlyDubai. Suffice it to say that restricting Emirates to one daily flight to India would have major implications, if implemented.

Is this policy just protectionist, or what’s the logic?

Understandably, I think there’s some skepticism as to whether this policy from Dubai is simply intended to protect the local airlines, or actually has any logic beyond that. As I see it, there are two issues — restricting foreign airlines as such, and then also the way it’s being done.

To address that second point first, if you are going to restrict foreign airlines, I think the system being used makes zero sense. Sure, reduce capacity, but it should be proportionate to pre-conflict capacity. In other words, it shouldn’t be that an airline with 1x daily flights can continue service as before, while an airline with 10x daily flights has to reduce capacity by 90%.

Regarding the first point, yeah, I don’t really get the justification for a policy like this? Is it about safety? If so, is it safe for each airline to fly one plane per day, but not more? Is it about limited resources, like fuel? If so, it seems a policy could be put in place that airlines simply can’t refuel in Dubai (planes from nearby countries could easily carry enough fuel to go roundtrip).

It does seem to me like this policy is largely motivated by protecting “local” carriers, rather than actually something with independently sound logic… but maybe I’m missing something.

Bottom line

Airports in the Middle East have quite the challenge ahead of them to restore capacity, especially since the current Iran conflict is anything but settled. While we’re seeing operations stabilize a little bit, it’s still going to take some time for things to go back to normal.

As part of this, through May 31, 2026, Dubai is restricting foreign airlines to operating one daily flight to the city. That seems like an extreme policy and an illogical way to limit capacity, given the huge variance with which foreign airlines serve Dubai. Indian airlines clearly think that Dubai is simply trying to protect local airlines, so is demanding that India put reciprocal policies in place. I’m curious to see how this all plays out.

What do you make of Dubai’s capacity limits — do you think it’s logical, or just intended to protect carriers like Emirates?

Amex loses access to select Lufthansa lounges

The Amex Platinum Card and Amex Centurion Card have what’s known as the Global Lounge Collection, whereby your card gets you access to a variety of airline lounges.

Up until now, this program has included access to select Lufthansa lounges. Specifically, when flying any Lufthansa Group airline, you could access Lufthansa lounges under the following circumstances:

• Those with the Amex Platinum Card can access Lufthansa Business Lounges when flying economy
• Those with the Amex Platinum Card can access Lufthansa Senator Lounges when flying business class
• Those with the Amex Centurion Card can access Lufthansa First Lounges, regardless of the class they’re traveling in; Lufthansa only has First Lounges in Frankfurt and Munich, and the First Class Terminal is excluded from this agreement

Unfortunately this benefit won’t be around much longer, as reflected in the terms & conditions of Amex’s lounge program. As of October 1, 2026, Amex and Lufthansa will be ending their lounge agreement, meaning that the Amex Platinum Card will no longer offer access to any Lufthansa lounge locations (unless they participate in Priority Pass, in which case there’s still potentially indirect access).

I don’t like to see this change, but on the plus side…

I’m obviously not a fan of this perk being cut. It was pretty awesome for those with the Amex Platinum Card (since we could even get a lounge “upgrade” if traveling in business class), and I know those with the Amex Centurion Card also loved their elevated lounge access.

I’m curious if Amex or Lufthansa pushed for this agreement to end. I have to imagine that Lufthansa either didn’t want to extend the agreement anymore, or demanded more money than Amex was willing to pay. Then again, I have a hard time imagining Lufthansa turning down a revenue stream, so I’m not sure what to make of that.

I do think some actual Lufthansa frequent flyers will be happy about this policy change. Lufthansa lounges tend to be very crowded, so this should reduce crowding in some small way. However, I think only a very small percentage of passengers access Lufthansa lounges this way, so I wouldn’t expect it to be a game changer, or anything.

Bottom line

As of October 1, 2026, premium Amex cards will no longer offer access to Lufthansa lounges. This was a longstanding agreement, so I’m sad to see it finally pulled, after so many years. Ultimately these kinds of partnerships do change over time as strategic interests evolve, so this isn’t actually too surprising. But still…

What do you make Amex & Lufthansa cutting ties on lounge access?

American is first US airline to announce Venezuela flights

American has become the first airline from the United States to announce plans to reinstate nonstop regularly scheduled passenger flights to Venezuela. The airline plans to resume daily flights:

• Venezuela service will initially be operated by Envoy Air, American’s wholly owned regional subsidiary, operating on behalf of American Eagle; so expect flights to be operated by Embraer E175 regional jets
• American intends to launch both the 1,360-mile route from Miami (MIA) to Caracas (CCS), as well as the 1,189-mile route from Miami to Maracaibo (MAR)

While tickets aren’t yet on sale, American has announced that it plans to launch the Caracas route as early as April 30, 2026. As you’d expect, this route will only launch “when all government approvals and security checks are complete.” Several weeks ago, we saw the airline request regulatory approval for this with the Department of Transportation (DOT).

Here’s how Nat Pieper, American’s Chief Commercial Officer, describes this new service:

“American’s Miami hub is the preeminent U.S. gateway to Latin America, and our service to Venezuela is a key part of our history and our future. Our commitment to connecting Venezuela with the U.S. spans more than 30 years, and we look forward to the new opportunities for commerce and strengthened ties with family and friends that our service will provide.”

Meanwhile here’s what Nate Gatten, American’s EVP of American Eagle, Corporate Real Estate, and Government Affairs, had to say:

“American was the first airline to announce plans to restart service to Venezuela, and we are encouraged by the progress we’ve made with both governments. We are grateful for the efforts of U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the entire administration to help us reconnect the U.S. with Venezuela. Our return wouldn’t be possible without this strong partnership.”

American started operating to Venezuela in 1987, and ultimately suspended flights in 2019. For years, the airline was the largest US carrier in the country, and there even used to be an Admirals Club in Caracas.

It’s going to be fascinating to see how this all plays out

This whole Venezuela situation is obviously incredibly polarizing (a vast majority of us agree Maduro is a bad dude, but…), and this is primarily a travel blog, so I don’t think we need to get too deep into that. However, I will make two points, as it impacts air service specifically.

First of all, I’m curious to see if American is actually able to follow through on this service in terms of the security assessment, working with labor unions, etc. I imagine that at least initially, crews would do a same day turn. However, I wouldn’t view this service resumption as a sure bet, as I imagine labor unions will have a lot of concerns.

Second, as an aviation geek, I’m much more intrigued by Venezuela’s airlines returning to the United States. Those gorgeous Conviasa Airbus A340-600s are more than welcome to fly overhead here in Miami anytime, as far as I’m concerned! I’d rather see them here than at their other typical destinations, including Moscow (SVO), Tehran (IKA), etc.!

Heck, I’ll even take one of those ex-American Airlines nearly 40-year-old LASER Airlines MD-80s. That’s the stuff that avgeek dreams are made of!

Bottom line

American Airlines plans to resume flights to Venezuela, making it the first US carrier to announce such plans. The company has announced that it plans to launch this service as soon as April 30, 2026, pending government approval and security checks. The airline plans to launch flights with Envoy Air aircraft from Miami to both Caracas and Maracaibo, with the Caracas service coming first.

It’ll be interesting to see if this service actually happens in the coming months, or if this is all overly optimistic…

How do you see American’s service resumption to Venezuela playing out?

American destroys the value of basic economy for elites

Nowadays virtually every US airline has some form of a basic economy product, with the concept being that it’s intended to better compete with ultra low cost carriers, and fill seats that might otherwise go out empty.

From the perspective of airlines, basic economy isn’t just about offering people lower fares who may otherwise fly other airlines, but instead, it’s about getting existing customers to pay more to avoid basic economy. In other words, basic economy is intended to be punitive, because airlines would ideally have all passengers avoid these fares.

American has just announced a series of changes to basic economy:

• For tickets purchased as of April 9, 2026, checked bag fees will be $5 more for the first and second bag for basic economy tickets compared to standard economy tickets; so a first checked bag will cost $50-55, while a second checked bag will cost $60-65 (depending on whether you pay in advance, or within 24 hours of departure)
• For tickets purchased as of May 18, 2026, basic economy tickets will no longer be eligible for complimentary elite upgrades or in conjunction with systemwide upgrades; cash or mileage upgrades with dynamic pricing will continue to be available on basic economy tickets
• For tickets purchased as of May 18, 2026, basic economy tickets will no longer be eligible for complimentary seat assignments, so even elite members will have to pay in order to assign seats on these fares

This is only the latest negative change to American’s basic economy fares, because in late 2025, the airline made a change so that basic economy fares are no longer eligible for AAdvantage mileage accrual or Loyalty Points.

The intention with this policy change is obvious

We can obviously disagree with the merit to this change, but the intent is obvious — American wants to do everything it can to incentivize elite members to spend more and avoid basic economy. That’s clear based on this change, and it was also clear based on the update a few months back, which meant basic economy no longer counts toward elite status.

When it comes to basic economy, airlines try to find the right balance between generating incremental business and making the fares punitive enough so that passengers want to avoid them. The math on punitive policies differs based on whether someone is an elite or non-elite passenger.

For non-elite members, the biggest change here is just that they’ll pay an extra $5 for a bag, assuming they don’t have it included on account of status or a credit card. But the much bigger change here is for elite members, as basic economy tickets already don’t count toward status, and soon won’t even offer most elite perks either.

Bottom line

American is making major updates to its basic economy fares. Effective immediately, we’re seeing checked bag fees on basic economy fares be $5 higher than on non-basic economy fares. But even bigger news is that for tickets purchased as of May 18, 2026, basic economy tickets will no longer be eligible for upgrades or complimentary seat assignments, so that’s hugely negative for elite members.

What do you make of American’s latest basic economy changes?

Ed Bastian hopes Delta can maintain pricing strength

During the Q1 2026 Delta earnings call, CEO Ed Bastian was asked a question about what would happen if oil prices suddenly dropped considerably, with fare increases not fully rolled back. Would Delta be able to maintain its previous guidance and potentially have a lot of upside there for the remainder of the year, or what? Here’s what Bastian said:

We’re not in a position given how dramatic the fuel swings have been to really answer that. We do expect, hopefully, that fuel settles down. Now, it’ll settle down, I think, at a higher level than where we have in the plan. Fuel recapture is going to be important no matter what we do, and the degree to which we can retain any of the pricing strength that we talked about from industry rationalization, that will certainly help us boost our margins this year and clearly into next year as well.

As you can see, Bastian references a desire to “retain any of the pricing strength” that has been gained as a result of this crisis. That’s also partly a reference to industry mergers, as Bastian is predicting we’ll see quite a bit of consolidation, and that this would ultimately be to Delta’s benefit.

In defense of airlines and their pricing…

Ragging on airlines is a popular pastime, and people love to accuse airlines of trying to price gouge, without actually considering the incredibly challenging economics that airlines face. Nowadays it’s not uncommon for an Uber to the airport to cost as much as a flight across the country, and airfare remains incredibly affordable, all things considered.

The most basic thing to understand is that airline pricing isn’t based on the cost of transporting passengers, but instead, it’s based on what airlines can get away with charging. That’s the “beauty” of an industry that’s all about incremental revenue, where it’s about filling every last seat before the door closes, with fares that are as high as possible.

The good news for passengers is that in most situations, you’re actually being transported at a loss. Now, that’s a slight oversimplification, but the reality is that in the United States, a large percentage of airline profits come from loyalty programs, and that’s something that only larger airlines can properly monetize. Even for airlines that do turn operating profits, a majority of tickets are still sold at a loss, and airlines make money off of those booking the most expensive fares.

My point is simply to say that carriers like JetBlue haven’t been losing money since pre-pandemic just because they feel like it, but instead, because this is such a challenging industry. Fares need to be higher (or something else has to give) for the entire bottom half of the industry to remain in business.

Also keep in mind that what typically has the most impact on airline pricing is capacity. All too often, even during good times, the industry simply has overcapacity. So the way airlines deal with that is by reducing their scheduling, and utilizing their planes less. It’s another reflection of how challenging the industry is, when the only way you can fly a plane semi-profitably is by parking it over an extended period of time.

Bottom line

Delta CEO Ed Bastian indicated that even if oil prices drop, the airline hopes to maintain some of the “pricing strength” it has gained in recent weeks, as we’ve started to see fares increase. The reality is that fares aren’t increasing because airlines are waving some magic wand, but instead, because they’re cutting capacity, as that’s the only way to drive up prices.

Overall, the airline industry in the US has a serious profitability issue, and even the most profitable airlines are earning a majority of their profits from loyalty programs. So an airline executive indicating that they hope to charge as much as possible is just honesty, and nothing scandalous.

What do you make of Bastian’s comments about ticket pricing?

Generally when people think of potential consolidation in the US airline industry, Delta is an airline that doesn’t even come to mind. So while we’ve heard endless comments from United CEO Scott Kirby about mergers, we’ve heard very little from Delta CEO Ed Bastian… until now.

Ed Bastian’s comments about airline consolidation

During yesterday’s Q1 2026 Delta earnings call, Bastian was asked about how he sees the industry playing out over the coming year given the spike in oil prices, etc. Here’s how he answered:

“You have a considerable portion of the industry that has not returned its cost of capital, has not made a profit in years. Going back over the last decade when we saw consolidation happen, we forget what drove consolidation. What drove consolidation was higher fuel prices back in 2009, 2010, 2011, and we were the leaders in that with the acquisition of Northwest in 2008.”

“I anticipate higher fuel prices will cause much more significant structural reform than we’ve seen over this period. COVID, I think, was a different animal, where no one was strong enough to engage in the type of rationalization that was necessary.”

“As we look forward to building a healthier business for the future, there’s a number of business models that I think their owners are going to start questioning whether they continue to commit capital to. However that plays out, it’s going to be of benefit to Delta.”

There are three key takeaways, as I see it:

• Bastian says that the number one thing that drives consolidation is higher oil prices
• Bastian expects “significant structural reform” in the near future, based on airlines being “strong enough to engage in the type of rationalization” necessary
• Bastian says that any type of consolidation or bankruptcy will be to the benefit of Delta

Are Bastian’s airline merger comments surprising?

I think I’m a bit surprised by the conviction with which Bastian is making these statements, assuming I’m understanding them correctly. Bastian is saying that he expects “much more significant structural reform” than during any similar past crisis?

It seems he’s suggesting consolidation rather than airlines just going out of business, based on the sentence after the above referencing how airlines now have the financial strength “to engage in the type of rationalization that was necessary.”

In terms of consolidation, it seems to me that any sort of a deal would include Frontier or JetBlue (or I suppose Breeze or Avelo, though those airlines aren’t publicly traded). So I question what kind of “significant structural reform” Bastian could be referencing?

Also, it’s of course logical for airline executives to spin everything as a positive, but I love how Bastian suggests that any and all consolidation is good for Delta. Yes, overall consolidation is good for existing players, in terms of eliminating competitors. But if we start to see Alaska, American, or United, acquiring JetBlue, then I think it’s hard to argue that will be a net positive for Delta (yes, there might be some concessions, but I don’t think they’ll be greater than the new competitive threats).

Bottom line

Delta CEO Ed Bastian has indicated that we could see significant industry consolidation in the near future, even more than we saw around 15 years ago, during the last major round of consolidation. However, he insists that any and all consolidation is good for Delta, even if the airline isn’t involved.

He’s more enthusiastic about consolidation than I would’ve expected, so I look forward to seeing how this all plays out.

What do you make of Bastian’s consolidation comments?

Details of the Lufthansa flight attendant strike

The Independent Flight Attendants Organization (UFO), which is the union representing Lufthansa flight attendants, has called on its members to engage in a strike. With this strike, the expectation is that virtually all flights departing from Germany on Friday, April 10, 2026, will be canceled (between 12:01AM and 10PM). This will hit passengers really hard, given that it’s right at the end of the Easter holiday, which is popular for travel.

This strike impacts Lufthansa and Lufthansa CityLine, but doesn’t apply to other Lufthansa Group airlines, like Austrian or SWISS. It’s expected that roughly 100,000 passengers will be impacted by the strike. Lufthansa is trying to minimize the impact of the strike as much as possible by having some flights operated by other airlines within the Lufthansa Group.

In a statement, Lufthansa blasted the union, sharing “viable solutions can only be achieved through dialogue,” “strikes must always be the last resort,” and “we remain open to talks and therefore call on the union to resume dialogue with us.”

What Lufthansa flight attendants are fighting for

Why are Lufthansa flight attendants going on strike? Well, it stems from the two sides not being able to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement, and for around five months, zero progress has reportedly been made. Recently flight attendants could vote on whether to pursue industrial action, and 94% voted in favor of that.

The union is outright accusing Lufthansa of failing to submit an offer, claiming the airline hasn’t moved “one millimeter.” Instead, Lufthansa is seeking cuts to existing benefits and protections, which the union isn’t even willing to consider.

This strike doesn’t just involve Lufthansa, but also Lufthansa CityLine, though. Lufthansa CityLine is currently being dissolved and is being replaced by Lufthansa City Airlines, as part of a play to reduce labor costs. After all, Lufthansa Group’s specialty is finding new labor arbitrage opportunities.

According to the union, the strike at Lufthansa CityLine is due to the “continued unwillingness of the employer to enter into negotiations on a collectively agreed social plan, to address our demands, or at least to submit a negotiable offer, despite the planned cessation of flight operations and the existential consequences for around 800 cabin crew members.”

Bottom line

Lufthansa flight attendants are going on strike on Friday, April 10, 2026, and a vast majority of flights are expected to be canceled. This all follows a strike from pilots last month, with neither work group seemingly being any closer to a new contract. Hopefully both pilots and flight attendants can get a new contract soon, since it’s not good to have the potential of strikes at any moment.

What do you make of this Lufthansa flight attendant strike?

While we’ll see this plays out, unfortunately it seems like Garuda Indonesia’s days of offering first class might be numbered, which is hardly surprising. Then again, we’ve seen the airline backtrack on this before, so who knows how this plays out. No matter how you slice it, I don’t know of another airline that takes such a strange approach to managing an entire class of service.

Garuda Indonesia only has two planes with first class

Garuda Indonesia has long been in a challenging financial situation — the airline can’t seem to keep any CEO for a long period of time, and therefore doesn’t have much of a vision. Beyond that, the government provides the airline just enough support to stay in business, but not enough to thrive.

Garuda Indonesia has a fleet of roughly 80 aircraft, though you’ll only find a first class cabin on the carrier’s Boeing 777-300ERs. The airline has eight of these jets, with only two featuring first class, so we’re really talking about a tiny fleet.

In reality, the active fleet is even smaller than that — the 11-year-old plane with the registration code PK-GIG has been parked since January 2026, so the 12-year-old plane with the registration code PK-GIF is the only one currently in service.

Here’s another fun element to this — the two Garuda Indonesia 777s with first class are actually in a special livery for the government of Indonesia. That’s because these are also used as the presidential planes, for official state business. So often the planes will be taken out of regularly scheduled passenger service for that reason, which makes it tough to run a reliable operation.

For a long time there have been discussions of Garuda Indonesia potentially eliminating first class, given that it’s such a small network, and one wonders if it even makes sense. For that matter, Garuda Indonesia used to have first class on eight of its 777s, but reconfigured six of them to remove first class.

Garuda Indonesia has stopped selling first class… for now?

Historically, Garuda Indonesia’s primary route with first class has been the carrier’s flagship 2-3x weekly flight between Jakarta (CGK) and Amsterdam (AMS), which operates with the following schedule:

GA88 Jakarta to Amsterdam departing 10:00PM arriving 7:50AM (+1 day)
GA89 Amsterdam to Jakarta departing 12:05PM arriving 7:55AM (+1 day)

To some that might seem like a random destination for offering first class, but it’s likely a combination of factors. Amsterdam is a SkyTeam hub, and there are also big historical ties between the Netherlands and Indonesia. Now, I still doubt there’s actually huge first class demand, since every time I looked at availability on this flight, it seemed pretty wide open in first class.

However, since the summer of 2025, the airline has primarily been offering first class on its route between Bali (DPS) and Tokyo Narita (NRT), which operates with the following schedule:

GA880 Bali to Tokyo departing 12:20AM arriving 8:50AM
GA881 Tokyo to Bali departing 11:00AM arriving 5:25PM

I of course see the premium leisure demand that might exist in that market, though there’s certainly some irony to the carrier’s only first class route not being out of its primary hub. It’s funny, because Garuda Indonesia has a first class lounge in Jakarta, so I assume that doesn’t get much use anymore. Then again, it previously saw at most eight passengers per day, so I guess that’s not a huge difference regardless.

Anyway, here’s where it gets strange — effective immediately, the airline just isn’t selling first class on any flights through the end of the schedule. The airline still has first class on one aircraft that’s currently in service, but for flight that are scheduled to be operated by the aircraft, first class is simply zeroed out.

It’s entirely possible (and probably even likely) that the airline starts selling first class again soon, and that this is just a temporary situation. But it’s still mighty strange to see an airline with such a random first class schedule, which basically seems to revolve around whether or not the president needs the plane.

So we’ll mark this as “developing” for now. There’s simply no justifiable business case for offering a product that’s available on a single plane that’s in service, especially since Garuda Indonesia first class tickets don’t exactly fly off the shelf.

If first class were to be discontinued, would the airline reconfigure these planes and eliminate first class, sell this as some sort of a “business class plus” product, just seat business class passengers there, or what? Who knows, maybe Garuda Indonesia is just being Garuda Indonesia, and hasn’t decided what it wants to do, and is zeroing out first class in the meantime.

Bottom line

Garuda Indonesia has a great first class product, which is only available on two aircraft (one of which is parked). Historically, the airline has offered first class between Jakarta and Amsterdam, as well as between Jakarta and Tokyo, though more recently, we’ve seen the product available between Bali and Tokyo.

As far as I can tell, Garuda Indonesia has just completely zeroed out first class throughout its network, and there are no more first class seats for sale. You’d think that would be a sign of this product being eliminated, though Garuda Indonesia tends to work in mysterious ways.

What do you make of Garuda Indonesia’s first class situation?

Trump’s Transportation Secretary comments on airline mergers

On CNBC today, United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was asked to comment on how there’s growing chatter about one of the “big four” US carriers potentially acquiring another airline. Specifically, this was in the context of the bulk of the industry profits being with two airlines, and the oil price situation making things even worse for airlines.

Here’s how Duffy responded:

“That’s going to come through us, but also President Trump loves to see big deals happen, he would have to review that kind of a deal, it has to go through DOJ, it’ll come to DOT. I think, who knows who’s going to match up, right? There’s always chatter, but is there room for some mergers in the aviation industry? Yeah, I think there is.”

He was then interrupted to confirm that this was in reference to consolidation in the United States, and then he continued as follows:

Yeah, yeah, I think so. Again, there’s a lot of chatter, and a lot of people talking amongst themselves about what that should look like. I’m going to see, is there a deal that’s brought to the table, how does it look, what impact does it have on competition, what is it going to do for the consumer, what is it going to do for us to be competitive globally, to make sure we have the biggest and best airlines competing around the world.”

He was then asked a follow-up question about market share:

“But what if that means one of the airlines no longer has 20%, the big four all around 20% market share, what if they go up to 30%, 35%, would you be okay with that?”

He then responded as follows:

“We’d have to look at it at a case-by-case basis, and if there was a merger between some of the larger airlines, they’re going to have to peel off some of their assets, we don’t want to have this massive infrastructure with one airline in America.”

How much should we read into Duffy’s comments?

Admittedly Duffy isn’t the primary person responsible for deciding whether or not an airline merger gets approved. So everyone can decide for themselves to what extent he’s just sharing his own opinion, vs. something that reflects discussions he has had with Trump.

My impression based on the above is certainly that Duffy is very open to consolidation, even it it includes one of the “big four” US carriers, with the caveat that some concessions might need to be made.

It seems highly likely that if there were any consolidation activity in the near future, it would involve JetBlue, as the airline is reportedly looking at being acquired. JetBlue is an airline with a lovely passenger experience and it could add huge value to another airline group, but it’s just set up to fail based on its current reality (JFK just isn’t a great airport to be based at if you’re primarily operating domestic flights).

JetBlue, meanwhile, would add such value as part of a larger airline group, like belonging to American or United. United CEO Scott Kirby hasn’t been secretive about his interest in acquiring JetBlue, though he does sometimes send mixed signals (one day he’ll say that “the ball is going to be in JetBlue’s court” when it comes to a merger, and the next day he’ll say he has no interest in a merger).

I do have to imagine that this is going to get interesting very soon. If United is interested in acquiring JetBlue, or if it at least wants to make sure that no competitor gets JetBlue’s most important assets, then I have to imagine this is the time to take action:

• Kirby has been very pro-Trump, and has certainly been saying the right things to get favor with him
• From a regulatory standpoint, it seems like there’s no time like the present, since it seems like there would be the least regulatory scrutiny before the midterms
• It seems that the bump in oil prices gives the perfect opportunity for an airline to claim that a merger is now a matter of survival more than anything else

I don’t know how this is going to play out. I think this is too much for Alaska to take on right now, given that it’s still integrating with Hawaiian. I think a Southwest merger makes almost no sense. I know United is sort of desperate for JetBlue, even though I question the obsession with JFK. But really I think American needs JetBlue more than any other airline, and it would be the most pro-consumer deal. The issue is American’s poor financial situation.

So we’ll see if anything happens. I’m starting to think that we’re at the point where something should happen soon, and if it doesn’t, then I think it’s indicative of no deal happening with JetBlue.

Bottom line

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was asked about the possibility of further consolidation in the US airline industry. He said that he thinks there’s merit to further consolidation (including one of the “big four” carriers taking over a smaller airline), and also mentioned how Trump likes big deals.

So while he’s not the final judge on any industry consolidation, I’d say that’s a pretty pro-consolidation approach for him to take.

What do you make about Duffy’s comments on consolidation?

What’s wrong with the MOMO products from W Hotels?

OMAAT reader Chris recently stayed at the W Hotel Amsterdam, and said he noticed how watery the MOMO shampoo was. Initially he thought that maybe a previous guest had diluted it, but then he got a replacement bottle, and had the same problem. So he wondered if the hotel was playing games in order to save some money, or what.

What’s awesome is that he didn’t just wonder what the answer to the question is, but he also actually investigated further. So he bought a bottle of the MOMO shampoo from Marriott’s online store, had it delivered to his home, and… the product had exactly the same issue he found at the hotel.

He even shared the below video comparing the products. On the left is the shampoo bought from Marriott’s store, while on the right is the same shampoo bought directly from Davines, which produces the MOMO products.

Out of curiosity, I asked Chris if he could share the ingredients labels for the two bottles. You can find those below — based on a cursory glance they look very similar, though some terms being used do differ. If I’m missing anything obvious, please let me know.

Chris commented the following:

This whole thing strikes me as astonishingly poor quality control from Marriott for one of their most premium brands; are we really saying nobody at Marriott has noticed this widespread and systemic issue? Or have they noticed, and just don’t care?

Chris also pointed out how while both bottles say “made in Italy,” the product intended for W Hotels additionally references a UK-based company named Angel Consulting, so one wonders what their involvement is in this.

I don’t have a strong theory here, but I’m curious…

As I said at the beginning of the post, this is hardly the most important topic in the world, but I sure am now invested in the answer as to what’s going on here. I love how Chris took his experiment so far that he even ordered the same product through two separate channels to see how they compare.

Based on the above video, there’s simply no denying that almost anyone would want their shampoo to look more like what’s on the right, than what’s on the left, as the latter looks mighty watery.

That raises the question of what’s going on here. Is the shampoo really formulated to be that watery? This doesn’t seem like a fluke, since this is how the shampoo was on-property and via the online store.

If this is in fact formulated differently, is the primary difference just that the one for W Hotels is watered down? If so, that’s a very strange way to go about coming up with a special formula…

Bottom line

W Hotels has a partnership with MOMO for bath products. In theory that’s a good brand, but an OMAAT reader reports how the formulation seems a bit off. He found it was so watery at the W Amsterdam that he decided to order a bottle from Marriott’s online store, only to find the same problem. Meanwhile if you buy the product direct, it doesn’t have that problem.

Anyone have a theory as to what’s going on here?

Marriott makes the switch from Pepsi to Coke

Since 1992, Marriott has had an exclusive agreement with Pepsi for providing soft drinks for its properties globally. That agreement wasn’t put into place because customers prefer Pepsi, but instead, because Pepsi was willing to give Marriott a better deal. Specifically, Coca-Cola wasn’t willing to extend Marriott a loan at the time, and that was non-negotiable for Marriott.

That will finally be changing, as Marriott has revealed that it will be switching to Coke for products globally, as flagged by View from the Wing.

It’s funny, because I specifically remember when Marriott took over Starwood, and then Starwood made the switch from Coke to Pepsi, which many of us weren’t happy about. Here’s what the beverage giant had to say in a statement about this latest development:

“The Coca-Cola Company is proud to be working with Marriott International’s global portfolio. We look forward to playing our role in creating a great guest experience across the world’s largest hotel company. Marriott’s decision reflects the strength of our brands and the preference their guests have for our total beverage portfolio. This partnership underscores our shared commitment to quality, consistency, and elevating every moment of the stay.”

I’m curious what prompted this Pepsi to Coke switch

Marriott isn’t officially sharing why it’s making the switch from Pepsi to Coke. Did Marriott realize that only having Pepsi products negatively impacted the guest experience, or was Coke finally willing to give Marriott a better deal?

In an email to hotel owners about the change, Marriott stated that over 70% of Bonvoy members prefer Coke over Pepsi, which is why the change is being made. So I do think guest preference is a strong consideration here, and maybe Marriott could get a slightly better deal than in the past from Coke.

Personally I’m happy to see this change. There are definitely more people out there who prefer Coke to Pepsi, it’s just rare to see Marriott actually concerned about what customers prefer (rather than what they’ll put up with). 😉

Bottom line

Marriott will be making the switch from Pepsi to Coke, after 34 years of exclusivity with the number two beverage giant. Marriott claims that 70%+ of Bonvoy members prefer Pepsi to Coke, which sounds about right. While there was obviously some bad blood between the two brands in the past, I’m sure most guests will be happy to see this.

What do you make of Marriott making the switch from Pepsi to Coke?

Delta tries to boost revenue with higher checked bag fees

Airlines are obviously in an incredibly tough spot at the moment. We’ve seen a massive increase in fuel costs, which is one of the biggest variable expenses that airlines have. If oil prices don’t decrease from these levels, even the world’s most profitable airlines will be losing money, while those airlines that were previously struggling may be in bankruptcy.

For tickets purchased as of tomorrow (Wednesday, April 8, 2026), Delta is increasing checked bag fees by $10-50. Currently you’ll pay $35 for the first checked bag, $45 for the second checked bag, and $150 for the third checked bag. With this change, you’ll pay $45 for the first checked bag, $55 for the second checked bag, and $200 for the third checked bag.

In a statement, Delta explains that “these updates are part of Delta’s ongoing review of pricing across its business and reflect the impact of evolving global conditions and industry dynamics.”

Why Delta is raising checked bag fees instead of fares

In recent weeks, we’ve heard a lot of airline executives warn that airfare could go up due to higher oil prices. The issue is that demand for airfare is pretty elastic — when airfare goes up, demand goes down.

Even beyond that, Americans are feeling the impacts of higher oil prices, so many people also have less disposable income (though the “premium” airlines love to boast about the wonders of the K-shaped economy). If airlines could just easily raise prices, we wouldn’t be in a situation where most US carriers are turning operating losses.

From the perspective of airlines, if they desperately need to extract more revenue from passengers, increasing checked bag fees is a logical place to start, since it’s not a detail that passengers compare quite as closely as just direct ticket costs.

So yeah, the price of oil is impacting checked bag fees, but that’s simply because it’s a more practical way to try to increase revenue, compared to outright raising fares.

Bottom line

Delta is increasing checked bag fees by $10-50 per flight. The increase is $10 for the first and second checked bag, and $50 for the third bag and beyond.

Airlines see raising checked bag fees as the easiest way to boost revenue without having to increase fares. JetBlue started this round of bag fee increases, now United and Delta have quickly followed, and I’m sure other airlines won’t be too far behind. And remember, once costs go up, they rarely come down.

What do you make of Delta increasing checked bag fees?

Mullin might pull customs from airports to punish cities

Markwayne Mullin is Trump’s new Homeland Security Secretary, after the abrupt firing of Kristi Noem. The former Oklahoma Senator is known for making headlines, but this has to be among the most absurd I’ve seen (along with the time he wanted to fight a union president in the Senate).

During an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, Mullin was asked about lack of local law enforcement cooperation in so called “sanctuary cities.” Mullin responded with the following:

“I believe sanctuary cities is not lawful, I don’t think they’re able to do that. So we’re gonna take a hard look at this. This one area we may take a hard look at is that some of these cities have international airports. If they’re sanctuary cities, should they really be processing customs into their cities?”

“Seriously, if they’re sanctuary cities, and they’re receiving international flights, and we’re asking them to partner with us at the airport, but once they walk out of the airport, they’re not going to enforce immigration policy? Maybe we need to have a really hard look at that, because we need to focus on cities that want to work with us.”

Baier was caught off guard by that comment, so followed that up with the following question:

“So you’re saying that big cities that are sanctuary cities that have a big airport, they might lose their customs?”

Mullin responded as follows:

“Well, I’m saying we’re going to have to start prioritizing things at some point. Right now, remember, the Democrats are wanting to defund Customs and Border patrol. Well who processes those individuals when they walk off the plane? So I’m going to have to be forced to make hard decisions, who’s willing to work with us and partner with us?”

This is such a laughable threat to even make

Folks in the Trump administration are known for making a lot of threats, though this one definitely ranks up there, if you ask me.

There’s no official definition of what constitutes a “sanctuary city,” and for those not familiar, the term refers to places where local authorities limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The Trump administration does publish a list of places that it considers to be sanctuary cities.

That includes cities like Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco, etc. So yeah, make no mistake, the threat here is that they’re taking a “hard look” at the possibility of shutting down customs at the biggest airports in the country. Maybe Vasu Raja’s El Paso global domination strategy wasn’t so bad after all, it just came before its time…

Bottom line

The new Homeland Security Secretary, Markwayne Mullin, is threatening to pull customs from the country’s biggest airports, over lack of cooperation from “sanctuary cities.” I totally get that this guy wants to flex however he can, but essentially threatening to ban international flights at the country’s biggest airports doesn’t seem like a winning strategy on any level…

What do you make of Mullin’s “hard look” at airport customs?

Campbell Wilson leaving Air India after four years

Air India has confirmed that CEO Campbell Wilson has resigned, and a committee has now been launched to find a successor in the coming months. In a statement, the airline shared the following, suggesting that Wilson has been planning on leaving since 2024:

“Wilson had conveyed his intention to step down in 2026 to Air India Chairman N. Chandrasekaran in 2024 and, since then, has been working to ensure the organisation and leadership team is on a stable footing for the transition. He will remain in the role until his successor is announced and in place.”

For context, Wilson is 55 years old and originally from New Zealand, and he became CEO of Air India as of June 2022. Prior to that, Wilson worked at Singapore Airlines going as far back as 1996. In 2011, he became the founding CEO of Scoot, Singapore Airlines’ low cost carrier.

Wilson’s tenure at Air India had some highs and lows

In the case of IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers, it’s clear he resigned because he was forced out, following the recent operational meltdown at the airline. Meanwhile in the case of Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, the claim is that he had been planning on resigning going as far back as 2024, so this isn’t at all sudden.

I have mixed feelings on Wilson’s tenure at Air India. On the plus side, he truly set the airline on a new path, and so much about the Air India experience has changed under his leadership. At the same time, in terms of passenger experience and profitability, Air India is still a long ways off from what the goal is.

When it comes to passenger experience, the airline has done a good job reconfiguring its narrow body fleet, but everything about the long haul product has taken way longer than planned. As it stands, Air India has a single Dreamliner that’s in service with long haul interiors specifically intended for the airline, which isn’t exactly a great showing.

Admittedly supply chain problems have been prevalent in the airline industry for so long. But when you need to undergo a transformation fast, it’s a bit disappointing how little he has to show for new long haul cabins, four years later.

Then it goes without saying that Air India also faced some major headwinds within the past year, between navigating airspace closures, plus the crash of Air India flight AI171. Admittedly none of these were Wilson’s fault, but the airline recorded an absolutely massive loss last year, among its biggest in history, so that’s not exactly great for a turnaround following privatization.

It’ll be interesting to see who replaces Wilson. In the case of IndiGo, former IAG CEO Willie Walsh will become the new CEO. So I’m curious to see how the selection process compares at Air India. You’d think they’d recruit an Indian national for the job, based on the backlash airlines have received for hiring foreign CEOs.

But I’m also not sure who the right guy for the job would be. If they do go with an ex-pat again, I think former American CEO Doug Parker has some time on his hands. Or maybe former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce? 😉

Bottom line

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson will be resigning, roughly four years after tackling the turnaround of India’s national carrier. While Air India is no doubt moving in the right direction, the transformation simply hasn’t gotten as far as was hoped after four years, and Air India also dealt with some major setbacks.

It’s interesting to see the CEOs at India’s two largest airlines resign one after the other, and I’m curious if Air India also taps a former CEO from another major airline.

What do you make of Wilson resigning, and who do you think will replace him?

Unfortunately at launch, the card was a bit of a flop, and I found it hard to make the math on the card work (especially when you consider the card launched before the first lounge even opened). So along those lines, JetBlue and Barclays have just announced some updates to this card, and they’re entirely positive.

JetBlue’s premium credit card gets valuable new perks

The $499 annual fee JetBlue Premier Card now offers the following new perks, which very much change the math on the card, in my opinion:

• Companion pass statement credits — cardmembers can earn a companion pass (up to $500 value) after spending $15,000 in a calendar year, and unlock an additional companion pass (up to $1,500 value) after $75,000 in annual spending (you have to book and pay for your companion’s trip on your reservation, apply the pass, and receive a statement credit after you both travel)
• 25-tile bonus — the card now offers a 25-tile bonus after the beginning of each calendar year, putting cardmembers halfway to Mosaic 1; as before, the card offers one tile for every $1,000 in eligible spending, which is the same pace of qualification that’s offered on JetBlue’s other cards
• 15% redemption rebate — receive a 15% rebate on TrueBlue redemptions when you use your points for award flights on JetBlue or its partner airlines
• TrueBlue Travel statement credits — earn up to $300 in annual statement credits when using the card for hotels, rental cars, and cruises, through TrueBlue Travel, with no minimum requirement (so if you spend $300+, you can get a $300 statement credit)

These changes making the card significantly more compelling

When JetBlue and Barclays launched the JetBlue Premier Card, I was curious what they were thinking. The card just wasn’t interesting, and didn’t feel like it did enough to incentivize increased engagement with JetBlue TrueBlue, which is something the airline desperately needs. For example, the card offers no shortcut to elite status compared to the other cards, which seems like a miss for a premium card.

So with that in mind, these changes are very positive. First, the bonus of 25 tiles will be useful for anyone pursuing elite status with JetBlue. On top of that, the 15% rebate on redemptions is better than the 10% rebate you’ll find on JetBlue’s other cards, so that’s a competitive advantage as well.

But I’d say the companion pass perk is the most interesting. Admittedly this is somewhat limiting, in terms of the amounts you have to use ($500 and $1,500), though the good news is that if you can maximize that, the value here is excellent:

• An incremental $500 back on $15,000 worth of spending is a 3.33% return, beyond the points you usually earn
• An incremental $1,500 on $75,000 worth of spending is a 2% return, beyond the points you usually earn

Just as an example, if you had the card and spent $75,000 per year, you’d earn a total of 100 tiles, which is enough for Mosaic 2 (25 just for being a cardmember, and 75 for spending). You’d then also earn the $1,500 in companion pass credits, plus the points you usually earn. I think a lot of people could probably make the math on that work, especially as JetBlue prepares to roll out domestic first class on a widespread basis.

The card also offers $300 in statement credits for booking through JetBlue Travel, which can really come in handy. This could even be used for a $300+ hotel stay, so the barrier to using this isn’t huge (other than having yet another credit that needs to be redeemed).

Bottom line

The JetBlue Premier Card was launched in early 2025, but with little fanfare, as the benefits were really weak. We’ve just seen the value proposition of this card improve considerably. The card now offers a 25-tile elite status boost, a 15% rebate on award redemptions, the ability to earn up to $2,000 per year in credits for companions, and $300 in travel portal credits.

While I still don’t think this card is some absolute slam dunk that everyone needs, it’s now a niche product that could be worth spending on. The card is certainly way more competitive than it was before.

What do you make of these updates to the JetBlue Premier Card? Will they impact your decision to apply for it and/or spend on it?

Delta SkyMiles awarding MQDs for lodging & rental cars

Just about all major airlines have portals through which you can earn bonus miles for booking hotels, rental cars, etc. After all, there are commissions to be made on this, and those who fly a lot are also likely to stay at hotels and rent cars a lot.

Historically Delta SkyMiles has only awarded redeemable miles for these kinds of activities, but that’s changing for a limited time. At the moment, Delta SkyMiles is offering one Medallion Qualifying Dollar (MQD) for every dollar spent when booking a hotel, vacation rental, or rental car, at this link, in addition to earning two redeemable miles. As you’d expect, there are some terms to be aware of:

• You must book hotel, vacation rental, and rental car reservations between April 6 and May 18, 2026
• You must travel by September 30, 2026
• You earn one MQD per dollar spent on base rates for hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars, before taxes, fees, etc.
• The SkyMiles account must belong to the same person the booking is being made for
• It can take up to eight weeks after a completed activity for MQDs to post to accounts

It’s important to mention that while earning miles and even elite status for a hotel, vacation rental, or rental car, booking might sound appealing, keep in mind that there’s typically an opportunity cost to doing so. For example, with hotels you can’t earn hotel points if you book this way, and you typically don’t get elite perks. Furthermore, you’ll often find better rates elsewhere.

This is an interesting promotion from Delta SkyMiles

Nowadays Delta SkyMiles elite status is based exclusively on how many Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs) you rack up, and status requires anywhere from 5,000 MQDs to 28,000 MQDs in a calendar year.

There are three ways you can earn MQDs:

• You earn one MQD per dollar spent on Delta flights
• You earn one MQD per dollar spent on vacations booked through Delta Vacations
• You earn one MQD per every $10-20 spent on an eligible Delta Amex card, depending on which product it is

When Delta first announced changes to SkyMiles for the 2024 program year, the plan was for hotel and rental car bookings to count toward elite status as well. However, after a lot of backlash over the new program, the elite requirements were lowered, and hotel and rental cars were also eliminated as a way to earn status.

So it’s interesting to see Delta now offering MQDs on a limited time basis for hotel and rental car bookings, and this being a recurring promotion.

It’s smart for Delta to incentive this kind of business, since this is pure profit for the carrier. The company is getting a commission on these bookings, and is just giving a small kickback to people who book this way.

I’m just confused by the concept of now offering a limited time promotion for the eighth time, rather than making it a permanent feature. Is Delta not seeing as many people qualifying for status as the airline was hoping, or is the airline keeping it limited time to avoid backlash over the elite status changes?

Bottom line

Delta SkyMiles has brought back a promotion whereby you can earn MQDs for hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars, booked through the carrier’s portal. For a limited time, you can earn one MQD per dollar spent, in addition to the standard two redeemable miles you earn per dollar spent.

Delta transformed its SkyMiles program in 2024, and initially the plan was that these kinds of travel arrangements would permanently count toward status. However, the carrier backtracked, and is now just offering this on a limited time basis (though on eight separate occasions since 2024).

What do you make of this Delta SkyMiles promotion?

Details of the new Park Hyatt in Cancun, Mexico

There are plans for the Park Hyatt Riviera Maya, located in Cancun, Mexico. The hotel was initially supposed to open in 2025, and Hyatt is officially claiming the hotel will open in 2026, though based on my understanding, that’s not realistic, and at this point an opening in 2027 is most likely.

Details about the property are very limited. When it was first announced, it was described as a “sophisticated resort” that will “offer beachfront access, immersive and rare culinary experiences, bars and lounges, and more than 3,000 square feet of meeting space including a 2,000-square-foot ballroom.”

Once open, this adds to a growing number of luxury points hotels in the Cancun area. Just recently we saw the opening of the St. Regis Kanai and Waldorf Astoria Cancun, so it’s nice to see Hyatt’s most luxurious brand also expand to the Cancun area. As a matter of fact, the Park Hyatt will be immediately next to the Waldorf Astoria.

The Park Hyatt brand is really growing in Mexico right now. We’ve seen the recent opening of the Park Hyatt Los Cabos at Cabo Del Sol, while the Park Hyatt Mexico City is expected to open in early 2027. Beyond that, we also saw the recent opening of the Alila Mayakoba, another good luxury option in the Cancun area.

The Park Hyatt Riviera Maya will be all-inclusive

Here’s an interesting revelation that wasn’t clear when the property was first announced. The Park Hyatt Riviera Maya is expected to be an all-inclusive property, making it the first Park Hyatt in the world where that’s the case.

Admittedly this is pretty normal for the Cancun area, but still, it’s noteworthy for a brand like Park Hyatt. Hyatt has been leaning heavily into the all-inclusive space in recent times, particularly through acquisitions. So while Hyatt has grown massively in terms of its number of all-inclusive brands, it’s surprising to see even a traditionally non all-inclusive brand get this kind of an experience.

I’m generally not a fan of all-inclusives, or at least historically haven’t chosen to vacation at them. However, after my recent Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection cruise, there is something I really enjoyed about not being nickel-and-dimed for everything, given how expensive luxury hospitality has become in so many places.

Bottom line

In late 2023, plans were announced for the Park Hyatt Cancun, which has since been branded as the Park Hyatt Riviera Maya. The hotel is expected to be all-inclusive when it opens in 2027, making it the first Park Hyatt property where that’s the case.

It’s awesome to see Hyatt’s luxury expansion in Mexico, as this will be the third Park Hyatt to open in a fairly short period.

What do you make of plans for the Park Hyatt Riviera Maya?

There’s now another exciting development, as Air India has just opened its own lounge at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and it looks like it could be really nice!

Basics of the new Air India Maharaja Lounge SFO

As of late March 2026, Air India has opened a lounge at SFO, which covers 3,413 square feet. Specifically, the lounge is located in the lounge complex at the A Gates, on the fourth floor, between the China Airlines Lounge and Golden Gate Lounge. The lounge is open daily from 6AM until 11:59PM, so it clearly covers more than just Air India departures.

The general contractor for the lounge, Build Group, had published the below page online, which showed a rendering of the lounge space. The first real pictures of the lounge have also been posted on FlyerTalk.

I’ve gotta say, the lounge looks super elegant, so this should be a nice facility. However, at just over 3,400 square feet, this is one of the smaller outstation lounges out there, and I imagine it’ll get quite busy prior to Air India departures. At least Air India has a staggered schedule at the airport, so there’s never more than one Air India flight departing at a time.

Air India has massively grown its presence at SFO since starting service to the airport roughly a decade ago. The airline now operates up to 14 weekly flights to the Bay Area, so with double daily service, you can start to see merit to operating a lounge.

This is Air India’s second lounge location in the United States, with the other lounge being in New York (JFK). That lounge is undergoing a major and overdue renovation, so maybe it’ll have a similar design template to the SFO lounge.

Why has Air India opened its own lounge at SFO?

Some people might point out that there’s a United Polaris Lounge at SFO, and wonder why Air India is bothering to build its own lounge at the airport. It’s important to note that the United Polaris Lounge is in the G Gates, while Air India departs from the A Gates.

While these terminals are technically connected airside, it’s a really long walk between them, so for a majority of passengers, it’s not practical to use the United Polaris Lounge when flying Air India. Instead, Air India has been sending its premium passengers to the Golden Gate Lounge (and before that, the Air France Lounge).

Given the number of flights Air India operates from SFO per week, having the airline operate its own lounge makes sense. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see the lounge monetized outside of those hours, and open to Priority Pass, as is the case at the carrier’s JFK lounge (though as of now, the SFO lounge doesn’t belong to Priority Pass).

Also, thanks to Star Alliance lounge access rules, many premium passengers should also have access to this lounge, including Star Alliance Gold members on other airlines.

Bottom line

Air India plans to open a lounge at SFO in the near future. The roughly 3,400 square foot lounge will be located in the A Gates. We even have a rendering of the lounge, which gives us a sense of the new lounge design concept that the Star Alliance airline is going for. I’m looking forward to learning more details, particularly about the soft product.

What do you make of the planned Air India Lounge SFO?

American’s current & former CEOs vacation together in Paris

Insider JonNYC shares an interesting report about a flight taken by a major airline CEO… well, two major airline CEOs. His initial post read as follows:

Ok I’m throwing the one up Without names until someone can 100% confirm. Consider it allegorical unless otherwise confirmed 🙂 “Nothing says out of touch like [major airline Bigwig] and [similar/former] family and their security flying back to [US airport] from their Paris vacation on Easter Sunday with Gucci shopping bags in hand, cutting [absolute highest level] pre-boards to get on the plane first to their 6+ seats in business, and never acknowledging a single customer along the way. “

He then followed that up with this, confirming that the people in question were American CEO Robert Isom and former American CEO Doug Parker:

OK, well, I still cannot confirm/comment on the behavior reported (yet…) But this was Isom and (wife or family) and Doug Parker and (wife or family.)

The part of this story that I find to be interesting

I don’t actually read too much into the concept of the CEO being pre-boarded ahead of everyone else, as that’s quite common, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable. For example, ideally the CEO would want to pre-board to be able to talk with the crew, thank them for their work, etc. That being said, three things stand out.

First, I hope that Isom and Parker declare whatever is in those Gucci bags, so they don’t lose their Global Entry. Or maybe they’ve been doing a bit of repacking of bags onboard, before the plane touches down in the United States. 😉

Second, it’s unfortunate to read this report that Isom didn’t acknowledge a single customer. I get that sometimes airline executives want a vacation as well, but it just blows my mind when they let such an easy opportunity go to waste. It reminds me of when I took the first long haul Lufthansa Allegris flight to Germany, and the company’s CEO was in the best business class suite, but then didn’t actually interact with any passenger, get feedback, etc. It just seems like a missed opportunity.

Third, and this is what I find most interesting — Isom and Parker are actually still good friends, to the point that they do couples trips to Paris? I guess I’m not surprised to hear they get along, since obviously there’s a better situation between them than between either of them and Scott Kirby.

But still, am I the only one who would pay to be a fly on the wall and hear their conversations at dinner? Was Vasu Raja on this trip as well? 😉

Bottom line

American CEO Robert Isom and former CEO Doug Parker are reportedly taking the same flight from Paris to Dallas, as part of a couples trip. Part of the report suggests that Isom didn’t actually acknowledge any passengers, and boarded before everyone else.

Though I still think the most interesting news is that Parker and Isom are so close that they’re taking couples trips to Paris.

Are you surprised to hear that Isom & Parker vacation together?

The Park Hyatt Tokyo is now a resort, not a hotel

The Park Hyatt Tokyo recently reopened, after an extensive renovation, and it’s easily one of the flagship properties in Hyatt’s portfolio. Typically I find Japanese Hyatt properties to be very “by the book” when it comes to delivering elite perks, more broadly reflecting the country’s culture.

However, as reported on FlyerTalk, we’ve just seen a subtle change at the Park Hyatt Tokyo — as of April 2026, the property is being categorized as a resort, rather than as a hotel. Multiple people report being told this by hotel staff. On top of that, it’s even reflected on the hotel’s website — under the “Amenities” section, you’ll now see “Resort Property” listed as one of the features (which wasn’t there a week ago).

I’m really scratching my head as to how anyone would consider the Park Hyatt Tokyo to be a resort. Yes, the hotel has a very nice wellness area, but this is otherwise a quintessential city business hotel. It wouldn’t be logical for a defining characteristic of a (non-resort) hotel to be its lack of a nice pool and gym.

Is this reclassification about elite late check-out?

What incentive is there for a hotel to be classified as a resort rather than as a hotel? The primary difference I can come up with is that World of Hyatt Globalist members get guaranteed 4PM late check-out at hotels, while at resorts, it’s subject to availability.

In the days since this policy change has been implemented, it seems like the hotel has already started using this to its advantage, to deny late check-out on capacity grounds.

I am curious, did the hotel just have a major issue with the late check-out benefit causing problems? I can imagine this hotel gets a very high percentage of Globalist guests, and I also imagine lots of guests want to stretch their stay as long as possible, and may utilize the late check-out.

If this happens often enough, I can imagine it’s hard to manage expectations when you have to offer people a check-out time that’s potentially after the check-in time for the same room.

Regardless, I’m not a fan of hotels trying to skirt the rules in this way, and I hope this isn’t the start of a larger trend…

Bottom line

The Park Hyatt Tokyo has started classifying itself as a resort rather than a hotel. While the property has a nice wellness area, I can’t imagine any reasonable definition by which that’s logical. I suspect that this change is being made due to concerns over the elite late check-out benefit… at least it’s the only explanation I can come up with.

What do you make of the Park Hyatt Tokyo’s resort transformation? 😉

In recent years, we’ve seen luxury hospitality companies increasingly getting into the cruising industry. For example, Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection was among the first, then we recently saw the launch of Four Seasons Yachts, and then in 2027 we’re supposed to see the launch of Aman at Sea.

There’s another luxury hotel cruising experience that’s coming soon, and I’d like to cover the details, especially in light of recent developments with some competitors. Specifically, I’m talking about Orient Express, which is known by many for its incredible luxury train journeys (well, and hotels).

Orient Express Corinthian sets sail in June 2026

Orient Express Sailing Yachts is the name of Orient Express’ new sailing venture, which is expected to carry its first passengers as of June 2026. The concept is debuting with the Orient Express Corinthian, which is described as the world’s largest sailing yacht. The 220-meter (721-foot) yacht will feature a total of 54 suites, accommodating up to 110 guests.

As it’s described, the Orient Express Corinthian will offer “a floating sanctuary of refinement.” Suites will be a minimum of 47 square meters (506 square feet), which is absolutely massive for a ship, and will feature panoramic sea views. The experience will be all-inclusive, with fares including meals, premium drinks, butler service, room service, entertainment, and much more.

Given the small size of the ship, the sheer number of dining and entertainment outlets is very impressive. Dining will include everything from La Table de l’Orient-Express by Yannick Alléno, to La Terrasse, to L’Ecrin, to Marina Bay, and beyond. The ship will have a pool, full service spa, gym, several entertainment venues, a marina, and more.

I must say, this has to be one of the classiest looking ships I’ve ever seen.

How much will Orient Express cruises cost?

Orient Express Sailing Yachts is expected to set sail as of June 2026, and it’ll sail the Mediterranean in summer, and the Caribbean in winter. You can find all the voyages here — they range from two to 14 nights, and some of the itineraries are actually rather interesting (at least given the regions), and go beyond just the major ports.

How much will these sailings cost? Orient Express rail journeys are super pricey, and the company is taking a similar approach with its cruises. You can see the price for each suite on each sailing by looking up itineraries at this link. Just to give a general sense of the pricing for entry level suites:

• A seven-night Europe cruise in September costs €36,400 per suite
• A 14-night transatlantic cruise in October costs €60,200 per suite
• A three-night Caribbean cruise in November costs €16,500 per suite

Suffice it to say that this is at the very top end of the market when it comes to cruise pricing. If you do book one of these journeys, I’d recommend using a travel advisor affiliated with the Accor Preferred program, as they can offer you some extra perks (including a credit), while paying the published cost. Ford and his team are happy to help with these requests, and can be reached at ford@fordbtravel.com.

Will this luxury cruising concept succeed?

Obviously the concept of luxury cruising is nothing new. However, there’s no denying that the industry is evolving a bit:

• We’re seeing luxury pushed to new levels in terms of the exclusivity of ships, the pricing, etc.
• We’re seeing cruising positioned differently; these luxury cruise lines are no longer just for rich retirees, but these cruise lines are also now targeting a younger crowd that might not typically consider cruising (at least for Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, Four Seasons Yachts, and Aman at Sea)

I recently took my first Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection cruise, and as a non-cruiser, I have to say that I was really pleasantly surprised by the whole experience. What’s interesting is that among all of these ventures, Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection is by far the most reasonably priced.

After Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, Four Seasons Yachts is next when it comes to pricing, while Aman and Orient Express are priced at the very top of the market. This entire luxury cruise space is getting pretty saturated, I’d say, especially when you consider the amount of capacity (with Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection launching three ships over a few years).

I do think that Orient Express has an advantage over Four Seasons and Aman, in terms of the crowd that it’s going after:

• Orient Express is generally popular with an older crowd, and that’s also a good demographic for cruising
• Orient Express already offers non-hotel experiences, so convincing Orient Express loyalists to try a different kind of vacation shouldn’t be too difficult

Orient Express’ pricing is absolutely at the top of the market for cruising. Then again, the company’s experience also looks incredible, so that doesn’t seem that surprising. If you’re traveling even as a small group, the pricing is to the point where you can charter a pretty nice yacht for a similar price.

Bottom line

Orient Express is expanding into the cruising industry, with the launch of Orient Express Sailing Yachts, and specifically, the Corinthian ship. This is described as the world’s largest sailing yacht, and I must say, it looks pretty incredible.

This concept will be launching in the coming months, debuting just shortly after Four Seasons Yachts, and shortly before Aman at Sea. It’s fascinating to see the amount of growth in the luxury cruising sector at the moment, and I’m curious to see how this all evolves.

What do you make of Orient Express Sailing Yachts, and how do you think it compares to the other luxury cruise startups?

For the most part, I find Lufthansa’s regional European lounges to be pretty bland and average, but I must say, I thought this lounge was a cut above. Maybe it’s just a function of this being Italy, but I loved the barista coffee, and I also found the food to be a bit better than usual.

I also have to say, the staff in the lounge were lovely, in terms of assisting with rebooking me. That’s a bit ironic, because some longtime OMAAT readers may remember my 2022 incident in this lounge, where I dealt with an awful, vindictive lounge agent.

Lufthansa Lounge Milan location

The Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa is located in Terminal 1, in the Schengen zone of the airport, as you’d expect. Once in the terminal, just follow the signage for gates A24-30, and then on the left you’ll immediately see the entrance to the Lufthansa Lounge.

Lufthansa Lounge Milan hours

The Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa has varying hours depending on the flight schedule each day. The lounge typically opens at 4:30AM or 4:45AM, and typically closes at 8:30PM or 9:30PM. You’ll want to check the Lufthansa or Star Alliance website to get the latest opening hours.

Lufthansa Lounge Milan entry requirements

The Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa follows standard Star Alliance lounge access policies. This means the lounge is open to Star Alliance first and business class passengers, as well as Star Alliance Gold members.

This is used as the primary lounge for all Lufthansa Group carriers, so my SWISS business class ticket got me into this lounge. Note that this is just one shared lounge, so there’s not a separate Lufthansa Senator Lounge and Lufthansa Business Lounge, as you’ll find at some other airports.

Lufthansa Lounge Milan seating & layout

The Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa is 550 square meters (around 6,000 square feet), with seating for 117 guests. So it’s a decent size for an outstation lounge, but definitely not massive. Lufthansa Group has a good amount of service to the airport, so it’s not unusual to see three or more flights around the same time.

When it comes to the layout, the lounge is more or less in an “L” shape — when you enter, there’s a central walkway with seating on one side and the buffet on the other side, and then as you make a right turn, you’ll find yourself in the rest of the lounge, which has most of the seating.

Near the entrance, you’ll find some communal tables with easy access to charging, some little semi-private seating nooks, and also some cafe-style tables with chairs and banquettes.

The lounge’s main area then has a variety of seating options, ranging from rows of leather chairs facing one another, to high-top seating along counters, to sofas.

The lounge has some cool design elements, like the backlit wall that’s supposed to look like a bookshelf.

Wi-Fi in the lounge was fast and free. All-in-all, I found it to be one of the nicer Lufthansa Lounge locations in Europe.

Lufthansa Lounge Milan food & drinks

I guess expectations of food and drinks are just a little higher in Italy, because everything felt a little elevated, especially later in the day.

When I first arrived in the lounge breakfast was being served, and options included cereal, fruit, yogurt, cheese, cold cuts, rolls, pastries, and more. There were also several hot options, including scrambled eggs, friulian traditional potatoes, ham, and fennel au gratin.

When it comes to drinks, there was a large selection of self-serve soft drinks, coffee, and tea, and on top of that, there was a selection of liquor available from the bartenders.

I love how this lounge has barista coffee, as you don’t often see that in Lufthansa Lounges! I was sure to enjoy a couple of cappuccinos.

There were also a bunch of little sweets guests could help themselves to, like cookies and chocolates.

While I didn’t eat anything further, the lunch selection looked really impressive, with the lounge staff even plating pasta dishes for guests.

Lufthansa Lounge Milan bathrooms

The Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa bathrooms are located inside the entrance and to the right, and it’s specifically noted how these are “premium restrooms from Villeroy & Boch.”

The men’s room had a couple of sinks, toilets, and urinals, and was reasonably clean.

The lounge doesn’t have showers, which isn’t surprising for a regional lounge.

Bottom line

While Lufthansa Lounges tend to be pretty cookie cutter, the Milan Malpensa location stands out a bit positively, in subtle ways. The lounge wasn’t very crowded, it had barista coffee, and it had food that was a bit better than I’m used to seeing in Lufthansa’s lounge network in Europe, including a chef preparing pasta dishes.

While I wouldn’t arrive here way earlier than I needed to, this is a perfectly good short haul European lounge.

What’s your take on the Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa?

So I was happy to be back in the skies on Thai Airways’ Dreamliner, and goodness, this was a great flight. While the hard product is just your typical reverse herringbone seat, the soft product was phenomenal, from delicious food (including caviar!) to warm and hospitable service.

Thai Airways is excellent, and I can’t wait for the airline to soon introduce a new business class product, as that could put the carrier into the top tier of airlines globally, in my opinion.

How I booked my Thai Airways business class ticket

I booked the entire return portion of my journey as one ticket. Specifically, I redeemed 87,500 Air Canada Aeroplan points and paid $138.02 in taxes & fees to book the following  (I separately reviewed SWISS’ A350 business class):

11/22 TG940 Bangkok to Milan departing 12:35AM arriving 7:10AM
11/22 LX1613 Milan to Zurich departing 10:30AM arriving 11:35AM
11/22 LX52 Zurich to Boston departing 5:30PM arriving 8:00PM

You really can’t beat the value of Aeroplan awards from Asia to the United States via Europe, and it’s potentially even better of a value if you want a stopover in Europe, as that costs just 5,000 extra points, and basically gives you two trips for the price of one.

Fortunately Aeroplan points are easy to come by, as the program partners with most major transferable points currencies.

Thai Airways business class lounge & boarding

Prior to my Thai Airways business class flight, I checked out a few lounges at Bangkok Airport, including the Thai Airways Lounge, Turkish Airlines Lounge, and EVA Air Lounge. Reciprocal Star Alliance lounge access rules really do give you a lot of options at the airport!

My flight was departing from gate D7, with boarding scheduled for 12:05AM, 30 minutes before the departure time.

Boarding on Thai Airways tends to be pretty orderly, in my experience, and this flight was no exception. There was just one quirk — an Italian guy was being (I assume) deported from Thailand on our flight, so he was escorted to the plane by police, and then Italian police picked him up upon arrival (and we arrived at a remote stand, so it made the deplaning process a bit chaotic).

Anyway, boarding started at 12:05AM, with business class passengers being invited to board first (well, at least after the guy being deported).

Thai Airways 787 business class cabin & seats

I boarded through the forward door, where I was greeted by the very friendly crew, and pointed right into business class. Thai Airways’ Boeing 787-9 business class cabin consists of 30 business class seats, spread across eight rows, in a 1-2-1 configuration. It takes up the entire space between doors one and two.

Specifically, the airline has Safran Cirrus seats installed seats on these Dreamliners, which is a pretty standard reverse herringbone product, and it’s not one that’s latest generation in terms of technology. While Thai Airways’ cabin finishes are a lot to process, I do appreciate how distinctive the cabins are, in an era where so many airlines just go for very beige and generic cabins.

Those traveling with a companion may wish to reserve a pair of the center seats, given that you’ll at least have some proximity to one another (though you’ll still have to lean forward to properly speak — these seats aren’t great for couples or families).

Meanwhile solo travelers, or those who just value having both an aisle and window, will want to select one of the window seats. For example, I assigned myself seat 19A, the window seat on the left side in the last row.

If you’ve flown in a reverse herringbone seat, odds are that you’re familiar with the concept, and the seat finishes.

In terms of features, to the side of the seat you’ll find an exposed storage area where you can hang headphones, an entertainment controller, a reading light, the headphone jack, the seat control panel, and a USB-A outlet.

The tray table extends from underneath the console to the side of the seat, and has to be flipped over to be extended to its full size.

Underneath the side console you’ll find an AC power outlet. That and the USB-A charging are the only options, as there’s no USB-C or wireless charging available.

On the aisle side, you’ll also find an armrest that can be raised and lowered (it needs to be lowered for takeoff and landing), and that can be opened to reveal a storage space as well.

The seat then features an ottoman that’s a decent size, which becomes part of the bed when fully reclined.

One absolutely delightful feature of Thai Airways’ Dreamliners is that they have individual air nozzles, which is all too uncommon on wide body aircraft of non-US airline.

All-in-all, this is a perfectly good business class hard product, but nothing special, particularly in terms of privacy and technology. That’s to be expected, though, and Thai Airways will soon be rolling out a new product. While this hard product is nothing cutting edge, the good news is that it’s still pretty competitive, and it’s definitely not a reason to avoid the airline.

Thai Airways 787 business class entertainment & Wi-Fi

Thai Airways’ 787 business class features 16″ seat back monitors. These are typically stored at an angle, and then you can push a button for head-on viewing. The entertainment system wasn’t the most modern, but was still good enough.

The TV had a decent selection of movies, shows, audio, and games — it was far from the best in the industry, but was sufficient. Due to how the system was organized, it was hard to figure out exactly how many programs there were, but it wasn’t bad.

Since the Dreamliner doesn’t have a tail camera, of course my favorite feature is the map system, which I always like to keep an eye on when awake.

When it comes to Wi-Fi, Thai Airways’ Dreamliners have inflight connectivity in partnership with Panasonic. Panasonic offers decent speeds, but not to the level of Starlink or Viasat. The airline offers business class passengers one hour of free Wi-Fi, plus all passengers get free messaging.

If you want to purchase Wi-Fi without data caps, you can purchase a surfing pass for $14.99, or a streaming pass for $39.99. I purchased the former, because I found the price difference to be surprisingly big, and on top of that, I rarely find that “streaming” packages actually live up to what’s promised, at least with Panasonic. So for $15, I thought that was good pricing (of course I’d prefer free, but…).

I found the Wi-Fi speeds to be okay, and I appreciated that you could also switch between accounts, so I could use the plan on both my laptop and phone (at different times).

So yeah, I’d say Thai Airways is middle of the pack when it comes to entertainment and Wi-Fi, just like with the hard product. Fortunately the rest of the experience is where it gets good…

Thai Airways business class amenities

Thai Airways offers a solid selection of amenities in business class. Waiting at each seat upon boarding were a very plush pillow and substantial blanket, which help with getting cozy during the flight.

There are also mattress pads stored in the overhead bin, which can be placed on seats when reclined, to make the bed a bit more comfortable.

Then there were a pair of good quality noise canceling headphones. Since there’s no bluetooth audio, this is the best option for enjoying the entertainment selection.

There was also a colorful amenity kit, with the basics (a dental kit, earplugs, eyeshades), and some products from Sirivannavari Maison.

There was also a cute little box of sweets placed at the seat… what a nice touch!

Next, there were a pair of slippers, ideal for visiting the lavatory without putting on shoes.

During the boarding process, pre-departure drinks were offered, with the choice of champagne, juice, or water. I was impressed that this was served in a champagne flute, and there was also a warm towel on a little tray.

The menu and drink list for the flight were also distributed.

Aside from pajamas (which weren’t available), I’d say that’s a solid selection of amenities!

Thai Airways 787 departure from Bangkok

The boarding process was a bit more hectic than usual, given that everyone boarded through the forward door, which made for a lot of foot traffic. I do love Thai Airways’ boarding music, which was playing up until departure.

Fortunately boarding was pretty efficient, and wrapped up by 12:30AM, with four of the 30 business class seats empty. Around the same time, the captain was on the PA to announce our flight time of 11hr30min, and our imminent departure.

We started our pushback at 12:35AM, and then started our taxi at 12:40AM, at which point the safety video was screened. It was a quick taxi out to the runway, and by 12:50AM we were cleared for takeoff on runway 2R. We had a smooth climb out, and the seatbelt sign was turned off around five minutes after takeoff.

Thai Airways business class dinner service

After takeoff, dinner was served, and you can find the Thai Airways business class menu below.

Then you can find the Thai Airways business class drink list below.

Meal orders were taken shortly after takeoff, and I was also impressed by the pace at which service got started. Less than 30 minutes after takeoff I was served my first drink, plus the amuse bouche. To drink, I ordered another glass of champagne, with Laurent-Perrier Brut being on offer.

The amuse bouche consisted of seared tuna with spicy mango salad, and a grilled zucchini roll with goat cheese. Mixed nuts and dried fruit were also offered.

Less than 10 minutes later, the appetizer was served. There was no choice, but instead, everyone got the same thing. This included caviar with poached tiger prawn, grilled Hokkaido scallop with green apple tartare, and air-fried beef bresola with grilled asparagus and carrots.

Thai Airways consistently offers caviar in business class on flights to Europe, so that’s a very impressive aspect of the service, since not many airlines serve caviar in business class.

I did find the presentation to be a little random, in terms of spending all that money on the caviar, but then barely having any accompaniments. Still, it was an excellent appetizer. There was also a selection of warm bread, including the carrier’s delicious garlic bread.

The main course was served around an hour after takeoff, just shortly after the appetizer was cleared. Of the three main course options, I opted for the tiger prawns in red curry with pineapple. This was served with jasmine rice, a turnip omelet, and stir-friend eggplant with sweet basil. The dish was phenomenal, and I accompanied it with a nice glass of red wine.

As soon as the main course was cleared, I was proactively brought a cheese course, which was beautifully presentation, and had a cool variety of options.

Then for dessert, I selected the coconut milk panna cotta with toddy palm and ginkgo nuts. YUM.

While I was stuffed at this point, I was also given a chocolate bar, with Thai Airways 65th anniversary branding.

What an incredible meal, as it was perfectly paced, with good champagne, and delicious food.

Thai Airways 787 business class lavatory

Thai Airways’ 787-9 business class has two lavatories — one is in the front center of the cabin, by the cockpit, while the other is at the front right of the cabin, in front of the first row. These are pretty standard Dreamliner lavatories, and neither is particularly spacious.

What stood out to me is that the lavatories remained spotlessly clean throughout the flight, and that makes a big difference on a long haul flight. There were also some extra business class amenities, like a moisturizer and cologne.

Thai Airways 787 business class bed

Once back at my seat, it was time to get some rest, so I reclined my seat into bed mode. Funny enough, as you may have determined based on the below pictures, I didn’t realize about the mattress pad until later in the flight, when I noticed them in the overhead bin. So it’s definitely something the crew could communicate better.

By the time I went to bed, we had just under 10 hours remaining to Milan, as we were flying just south of the border between Bangladesh and India.

I’m usually a terrible airplane sleeper, so I actually did really well on this flight, and woke up with just under three hours remaining to Milan, as we were just south of the Black Sea. For me that’s a great night of sleep!

Thai Airways business class breakfast

Around 2.5 hours before landing, cabin lights were turned on, and the breakfast service started, with warm towels first being distributed.

You can find the Thai Airways business class snack menu below (which I didn’t partake in), along with the breakfast menu, below.

I ordered a coffee to drink, which was excellent.

I appreciated the three unique breakfast options, and I opted for the croissant with Alaskan king crab, accompanied by spinach egg rolls, creamy spinach, and oven-dried tomato. This was also served with a bowl of fruit, muesli, and a pastry on the side. I must admit, this was an excellent airplane egg dish, the best I’ve had in a very long time.

Thai Airways business class service

One of Thai Airways’ biggest strengths is its employees, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the extent to which Thailand is known for hospitality. The crew on this flight was stellar — they provided warm service from the heart, and had excellent attention to detail.

As one small example of the great service, both during boarding and during the descent, the crew came around to thank each business class passenger for flying with Thai Airways. That level of warmth continued throughout the flight.

Thai Airways 787 arrival in Milan

Before I knew it, we were getting ready to start our descent. At 5:50AM Milan time, the captain announced that we’d be landing in around 35 minutes, and 10 minutes after that, the seatbelt sign was turned on. We hit some bumps on the approach, and the crew prepared the cabin for landing pretty early.

We ended up touching down in Bangkok at 6:25AM on runway 35L. From there, we had a five minute taxi to our arrival stand, as we arrived at a remote gate. With us pulling in at 6:30AM, we were 40 minutes ahead of schedule, which is great.

As I hinted at above, our flight was met by the police, as there was a guy who had clearly been deported from Thailand, and Italian authorities took custody of him on arrival.

Once off the bus I headed to the Lufthansa Lounge Milan, where I’d spend some time before continuing my journey back to the United States.

Bottom line

My Thai Airways flight had all the makings of a world-class business class product. As far as I’m concerned, the airline has among the best food and friendliest service you’ll find in business class on any airline. This flight had an especially strong showing, with everything from caviar to a delicious Thai prawn dish.

Ultimately Thai’s 787-9 business class hard product is fine, but nothing special. The same is true of the entertainment, Wi-Fi, and amenities. When Thai introduces a new business class hard product, I really think it’ll join the big leagues in terms of having an incredible business class experience.

What’s your take on Thai Airways’ 787 business class?

Some might be surprised that EVA Air even has a lounge in Bangkok. In addition to several daily frequencies to Taipei (TPE), keep in mind the airline also flies from Bangkok to Amsterdam (AMS), London (LHR), and Vienna (VIE), so that’s quite a network.

So, how is the EVA Air Lounge Bangkok? I’d say it’s nothing special, but it does at least have a bit more natural light than some other lounges at the airport. I’d say the main selling point of this space is that it tends to be quiet, even when the Thai Airways Lounge is full. For example, when I visited, I had the entire lounge to myself at one point.

EVA Air Lounge Bangkok location

The EVA Air Lounge Bangkok is located in International Concourse F, which is at the far end of the terminal, and a bit of a trek from some of the gates. Ultimately it’s maybe a five minute walk from the central security area, but I’d say the distance is a bit of a benefit, since it means the lounge tends to stay quieter.

To get to the lounge, just follow the signage in the direction of gates F1-6, and then you’ll see the entrance to the EVA Air Lounge on the side.

EVA Air sure knows how to make its lounges stand out, with bright exteriors with neon lights.

EVA Air Lounge Bangkok hours

The EVA Air Lounge Bangkok is currently open daily from 5:30AM until 2:30AM, so it just closes for a few hours in the early hours of the morning. This covers a vast majority of flights departing Bangkok, including on EVAA Air and Star Alliance partners. For what it’s worth, if you’re looking for a 24/7 Star Alliance lounge, the Turkish Airlines Lounge is for you.

EVA Air Lounge Bangkok entry requirements

The EVA Air Lounge Bangkok is a standard Star Alliance lounge, meaning you can visit this lounge if you’re flying business or first class on any Star Alliance airline, or if you’re a Star Alliance Gold member. Business class passengers aren’t allowed to bring guests, while first class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members can bring one guest.

I can’t emphasize enough how the biggest benefit of this lounge is how empty it is over most hours, even when the Thai Airways Lounge is slammed. To me that’s the single biggest reason to come to this lounge, given the very similar entry requirements.

EVA Air Lounge Bangkok seating & layout

The EVA Air Lounge Bangkok is 670 square meters (7,200 square feet), so it’s a decent size for an outstation lounge, but not huge. EVA Air is consistent with its lounge design, for better or worse. The use of neon lights is somewhere between what you’d expect from a strip club and a space-themed Disney ride, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to make sense of it.

The lounge is set along one main carpeted corridor.

As you enter the lounge, you’ll first find rows of seats facing one another, and past that is some communal high-top seating, along with the buffet.

As you go deeper into the lounge, you’ll find a space with rows of seats all facing toward the center of the lounge, with quite some design touches.

Deeper into the lounge you’ll find the single largest space in the lounge, with more of a traditional lounge-style seating setup, with all seats arranged in clusters, facing one another.

Beyond that, the lounge has a few more small rooms. Back by the entrance you’ll find a business center, with some communal workstations, along with some PCs.

There’s also a room with a couple of massage chairs.

Then there’s a VIP room behind a closed door.

I can’t say I love the lounge design, but all-in-all, I think it’s one of the nicer lounges at the airport (which isn’t saying a whole lot, necessarily).

EVA Air Lounge Bangkok food & drinks

The EVA Air Lounge Bangkok has a buffet just inside the entrance and to the right, and then next to that is a display with the drinks. Across the board, I thought the selection was mediocre — it wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t great either. I’d say it was better than in the Turkish Airlines Lounge, but not as good as in the Thai Airways Lounge.

In terms of food, options included a variety of pre-plated salads, fruit, finger sandwiches, muffins, pizza, pastries, a couple of types of soup, dim sum, instant noodles, pad Thai, and curry.

There was then a selection of self-serve drinks, including wine, beer, and around a dozen liquor options.

There were also a variety of soft drinks, coffee machines, and tea.

There were also fridges with ice cream, yogurt, and other dessert options.

EVA Air Lounge Bangkok bathrooms & showers

The EVA Air Lounge Bangkok has bathrooms and showers located inside the entrance to the lounge and to the left. The men’s room had several sinks, (Japanese-style) toilets, and urinals, and they were spotlessly clean during my visit, with products from L’Occitane.

The lounge also has two shower suites, though I didn’t have a chance to check them out during my visit.

Bottom line

Bangkok has quite the selection of Star Alliance lounges, and the EVA Air Lounge is yet another good option. The lounge isn’t anything special, and I’d say the main reason to visit here is simply if you’re looking for a quieter environment than what you’ll find at the Thai Airways Lounge, which can get very busy over peak hours.

What’s your take on the EVA Air Lounge Bangkok?

I’d say the Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok is fine, though I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit it. Turkish Airlines is pretty consistent with its outstation lounges when it comes to design and the level of food and drinks available, and this lounge is no exception.

It’s ultimately a perfectly fine place to pass some time, but it pales in comparison to the Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul. That being said, with this lounge no longer being open to Priority Pass members, it’s quite the oasis of calm, especially compared to the nearby Thai Airways Lounge.

Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok location

The Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok is located in International Concourse D, on level three, right near gate D8. Below is a map that gives you a sense of the terminal layout, and relative location of the various lounges.

Bangkok Airport has a layout whereby this part of the terminal basically consists of two connected “crosses,” so it can potentially be quite a distance between areas of the terminal. Lots of international airlines depart from the area near this lounge, so it should be conveniently located for many.

Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok hours

The Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok is open 24/7, given that the airport has traffic just about all hours of the day and night. This is notable, since the Thai Airways Lounge is only open 21 hours per day, so Turkish has longer hours than Thai has at its own hub.

Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok entry requirements

The Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok is a standard Star Alliance lounge, meaning you can visit this lounge if you’re flying business or first class on any Star Alliance airline, or if you’re a Star Alliance Gold member. Business class passengers aren’t allowed to bring guests, while Star Alliance Gold members can bring one guest.

Unfortunately this lounge is no longer open to Priority Pass, and that’s seemingly because the airport operator has a bit of a scheme to maximize its profitability associated with lounge access, and that included banning many lounges from belonging to Priority Pass.

I think it’s worth emphasizing the extent to which the public at large doesn’t understand reciprocal lounge access rules. For example, this lounge has virtually identical access requirements to the nearby Thai Airways Lounge, yet when the Turkish Airlines Lounge had one guest in it, the Thai Airways Lounge barely had an empty seat.

Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok seating & layout

The Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok primarily consists of one huge room, which is broken up into a few different areas with some pillars. When you enter the lounge and turn left, you’ll first see an area with rows of cream colored leather chairs facing one another, along with some black leather chairs along the wall.

Then in the center of the lounge, there’s an area with a bunch of darker dining tables that each have two chairs (though tables are pushed together, so could seat up to four people).

There’s also a bar area with high-top seating, as well as another section in the back right with a few more clusters of seats.

There are a few small rooms off the main room of the lounge. This includes a conference room, a business center with a couple of computers, and a dark room with some chairs and ottomans, intended for relaxing.

That’s the extent of the lounge. As you can tell, it’s perfectly functional, but nothing to get excited about. On the plus side, it was nice and quiet during my visit. One thing worth mentioning is that the terminal in Bangkok gets humid, but this lounge has pretty good air conditioning, so that alone made it worth sitting here.

Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok food & drinks

The food and drink selection at the Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok isn’t about to win any awards, but was decent enough, especially when you consider how quiet the lounge was during my visit.

In terms of drinks, there was a selection of soft drinks, water, juice, coffee, and tea. Alcoholic drinks were available at the bar, but there wasn’t any obvious signage in terms of the options available.

Cold options included a salad bar, cereal, finger sandwiches, and sweets.

There were also several hot options, including chicken soup, sausage and ham, cherry tomatoes and other veggies, and fried rice.

Personally I typically stay clear of food in lounges in situations like this (when I think the food has been sitting out for hours and hours).

There was also an option kitchen, but it wasn’t staffed during the hours I was there. I assume the selection gets a bit better when the lounge is busy.

Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok bathrooms & showers

The Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok bathrooms are inside the entrance to the lounge and to the left, at the very end of the hall. They were spotless when I visited, and the men’s room had a few sinks, stalls, and urinals.

The lounge also has a couple of shower suites, but I didn’t use them during my visit.

Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok massages

Perhaps the most exciting thing about the Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok is that it offers complimentary 15-minute massages. These are available over select hours, and anyone with access to the lounge can request one of these on a first come, first served basis.

Bottom line

The Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok is a perfectly fine but unmemorable Star Alliance lounge. Turkish Airlines is consistent with its lounge design and offering, and this location is very similar to other outstation lounges.

In terms of food & drinks, I’d say this lounge isn’t much to get excited about. However, the major benefit is how quiet this lounge is, especially with it no longer being open to Priority Pass. So if you’re looking for somewhere quiet and would otherwise visit the Thai Airways Lounge, check out the Turkish Airlines Lounge instead.

What do you make of the Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok?

While Thai Airways has nine(ish) lounges at Bangkok Airport, the Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge is Thai Airways’ flagship lounge facility, which first opened in late 2019 (not exactly great timing for opening a new international lounge in Bangkok!).

I do think this is Thai Airways’ nicest business class lounge. However, it’s not particularly memorable, and doesn’t rank among the best business class lounges in the world. For that matter, it’s actually not that differentiated from the carrier’s other lounges, other than being a bit more modern.

It’s also kind of sad how Thai Airways closed its airport spa (which has now been transformed into a new first class lounge), so the airline no longer offers spa treatments for passengers, even though they are available at some contract lounges in the terminal, like the Coral Finest Business Class Lounge.

Thai Airways Business Lounge Bangkok location

The Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Bangkok is located in International Concourse D, on level three, right near gate D4. The lounge takes up the space immediately next to the existing Thai Airways Royal Silk Lounge (which I’ve reviewed before), and the two spaces are actually connected from within, so when you get into lounge, you can access both lounges.

This lounge couldn’t be more central… it’s literally in the very middle of the terminal. Bangkok Airport has a layout whereby this part of the terminal basically consists of two connected “crosses,” and this lounge is exactly where those areas connect.

Note that if you’re originating in Bangkok, you can also enter the lounge via an escalator near fast track security, and there’s clear signage there. Again, it’s a shared lounge entrance, so if you turn left from there you’ll be in the older lounge facility, while if you turn right from there you’ll be in the newer lounge facility.

Thai Airways Business Lounge Bangkok hours & crowding

The Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Bangkok is open daily from 5AM until 2AM, so it just closes for three hours every night. It’s interesting how most contract lounges at the airport are open 24/7, while this lounge closes briefly. I guess that’s fair enough, given that there aren’t many Star Alliance flights departing in the very early hours of the morning.

Let me also mention that as you’d expect from virtually any major banked hub, crowding levels in the lounge vary massively throughout the day. The lounge is most crowded very late at night and early in the morning, while it’s generally quietest around midday and early afternoon.

Thai Airways Business Lounge Bangkok entry requirements

The Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Bangkok follows standard Star Alliance lounge access rules. That’s to say that all Star Alliance business class passengers (on Thai Airways and other airlines) get access to the lounge, as do Star Alliance Gold members departing on any Star Alliance flight.

Business class passengers can’t bring any guests, while Star Alliance Gold members can bring one guest.

Thai Airways Business Lounge Bangkok seating & layout

The Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Bangkok is 2,089 square meters (~22,500 square feet), with seating for 463 passengers. So the lounge is reasonably big, but not huge, when you consider this is the carrier’s hub. However, since this is connected to another lounge, the entire facility is pretty huge.

The lounge is a long space that’s pretty narrow, and it runs along one main corridor. As a result, it can feel really crowded, given the amount of foot traffic all moving through one area. The main part of the lounge is inside the entrance and to the right, while to the left is a smaller area that includes an additional bar.

The lounge is broken up into several smaller areas through the use of partitions. Some of the partitions are “walls” with fake plants, while others have a faux glossy wood finish.

When you enter the lounge from inside the terminal and turn right, you’ll first find several seating areas that have purple and blush(ish) chairs arranged in rows, facing one another. There are a decent amount of charging options in these areas of the lounge, though I found that some of the outlets didn’t work.

Mixed into this seating were several communal workstations, at least offering tables off of which you can easily set up your laptop and work.

When you get deeper into the lounge, there’s some variation in the seating, as there are options more catered to eating and drinking, including cafe-style tables with a couple of seats, high-top communal tables, and more.

Then in the very back of the lounge you’ll find a bar, featuring cocktails and barista coffee.

The business class lounge also has a second hidden bar. It’s inside the entrance to the lounge and to the left. Most people never even go this way, so this could be a good place to hang out.

All-in-all, I’d say it’s a pretty nice lounge space, though let me share a few more observations.

First, the lounge lacks views, as it primarily faces the interior of the terminal, which isn’t the most exciting view. Furthermore, the lounge seating isn’t very varied. There’s no dedicated rest area, no entertainment room, no kids room, etc. It’s just bland lounge seating, plus a dining area. Lastly, while the lounge has Wi-Fi, I didn’t find the speeds to be great, especially as the lounge got busier.

Thai Airways Business Lounge Bangkok food & drinks

The Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Bangkok has a respectable food and drink selection, with both Asian and Western options. This blows away most other lounges at the airport, in terms of both quantity and quality. There were a couple of different food stations, to avoid too much crowding in any area.

During breakfast, cold options included everything from a salad bar, to fresh fruit, to cold cuts, to sweets, to pastries, to quiche, to finger sandwiches, to ice cream.

There was also a huge selection of warm options, including eggs, baked beans, breakfast potatoes, several Thai dishes, and more.

In addition to the buffet, there was a cooked to order breakfast selection, where you could request scrambled eggs, miso soup, omelets, or porridge with shrimp or minced chicken.

Self-serve drink options included a variety of soft drinks, juice, water, coffee, tea, and beer.

In addition to that, wine, cocktails, and barista coffee were available from one of the two bars in the lounge. The alcohol selection seemed reasonably high end, and I appreciated the fact that there was a recommended cocktail list.

Thai Airways Business Lounge Bangkok bathrooms & showers

The Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Bangkok has a couple of sets of bathrooms, which feel surprisingly luxurious. The men’s room had several sinks, urinals, and stalls.

The lounge also has a couple of shower suites, which are nicely appointed.

Bottom line

The Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge is a solid lounge, and is an improvement over the carrier’s other hub business class lounges. I was most impressed by the food and drink selection, which was definitely above average.

While the lounge has reasonably nice decor, the lounge lacks views, and also doesn’t have much variety in terms of seating and amenities. It can also get really crowded during peak periods, which could be a major reason to check out the other Star Alliance lounges in the terminal.

What do you make of the Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Bangkok?

The Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® credit card is the mid-range personal credit card of Atmos Rewards, which is the loyalty program of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. This card is issued by Bank of America, and represents a great value. If you fly Alaska or Hawaiian with any frequency, this is a card you’ll probably want to pick up.

There are many reasons to consider picking up this card, especially if you fly Alaska or Hawaiian with any frequency. In this post, I’d like to take an in-depth look at the card’s value proposition, for anyone who may be considering applying. This is an especially good time to apply, given the welcome offer that’s currently available.

Atmos Ascent Card welcome bonus & fee basics

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card is the more basic personal card in the Atmos Rewards ecosystem. To start, let’s cover the welcome bonus, annual fee, eligibility rules, and more.

Welcome bonus of 80K points, $99 companion fare, & more

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card is offering a limited time welcome bonus where you’ll receive a 50% flight discount code for a qualifying future flight after opening your new account. Additionally, you can earn 80,000 Atmos Rewards bonus points and a $99 companion fare (plus taxes and fees from $23) after spending $4,000 or more on purchases within the first 120 days of opening your account.

I value Atmos Rewards points at 1.5 cents each, given the great uses of these rewards. That means the 80,000 points are worth $1,200 for me. That doesn’t even account for the value of the companion fare or the 50% flight discount code, which could save you hundreds of dollars.

Atmos Rewards credit card eligibility rules

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card is issued by Bank of America. The good news is that eligibility for this card is unrelated to having any other Atmos Rewards card, so you’re eligible for this card (including the bonus) if you have the business version of the card, the Atmos™ Rewards Visa Signature® Business Card (review), or the premium version of the card, the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite^® Credit Card (review).

Bank of America doesn’t have too many consistent restrictions when it comes to getting approved for cards. The most consistent rule is that you can typically only be approved at most one Bank of America card in a two month period, two Bank of America cards in a 12 month period, and four Bank of America cards in a 24 month period (this applies to personal cards, not business cards).

$95 annual fee & $0 authorized user fee

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card has a reasonable $95 annual fee. At right under $100, that’s in line with the annual fees you’ll find on many co-branded airline credit cards. You can add authorized users to the card at no extra cost (and there’s a reason you may want to do so, as I’ll cover below).

Atmos Ascent Card rewards structure

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card has some bonus categories that can help you rack up points faster. Furthermore, spending on the card can help you earn Atmos Rewards elite status. Let’s talk about how the bonus categories on the card work.

3x points with Alaska & Hawaiian purchases

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card offers 3x points on Alaska and Hawaiian purchases. So if you fly either of those Alaska Air Group carriers with any frequency, that’s a solid return on that spending.

2x points in select categories

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card offers 2x points in a variety of categories, including on eligible gas, EV charging stations, cable, streaming services, and local transit purchases (including rideshare). It’s always nice to earn bonus points, though in fairness, 2x points isn’t exactly the biggest return on spending that we’ve seen.

1x points on all other eligible purchases

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card offers 1x points on all other eligible spending. As you might expect, there are more exciting cards for everyday spending, as that’s not a terribly exciting return.

One status point per $3 in purchases

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card can help you earn elite status in the Atmos Rewards program. Specifically, the card offers one status point for every $3 in eligible spending on the card. There’s no cap on how many status points you can earn with the card.

If you are serious about earning status with spending, I’d recommend instead considering the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite^® Credit Card (review), which offers one status point for every $2 in eligible spending.

Earn annual $99 companion fare with spending

In addition to the companion fare offered as part of the welcome bonus, the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card offers a $99 companion fare when you spend $6,000 per anniversary year on the card.

The companion certificate is one of the most valuable airline credit card companion ticket for revenue travel, in my opinion. You’ll pay $99 plus taxes and fees (which start at $23), so you’re looking at paying $122+ for your companion.

What makes this companion fare so exceptional is that it’s valid on all Alaska and Hawaiian economy fares within North America (plus Hawaii), you can use it for one-ways or roundtrips, the companion even earns points and is eligible for upgrades, etc. So whether you want to go to Hawaii or Mexico, it gives you a lot of flexibility.

Bank of America 10% relationship bonus

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card also offers a Bank of America relationship bonus. If you have an eligible consumer Bank of America checking or savings account, you’ll receive a bonus equal to 10% of the base points you earn on each dollar spent. This is a way to earn even more rewards.

No foreign transaction fees

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s a decent card to use for purchases abroad, since you can rack up rewards without paying a fee.

Atmos Ascent Card benefits & perks

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card offers a variety of benefits and perks that can help offset the annual fee. Many of these perks are offered just for having the card, while one requires completing a certain amount of annual spending.

I’d argue that these benefits are especially useful for those who fly Alaska or Hawaiian once in a while, and would benefit from things like free checked bags, and more.

First checked bag free on Alaska & Hawaiian flights

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card offers a free checked bag for you and up to six guests on the same reservation when flying on Alaska or Hawaiian. In order to be eligible for this perk, you need to charge the cost of the ticket to your card. Another great thing is that authorized users on the card can also receive this benefit, as long as their ticket is purchased with the card.

This is a great benefit that could save you a lot of money — Alaska and Hawaiian ordinarily charge $35-40 per checked bag, so that’s a savings of up to $80 per person roundtrip, if checking bags. If you fly Alaska or Hawaiian fairly often but don’t have elite status, that alone could quickly more than justify the annual fee.

That free checked bag benefit for authorized users makes this a great card for families. You could add family members as authorized users, and then they could receive a free checked bag even when not traveling with you.

Preferred boarding on Alaska flights

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card offers preferred boarding for you and up to six guests on the same reservation. In order to be eligible for this perk, you need to charge the cost of the ticket to your card. Another great thing is that authorized users on the card can also receive this benefit, as long as their ticket is purchased with the card.

This is a valuable benefit that help you ensure that there’s space in the overhead bin for your bags. It’s also an awesome authorized user perk, so that you can share this benefit with family members.

20% inflight savings on Alaska & Hawaiian flights

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card offers 20% back on Alaska and Hawaiian inflight purchases when paying with your card. This applies for the purchase of food, beverages, and Wi-Fi onboard flights, and the statement credit should post to your account within seven days. There’s no limit to how often you can take advantage of this.

$100 Alaska Lounge+ membership discount

If you’re looking to get an Alaska Lounge membership, the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card offers $100 off an Alaska Lounge+ annual membership when you pay for the purchase with your card. An Alaska Lounge+ membership ordinarily costs $795 annually, and offers access to all Alaska Lounges, plus nearly 100 partner lounges around the world (including American Admirals Clubs).

Being able to get this lounge discount could prove to be a good value.

Is the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card worth it?

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card is the most basic personal card in the Atmos Rewards ecosystem, so how valuable is this product? A few thoughts…

First of all, I think there’s a lot of merit to picking up this card for the excellent welcome bonus, which includes a lot of points and a $99 companion fare.

Bank of America cards are generally quite easy to get approved for, and many people are even eligible if they’ve had this card in the past. Given the value of the Atmos Rewards ecosystem, there’s no reason not to pick up this card, if eligible.

What about the long term value proposition of the card, though? If you fly Alaska or Hawaiian with any frequency and don’t have elite status, the basic perks add up, including a first checked bag free, preferred boarding, and more.

Beyond that, I think there’s merit to putting $6,000 of spending per year on the card, so that you can pick up the $99 companion fare, which is super valuable. However, I’d say there’s also merit to picking up one (or both) of the other Atmos Rewards cards…

How do the other Atmos Rewards cards compare?

Since there are three co-branded Atmos Rewards cards, how do the other two cards compare? There’s also the Atmos™ Rewards Visa Signature® Business Card (review), which is the business version of the card, and it’s also potentially worth having. The card has a minimum of a $95 annual fee ($70 for the company and $25 per card).

You could even pick up both the personal and business card, to really maximize the points and companion certificates that you can earn, you could earn two companion fares per year, etc.

However, I’d argue that the new $395 annual fee Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite^® Credit Card (review) is really the new star of the show. Yes, the card has a higher annual fee, but it has so many great perks. Among other things, it racks up status points at the fastest rate, the card allows you to earn Global Companion Awards, enables free points sharing, waives partner award booking fees, offers 3x points on foreign purchases, and much more.

Bottom line

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card is a valuable co-branded airline credit card. The card has an excellent welcome offer, and offers perks that should prove worthwhile for those who fly Alaska Airlines with any frequency. If you don’t yet have this card but are eligible, this would be a great time to apply.

If you want to learn more about or apply for the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card, follow this link.

All-in-all, I thought the Ritz-Carlton Bangkok was great — I don’t want to say it was life changing, or anything, but it’s a solid luxury hotel in a very good hotel market. In particular, the club lounge, amenities, and service, were all awesome. I’d recommend this property, with the caveat that there are so many hotels in Bangkok that offer a great experience, and I’m not sure this property stands out, in particular.

Booking the Ritz-Carlton Bangkok

I paid cash for my stay at the Ritz-Carlton Bangkok, and specifically, booked a club room (which cost around $100 more than a standard room). The cash rate was around $650, and I booked using an Amex $300 hotel credit, meaning I only paid $350 out of pocket. However, for booking through Amex FHR I received complimentary breakfast, a room upgrade, a $100 property credit, and more.

Otherwise if you’re paying cash, your best bet is to book through the Marriott STARS program, which offers extra perks as well, and even sometimes has promotional rates.

As a point of comparison, if I had redeemed Bonvoy points for this stay, it would’ve cost 82,000 points for the night. Also keep in mind that this would’ve been for a standard room (rather than a club room), and I wouldn’t have received complimentary breakfast, or any other credits. So based on my valuation of 0.7 cents per Bonvoy point, paying cash was definitely the better deal (especially when factoring in the $300 credit I was using).

Ritz-Carlton Bangkok location

The Ritz-Carlton Bangkok is located within the One Bangkok development, on Wireless Road, adjacent to Lumphini Park. I’ve heard mixed feedback on the hotel’s location, and I think it’s… fine?

The hotel offers easy access to the MRT, and taxis and rideshares are cheap in Bangkok. Personally it’s probably not my favorite location, but I can’t say that would sway my decision of whether to stay here. Perhaps the thing that stands out to me more is that only one side of the hotel boasts decent views, while the other directions leave a bit to be desired on that front.

Ritz-Carlton Bangkok lobby & check-in

I arrived at the Ritz-Carlton Bangkok in the late afternoon, and the arrival experience was flawless. I decided to book a hotel car for the transfer from the airport, as it cost just over $100, and I had a $100 credit to spend, which could be applied toward it.

As I arrived at the hotel in the car, I was immediately greeted by a front office associate who walked me straight to my room, for in-room check-in. That’s great service, and it’s nice to have such a frictionless arrival.

The hotel has a welcome area on the ground floor, which is only where you come when you’re arriving at or departing from the hotel.

There are then a couple of elevators that take you up to the lobby, which is located on the seventh floor… or eighth floor… or something. It’s strange, because the hotel has levels seven and eight, and the lobby level is between the two, but doesn’t have a number. The lobby is huge, and feels quite grand and luxurious.

The hotel then has a second set of elevators you have to take between the lobby and the guest rooms, with rooms being located between level eight and level 26. I really don’t love needing to switch elevators every time you go outside, though this is a common trend.

By the way, on a funny note, I generally take most of my photos in public spaces of hotels very early in the morning, around 4-5AM. As you’d expect, there’s almost never anyone around. Meanwhile in the 10 minutes I spent in the lobby here, I can’t even say how many “characters” I saw entering and exiting the hotel. Bangkok is wild!

Ritz-Carlton Bangkok guest room

I was assigned a room on the 23rd floor, which is also where the club lounge is located. Upon exiting the elevators I turned right, and then my room was down the hall and on the left.

I was assigned room 2304. While I had booked a club king room, I was upgraded one category to a club king with balcony room. So despite my Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador status, I “only” got an upgrade worth around $17. In fairness, the hotel did seem to be full, so I can hardly blame them.

These rooms are marketed as being 538 square feet (50 square meters), so for a non-suite that’s a very respectable size. The room featured an entryway with the bathroom to the right, closet space to the left, and the rest of the room straight ahead.

If this room was in fact as big as advertised, it’s probably the smallest 50 square meter room I’ve ever stayed in. 😉 Or maybe the bathroom was just so big that it made the rest of the room feel small, by comparison. The main part of the room boasted a plush king size bed, a bench at the foot of the bed, and a chaise lounge by the window.

Then across from that was a dining table for two, plus a wall-mounted TV.

The room had a pretty open feeling, in terms of there being wooden panels between the bathroom and bedroom, which can at least be properly closed.

Also back toward the entrance was the minibar console, with complimentary Nespresso coffee, tea, and water, plus a variety of drinks and snacks for purchase.

The room then had a huge bathroom compound with double sinks, a soaking tub, a walk-in shower, and a Japanese-style toilet.

Toiletries were from Diptyque, among my favorite hotel toiletry brand, and were in reusable containers.

The room also had a small balcony, with two chairs and a coffee table.

Unfortunately the views left a bit to be desired. The immediate views were simply of the building right next door, though at the correct angle, I could see parts of the city.

Waiting in my room upon arrival was a large welcome amenity, with fresh fruit, some chocolates and cookies, and a bottle of prosecco.

One thing that negatively stood out to me about the room was the construction quality. Everything just felt a little flimsy to me, and sound insulation was poor, and I could hear everything in the hallway. Unfortunately I often find this to be the case in Bangkok hotels — they’re really “shiny,” but then it feels like some corners were cut with furnishings and finishes.

One other cool thing worth mentioning is that because I was in a club room, that included a complimentary coffee or tea wake-up service. So while I didn’t need a wake-up call, they were happy to bring a pot of coffee in the morning when I woke up. Booking a club room also includes two items of garment pressing per day, but I didn’t need that.

Ritz-Carlton Bangkok pool

The Ritz-Carlton Bangkok has an outdoor pool that’s on the lobby level, and it’s open daily from 6AM until 9PM. The infinity-edge pool is rectangular and huge, though there’s not necessarily a massive amount of seating (not that Bangkok is a resort destination where most people lounge by the pool all day).

The pool deck in general just has amazing views, and there’s a ton of seating out there, and I think they could try to turn this into more of a destination, or something.

Ritz-Carlton Bangkok spa & gym

I didn’t have the chance to visit the spa, but as you’d expect, the Ritz-Carlton Bangkok has a destination spa, which is open daily from 10AM until 10PM. It has a bunch of treatment rooms, a sauna and steam room, etc.

You can find the price list below — while prices are steep by Thailand standards, they’re still quite a bargain compared to what you’ll pay at luxury hotels in many parts of the United States, Europe, etc.

The Ritz-Carlton Bangkok also has a 24/7 gym, located on level seven. While I wish the gym had more natural light or views, it was otherwise excellent, with a large variety of cardio and weight equipment.

Ritz-Carlton Bangkok club lounge

The Ritz-Carlton Bangkok club lounge is located on the level 23, and I had access to it on account of booking a club room (Bonvoy elite status doesn’t provide upgrades to club rooms at Ritz-Carltons).

The club lounge can be accessed by guests 24/7, but it’s staffed daily from 6:30AM until 11:30PM. As usual for the brand, the club lounge has five food presentations per day:

• Breakfast is served daily from 6:30AM until 10:30AM (until 11AM on weekends and holidays)
• Lunch is served daily from 12PM until 2PM
• Afternoon tea is served daily from 2:30PM until 4:30PM
• Evening snacks are served from 6PM until 9PM, with alcohol available until 10PM
• Dessert and cordials are served from 9PM until 10PM

The club is a gorgeous space, and never even got remotely full. The lounge is set along one main corridor, with seats along the windows taking full advantage of the views, and the seating across from that coming in the form of cozy little nooks.

The very back corner of the lounge had my favorite seating, given its corner view.

The lounge then also has a conference room that guests can use, plus some communal seating options as well.

Suffice it to say that the views from the lounge were way better than from my room!

I visited the club lounge in the evening to check out the spread, and was very impressed by the quantity and quality of options. This was really a dinner replacement for all practical purposes, which is also sort of a curse, in a food city like Bangkok.

In the evening, options included a variety of salads, cheese, cold cuts, individually plated appetizers, and half a dozen hot options.

Hot options included leek potato soup, stir fried beef with basil, stir friend broccoli with crab, shrimp donuts, rice, paella, and more.

There was then a large selection of finger snacks, cookies, and other sweets.

When it comes to drinks, options included a selection of beer, wine, liquor, etc.

I wouldn’t exactly say it was top shelf stuff, but the negroni that was prepared for me was excellent, and even had a big cube.

I also appreciated the excellent barista coffee.

I skipped breakfast (and opted to instead have it in the restaurant), but I did come back to look at the lunch buffet in the lounge, which was like a slightly scaled back version of the dinner spread.

Lastly, I also visited for afternoon tea. There was a trolley that the staff rolled around, and then you could just tell them which of the items you wanted, and they’d plate it for you.

The club lounge staff were excellent across the board — they were friendly and attentive, and constantly checked on guests.

Honestly, it was a very impressive club lounge. Ritz-Carlton properties consistently do a great job with lounges, and this was among the best ones I had been to. As I hinted at above, the only issue is that in order to justify paying extra for a club room, you actually want to use the facilities. And if you’re having all your meals in a club lounge, well, that’s also possibly a little sad.

So I’m just pointing that out, though I did try to pop outside a little bit between the various meals to walk around, and even to meet a friend for dinner.

Ritz-Carlton Bangkok restaurants & bars

The Ritz-Carlton Bangkok has a variety of food & beverage outlets:

• Lily’s is the hotel’s all-day dining restaurant, and it serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner
• Duet by David Toutain is the hotel’s signature French fine dining restaurant, which is open for dinner
• Caleo is the lobby lounge that’s open from mid-morning until late at night, serving drinks and light snacks
• Pool Bar is open from mid-morning until the evening, and offers food and drinks for the pool area

I opted to have breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant (which isn’t usually included for club guests, but since I booked through a program offering free breakfast, I could stack those two benefits), which is quite large. Southeast Asia probably has the world’s most decadent breakfast buffets (along with the Middle East), and this property was no exception.

The buffet had endless items that all looked delicious, to the point that I found it all to be overwhelming. How are you even supposed to narrow options down? But yeah, the buffet had everything, from sweet and savory items, to western and Thai food.

As if that buffet wasn’t enough, there was also a menu you could order off of to supplement the buffet, with guests being able to order as many items as they’d like.

I decided to order the pad Thai, which was delicious.

To drink, I had a cappuccino and was later talked into an iced Thai coconut latte (which was tasty, but too sweet for my liking… or at least too sweet for what I allow myself to like).

After traveling in Asia, it sure is tough to stay at hotels in the United States again. Beyond breakfast and the lounge, I’m sure the food on property is good, but nothing otherwise stood out to me as being particularly remarkable, or like something that differentiates it from other luxury hotels.

Ritz-Carlton Bangkok service

Thailand is known for having a very high service standard, and the Ritz-Carlton Bangkok is no exception. Across the board, I found the staff to be really friendly, and in particular, the club lounge staff were all lovely.

The only thing I’d note is that this hotel has 250+ rooms, so outside of the club lounge, don’t expect it to feel like some sort of a calm oasis. That’s just a function of the sheer number of rooms, and the amount of traffic there is through the lobby.

Bottom line

I very much enjoyed my stay at the Ritz-Carlton Bangkok. The hotel has friendly service, feels luxurious, has an excellent club lounge and breakfast buffet, and also boasts good amenities, like a nice pool and gym.

While I had a lovely stay, Bangkok is an incredible hotel market with endless options, and if you’re not married to any one hotel group, then I’m not sure the Ritz-Carlton would really be the first property I’d recommend. Ultimately there are other hotels with locations that people may prefer, and there are also hotels that maybe have a better sense of place in terms of design.

But if you’re looking for a solid but fairly cookie cutter Ritz-Carlton, I think this property fits the bill, and should delight.

What’s your take on the Ritz-Carlton Bangkok?

The Atmos™ Rewards Visa Signature® Business Card is the business credit card of Atmos Rewards, which is the loyalty program of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. The card is issued by Bank of America, and is a rebranding of the former Alaska Airlines Visa Business Card.

There are many reasons to consider picking up this card, especially if you fly Alaska or Hawaiian with any frequency. In this post, I’d like to take an in-depth look at the card’s value proposition, for anyone who may be considering applying, as this is an especially good time to pick up the card.

Atmos Business Card welcome bonus & fee basics

The Atmos Rewards Business Card is the only business card in the Atmos Rewards ecosystem. To start, let’s cover the welcome bonus, annual fee, eligibility rules, and more.

Welcome bonus of 80K points & $99 companion fare

The Atmos Rewards Business Card is offering a limited time two-part welcome bonus. After spending $5,000 within the first 90 days, you can earn:

• 80,000 Atmos Rewards bonus points
• A $99 companion fare (plus taxes and fees from $23), valid for flights within North America (plus Hawaii) on Alaska and Hawaiian

I value Atmos Rewards points at 1.5 cents each, given the great uses of these rewards. That means the 80,000 points are worth $1,200 for me. That doesn’t even account for the value of the companion fare, which could save you hundreds of dollars.

Atmos Rewards credit card eligibility rules

The Atmos Rewards Business Card is issued by Bank of America. The good news is that eligibility for this card is unrelated to having any other Atmos Rewards card, so you’re eligible for this card (including the bonus) if you have the Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® credit card (review) or Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite^® Credit Card (review).

Let me emphasize that you are eligible for this product if you have any of the previously issued personal or business HawaiianMiles Barclays cards, or any of the previously issued personal Alaska Mileage Plan cards.

Beyond that, Bank of America doesn’t have many consistent restrictions when it comes to getting approved for business cards. While Bank of America has the 2/3/4 rule and 3/12 rules, those apply to personal cards, and not business cards.

Anecdotally, it appears that lots of people are getting instant approvals on this card, more so than with most other business credit cards, and more than on the personal version of the card. Applying for this card won’t count as a further card toward Chase’s 5/24 limit, in case that’s a limit you’re trying to stay under.

I should also mention the following restriction in the terms:

I also understand that I may be declined for additional credit card accounts if my business entity currently has, or has had, another business card with Bank of America in the preceding 24 month period.

On the surface, this suggests you may be declined for a Bank of America business card if you have another Bank of America business card. However, anecdotally, this doesn’t appear to be enforced much. I think the term “may” is the key here (which is different than “will”).

$70 company annual fee & $25 per person annual fee

The Atmos Rewards Business Card has a $70 annual fee for the company, and then a $25 annual fee per card. In other words, if you open an account for one person, you’ll pay a $95 annual fee, with two people you’d pay $120, etc.

Atmos Business Card rewards structure

The Atmos Rewards Business Card has bonus categories that can help you rack up points faster. Furthermore, spending on the card can help you earn Atmos Rewards elite status, as well as a $99 companion fare. Let’s talk about how rewarding spending on the card can be.

3x points with Alaska & Hawaiian purchases

The Atmos Rewards Business Card offers 3x points on Alaska and Hawaiian flight purchases. So if you fly either of those Alaska Air Group carriers with any frequency, that’s a solid return on that spending.

2x points for spending in select categories

The Atmos Rewards Business Card offers 2x points in a variety of categories, including on eligible gas, EV charging stations, shipping, and local transit purchases (including rideshare). It’s always nice to earn bonus points, though in fairness, 2x points isn’t exactly the biggest return on spending that we’ve seen.

1x points on all other eligible purchases

The Atmos Rewards Business Card offers 1x points on all other eligible spending. As you might expect, there are more exciting cards for everyday spending, as independently, that’s not a terribly exciting return.

Earn status points with spending (1x points per $3)

The Atmos Rewards Business Card can help you earn elite status in the Atmos Rewards program. Specifically, the card offers one status point for every $3 in eligible spending. There’s no cap on how many status points you can earn with the card.

If you are serious about earning status with spending, I’d recommend instead considering the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite^® Credit Card (review), which offers one status point for every $2 in eligible spending.

Earn annual $99 companion fare with spending

In addition to the companion fare offered as part of the welcome bonus, the Atmos Rewards Business Card offers a $99 companion fare when you spend $6,000 per anniversary year on the card.

The companion certificate is one of the most valuable airline credit card companion ticket for revenue travel, in my opinion. You’ll pay $99 plus taxes and fees (which start at $23), so you’re looking at paying $122+ for your companion.

What makes this companion fare so exceptional is that it’s valid on all Alaska and Hawaiian economy fares within North America (plus Hawaii), you can use it for one-ways or roundtrips, the companion even earns points and is eligible for upgrades, etc. So whether you want to go to Hawaii or Mexico, it gives you a lot of flexibility.

Bank of America 10% relationship bonus

The Atmos Rewards Business Card also offers a Bank of America relationship bonus. If you have an eligible small business Bank of America checking or savings account, you’ll receive a bonus equal to 10% of the points you earn on each dollar spent.

This is a way to earn even more rewards, as you’d earn 3.3x points on Alaska and Hawaiian purchases, 2.2x points on the other purchases eligible for bonus categories, and 1.1x points on everyday spending.

No foreign transaction fees

The Atmos Rewards Business Card has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s a decent card to use for purchases abroad, since you can rack up rewards without paying a fee.

Atmos Business Card benefits & perks

The Atmos Rewards Business Card offers a variety of perks, which can potentially more than justify the annual fee year after year. These perks are the main reason you want to consider picking up this card, in addition to the great welcome bonus. In no particular order, let’s go over the main benefits.

First checked bag free on Alaska & Hawaiian flights

The Atmos Rewards Business Card offers a free checked bag for you and up to six guests on the same reservation when flying on Alaska or Hawaiian. In order to be eligible for this perk, you need to charge the cost of the ticket to your card. Another great thing is that authorized users on the card can also receive this benefit, as long as their ticket is purchased with the card.

This is a great benefit that could save you a lot of money — Alaska and Hawaiian ordinarily charge $35-40 per checked bag, so that’s a savings of up to $80 per person roundtrip, if checking bags. If you fly Alaska or Hawaiian fairly often but don’t have elite status, that alone could quickly more than justify the annual fee.

Preferred boarding on Alaska flights

The Atmos Rewards Business Card offers preferred boarding for you and up to six guests on the same reservation. In order to be eligible for this perk, you need to charge the cost of the ticket to your card. Another great thing is that authorized users on the card can also receive this benefit, as long as their ticket is purchased with the card.

This is a valuable benefit that help you ensure that there’s space in the overhead bin for your bags. It’s also an awesome authorized user perk, so that you can share this benefit with family members.

20% inflight savings on Alaska & Hawaiian flights

The Atmos Rewards Business Card offers 20% back on Alaska and Hawaiian inflight purchases when paying with your card. This applies for the purchase of food, beverages, and Wi-Fi onboard flights, and the statement credit should post to your account within seven days. There’s no limit to how often you can take advantage of this.

$100 Alaska Lounge+ membership discount

If you’re looking to get an Alaska Lounge membership, the Atmos Rewards Business Card offers $100 off an Alaska Lounge+ annual membership when you pay for the purchase with your card. An Alaska Lounge+ membership ordinarily costs $795 annually, and offers access to all Alaska Lounges, plus nearly 100 partner lounges around the world (including American Admirals Clubs).

Being able to get this lounge discount could prove to be a good value.

Is the Atmos Rewards Business Card worth it?

The Atmos Rewards Business Card is the only business card in the Atmos Rewards ecosystem, so how valuable is this product? A few thoughts…

First of all, I think there’s a lot of merit to picking up this card for the excellent welcome bonus, which includes a lot of points and a $99 companion fare.

Bank of America business cards are generally quite easy to get approved for, and many people are even eligible if they’ve had this card in the past. Given the value of the Atmos Rewards ecosystem, there’s no reason not to pick up this card, if eligible.

What about the long term value proposition of the card, though? If you fly Alaska or Hawaiian with any frequency and don’t have elite status, the basic perks add up, including a first checked bag free, preferred boarding, and more.

Beyond that, I think there’s merit to putting $6,000 of spending per year on the card, so that you can pick up the $99 companion fare, which is super valuable. However, I’d say there’s also merit to picking up one (or both) of the personal Atmos Rewards cards…

How do the other Atmos Rewards cards compare?

If the Atmos Rewards Business Card sounds interesting but you’re not eligible for a business card, there’s good news. The $95 annual fee Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® credit card (review) is the personal version of this card, and is incredibly compelling.

You could even pick up both the personal and business card, to really maximize the points and companion certificates that you can earn, you could earn two companion fares per year, etc.

However, I’d argue that the $395 annual fee Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite^® Credit Card (review) is really the new star of the show. Yes, the card has a higher annual fee, but it has so many great perks. Among other things, it racks up status points at the fastest rate, allows you to earn Global Companion Awards, enables free points sharing, provides waived partner award booking fees, awards 3x points on foreign purchases, and much more.

Bottom line

The Atmos Rewards Business Card is an excellent business credit card that offers a great welcome bonus and strong perks. The welcome bonus of 80,000 Atmos Rewards points plus a companion fare will come in handy for cardmembers, and is more than enough reason to get the card.

Also keep in mind that anecdotally this card is pretty easy to get approved for, and the eligibility restrictions aren’t particularly strict. On top of that, savings on checked bags and inflight purchases will add up over time.

If you don’t yet have this card and are eligible, I’d highly recommend applying. This is a card that many people don’t have, yet which offers lots of value and a great bonus.

If you want to learn more about or apply for the Atmos Rewards Business Card, follow this link.

The American Express Platinum cards are some of the most well-known premium cards out there. Many people are familiar with the American Express Platinum Card® (review), which is probably the most well-known premium card on the market.

In this post, I’d like to take a close look at The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, which is the business version of the card (as the name suggests). Is the card worth it, and if so, under what circumstances?

Amex Business Platinum Card welcome offer & fee basics

The Amex Business Platinum Card offers some outstanding perks, though the card also has a steep annual fee. So let’s start by taking a look at the welcome offer, eligibility, fee, and more.

Welcome offer as high as 300K bonus points

At the moment, the Amex Business Platinum has an incredible welcome offer where you can earn a bonus as high as 300,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $20,000 within the first three months.

Personally, I value Membership Rewards points at 1.7 cents each, so to me those 300,000 points are worth $5,100 (assuming you’re eligible for the offer).

Card application restrictions & rules

The welcome offer on the Amex Business Platinum isn’t available to those who currently have the card or those who have had the card in the past, in line with Amex’s “once in a lifetime” rule. If you’ve had the card in the past, you’re still eligible to be approved, you just won’t get the bonus.

The standard rules of applying for Amex cards apply as well. Anecdotally speaking, I find Amex business cards to be quite easy to be approved for, at least for those with excellent credit. The good news is that this isn’t a credit card (but is instead a hybrid card), so this card won’t count toward Amex’s five credit card limit.

$895 annual fee & $400 authorized user fee

The Amex Business Platinum has an annual fee of $895 (Rates & Fees). This is one of the highest annual fee cards out there.

When it comes to adding authorized users, the fee is $400 (Rates & Fees) per user, which is steep. Authorized users receive the lounge access perks of the card, as well as most of the hotel perks. However, authorized users do not receive additional credits (for hotels, airline fees, Adobe, CLEAR, Dell, etc.).

Amex Business Platinum Card points earning structure

Personally, I think the Amex Business Platinum Card may be worth having for the benefits it offers, though there are fairly limited circumstances under which it makes sense to spend money on the card if you’re looking to maximize your return on spending.

Some other Amex cards offer big bonus categories, and I’ll talk more about those cards in a bit. So, in what categories does this card offer bonus points?

5x points on select flights & hotels

The Amex Business Platinum offers 5x Membership Rewards points on prepaid hotels and flights that are booked through Amex Travel. This is fairly restrictive. It could make sense to book flights through Amex Travel to earn 5x points, though for many small businesses, that might not be the best option.

The downside to booking prepaid hotels through Amex Travel is that you generally won’t earn points with your preferred loyalty program for third-party bookings, which includes Amex Travel bookings.

The one exception is Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts®, where prepaid reservations earn 5x points. That can be a good deal because of the perks you get, and also because you still earn points with your preferred hotel loyalty program. I’ll talk more about that in a bit.

2x points in select business categories

The Amex Business Platinum offers 2x Membership Rewards points for purchases that meet specific criteria. These include the following:

• Purchases at U.S. construction material & hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers
• Eligible purchases of $5,000 or more, regardless of the category

The earning rate of 2x points is valid for up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year, and then cardmembers earn 1x points. This will be useful for some small businesses, though for others, it won’t add much value.

1x points on other purchases

The above are the only bonus categories — otherwise, the Amex Business Platinum offers 1x points per dollar spent on other eligible purchases, which isn’t especially good. There are other Amex cards offering 1.5-2x points per dollar spent, so I would much rather put my spending on those cards, or on another card that’s best for everyday spending for small businesses.

No foreign transaction fees

The American Express Business Platinum offers no foreign transaction fees (Rates & Fees), should you find yourself making purchases abroad.

Additional bonus for spending $250K+ per year

The Amex Business Platinum offers an extra incentive for those who spend a significant amount on the card annually. Specifically, if you spend $250,000 per calendar year on the card, you can receive up to $3,600 in statement credits:

• Receive up to $1,200 in statement credits for American Express Travel flights
• Receive up to $2,400 in statement credits for American Express One AP monthly fees

While the American Express Travel flight credits are potentially valuable, the second set of credits is more niche. If you’re just looking to maximize your return on spending, odds are that this specifically won’t move the needle.

Amex Business Platinum Card points redemption options

The Amex Business Platinum Card earns Membership Rewards points. This is one of the major transferable points currencies. There are two best ways you can redeem Amex points — you can transfer them to an airline or hotel partner, or you can redeem them as cash toward the cost of an airline ticket.

Let’s look at those two options below. One awesome thing about the Amex Business Platinum is that having the card gives you special redemption rates when redeeming the points as cash toward an airline ticket. It’s the best rate you’ll get through any Amex card.

Transfer points to airline & hotel partners

The best way to redeem your Amex points is to transfer them to one of the Membership Rewards airline or hotel partners. Points can be transferred to the below 21 partners, including 18 airline partners and three hotel partners, as you’ll see below.

The reason this represents such a good option is that you can get outsized value toward premium airfare, especially for travel in first and business class. These tickets are often super expensive if paying cash, while they can be a good deal with points. On top of that, Amex often has transfer bonuses, which can get you even better value.

Redeem points for over 1.5 cents each toward airfare

Ordinarily, you can redeem Membership Rewards points for about a cent each toward the cost of an airfare purchase, which isn’t that great. However, if you have the Amex Business Platinum you can redeem points at a special rate.

If you book your flight through American Express Travel® using the Membership Rewards Pay with Points feature, you get 35% of those points back with a few key terms/limitations:

• You need to book a flight on your selected qualifying airline
• You can get up to one million points back per calendar year using this redemption method

In other words, you could book a $1,000 ticket for 100,000 points on your airline of choice, and then you’d get 35,000 points back, meaning, in the end, you’re paying 65,000 points. That’s a value of ~1.54 cents per point, which is excellent.

Amex Business Platinum Card credits & perks

The Amex Business Platinum Card offers so many benefits just for being a cardmember, and some of the most valuable benefits are credits. The card potentially offers over $2,000 in credits annually. Of course, most cardmembers aren’t going to be able to maximize every single one of those, though hopefully on balance, cardmembers use enough of these perks to more than justify the annual fee.

If you’re smart about how you use the card, this alone could make the card worthwhile. Let’s take a look at those benefits, in no particular order. (Enrollment is required for select benefits)

Up to $600 annual hotel credit

The Amex Business Platinum offers up to $600 per year in hotel credits. This is a semi-annual credit, so you get a $300 credit in January through June, and a $300 credit in July through December. This is actually a pretty easy perk to use — just book a prepaid hotel through Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® (no minimum stay) or The Hotel Collection (two night minimum stay) through American Express Travel®, and you can receive up to a $300 credit semi-annually.

If you ask me, this perk alone can help recoup most of the card’s annual fee. So a major point in deciding whether this card makes sense is crunching the numbers as to whether you can get full value from this.

Up to $360 annual Indeed credit

The Amex Business Platinum offers up to $360 in annual credits for Indeed purchases. This is broken up into a $90 per quarter credit. This can be used for all Indeed hiring and recruiting products, and products and services to post open positions and find talent. Personally, I’d consider this to be pretty niche, but some people might be able to get value from it.

Up to $250 annual Adobe statement credit

The Amex Business Platinum offers an annual statement credit of $250 after spending $600 or more on U.S. purchases made directly with Adobe each calendar year. Enrollment is required. Much like with the Indeed credit, personally, I’d consider this to be pretty niche.

Up to $209 annual CLEAR+ credit

The Amex Business Platinum offers an annual credit of up to $209 toward a CLEAR membership. CLEAR offers expedited security at select airports in the United States — instead of lining up to have your ID checked, you can instead have your biometric data taken, and then you’re escorted to the front of the line.

Charge the membership fee to your card, and it will automatically be reimbursed. It doesn’t matter who the fee is being paid for, as long as you charge it to your eligible card.

Up to $200 annual Hilton credit

The Amex Business Platinum offers up to $200 in Hilton credits annually. There’s no minimum spending beyond that, so as long as you spend $50+ at any eligible Hilton property each quarter, you’ll receive a statement credit for that amount.

Up to $200 annual airline fee credit

The Amex Business Platinum offers an up to $200 annual airline fee credit, which can be used toward airline incidentals and fees. One is offered every calendar year, so it follows a strict January 1 through December 31 calendar.

Every year you can designate on which airline you want to receive the credit, with the following choices:

• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Delta Air Lines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• JetBlue Airways
• Spirit Airlines
• Southwest Airlines
• United Airlines

You can change your airline selection in January of each year. If you don’t change your selection, then you automatically keep the same airline choice as the previous year.

Unfortunately, you can’t use your credit toward the following:

Airline tickets, upgrades, mileage points purchases, mileage points transfer fees, gift cards, duty free purchases, and award tickets are not deemed to be incidental fees.

This is useful for airline ticket change fees (though there are fewer of these than in the past), baggage fees, and other costs you may incur with an airline. Personally, this is something I have no trouble maxing out.

Up to $150 annual Dell statement credit (or more)

The Amex Business Platinum offers up to $150 per year in statement credits on U.S. purchases made directly with Dell, with an additional $1,000 statement credit after spending $5,000 or more on those purchases each calendar year. Enrollment is required.

Dell sells a surprising number of items from other companies. For example, you can buy Bose headphones through Dell, so this is more useful than you might assume.

Up to $120 annual wireless credit

The Amex Business Platinum offers a $120 annual wireless credit. This comes in the form of a $10 monthly statement credit toward purchases made directly from any U.S. wireless telephone provider. For most cardmembers, this credit should be (almost) good as cash. The only catch is that it’s such a small amount, so it’s very much a “coupon book” benefit.

Amex Business Platinum travel benefits

The Amex Business Platinum Card offers a variety of valuable travel perks, ranging from hotel elite status, to rental car status, to discounts on premium airfare. Let’s go over these below. (Enrollment is required for select benefits)

Gold Elite status with Hilton Honors

You receive complimentary Hilton Honors™ Gold Status for as long as you have the Amex Business Platinum. This status is useful, and offers the following perks:

• Free breakfast, a hotel credit, and/or executive lounge access
• Late check-out, subject to availability
• Preferred rooms
• 80% points bonus
• Fifth night free on award stays

Gold Elite status with Marriott Bonvoy

You receive complimentary Marriott Bonvoy® Gold Status for as long as you have the Amex Business Platinum. That status offers the following perks, among other things:

• 25% bonus points on hotel stays
• 2PM late check-out
• A room upgrade, subject to availability

Sterling status with Leading Hotels of the World

The Amex Business Platinum offers Leaders Club Sterling status from Leading Hotels of the World. Leading Hotels of the World is a collection of independent, luxury properties, so this offers perks at some properties that don’t otherwise participate in major global hotel groups.

This status typically requires $5,000 in annual spending at these hotels and offers perks such as five pre-arrival upgrades per year.

President’s Circle status with Hertz Gold Plus Rewards

The Amex Business Platinum offers Hertz President’s Circle elite status, the highest tier of status offered by Hertz. Your status is valid as long as you remain a cardmember. This should take some of the pain out of renting cars, and offers the following perks:

• Guaranteed car upgrades, a minimum of one-class, at participating locations
• Freedom to choose any vehicle in the President’s Circle section of the Hertz Ultimate Choice lot on the spot at no extra charge
• No additional driver fee for a spouse or domestic partner in the United States
• 50% bonus on Gold Plus Rewards points on all qualified rentals
• Expedited vehicle pick-up at over 1,000 locations worldwide
• No stopping at the counter at over 50 airports
• eReturn, whereby you don’t have to wait when returning your car
• Hertz Valet, whereby you can take advantage of a terminal drive-back service at participating locations up to four times per year
• A dedicated President’s Circle call center line

Executive status with National Emerald Club

The Amex Business Platinum offers National Emerald Club Executive status. You have to enroll to take advantage of this, and it’s valid for as long as you have your card. National is my favorite rental car company, and Executive status lets you pick out your car from the lot, and skip the counter altogether.

TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee credit

The Amex Business Platinum offers a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit (every 4.5 years for the application fee for TSA PreCheck, or every four years for the application fee for Global Entry). Just charge the enrollment fee to your card, and it will automatically be reimbursed. It doesn’t matter who the fee is being paid for, as long as you charge it to your eligible card.

Since I have quite a few cards offering this perk, I simply use it for friends and family members.

Access to Amex International Airline Program

With the Amex International Airline Program, you can save on the cost of international first class, business class, and premium economy airfare, on around two dozen airlines. This typically provides discounts even on already discounted tickets, so is a spectacular value.

If you book paid international premium cabin travel with any frequency, this could cover the card’s annual fee over and over.

Access to Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts®

With the Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® program, you can receive extra perks for stays at over 1,000 luxury hotels around the world. These benefits include the following:

• Daily breakfast for two people
• Room upgrade upon arrival, when available
• A unique property amenity (usually a $100 property credit, free massage, car transfer, etc.)
• Guaranteed 4PM check-out
• 12PM check-in, subject to availability
• Complimentary in-room Wi-Fi (exclusions apply)

Best of all, the rate is typically in line with the best available rate. Having the Amex Business Platinum gets you access to this, and if you prepay your reservation you even earn 5x points. Then again, Virtuoso offers similar perks, and doesn’t require any specific credit card. The main benefit here is that you can stack this with the hotel credits offered by the card, to really maximize value.

Amex Business Platinum Card airport lounge access

The Amex Business Platinum Card offers one of the most comprehensive lounge access benefits of any card. This perk is called the Global Lounge Collection®, and it includes proprietary Amex lounges, as well as access to lounges run by other airlines and companies. Let’s go over the details of what that entails.

Amex Centurion Lounge access

Amex is well known for its Centurion Lounges. These are significantly better than what you’ll find in most U.S. airline lounges, with a solid selection of hot food and cocktails.

Currently, U.S. locations include Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, New York LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, with more to come. There are also Centurion Lounges in Hong Kong, London, and Tokyo, among other international destinations.

You can access these lounges up to three hours before departure if your flight (if you’re connecting, then the three-hour limit doesn’t apply). Please note that you’re only eligible to bring in guests on a complimentary basis if you spend at least $75,000 per calendar year on the card.

Delta Sky Club access

The Amex Business Platinum also offers access to the Delta Sky Club®, with some limitations. Cardmembers can receive access within three hours of a departing or arriving flight, and must present their card, a boarding pass showing a confirmed reservation for an eligible Delta flight, and a government-issued ID.

Eligible cards issued in the United States receive 10 visits to the Delta Sky Club® each year, to be used from February 1 until January 31 of the next calendar year, with all visits within a 24-hour period counting as a single visit. It’s also possible to earn an unlimited number of visits by spending $75,000 in eligible purchases on a card account in a calendar year.

Priority Pass membership

The Amex Business Platinum offers a Priority Pass™ Select membership, which gives you access to lounges around the world. You can bring up to two guests into these lounges. While these aren’t the most exciting and high quality lounges, there’s no denying that this gives you access to a comprehensive collection of lounges.

Escape Lounge access

The Amex Business Platinum offers access to the growing network of Escape Lounges. Just present your Card and you’ll be admitted, and you can even bring in guests.

Select Lufthansa Lounge access

The Amex Business Platinum also offers access to select Lufthansa Business & Senator Lounges. Cardmembers receive access to lounges when flying on a Lufthansa Group flight.

In addition to access to lounges in Frankfurt and Munich, several other lounges are also part of this agreement, including in North America and Europe. You can find all the eligible lounges through Amex’s lounge finder webpage.

Is the Amex Business Platinum Card worth it?

Like most cards, the answer here is that it depends on the circumstances. In general, I would say that the Amex Business Platinum Card is a business card that you get in the long run for the benefits that it offers, rather than for the return on spending that it directly offers.

It could make sense to spend money on the card if your business consistently makes $5,000+ purchases, other than that, there are better cards for everyday spending.

The card offers big benefits but also has a steep annual fee. When it comes to accounting for the value of the card, I recommend considering the following:

• How much do you value the various credits?
• How much do you value the Marriott Bonvoy® Gold Elite Status and Hilton Honors™ Gold Status, as well as the Hertz and National elite status?
• How much value will you get from Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® and the International Airline Program?
• How much do you value the lounge access perks offered by the card?

Personally, I think the annual fee on this card is easier to justify than ever before. The most substantial benefit is a $600 annual hotel credit, so if you can maximize that, then I think it’s super easy to make the math on the card work. When you add in the massive welcome offer, there’s huge merit to picking up the card.

The best Amex business cards for spending

If you want to rack up as many Amex Membership Rewards points as possible through business spending, then there are two best cards you should be considering.

The first is The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (review). The card has no annual fee (Rates & Fees) and offers 2x Membership Rewards points on the first $50,000 spent every calendar year (1x after that). This is one of the best cards out there for non-bonused spending up to that limit.

Then if you’re looking for an Amex card with big bonus categories, the American Express® Business Gold Card (review) is excellent. The card has a $375 annual fee (Rates & Fees), and earns 4x Membership Rewards points on the two categories where your business spends the most each billing cycle from six eligible categories. You earn 4x points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these categories each calendar year (then 1x thereafter). The eligible categories are as follows:

• Purchases at U.S. media providers for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)
• U.S. purchases made from electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers
• U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery
• U.S. purchases at gas stations
• Transit purchases including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways
• Monthly wireless telephone service charges made directly from a wireless telephone service provider in the U.S.

Bottom line

The Amex Business Platinum Card is a perks-rich card that also has one of the highest annual fees of any business card. This is the ideal time to get this card, given the current welcome offer — that in and of itself is a reason to give this card a try.

If you’re considering applying for this card, I’d do so if you think you’d get value out of the perks. This includes an incredible lounge access benefit, up to $600 in annual hotel credits, up to $200 in airline fee credits, up to $200 in Hilton credits, and much more. I think the math on this card is easy enough to justify nowadays, and I’d say the value proposition is better than in the past. (Enrollment is required for select benefits)

If you want to learn more about the Amex Business Platinum Card, follow this link.

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: American Express® Business Gold Card (Rates & Fees), The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Rates & Fees), and The Business Platinum® Card from American Express (Rates & Fees).

I was ridiculously excited about this flight, which is something that only fellow aviation geeks may appreciate. I’ve been wanting to fly with Aircalin, the flag carrier of New Caledonia (a French overseas territory) for as long as I can remember.

Currently the airline operates a route from Noumea (NOU) to Paris (CDG) via Bangkok (BKK), and the airline can transport passengers exclusively between Paris and Bangkok (it’s not a fifth freedom flight, since Aircalin is based in a French overseas territory, but it’s a cool route nonetheless).

While I was absolutely overjoyed to take the flight, I came away from the experience with a lukewarm impression. The crew was generally friendly, and I’d say otherwise the product was pretty average, with some highs (bedding) and some lows (entertainment & Wi-Fi).

While the market between Paris and Bangkok is competitive, it’s worth acknowledging that Aircalin otherwise operates in some pretty uncompetitive markets, given that it dominates New Caledonia. So I’m happy I had the experience, and I’d gladly fly the airline again if traveling to New Caledonia, though I also don’t feel like I need to seek out this experience again.

How I booked my Aircalin business class ticket

For this portion of the trip, I redeemed Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles, given that Flying Blue is a partner of Aircalin. Specifically, I booked the following for 105,500 miles plus $474.40 in taxes & fees:

11/19 SB501 Paris to Bangkok departing 8:50PM arriving 2:25PM (+1 day)

Admittedly this award pricing is very steep, and the taxes and carrier imposed surcharges are also on the high side. However, Aircalin’s business class is a product that has interested me for so long, so when I saw availability, I couldn’t help but book. Besides, I acquired the Flying Blue miles with a transfer bonus, so that takes out some of the sting.

Aircalin business class lounge & boarding

In the previous installment, I reviewed the Primeclass Lounge Paris, which is where Aircalin sends its business class passengers. It’s not a great lounge, but at least this part of the terminal tends to be quiet in the evenings.

My flight was departing from gate A45, with boarding scheduled for 8:10PM, 40 minutes before departure. However, boarding ended up being delayed by around 25 minutes due to “cabin preparations” (despite the inbound flight arriving early), and actually started at 8:35PM. Business class passengers were invited to board first.

Aircalin A330neo business class cabin & seats

I boarded the flight through the second set of doors, where I was greeted by the friendly crew and pointed left into business class. Aircalin’s A330-900neos boast a total of 26 business class seats, spread across seven rows, in a 1-2-1 configuration.

The airline has seating based on the Stelia Opal platform, which is in a staggered layout. This is intended to be a fairly efficient product, and on top of that, the narrower fuselage of the A330 means that everything just feels a bit tighter than on some other wide body planes.

If you’re traveling with someone, you may want to select the “honeymoon” seats in the center section, which you’ll find in every other row. These seats are really close to one another and have more separation from the aisle. The good news is that if you end up in one of these seats next to a stranger, there’s a substantial partition that can be raised.

I’d argue that the worst seats in business class are the center seats in every other row, which are closer to the aisle. These seats have the least privacy of any seats on the plane, and also don’t have the benefit of being near a window.

Along the windows, in every other row you’ll find seats that are closer to the aisle, and it can be hard to look out the window when seated in these, and it’s also easier to get bumped from the aisle.

I’d argue that the best seats in the house are the “true” window seats, which offer the most separation from the aisle, and also provide a better view right out the window. For example, I assigned myself seat 7A, the window seat on the left side in the last row of business class.

When it comes to features, these seats have a console to the side of the seat. That console has an enclosed storage space, a reading light, an entertainment controller, and a hook for headphones.

You’ll find the panel with seat controls immediately to the side of the seat, and I found it to almost be annoyingly placed, as my elbow kept accidentally hitting these buttons. For that matter, one thing I really don’t like about this product is how the two armrests aren’t equally positioned — the aisle-side one has very awkward placement, in my opinion.

When it comes to charging, the seat has AC and USB-A outlets (though no USB-C or wireless charging), and those are located on a panel to the bottom, side of the seat, which is honestly quite hard to access.

With these seats, the tray table extends from underneath the entertainment screen, and it’s a very long table. On the plus side, it’s pretty sturdy, and it’s easy enough to push forward, in case you need to get up during the meal service.

The seat has an ottoman that’s a good size, which becomes part of the bed when fully reclined.

The A330neo otherwise has a fairly modern cabin, though unfortunately the overhead console only had reading lights, and not individual air nozzles.

All-in-all, this is a perfectly good hard product for the kinds of missions that Aircalin flies. It’s not cutting edge, or anything, but we’re also talking about an airline from a small island in the South Pacific.

Aircalin A330neo business class entertainment & Wi-Fi

In Aircalin’s A330-900neo business class, you’ll find 15.6″ seat back monitors, with audio and video on demand. I found the system as such to be high definition and easy to use.

Unfortunately the actual quality of the programming left a lot to be desired. There were a total of 63 movies and 25 TV shows, plus some audio tracks and games. That’s really quite a small selection, especially since this included programming in multiple languages.

Fortunately the entertainment system had a map and nose camera feature, so I enjoyed that for much of the flight, to keep an eye on the progress.

When it comes to Wi-Fi, Aircalin’s A330-900neos have OnAir inflight connectivity. So while it’s good that there’s connectivity at all, OnAir is about the slowest connectivity that you’ll find. Not only is Wi-Fi very slow, but pricing is also very high.

Business class passengers receive passes for 250 MB of free Wi-Fi. Beyond that, though, you’ll pay $7.50 for 50 MB of data, $11.40 for 100 MB of data, and $23.80 for 250 MB of data. That pricing is on the high side, given that nowadays it’s pretty easy to burn through 250 MB of data in a short period of time.

The one other thing worth mentioning is that there was no connectivity for much of the flight, as OnAir is blocked in certain regions. Then again, it’s nothing new to see Wi-Fi blocked for much of the flight when traveling between Europe and Asia.

I can’t say that the combination of entertainment and Wi-Fi really impressed…

Aircalin business class amenities

There was a great selection of amenities available in Aircalin business class. For one, there was cozy and colorful bedding, including a plush pillow, a substantial duvet, and a mattress pad.

During boarding, the crews immediately offered to put out the mattress pad on the seat, since it can be used for added comfort even when not sleeping.

Also waiting at the seat was a colorful amenity kit designed by a local artist.

The amenity kit had socks, a shoe bag, eyeshades, earplugs, a dental kit, a pen, tissues, cotton pads, and three products from PAYOT.

Speaking of amenity kits, I found it funny how the duty free shop actually had amenity kits for sale, for anyone in economy who might be interested.

Anyway, there were also a pair of headphones, which weren’t particularly high quality for business class.

Some flimsy, unbranded slippers, were also at the seat. While I do appreciate when airlines invest in nice slippers, these do the trick, and serve an important purpose.

Next, there was the menu for the flight, plus a bottle of water.

During boarding, the crew came around with pre-departure drinks, with the choice of champagne, a signature kir royale cocktail, or water. I chose the champagne.

Lastly, vouchers were handed out for 250 MB of free Wi-Fi.

Aircalin A330neo departure from Paris

The boarding process was pretty quick, for the most part. The flight wasn’t totally full, though there were quite a few upgrades during boarding (there seemed to be some Paris station manager, or someone, doing a bunch of family and friend upgrades). While it looked like the flight was initially going to go out around half full in business class, there ended up being just five empty seats.

Almost everyone on the flight was French, though it seemed to be a combination of people looking to vacation in Thailand, plus those traveling to New Caledonia.

I absolutely loved Aircalin’s boarding music, and found it to be very soothing (I can’t find it online, so if anyone knows where the track is, I’d love to hear it again).

At around 9:05PM, 15 minutes after the scheduled departure time, the captain was on the PA to announce that we’d be leaving shortly. He revealed that the flight time would be 11hr5min, and that he anticipated a smooth journey.

The main cabin door closed at 9:10PM, at which point we immediately pushed back. That’s also when the safety video was screened.

Then at 9:15PM we began our taxi, and at 9:30PM we were cleared for takeoff from runway 26R.

We hit some bumps on the initial climb out, and the seatbelt sign stayed on for around 25 minutes.

Aircalin A330neo business class dinner service

On this Aircalin flight, dinner was served after takeoff, and you can find the business class menu below.

You can find the Aircalin business class drink list below.

Side note — I believe Aircalin is one of the few airlines in the world to serve caviar in business class, though that’s only available on some routes. Sadly it wasn’t available on this flight, but instead, I believe it’s offered on the sector to and/or from New Caledonia.

Anyway, service was really slow to get started after takeoff. This is a relatively long overnight flight, but still, it seems like it shouldn’t take so long. I don’t mind if service is a bit drawn out, but I think the key is to get people their first drink ASAP, and then they’re happy waiting a bit longer. But on this flight, it just took long for anything to get started.

Around an hour after takeoff, the purser was in the cabin to take meal orders. Then around 10 minutes after that, the crew came through the cabin to offer drinks. Interestingly, the drinks weren’t poured off a cart, but instead, were run on trays from the galley.

To drink, I ordered a glass of champagne, with Pascal Machet Premier Cru being the option on offer. That was served with a mascarpone and truffle amuse bouche with snap peas.

After the first round of drinks, it was roughly 40 additional minutes before the appetizer was served. The appetizer duo consisted of grilled prawn with Thai sauce, avocado, and lemon tartare, and paprika chicken with green bean and mushroom salad. That was served with a side salad, plus a bread roll.

The two appetizers were quite tasty, though the bread roll was room temperature and hard as a rock, which I found to be an odd miss.

Another 30 minutes after the starter, the main courses were served. Of the four options, I selected the seafood “sauerkraut” with white butter sauce, white cabbage, and potatoes. I ordered this dish out of intrigue (I had never had this type of a sauerkraut dish before), and it was… exactly as expected. It wasn’t great, but wasn’t awful.

A little under three hours after takeoff, the crew passed through the cabin with a dessert trolley. I was offered both the desserts (the upside-down and royal chocolate cake), plus a cheese plate, all of which were tasty.

All-in-all, the food was pretty good. It was nothing memorable, but it also didn’t disappoint. The only thing I’d say is that the pace of service could’ve been faster, and also, heating up bread rolls shouldn’t be that complicated.

Aircalin A330neo business class lavatories

After the meal, I checked out the business class lavatory on the Aircalin A330-900neo. There’s one primary business class lavatory in front of the cabin, by the flight deck. The lavatory was pretty basic, and had nothing in the way of special amenities, and also wasn’t kept terribly clean during the flight.

I should also mention that there were some small snacks set up in the forward galley, including sweet and savory items, that passengers could help themselves to.

There are also two lavatories behind business class, but they’re shared with economy.

Aircalin A330neo business class bed

Once back at my seat, it was time to get some rest, so I reclined my seat into bed mode. I find this to be a reasonably comfortable product, in the sense that it’s not too hard to get cozy as a side sleeper. Now, it’s definitely a bit on the tight side, more for the seat itself than the ottoman.

Furthermore, I wish that the armrest on the window-side of the seat would go down, since it would make the sleeping surface feel more comfortable. But on balance, it’s a perfectly fine product.

I managed to fall asleep with around eight hours remaining to Bangkok, while passing over the Black Sea.

I then woke up with a little over three hours remaining to Bangkok. Unfortunately at this point the map feature became stuck, and just stayed over Pakistan for the rest of the flight, so I’m not sure what exactly happened there.

While I got a decent bit of rest by my standards, it wasn’t great sleep, as I found the cabin to be really warm. The lack of individual air nozzles made it hard to stay cool.

Aircalin business class cabin breakfast

Upon waking up, I first ordered an espresso, which was served with a side of powdered creamer.

A little under two hours before arrival, the crew turned on the lights in the cabin, and got started with the breakfast service. You can find the breakfast menu below.

To kick off the service, the crew first passed through the cabin with some berry smoothies.

I chose the American breakfast option, which was all served on one tray. The main course included a frittata with potatoes, zucchini, and tomatoes. It definitely wasn’t the most appealing-looking dish, but it actually tasted quite good.

That was served with a basic side of fruit, yogurt, and broken granola cookie cereal (yowzers, cookie cereal!). Then there was a selection of bread, including a roll, a croissant, and a chocolate pastry.

Aircalin business class service

The crew working business class on Aircalin was generally polite, engaging, and well intentioned. Now, I wouldn’t describe them as being terribly polished, but again, I don’t necessarily expect that from a tiny airline from a small South Pacific island.

My minor criticisms of the service all involve the crew just not being very proactive, plus a generally slow pace of service. The crew was happy to fulfill any requests, but it typically required pushing the call button, and often took a little bit longer.

Just as an example, during the meal service, I was never offered a proactive drink refill, even when my glass was empty. But as soon as I asked, they provided it without issue, so it’s not like they had an attitude about it, or anything.

The crew definitely had friendliness and warmth down, I just wish there were slightly more effort into polished service.

Aircalin A330neo arrival in Bangkok

After breakfast, I spent some time just gazing out the window, as views were beautiful, especially over (what I believe was) Myanmar.

At around 2PM Bangkok time, the captain announced that we’d soon be descending. The seatbelt sign was turned on around 2:25PM, as we were well into our descent. Our approach to Bangkok had us flying past Suvarnabhumi Airport to the south, prior to turning back to land into the north.

At 2:40PM, we ended up having a perfectly smooth touchdown on runway 1, where an Emirates A380 was waiting for us to clear the runway.

We then had a short taxi to our arrival gate, where we pulled in at 2:45PM, next to yet another Emirates A380.

Upon deplaning I finally had a good view of the Aircalin A330-900neo… what a pretty livery!

At that point I headed for immigration, which was downright chaotic, though I was through in around an hour. From there it was off to the Ritz-Carlton Bangkok, where I’d be spending the night.

Bottom line

I’m delighted I finally had the chance to fly Aircalin’s Airbus A330-900neo business class, given for how long it has been on my radar. I’d describe the experience as ultimately being anti-climactic. On the plus side, I liked the modern and colorful cabin, good bedding, warm service, and decent food.

However, the limited entertainment options, pricey and limited Wi-Fi, and lack of individual air nozzles, detracted from the experience a bit. The crew was also well intentioned but not very polished.

I wouldn’t necessarily seek out Aircalin again, but I’d absolutely love to visit New Caledonia, and would of course consider flying Aircalin to get there.

What’s your take on Aircalin’s A330neo business class?

The Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite^® Credit Card is the premium personal credit card of Atmos Rewards, which is the combined loyalty program of Alaska & Hawaiian. This card is issued by Bank of America, and has to be one of the best value premium cards we’ve ever seen.

In this post, I’d like to take an in-depth look at the card’s value proposition, for anyone who may be considering applying. This is an especially good time to apply, as we’ve just seen an incredible welcome offer rolled out on the card, arguably even better than the one that we saw at launch.

Atmos Summit Card welcome bonus & fee basics

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card is the premium personal card in the Atmos Rewards ecosystem. To start, let’s cover the welcome bonus, annual fee, eligibility rules, and more.

Bonus of 100K points, Global Companion Award, and more

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card is currently offering a limited time welcome bonus, structured as follows:

• Receive a 50% flight discount code for a qualifying future flight upon account opening
• Receive 100,000 Atmos Rewards bonus points and a 25,000-point Global Companion Award after spending $6,500 within the first 90 days

I value Atmos Rewards points at 1.5 cents each, given the great uses of these rewards. That means I value the 100,000 points at $1,500. On top of that, the Global Companion Award can be used to take 25,000 points off the cost of a companion award ticket, and I’d consider that to be worth pretty close to face value ($375). That doesn’t even factor in the value of the 50% flight discount.

Atmos Rewards credit card eligibility rules

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card is issued by Bank of America. The good news is that eligibility for this card is unrelated to having any other Atmos Rewards card, so you’re eligible for this card (including the bonus) if you have another Atmos Rewards product, like the Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® credit card (review) or Atmos™ Rewards Visa Signature® Business Card (review).

Let me emphasize that you are eligible for this product if you have any of the previously issued Alaska Mileage Plan Bank of America cards, or HawaiianMiles Barclays cards.

Bank of America doesn’t have too many consistent restrictions when it comes to getting approved for cards. There are a couple of policies regarding personal cards that are worth being aware of (which don’t impact business cards):

• Bank of America has the 2/3/4 rule, meaning you can open at most two Bank of America cards every two months, at most three Bank of America cards every 12 months, and at most four Bank of America cards every 24 months
• Bank of America has the 3/12 rule, meaning you may not be approved for a card if you’ve opened three or more new cards with any card issuer in the past 12 months; this doesn’t seem to apply if you have a banking relationship with Bank of America, which you may want to have anyway, to get the 10% relationship bonus points

Read my guide to Atmos Rewards credit card eligibility, and read about my experience getting approved for this card.

$395 annual fee & $0 authorized user fee

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card has a $395 annual fee. While that’s a steep annual fee, it’s way lower than the annual fee on most premium cards, and despite that, this card offers a pretty incredible value proposition.

Note that you can add authorized users to the card at no extra cost, and their spending can help you rack up rewards.

Atmos Summit Card rewards structure

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card has an incredibly compelling value proposition. It’s not just the bonus points that you can earn thanks to the spending multipliers, but also the ability to have your spending count toward elite status, and to unlock a Global Companion Award with spending. Let’s talk about that.

3x points on Alaska & Hawaiian purchases

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers 3x points on Alaska and Hawaiian flight purchases. So if you fly either of those Alaska Air Group carriers with any frequency, that’s a solid return on that spending.

3x points on foreign purchases

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers 3x points on foreign purchases, which might just be my single favorite bonus category offered by any credit card. This includes both purchases made in foreign currency, plus purchases made in US dollars, if the transaction is made or processed outside the United States.

We’ve never seen a credit card offer such an incredible blanket return on foreign spending, so if you travel internationally a lot, this is a complete game changer, if you ask me.

3x points on dining & restaurant purchases

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers 3x points on dining and restaurants globally. This is a very nice bonus category, though admittedly there are quite a few credit cards offering bonus points on dining. Still, when you consider the other benefits to spending on this card, I imagine many people will want to put their dining spending on this card.

3x points on rent payments through Bilt (3% fee)

Bilt and Atmos Rewards have a partnership. It’s possible to move Bilt points to Atmos Rewards, but beyond that, there’s a unique opportunity to pay your rent with the Atmos Rewards Summit Card. Specifically, if you pay your rent through Bilt with the card, you’ll pay a 3% fee, but you’ll earn 3x Atmos Rewards points, on up to $50,000 in spending per year (and then you earn 1x points).

That’s a pretty tempting opportunity, especially when you consider the other potential benefits of racking up spending on this card.

1x points on all other eligible purchases

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers 1x points on all other eligible spending. As you might expect, there are more exciting cards for everyday spending, but that doesn’t factor in the ability to earn status points and Global Companion awards.

Earn status points with spending (1x points per $2)

If you’re looking to earn elite status in the Atmos Rewards program, the Atmos Rewards Summit Card is the single best card for helping with that. The card offers one status point for every $2 in eligible spending on the card, with no caps.

As a point of comparison, the less premium Atmos Rewards credit cards only offer one status point for every $3 in eligible purchases. So if you spend a lot, you’ll definitely want to prioritize using this card.

As a reminder, for the 2026 status qualification year, Atmos Rewards elite requirements are as follows:

• Atmos Silver (oneworld Ruby) requires 20,000 status points
• Atmos Gold (oneworld Sapphire) requires 40,000 status points
• Atmos Platinum (oneworld Emerald) requires 80,000 status points
• Atmos Titanium (oneworld Emerald) requires 135,000 status points

100K-point Global Companion Award with spending

As if the above isn’t enough, the Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers a further incentive to spend on the card. If you spend at least $60,000 on the card per anniversary year (different from the calendar year), you can earn a 100,000-point Global Companion Award.

Global Companion Awards can be used to discount the cost of an award redemption for a companion, if traveling on Alaska, Hawaiian, or any Atmos Rewards airline partner. In other words, if you book two award tickets that cost 100,000 points each, that Global Companion Award would cover the points requirement for the second ticket. This is a pretty incredible incentive to spend money on the card.

Bank of America 10% relationship bonus

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers a Bank of America relationship bonus. If you have an eligible consumer Bank of America checking or savings account, you’ll receive a bonus equal to 10% of the points you earn on each dollar spent.

This is a way to earn even more rewards. For example, it means the card actually earns 3.3x points on Alaska and Hawaiian purchases, foreign purchases, and dining. You don’t even need a fancy Bank of America account to unlock this, so it’s a no-brainer to open one, in my opinion.

No foreign transaction fees

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s an exceptional card to use for purchases abroad, given that the card also earns 3x points on foreign purchases.

Atmos Summit Card benefits & perks

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers an incredible number of benefits and perks that can help offset the annual fee. Many of these perks are offered just for having the card, while one requires completing a certain amount of annual spending. The value proposition of this card is simply incredible, as there are so many potential perks.

Annual 25,000-point Global Companion Award

Just for being a cardmember, the Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers an annual 25,000-point Global Companion Award, issued on the cardmember anniversary each year. There’s no spending required to unlock this, and it’s separate from the 100,000-point Global Companion Award you can get by spending $60,000 per year.

If you redeem Atmos Rewards points with any frequency, then these Global Companion Awards are extremely useful, as long as you sometimes travel with a companion, and redeem awards that cost at least 25,000 points per person. These are valid for 12 months from when they’re issued, but that’s only when you need to book by, and it’s fine if you travel at a later date.

Based on my valuation of Atmos Rewards points, I’d consider the value of this Global Companion Award to almost entirely justify the card’s annual fee.

Annual boost of 10,000 status points

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers a boost of 10,000 status points every year on the account anniversary. So in addition to earning one status point per $2 spent on purchases, this is a further boost that makes it easier to qualify for elite status.

Eight annual Alaska Lounge passes

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers eight Alaska Lounge passes annually. The way this works, the primary cardmember will have two Alaska Lounge passes deposited into their Atmos Rewards account at the beginning of the quarter, valid through the end of the quarter.

Each is valid for access to Alaska Lounges on a single calendar day, in conjunction with a same day flight operated by Alaska, Hawaiian, a oneworld airline, or an Alaska global partner. Each pass is valid for one adult, plus accompanying children. For what it’s worth, a day pass would otherwise cost $60 per person.

Eight annual Alaska inflight Wi-Fi passes

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers eight Alaska inflight Wi-Fi passes annually. The way this works, the primary cardmember will have two Alaska inflight Wi-Fi passes deposited into their Atmos Rewards account at the beginning of the quarter, valid through the end of the quarter.

Each is valid for an inflight Wi-Fi session on Alaska. A Wi-Fi pass would otherwise cost $8 per flight. Do keep in mind that Alaska is rolling out Starlink Wi-Fi at the moment, so once that rollout is complete (probably around late 2027), this perk will no longer be worth a whole lot.

Free points sharing with other members

If you’re the primary cardmember on the Atmos Rewards Summit Card, you can share your Atmos Rewards points with other members at no cost. The way this works, you can link your accounts with up to 10 other Atmos Rewards members (they don’t have to be family — accounts of friends are fine as well), and then you can move points back and forth for free.

I’d argue that this is especially compelling for families, because it’s easier to rack up a sizable balance of points when you can consolidate them into one account.

Waived $12.50 partner award booking fee

When you redeem Atmos Rewards points for travel on a partner airline, you have to pay a $12.50 per person per direction partner award booking fee. Fortunately if you have the Atmos Rewards Summit Card, that fee is waived.

That waiver applies as long as you pay the taxes and fees on the ticket with your card, and as long as points are redeemed out of the primary cardmember’s Atmos Rewards account. It’s fine if the ticket is for someone else, though.

I redeem a ton of Atmos Rewards points, particularly for travel on American, so the savings offered by this can really add up.

Upgrade priority on Alaska & Hawaiian flights

Atmos Rewards offers complimentary elite upgrades on select Alaska & Hawaiian flights. There’s a hierarchy in which space available upgrades clear, and having the Atmos Rewards Summit Card gives you an advantage. Specifically, the upgrade waitlist is prioritized in the following order:

• Status level
• Lifetime million miler elite status level
• Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite cardmember
• Corporate travelers
• Status points earned in current and previous year
• Time of booking

As you can see, within each elite tier and aside from lifetime elite status, whether or not you have this card is the next factor that determines your upgrade eligibility. Given how few seats there are often available to upgrade to, this could make a material difference in terms of your shot at an upgrade.

Alaska same day flight change fee waiver

If you’re the primary cardmember on the Atmos Rewards Summit Card, then you’re eligible for a free same day confirmed flight change on Alaska. This ordinarily costs $50 per person, so that’s quite valuable.

With this, you can change to another flight that might be more convenient, subject to capacity controls. This is especially useful in high frequency markets.

First checked bag free on Alaska & Hawaiian flights

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers a free checked bag for you and up to six guests on the same reservation when flying on Alaska or Hawaiian. In order to be eligible for this perk, you need to charge the cost of the ticket to your card.

This is a great benefit that could save you a lot of money — Alaska and Hawaiian ordinarily charge $35-40 per checked bag, so that’s a savings of up to $80 per person roundtrip, if checking bags. If you fly Alaska or Hawaiian fairly often but don’t have elite status, that alone could quickly more than justify the annual fee.

Preferred boarding on Alaska flights

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers preferred boarding for you and up to six guests on the same reservation. In order to be eligible for this perk, you need to charge the cost of the ticket to your card. This is a valuable benefit that help you ensure that there’s space in the overhead bin for your bags.

20% inflight savings on Alaska & Hawaiian flights

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers 20% back on Alaska and Hawaiian inflight purchases when paying with your card. This applies for the purchase of food, beverages, and Wi-Fi onboard flights, and the statement credit should post to your account within seven days. There’s no limit to how often you can take advantage of this.

$50 instant travel delay credit

Perhaps this fits more in the category of “cool and innovative” rather than super useful, but I do really appreciate the thought that went into this. If you’re the primary cardmember on the Atmos Rewards Summit Card, you’re eligible to receive a $50 voucher if have an Alaska flight that is delayed by at least two hours, or that’s canceled within 24 hours of departure.

The $50 voucher is valid for 48 hours, and will be delivered to the email address associated with the reservation, and can be used for food, drinks, etc. Travel must have been booked directly with Alaska using the eligible credit card.

Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit

Those with the Atmos Rewards Summit Card receive up to a $120 airport security credit every four years, in connection with TSA PreCheck or Global Entry. This is a perk offered by many premium credit cards, and there’s lots of value to this.

Rental car coverage & useful travel protection

When picking a premium credit card, it’s worth getting a card that offers valuable travel protection. This is an area where the Atmos Rewards Summit Card shines. The card offers primary rental car coverage, and also offers valuable travel protection, for things like delayed flights, lost bags, and more. See the linked posts for all the details on these benefits.

Is the Atmos Rewards Summit Card worth it?

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card is a unique card with a great value proposition. If you’re considering applying for this card, let me talk through how I’d consider approaching this.

First of all, I think the card is absolutely worth picking up for the welcome bonus, so you might as well give the card a try for a year. While I’d argue the value proposition is great on an ongoing basis, it’s especially good in the first year, given the massive bonus.

Then I’d argue there’s merit to potentially holding onto the card, even if you don’t plan on spending much on it. Personally, I think the 25,000-point Global Companion Award goes a long way to recouping the annual fee, assuming you redeem Atmos Rewards points with any frequency.

The other perks add up as well, ranging from waived partner award booking fees, to improved upgrade priority for elite members, to a first checked bag free and preferred boarding for non-elite members, to Alaska Lounge passes and Alaska inflight Wi-Fi passes for all.

For those who have a lot of credit card spending that they can allocate to a card, I think there’s also merit to spending a lot on this card. For one, this is the best card for earning Atmos Rewards elite status, which is valuable with oneworld. That’s true both in terms of the annual boost of 10,000 status points, plus earning one status point for every $2 spent. There’s even an argument to be made for American flyers being loyal to Atmos Rewards, given the overall value of the card, including the ability to earn status points for award flights.

If you are going to spend money on the card, it’s especially lucrative for foreign purchases, where you can earn 3x points. And if you can reach the $60,000 annual spending threshold, earning that extra 100,000-point Global Companion Award is pretty unbeatable.

Personally I think the card is a slam dunk in the long run, but either way, it’s at least worth picking up this card and giving a try.

How do the other Atmos Rewards cards compare?

Bank of America has three co-branded Atmos Rewards credit cards, with two being personal cards, and one being a business card. How do they compare?

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card is the most premium, while the $95 annual fee Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® credit card (review) and Atmos™ Rewards Visa Signature® Business Card (review) are the two other cards. What are the major differences?

• The cards have big welcome bonuses, so there’s merit to giving the cards a try, especially since eligibility for the three cards isn’t mutually exclusive
• The cards offer valuable basic perks for travel on Alaska and Hawaiian, including a first checked bag free, 20% savings on inflight purchases, and more
• The biggest selling points of the cards is that they offer a $99 Companion Fare (with taxes & fees starting from $23); this is part of the welcome bonus, and can be earned on an ongoing basis for spending $6,000 per anniversary year on the card

If you’re just looking for basic perks and a great welcome bonus, either of these cards are great options. I know many people really value the $99 Companion Fare offered by the card. Meanwhile if you’re looking for maximum benefits, the premium card is the direction to go.

For that matter, there could be merit to mixing and matching the cards, especially if you can get value from the Global Companion Awards and Companion Fares.

Bottom line

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card is an incredible premium airline credit card. The card has an excellent welcome bonus, and offers perks that should prove worthwhile for those who fly Alaska or Hawaiian (or even American) with any frequency.

It’s one of the most well designed cards we’ve seen in a long time, in terms of the incentives to pick up the card, keep the card, and spend on the card. If you’re eligible and haven’t yet applied, I highly recommend doing so.

If you want to learn more about or apply for the Atmos Rewards Summit Card, follow this link.

Over the years, credit card issuers have become significantly more competitive when it comes to small business cards. While many people may be familiar with the American Express® Gold Card (review), there’s a business version of the card that’s also quite rewarding, and which I’d argue is one of the best business cards out there for earning points.

In this post, I’d like to take a look at that card, which is the American Express® Business Gold Card.

Amex Business Gold Card welcome offer & fee basics

For businesses looking to earn Membership Rewards points, the Amex Business Gold Card could prove to be the card for you, given that it earns up to 4x Membership Rewards points for spending in certain categories, in addition to a massive welcome bonus. While the card has a significant annual fee, the points you earn and the benefits you receive will in many cases more than offset that.

Welcome offer as high as 200K bonus points

The Amex Business Gold Card currently has a lucrative welcome offer as high as 200,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months. Personally, I value Membership Rewards points at 1.7 cents each, so to me those 200,000 points are worth $3,400 (assuming you’re eligible for the offer).

Be aware of Amex’s general restrictions on applying for cards, including the “once in a lifetime rule.” That means you’re not eligible for the bonus on the card if you’ve already had this card, though you are potentially eligible for the bonus if you’ve had other Amex cards. Anecdotally, I find Amex business cards to be quite easy to get approved for.

$375 annual fee

The Amex Business Gold Card has an annual fee of $375 (Rates & Fees). You can add additional cardmembers to your account at no extra cost. This is one of the higher annual fee business cards out there, but fortunately the card offers some perks that will help offset that.

Amex Business Gold Card points earning structure

One of the primary reasons you may want to consider the Amex Business Gold Card (other than the great welcome offer) is because of the bonus categories that it offers on purchases. The card offers up to 4x points, though the way in which these bonus points are awarded is pretty nuanced.

Earn 4x Amex points in select categories

Amex takes an interesting approach to offering bonus points with the Amex Business Gold, because the categories in which you earn 4x points adjusts along with your spending every billing cycle.

Each billing cycle you earn 4x Membership Rewards points in the two categories where your business spends the most each billing cycle. There are a total of six eligible categories to choose from. Note that you earn 4x points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these categories each calendar year, and then 1x points thereafter. Categories eligible for 4x points include:

• Purchases at U.S. media providers for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)
• U.S. purchases made from electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers
• U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery
• U.S. purchases at gas stations
• Transit purchases including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways
• Monthly wireless telephone service charges made directly from a wireless telephone service provider in the U.S.

Based on my valuation of Membership Rewards points, that’s the equivalent of a 6.8% return on spending in those categories, which is incredible.

What qualifies for card bonus categories?

How does Amex define the bonus categories on the Amex Business Gold? Here are some general guidelines to be aware of:

• U.S. computer hardware, software, and cloud computing includes Apple, CDW, Dell, HP, IBM, Intuit, Lenovo, Microsoft, Newegg, Oracle, Rackspace, Sage Software, Salesforce.com, Symantec, and Tiger Direct
• U.S. advertising in select media includes Google, Facebook, Yahoo, NBC National Broadcasting, and CBS Radio
• U.S. wireless service providers include monthly charges from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, and more, and it doesn’t include purchases for hardware, bundled services, VoIP services, and purchases from resellers or third party sellers

The gas station, restaurant, and transit categories are mostly self-explanatory. Just keep in mind that gas station and restaurant categories are limited to U.S. locations.

The Amex Business Gold Card limits you to earning 4x points on a total of $150,000 of spending every calendar year. That’s across all the bonus categories, and it doesn’t matter how it’s split up. There’s no limit to the total number of points you can earn with the card, though there is a limit to the 4x points categories.

Earn 1x points on other purchases

For categories in which you can’t earn 4x points, the Amex Business Gold Card offers 1x points per dollar spent. There are generally going to be better cards for everyday spending.

No foreign transaction fees on spending

The Amex Business Gold Card has no foreign transaction fees (Rates & Fees), so you can use it for purchases globally. Just keep in mind that some of the 4x point categories are restricted to U.S. purchases.

Amex Business Gold Card points redemption options

The Amex Business Gold Card earns Membership Rewards points. This is one of the four major transferable points currencies, and is a favorite points currency for many.

These points can efficiently be transferred to airline and hotel partners, and for having the Amex Business Gold Card you also get a special rate at which you can redeem points toward the cost of airfare.

Transfer Amex points to airline & hotel partners

The best way to redeem your Amex points is to transfer them to one of the Membership Rewards airline or hotel partners. Points can be transferred to the below 21 partners, including 18 airline partners and three hotel partners.

The reason this represents such a good deal is that you can get outsized value toward first and business class travel. These tickets are often super expensive if paying cash, while they can be a good deal on points. On top of that Amex often has transfer bonuses, which can get you even better value.

How now to redeem Amex points

While you can redeem Membership Rewards points toward the cost of merchandise, toward gift cards, or to pay off your statement, these aren’t good uses of your points. You’ll typically get less than one cent of value per point, so that’s not how I’d redeem them.

Amex Business Gold Card benefits & perks

The Amex Business Gold Card offers several benefits that cardmembers may find useful, though do the benefits justify the annual fee? Let’s take a closer look.

Up to $240 flexible business credit annually

To help offset the annual fee, the Amex Business Gold Card offers up to $240 back annually for eligible purchases with FedEx, Grubhub, and office supply stores.

This comes in the form of up to $20 per month in statement credits toward eligible purchases. Enrollment is required for this perk, and for many, this will be worth face value. I’d say that it’s easy enough to spend $20 per month in any of those three categories.

Monthly Walmart+ membership credit

For being a cardmember you can receive a $12.95 monthly credit toward a Walmart+ membership, which covers the entire cost of it. Walmart+ can save you money on shipping and delivery of Walmart purchases, as well as on prescriptions and gas. You need to enroll for the Walmart+ benefit.

Access to the Amex Offers program

One of the great features of Amex cards is access to Amex Offers, which offers savings or bonus points on purchases with all kinds of retailers. The more Amex cards you have, the more offers you’ll have access to.

Amex Offers could save you hundreds of dollars per year. You can access these offers by logging into your account and scrolling down to the bottom of your account summary page.

Access to The Hotel Collection

For staying two or more nights at select luxury hotels, you can receive extra benefits through The Hotel Collection. Benefits include a $100 hotel credit and a room upgrade if available. This is different than Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts®, which requires having a Platinum Card.

Is the Amex Business Gold Card worth it?

I tend to think that the Amex Business Gold Card is a pretty polarizing card. Either it’s absolutely a no-brainer for your business, or there are probably better cards out there.

Personally, I think it makes sense to get the Amex Business Gold Card if you have a business that spends a significant amount in the categories that are eligible for 4x points, since there are some unique categories there where not many other cards offer bonuses.

If you spend quite a bit in any of those categories, then it should be easy enough to justify the annual fee on the card, especially when taking advantage of the up to $395 in credits offered by the card annually.

There are other good cards to consider as well, though.

Tip: Complement with Amex Blue Business Plus

If I could get just one Amex business card it would be The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (review), which offers 2x Membership Rewards points on the first $50,000 spent every calendar year (1x after that). This is a no annual fee card (Rates & Fees) that should be a no-brainer for just about anyone.

This is a great complement to the Business Gold Card:

• You can earn 2x points on non-bonused spending with the Blue Business Plus
• You can earn 4x points in bonus categories with the Business Gold

Showdown: Amex Business Gold vs. Chase Ink Business Preferred

One of the best business credit cards out there is the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (review). The card has a massive welcome bonus, a reasonable $95 annual fee, offers 3x points in useful categories, has a great cell phone protection plan and rental car coverage, and more.

Personally, I think the Ink Preferred is a more well-rounded card with a more reasonable annual fee. If I could only get one card, I would get the Ink Preferred.

However, for some businesses, it could make sense to get both cards, or if you’re already in the Amex card ecosystem, then there’s value in continuing to earn Membership Rewards points.

Showdown: Amex Business Gold vs. Venture X Business

I’d argue that the Capital One Venture X Business (review) is another card that’s quite a competitor to the Amex Business Gold Card, given how lucrative it is. The card also has an excellent welcome bonus, so applying for the card is lucrative.

The card offers 2x miles per dollar spent with no foreign transaction fees. While the card has a $395 annual fee, that’s easy to justify thanks to the $300 annual Capital One Travel credit, 10,000 anniversary bonus miles, and much more. Capital One miles can also be transferred to a variety of airline and hotel partners. Lastly, the card offers lounge access, including a Priority Pass™ Select membership, and access to Capital One Lounges and Capital One Landings.

Bottom line

The Amex Business Gold Card is one of American Express’ best business cards for earning Membership Rewards points. The card has a steep annual fee, so it’s best for those who can maximize the bonus categories. It’s easy enough to help offset the annual fee by using the up to $395 in annual credits offered by the card.

If you’d benefit from the 4x points categories, the welcome offer, and the ongoing credits, then I think the card is definitely worth it. Otherwise, I think the Ink Business Preferred Card or Capital One Venture X Business are the two most lucrative business cards in general.

If you want to learn more about the Amex Business Gold Card, follow this link.

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: American Express® Business Gold Card (Rates & Fees), and The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Rates & Fees).

While the lounge doesn’t belong to Priority Pass, it is the contract lounge used by several airlines, and it’s… fine? It’s actually the former Etihad Lounge, so the bones are unchanged and the lounge feels quite outdated and run down. But ultimately it’s a perfectly fine place to kill some time.

Primeclass Lounge Paris location

The Primeclass Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle is located in Terminal 2A-2C. So once you clear security, you’ll see signage for the lounges, including for the American Admirals Club, Emirates Lounge, and Primeclass Lounge, so just move in that direction.

That signage points toward an elevator and stairs, which will take you up a level, to the lounges.

On the upper level, you’ll find signage for the various lounges, and should find the Primeclass Lounge immediately to the right.

Primeclass Lounge Paris hours

The Primeclass Lounge Paris is currently open daily from 6AM until 9:30PM, though you can expect the hours to vary over time based on flight schedules. Either way, it should cover a vast majority of departures from the airport.

Primeclass Lounge Paris entry requirements

Paris has a shortage of Priority Pass lounges, and unfortunately the Primeclass Lounge also doesn’t participate in that program. Instead, this is a contract lounge used by many airlines, including Air Canada, Air India, British Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, and Aircalin (which I was flying).

This part of the terminal is downright quiet at night, with very few departures. I’m puzzled why this lounge doesn’t belong to Priority Pass, given that it wasn’t that full, so you’d think that would be a decent way to monetize this space.

I must say, my experience of actually getting into the lounge left a bit to be desired. For example, I showed up at the lounge a little before 5:40PM, just over three hours before departure. At the entrance I was told I was too early, and needed to come back later. I asked when I should come back, and the lounge receptionist came up with the answer of 12 minutes, which would’ve been three hours before departure.

Fair enough! I realize some lounges restrict how far in advance they’ll provide access, so I then returned three hours before departure, as asked. Well, when I returned, I had the same receptionist, and she tried to scan my boarding pass, but told me it was still too early to access the lounge. So I asked when I should return, and she said in 15 minutes.

So I finally returned again 15 minutes later, only to once again be told I should come back 15 minutes later. At this point I thought it was ridiculous — it’s fine if the policy is whatever it is, but stop telling me to come back in X amount of time, only for that to not be accurate.

At that point I just asked for a supervisor (since she couldn’t actually tell me when I should return). He quickly showed up, and after seemingly “opening” the flight for lounge check-in, I was finally admitted.

Primeclass Lounge Paris seating & layout

The Primeclass Lounge Paris opened under its current branding in 2024. Initially, this operated as the Etihad Lounge from 2013 until 2021 (I reviewed it at the time), at which point Etihad decided to close its lounge, as the airline focused on controlling costs. So in terms of design, almost nothing has changed since 2013, and this very much feels like an old-style Etihad Lounge.

The lounge covers a space of around 620 square meters (6,700 square feet), so it’s quite a good size. The main part of the lounge consists of rows of seats facing one another, with some TVs along the side of the room.

The other main part of the lounge consists of the dining and bar area, which includes a bunch of tables with chairs and banquettes, plus some high-top seating.

The back of the lounge also has a couple of private rooms that are roped off, though I doubt they’re used for much nowadays (back in the day they would be for those traveling in Etihad’s A380 The Residence).

The lounge also has a play room for kids.

The one thing that stood out to me is how run down the lounge was. It’s clear that no real maintenance had been performed since the initial Etihad days. Along similar lines, there weren’t many conveniently located outlets, and for those that did exist, they didn’t consistently work. Even the tables and chairs largely felt a bit wobbly and not terribly clean.

Primeclass Lounge Paris food & drinks

The Primeclass Lounge had a selection of self-serve food and drinks, and I’d say the options were pretty average, and you can find the menu below.

The food selection included a variety of salads and veggies, cold cuts, cheese, and hot options like basmati rice, lemon and thyme chicken, veal with mushrooms, and vegetables with spices.

When it comes to drinks, there was a selection of self-serve liquor, wine, bottled soft drinks, juice, water, a coffee machine, and tea.

There was also a fridge with some yogurts and desserts in cups.

Primeclass Lounge Paris bathrooms & showers

One side of the Primeclass Lounge Paris has all the bathrooms. Specifically, you’ll find this when you enter the lounge and turn right.

The men’s room had a few sinks, urinals, and toilets, and was relatively clean. The lounge also has showers (in theory), but it appears they might no longer be in use, since the Etihad days.

There was also a prayer room, obviously a remnant of Etihad times.

Bottom line

The Primeclass Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle is hardly the most inspiring contract lounge out there. This is the former Etihad Lounge, and not a whole lot has changed in terms of design since it first opened in 2013, so manage your expectations on that front. When it comes to the soft product, food and drinks are roughly what you’d expect from a contract lounge at a place like Charles de Gaulle.

So I’ll put this lounge firmly in the category of “okay, but nothing special.” It’s a decent place to pass some time, but I wouldn’t arrive early to use this.

What do you make of the Primeclass Lounge Paris?

During my exotic journey to Bangkok via Paris, I spent a couple of nights in Paris, and decided to check out two different points hotels. For the first night, I booked SAX Paris, a Hilton LXR property, which I reviewed in the last installment. For the second night, I booked Hotel du Louvre Paris, a Hyatt Unbound Collection property, which I’ll be reviewing in this installment.

The 164-key Hotel du Louvre Paris was a great choice, and I had a good stay. This is an old world Paris hotel with a good sense of place (unlike SAX Paris). The hotel also has a central location, friendly service, and a large percentage of accommodations are suites (which is good for upgrades).

Ultimately this is a tier below Paris’ top properties, and perhaps that’s my biggest hesitation with staying here — I do strongly prefer the Park Hyatt Paris, and if redeeming points, that’s only marginally more expensive. But for what it is, I think this hotel is very good.

Booking Hotel du Louvre Paris

I booked my stay at Hotel du Louvre Paris using World of Hyatt points. Specifically, this is a Category 7 property, and my free night redemption cost 35,000 points. I value World of Hyatt points at 1.5 cents each, so to me that’s like paying $525 worth of points to stay here.

If paying cash, the rate would’ve been around €600 per night. If you are going to pay cash for a stay here, I’d recommend booking through the Hyatt Prive program, which offers extra perks, like a property credit, room upgrade, etc. Ford and his team are happy to help with these requests, and can be reached at ford@fordbtravel.com.

One general “value” hesitation I have with Hotel du Louvre is that the Park Hyatt Paris is only marginally more expensive when redeeming points, while it’s maybe double the price if paying cash. So if redeeming points, I do have a strong preference for the Park Hyatt, assuming it’s available, at least under current pricing (though that could soon change, with the upcoming devaluation).

Hotel du Louvre Paris location & history

Hotel du Louvre Paris has a very central location, and the name might be a hint as to where it’s located. 😉 Hotel du Louvre is between the Louvre Museum and the Opera Garnier. Personally I can’t say I have a strong preference one way or another on hotel location in Paris, as it’s a city where I enjoy just strolling around just about anywhere.

As you arrive at Hotel du Louvre, you’ll immediately appreciate what a historic building it’s housed in. Hotel du Louvre was commissioned by Napoleon III in 1855, as the first luxury “grand hotel” in Paris. The location ended up being moved across the square in 1887, but it’s still pretty cool that this building is around 140 years old.

Hotel du Louvre Paris lobby & check-in

Hotel du Louvre Paris has such an old world feel the second you step into the lobby, in the best way possible. The lobby spans two levels, with lots of historic design elements.

While there’s limited seating in the lobby as such, if you go up a level, you’ll find a room with some areas for lounging, which is a good place to hang out if your room isn’t yet ready.

I arrived at the hotel in the early afternoon, and my room was ready within around an hour. I was thanked for being a lifetime World of Hyatt Globalist member, and was told that I had been upgraded to a suite, and that breakfast would be included on account of my status. One of the great things about this property is that over one-third of accommodations are suites, so that’s great in terms of upgrade odds.

Hotel du Louvre Paris suite

I had been assigned room 150, located on the first floor (the hotel has five floors). Since this is an old building, there are a couple of directions you can go to get to the rooms. My fastest path included going down the hallway past reception (which goes past the restaurant and bar), and then going up a level via the staircase or historic elevator.

It was then just a short walk to my room. I thought it was cute how there was a little book exchange in the hallway, where you could leave or take a book.

Anyway, I was told that I had been upgraded to a Louvre Suite, though I don’t think that’s quite accurate. The Louvre Suite is marketed as being 50 square meters (540 square feet), and I got the sense that this suite was significantly larger. So I’m not sure if there’s just significant variance between the sizes of Louvre Suites, or if I ended up in a different category.

The suite featured an entryway with a half bathroom to the right, and then the living room straight ahead.

The room’s bones were incredible — the ceilings were high, there was tons of natural light, and the wall treatments were very impressive. What disappointed me a bit is that the furniture didn’t seem to match the design otherwise — the furniture felt rather shabby and worn, and didn’t look nearly as luxe as the pictures on the hotel’s website.

The living room boasted a couch and a dining table with two chairs.

Underneath the wall-mounted TV was a console with a Nespresso coffee machine and kettle.

The mini-fridge simply had two complimentary bottles of water. Rather than having a traditional minibar, the hotel instead has a menu off of which you can order minibar items, and they’ll be delivered within 20 minutes of making the request.

There was then a door separating the living room from the bedroom. The bedroom had a king size bed, though I must admit, I didn’t find the bed to be very comfortable. The mattress was on the hard side, and the pillows weren’t terribly plush. I don’t want to say it was a bad night of sleep, but I far preferred the bed at SAX Paris.

The bedroom also had a wall-mounted TV, plus two chairs and a side table.

The main bathroom was off the bedroom, and had a single sink, plus a shower “compound” with both a walk-in shower and a bathtub.

Toiletries were from CODAGE Paris, in reusable containers.

The toilet was then off to the side, in a separate room.

There was a half bathroom back toward the entrance, which had a toilet and sink.

The suite then had a narrow balcony that stretched the entire width of the room, with views of the surrounding area.

Around an hour after arriving in the room, I was delivered a very nice welcome amenity, consisting of a bottle of white wine, a bottle of water, and some chocolates.

All-in-all, I quite liked the room. I very much appreciated how big it was, and it also had a much better sense of place than SAX Paris. I do wish the hotel would spend a bit more on finishes and furnishings, because I think it would put this property into a different league.

Hotel du Louvre Paris gym & private cabins

Hotel du Louvre Paris doesn’t have a spa or pool, but it does have a solid gym, which is open 24/7. The gym is located on the first floor, right above the lobby, and has a good selection of cardio and strength training equipment.

The hotel has another unique amenity, which I very much appreciate. The hotel has three private cabins (as they’re marketed), which are essentially shower suites. The idea is that if guests show up early and want to shower before their room is ready, these are places where they can freshen up. It’s a thoughtful amenity that I’m sure many guests appreciate.

What’s odd, though, is that the gym didn’t actually have a dedicated bathroom. It’s located right next to the three private cabins, but if those are occupied, there aren’t any other bathrooms to use.

Hotel du Louvre Paris restaurant & bar

Hotel du Louvre Paris has two main dining outlets — there’s Brasserie du Louvre, the all-day dining restaurant, and L’Officine du Louvre, the all-day lobby bar. Let’s take a closer look at both of those.

Brasserie du Louvre is open daily from 7AM until 10:30PM, and it serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks, and you can find all the menus here. I’ve heard lunch and dinner here are excellent, though I only had breakfast during my visit. The restaurant is a good size, with a variety of seating options, both indoor and outdoor (weather permitting).

The breakfast buffet was high quality, with cold cuts, cheese, fruit, yogurt, cereal, bread, pastries, pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, and more.

For those looking for a morning buzz, there’s also some champagne at the buffet, which guests can help themselves to.

Beyond the buffet, guests can order hot drinks and an additional dish from one of the servers.

I initially had an excellent cappuccino to drink, and then later I had filter coffee.

I also decided to order a veggie omelet off the menu, which was very good.

Beyond the main restaurant, L’Officine du Louvre is open daily from 9AM until 12AM, and is the hotel’s lobby bar. It serves food and drinks all day, so you can come here for a coffee, cocktail, or a full meal, and you can find all the menus here.

This space has a glass roof, and is described as a tribute to Napoleon III’s passion for botany. It’s such a charming space, and so quintessentially Paris.

The first day I came here for a coffee.

Then shortly after check-out time (since I had a late evening flight), I came here for a salmon club sandwich, and sat here for a couple of hours working. Yes, club sandwiches are my ultimate weakness, at least in Paris.

Hotel du Louvre Paris service

Service at Hotel du Louvre Paris was excellent across the board. I found all the staff to be friendly, polished, and professional. Admittedly this isn’t the highest touch property in the world, so it’s not like I had that many requests or unusual interactions. Either way, I have zero complaints about the service here.

Bottom line

Hotel du Louvre Paris is a great World of Hyatt property, and it’s an especially good option if you’re looking for an upscale hotel, but not necessarily the top tier of Paris hotels. I really loved the property’s bones, central location, nice restaurant and bar (with good breakfast), and friendly service. It’s also noteworthy how many suites there are, which means chances of a Globalist suite upgrade are good.

I just have two minor(ish) issues with this property. The first is that I feel the furniture holds back this hotel, and just feels kind of random, given the design of the hotel otherwise. I’m not sure if that was specific to my room, since the pictures online look much nicer. My other issue is simply that if redeeming points, I’d have a strong preference for the Park Hyatt Paris, which is way more expensive when paying cash, but only moderately more when paying with points (at least as of now).

What’s your take on Hotel du Louvre Paris, Hyatt Unbound Collection?

During my exotic journey to Bangkok via Paris, I spent a couple of nights in Paris, and decided to check out two different points hotels. For the first night, I booked SAX Paris, a Hilton LXR property. This 118-key property opened in mid-2025, belonging to Hilton’s portfolio of luxury, independent hotels. Given Hilton’s lack of a good luxury footprint in Paris, I figured it was worth visiting this property.

To the hotel’s credit, I found all the staff to be friendly and well intentioned, I enjoyed the breakfast at the rooftop restaurant, and I commend the hotel’s commitment to a theme… or something.

But this hotel simply isn’t for me, as it just has way too much focus on style over substance. The rooms are tiny and poorly designed, there’s not enough lighting in public spaces, there are way too many mirrors, and frankly, there’s just not much about the hotel that actually feels luxurious.

It’s a perfectly fine property, I just think it’s not priced or branded appropriately, since I’d say this otherwise feels more like a mid-range lifestyle hotel. In a separate installment, I reviewed Hotel du Louvre Paris, Hyatt Unbound Collection, which I preferred.

Booking the SAX Paris

I booked my stay at SAX Paris using a Hilton Honors free night award, which was expiring soon. As a point of comparison, if I had redeemed Hilton Honors points, the hotel would’ve cost 110,000 points for the night. Based on my valuation of 0.5 cents per Hilton point, that rate is like paying $550 per night to stay here.

If paying cash, the rate would’ve been around €600 per night. If you are going to pay cash for a stay here, I’d recommend booking through the Hilton for Luxury program, which offers extra perks, like a property credit, room upgrade, etc. Ford and his team are happy to help with these requests, and can be reached at ford@fordbtravel.com.

SAX Paris location & history

SAX Paris is in the 7th arrondissement, on Paris’ Left Bank. It’s located near the Champ de Mars, and that also gives it nice views of the Eiffel Tower. This is a unique location among hotels belonging to the major hotel groups, as it’s in a relatively quiet area.

So I don’t have a terribly strong take on the location. Paris is a city where I love to walk everywhere, so a mile here or there doesn’t make much of a difference to me.

I think there’s one interesting thing worth pointing out about this hotel, which is that this property was initially supposed to be branded as a “standard” Hilton. Specifically, it was supposed to be known as the Hilton Paris Eiffel Tower, with an opening in 2019.

However, the hotel ended up opening six years later, and under a more premium brand. So I can’t help but feel like the “bones” of the hotel reflect what you’d expect from a more run-of-the-mill Hilton, rather than a luxury brand.

SAX Paris lobby & check-in

SAX Paris certainly has a distinctive design. I commend them for sticking to the theme, the problem is just that I don’t particularly care for the theme, and it makes me feel like I’m in some generic hip hotel in a random city, rather than in a place like Paris.

The lobby is cool but tiny, with two reception desks on the right, and two couches on the left. As you might expect, the lobby can get really busy when there are multiple people checking in or out.

The rest of the lobby has a lot of bricks, flowers, and faux candles. Again, I guess I should’ve anticipated this, but I felt like I was in some sort of a haunted house or funeral home, or something.

In order to access the elevators, you first have to take a set of stairs up a level. Again, the lighting is just really bad, and you can barely see where you’re going.

To continue on the topic of bad lighting, below are what the bathrooms look like in the lobby. Folks, I’m trying to feel like I’m enjoying a sunny day in Paris, and not like I’m in a nightclub at 2AM.

Anyway, back to the check-in experience. On the plus side, the people working at check-in were super friendly, and I was offered a drink (like a water, coffee, or champagne) upon arrival. I was checked in pretty quickly, and on account of my Hilton Honors Diamond status, I was upgraded one category, to a deluxe room. I was also informed that I’d receive complimentary breakfast on account of my status.

SAX Paris guest room

SAX Paris goes from level minus two (the wellness area) to level eight (the rooftop), and I was assigned room 612, located on the sixth floor. As mentioned above, I was in a deluxe king room, marketed as being 280 square feet (26 square meters).

As expected, the room was compact. It featured an entryway with the bathroom to the left, the rest of the room straight ahead, and some closet space to the right.

The room then boasted a king size bed (which was very plush and comfortable), with a small night stand at each side. There was a TV at the foot of the bed, which could be lowered as well, to give the room a more open feel.

On the other side of the TV was a very small dining table with two chairs, which could also double as a desk.

The minibar was back near the entrance, and included a Nespresso machine, a selection of tea, and a variety of drinks and snacks for purchase (the one bottle of still and sparkling water were complimentary).

While some rooms at SAX Paris have an Eiffel Tower view, mine didn’t. My room actually looked at very little, mostly the back side of a nearby building. Another thing I should mention is that there was really loud music until late at night (I believe coming from the hotel’s rooftop restaurant), so you may actually prefer to stay on a lower floor, if you have the choice.

The bathroom was back toward the entrance, and included double sinks (but then with virtually no counter space), a walk-in shower, and a toilet in a separate room.

Toiletries were in reusable, hotel branded containers, and I found the scent to be pleasant.

Around an hour after checking in, I was brought a welcome amenity, consisting of a couple of madeleines and two bottles of juice.

Later in the evening, turndown service was provided, and I have to give the hotel credit for the quality of that, as it included a cushy floor mat next to the bed, and even some chocolates.

I don’t mean to be overly negative about the room, but this design just isn’t for me. What annoyed me wasn’t the small size of the room, but how incredibly poorly it was designed. It was like all the design choices were made purely based on aesthetics rather than functionality.

For example, I found it impossible to read the lighting switches (and my vision isn’t bad), I found the number of mirrors used throughout the property to be disorienting, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such poorly designed bathroom sinks. I have nothing against non-generic rooms and some cool mood lighting, but it can’t be used in a way where it feels like it just masks effort otherwise, and that’s very much how the room made me feel.

SAX Paris spa & gym

On level minus two, SAX Paris has its wellness area. This includes a small spa with two treatment rooms, though there’s not much to the complex beyond that. I didn’t get any treatments, but the option is there.

On this level you’ll also find the 24/7 gym.

While the gym lacks natural light, it’s otherwise solid, with an impressive variety of both cardio and strength training equipment. I also liked how the gym had an espresso machine and even some energy bars.

You’ll also find a sauna and steam room on level minus two, which is open daily from 7AM until 9PM.

SAX Paris courtyard & pool

Probably the most identifiable feature of SAX Paris is the courtyard area, located on the lobby level. It’s called The Garden (well, Le Jardin de SAX), and it’s a place where you can get food and drinks from the main restaurant and bar area.

Now, this space also has a small heated pool (it’s 29 degrees Celsius or 85 degrees Fahrenheit ) and a jacuzzi. I guess this is a cute concept, but I couldn’t help but chuckle. Could you imagine actually using the pool if the dining tables right up against it were occupied? Since I wasn’t visiting in summer, the outdoor space was entirely empty, but otherwise it might be a different story…

SAX Paris restaurants & bars

When it comes to dining at SAX Paris, there are a couple of main venues, so let’s go over them.

First there’s SAX, which is essentially the all-day dining restaurant, bar, and lounge, on the lobby level, serving what you’d expect to find at a Paris hotel. This is open daily from 10:30AM until 11:45PM. Much like the rest of the hotel, the decor is quite something, and on multiple occasions I had to remind myself that these weren’t Halloween decorations.

I worked from SAX for a bit in the afternoon, and came here for a latte, which was served with a couple of cute chocolates.

Later in the evening I met a friend for drinks at the hotel, and ordered a negroni, which was excellent, and was served with nuts and olives. While I was initially going to go out to eat, I ended up just ordering a club sandwich, as exhaustion got the best of me.

Then SAX Paris has Kinugawa as its signature restaurant. This is a small chain with Japanese inspired cuisine, with locations across France (and also in Dubai). This is quite the destination restaurant for the hotel, and is popular with non-guests as well. I didn’t go here for dinner, but this is where breakfast is served as well (between 7AM and 10:30AM), which is a treat.

It’s a gorgeous restaurant, no doubt, so how nice that breakfast can be enjoyed here.

There were two breakfast options — for €32 you could have just the buffet, and for €45 you can also add an extra dish. The Hilton Honors Diamond breakfast included the full option.

The breakfast quality was phenomenal, with a huge selection of fruits, veggies, yogurt, cereal, cold cuts, cheese, pastries, and much more.

There was also a station with freshly made crepes, waffles, and pancakes, plus a hot chooclate machine.

To drink, I ordered a cappuccino, which was barista made, and perfectly prepared.

I also ordered an avocado toast with a poached egg. Yummy!

Later as the sun rose, I could appreciate the nice views of the Eiffel Tower from up here!

SAX Paris service

I found staff at SAX Paris to be friendly across the board. I wouldn’t say service felt very high touch or that it gave strong luxury hotel vibes, but I can’t fault any employee I interacted with. The staff were definitely on the young side, but what they lacked in experience they made up for in enthusiasm.

Bottom line

SAX Paris was supposed to mark a new chapter of luxury for Hilton in Paris, given that it’s a city where the hotel giant’s portfolio doesn’t shine. While SAX Paris is a perfectly pleasant place to stay, it disappointed me, and the hotel isn’t for me.

On the plus side, the staff were friendly, the rooftop restaurant is nice, and the breakfast is good. However, other than that, I wasn’t impressed. The most basic issue is a “me” problem — I hate the design of this place, when I can’t figure out which light switches are for what, am worried I’m going to run into glass, etc. But beyond that, I feel like this is more of a mid-range lifestyle property that’s sort of masquerading as luxury. Then again, that describes a lot of hotels nowadays.

I apologize for being so critical, but again, it’s nothing against the hotel. It’s just not for me, but maybe it’s for you.

What’s your take on SAX Paris, Hilton LXR?

It had been many years since I had flown on one of Air France’s Dreamliners, so I was curious to see how the product is holding up. These planes have a solid hard product, though admittedly it’s not as cutting edge as on Air France’s newer aircraft, and I’d seek out those aircraft, all else being equal (the new A350 and 777 business class products are phenomenal).

Beyond that, though, this was the typical, excellent Air France transatlantic experience, with great food and drinks, very friendly service, and solid amenities. There’s not an airline that delivers more consistently across the Atlantic than Air France, in my opinion.

How I booked my Air France business class ticket

For this portion of the trip, I redeemed Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles. Specifically, I booked the following for 60,000 miles plus $266.47 in taxes & fees:

11/16 AF343 Montreal to Paris departing 5:00PM arriving 5:55AM (+1 day)

Flying Blue miles are easy to come by, thanks to all the transfer partners that the program has. Whenever there’s a transfer bonus, I always top off my account a bit, since Flying Blue is one of the currencies I redeem most often.

Air France business class lounge & boarding

In a previous installment, I reviewed the Air France Lounge Montreal, which I visited prior to my flight. While it gets crowded, it’s a solid outstation lounge, with nice decor, lots of natural light, and pretty good food and drinks.

My flight was departing from gate 57, with boarding scheduled for 4:25PM, 35 minutes before the posted departure time. Sure enough, that’s exactly when boarding started, with business class passengers being invited to board first.

From there I boarded F-HRBB, the nine-year-old jet that would be taking me to Paris. I’ve gotta say, I think Air France’s updated livery with bigger font looks particularly good on the Dreamliner.

Air France 787 business class cabin & seats

I boarded through the second set of doors, where I was greeted by two super friendly flight attendants, and was pointed left into business class. Air France’s Dreamliners have 30 business class seats, spread across eight rows, in a 1-2-1 configuration, taking up the space between the first and second set of doors. Specifically, the airline has Safran Cirrus seats, a pretty standard last generation reverse herringbone product.

If you’re traveling with someone, you may want to select a pair of seats in the center section. Admittedly reverse herringbone seats aren’t ideal for couples traveling together, as you do still need to lean forward to communicate. If you end up in one of these seats and are traveling alone, worry not, as there’s a privacy partition that can be extended a bit.

Meanwhile for solo travelers, or those who just generally value being by a window, just about all the window seats are equally good.

I assigned myself seat 8A, the window seat on the left side in the last row of business class. Aside from the Air France-specific colors, this is your typical off-the-shelf reverse herringbone seat from a decade ago.

When it comes to seat features, there’s a console to the side of the seat, which includes an enclosed storage area with a vanity and a hook for headphones.

Next to that you’ll find the entertainment controller, though I don’t really find that to be necessary, given that the monitor is also touchscreen.

The tray table then slides out from the side of the seat, and to fully extend it, you need to flip it over.

You’ll also find the basic seat pre-sets next to the area with the tray table, plus the controls for the reading light.

This seat has AC and USB-A outlets, located underneath the console to the side of the seat. There’s no USB-C or wireless charging.

There’s a 16″ personal monitor at the seat, which is attached to the back of the seat in front. When stored it’s at an awkward angle, but it can be extended at the push of a button, for head-on viewing.

Lastly, the seat has a decent size ottoman, which becomes part of the bed when the seat is fully reclined. I’ll talk more about bed comfort a bit later.

When it comes to the overhead console, Air France has reading lights, but no individual air nozzles, sadly.

All-in-all, this is a competitive hard product, but nothing cutting edge. Air France’s new business class on the A350 and 777 is excellent. I am curious to see what Air France’s long term plans are for its small fleet of 10 787s — will the planes eventually get new cabins, will Air France transfer these to KLM (which has a larger Dreamliner fleet), or something else?

Air France 787 business class entertainment & Wi-Fi

Air France’s 787 business class boasts 16″ touchscreen monitors (there’s no bluetooth audio). Air France’s entertainment selection is generally very good, though the 787 doesn’t have the latest generation interface. Still, I found the variety of movies, TV shows, audio, etc., to be extensive, and more than sufficient.

Of course my favorite entertainment system feature is the map feature (assuming there’s no tail camera!), so I had that on for much of the flight.

When it comes to Wi-Fi, Air France’s Dreamliners have the service available for purchase. Free messaging is available for Flying Blue members, and then you can pay 12 EUR for a one-hour Wi-Fi pass, or 29 EUR for a full flight Wi-Fi pass. The pricing is a bit on the steep side, though fortunately Air France is transitioning to free Starlink Wi-Fi for most of its fleet in the coming months, which is exciting.

Since this was an overnight flight, I decided to just use the free messaging pass that’s available to all passengers, since I didn’t need the Wi-Fi otherwise (on a daytime flight, I would’ve purchased it).

Air France business class amenities

There were an impressive number of amenities waiting at our seat upon boarding. For one, there was the entire complement of bedding, including a pillow, blanket, and mattress pad. The mattress pad is a fairly new addition, and is in partnership with Sofitel. It’s awesome how this is available even on the shortest long haul flights.

There were also a pair of slippers. Again, it’s a much appreciated amenity, as it makes it easy to use the lavatory without having to put on shoes (and you don’t want to go into the lavatory barefoot or with socks).

Then there were a pair of noise canceling headphones, which I find to be pretty good quality.

There was also a bottle of Evian water.

Shortly after settling in, the crew passed through the cabin with pre-departure drinks, with the choice of champagne, orange juice, or water.

Moments later, amenity kits were distributed, with products from Clarins. The kit included socks, eyeshades, a dental kit, earplugs, lotion, and lip balm.

Later on in the boarding process, menus were distributed.

Lastly, warm towels were also passed out.

Air France 787 departure from Montreal

Despite the flight being full, the boarding process was efficient. By 4:45PM the main cabin door was closed, with every seat in business class occupied. A moment later, the captain was on the PA to announce our flight time of 6hr25min, and our anticipated early arrival in Paris.

At 5PM we began our pushback, and then at 5:05PM we began our taxi, at which point the safety video was screened. It took us about 15 minutes to get out to runway 24L, where we were cleared for takeoff at 5:20PM.

We hit a few bumps on the climb out, and the seatbelt sign was ultimately turned off around 20 minutes after takeoff.

Air France business class dinner service

Air France crews do a stellar job with efficient service on overnight flights, and this crew was no exception. As usual, dinner was served after takeoff, and you can find the menu below.

Then you can find the Air France business class drink list below.

When it comes to efficient service on an overnight flight, I tend to think there are two things to judge — how quickly the first drink comes out (let’s be honest, people are often happy once they have their first drink), and how quickly the entire meal service is performed. This is an area where I find Air France does a better job than any other airline across the Atlantic.

Just five minutes after the seatbelt sign was turned off, the crew passed through the cabin with trays of champagne, plus those addictive, irresistible cheese crackers. This is a great way to at least efficiently offer people something, before the main part of the service. The champagne on offer was De Saint-Gall “Le Tradition” Premier Cru Brut.

There wasn’t a long gap after that initial round of drinks. Just 40 minutes after takeoff, the meal tray was brought out, containing the appetizer duo, salad, cheese, and dessert.

The appetizer consisted of fennel and watermelon salad, and also of pan-fried sea scallop and citrus fruit zest. I like how Air France crews offer to crack pepper after serving you, since it’s a small, restaurant-style touch.

Then there was a simple salad, a selection of cheese, and the raspberry and nougat dessert. I was also offered a selection of bread, and to drink, I switched to the sauvignon blanc.

After all passengers were served, the crew came through to clear the appetizer trays, and then another flight attendant came around to bring out the main courses. For the main course, I opted for the seared Canadian lobster with creamy rice bisque, maple-roasted sweetcorn, and edamame beans. The dish tasted great, and also had very nice presentation (when you consider that dishes aren’t plated onboard).

After the meal, a trolley was rolled down the aisle with after dinner drinks. I ordered a vanilla and almond tea, and the lovely flight attendant also talked me into ordering a cognac.

I thought the meal was excellent, and in particular, I was impressed by the pace. The meal service was done just over an hour after takeoff, which has to be some sort of record.

Air France 787 business class lavatories

Air France’s 787s have two business class lavatories — one is at the front left of the cabin, right by the cockpit, while the other is at the front right of the cabin, right in front of row one. These are pretty standard Dreamliner lavatories, and they were kept tidy throughout the flight.

The only other thing worth mentioning is that there were some products from Clarins.

Air France 787 business class bed

After dinner, I reclined my seat into bed mode, and tried to get some rest. Placing the mattress pad onto the seat was super easy. I should mention that the crew actually offered to place this on my seat at the beginning of the flight, but I declined at the time. But it basically just adds an extra layer of comfort, regardless of whether you’re trying to sleep or lounge.

By the time I actually got around to sleeping, there were just under 4hr30min remaining to Paris.

Fortunately I fell asleep almost immediately, and woke up just under three hours later, with around 1hr30min remaining to Paris.

Air France business class breakfast

Breakfast was served within 10 minutes of me waking up, and you can find the business class breakfast menu below.

For such a short flight, I find it impressive that Air France serves a hot breakfast, since some other airlines don’t. Also, I very much appreciate how Air France often has vegetarian egg dishes, unlike US carriers, which seemingly refuse to serve eggs without pork (hey, I’m just sharing my personal preferences, and am not claiming I’m right, or that airlines should cater to me!).

Breakfast consisted of fruit salad, yogurt, and a hot dish with scrambled egg, potato rosti, mushrooms, etc.

While I had a coffee with my meal, I also asked for an espresso afterwards, which was nicely presented on a tray, with a glass of water.

Air France business class service

I find that Air France has among the best flight attendants you’ll find at any European carrier, and this flight was no exception. In particular, the chief purser, Corina, was working in business class, and she couldn’t have been lovelier.

Not only did she have an incredible eye for detail, but she was extremely entertaining, and fun to talk to. She was from the Alsace region of France, so we communicated in German throughout the flight. Sometimes I had to remind myself that I wasn’t on Lufthansa.

But yeah, kudos to Air France flight attendants more broadly, for being (in my opinion) the best combination of efficient and friendly.

Air France 787 arrival in Paris

All too soon, the flight was already coming to an end. At around 5AM Paris time, the captain announced that we’d be descending in around 10 minutes, and would be landing 30 minutes after that. Sure enough, that’s the timeline with which we descended, and the seatbelt sign was turned on at 5:25AM.

At 5:40AM we ended up landing in Paris on runway 26L, and from there had a quick taxi to our arrival gate, where we pulled in at 5:45AM, around 10 minutes ahead of schedule. I bid farewell to the lovely crew, and then it was time for a fun two nights in Paris.

Bottom line

Air France’s 787 business class is a pleasant ride across the Atlantic. Admittedly while I think that Air France offers the all-around best business class across the Atlantic, the 787 doesn’t have the cutting edge cabins that you’ll find on many A350s and 777s.

The thing that sets Air France apart is the friendly and efficient service, comfortable seats with good bedding, and delicious food and drinks. Ultimately this is all that one could ask for on a quick overnight flight.

What’s your take on Air France’s 787 business class?

Hotel credit cards are incredibly underrated. Even if you don’t spend much money on them, they can offer huge perks, including elite status and free night certificates. When you combine these two factors, a lot of these cards offer outsized value.

In this post, I’d like to look at the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card, which is an awesome card that’s nearly identical to IHG’s personal premium card, the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card. I’d consider that to be a good thing, since there can be value in holding onto both cards. This is an especially good time to apply, given the welcome offer that’s currently available.

IHG One Rewards Premier Business Card welcome offer & fee basics

The IHG Premier Business Credit Card is the only Chase and IHG co-branded business credit card. Even if you don’t plan on putting much spending on the card, this card can be worth having for the anniversary free night certificate, fourth night free on award redemptions, elite status, and much more.

For those unfamiliar with IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), the group owns InterContinental, Six Senses, Regent, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, and more. Let’s take a closer look at what you need to know about this business card.

Limited time welcome bonus of up to 200K IHG points

For applications through April 29, 2026, the IHG Premier Business Card is offering a two-part limited time welcome bonus where you can earn up to 200,000 IHG One Rewards bonus points. Specifically:

• Earn 140,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 within the first three months
• Earn 60,000 additional bonus points after spending a total of $9,000 within the first six months

Personally, I value IHG points at 0.5 cents each, so to me, the complete bonus is worth $1,000.

IHG credit card eligibility restrictions & rules

The welcome bonus on the IHG Premier Business Card isn’t available to those who currently have this exact card, or those who have received a new cardmember bonus on this card in the past 24 months. However, you are eligible for the card if you have either of the personal IHG cards, including the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (review) or IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card (review).

$99 annual fee & $0 authorized user fee

The IHG Premier Business Card has a $99 annual fee. You can add additional cardmembers to your business account at no extra cost. As I’ll explain below, the annual fee is well worth it even if you don’t spend money on the card, since you get an anniversary free night certificate.

IHG Premier Business Card points earning structure

The IHG Premier Business Credit Card has a pretty well-rounded rewards structure, and it could very well be worth spending money on the card. That’s especially true when you consider the new spending threshold bonuses.

10x IHG points at IHG properties

If you have the IHG Premier Business Card then you can earn a total of 26x IHG One Rewards points per dollar spent at IHG properties. However, in reality, not all of those points are coming from the credit card as such. Here’s how this breaks down:

• You earn 10x points from IHG for being an IHG program member
• You earn 6x points from IHG with Platinum status, which is a benefit of this card
• You earn 10x points for paying with your IHG Premier Business Card

5x IHG points on travel, gas stations, dining, and more

The IHG Premier Business Card offers 5x IHG One Rewards points in a variety of spending categories, including:

• 5x points on travel, including hotels
• 5x points at gas stations
• 5x points on dining
• 5x points on social media and search engine advertising
• 5x points at office supply stores

There are no caps on any of those bonus categories, so you can earn 5x points on unlimited spending in any of those categories. Based on my valuation of IHG points, that’s like a ~2.5% return on that spending. In and of itself that’s not so amazing, but there are further incentives to spend money on the card.

3x IHG points on other purchases

For categories in which you can’t earn 5-10x points, the IHG Premier Business Card offers 3x IHG One Rewards points per dollar spent. There are potentially still better cards for everyday spending, though there are some significant incentives to spend money on the card, which I’ll cover below.

No foreign transaction fees

The IHG Premier Business Credit Card has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s a good card for purchases abroad. That’s especially true when staying at IHG properties abroad, as well as for dining and commuting outside the United States.

$100 statement credit & 10K bonus points with spending

As a further incentive to spend money on the card, the IHG Premier Business Card offers a $100 statement credit plus 10,000 IHG One Rewards bonus points when you spend $20,000 on the card in a calendar year, plus make one additional purchase.

As I mentioned above, I value IHG points at 0.5 cents each, so between the statement credit and points, that’s like $150 of additional value, making it an incremental 0.75% return on $20,000 worth of spending. When you stack it with the card’s other perks, that could add up.

IHG Diamond status with spending

The IHG Premier Business Card offers IHG Diamond status if you spend $40,000 or more on the card in a calendar year. This is IHG’s top tier elite status, which offers perks like complimentary breakfast, room upgrades, late check-out, and more.

With the Milestone Rewards program (which you can unlock based on how many elite nights you earn with IHG per year), you can receive benefits like confirmed suite upgrades, club lounge access, food & beverage credits, and more.

Second IHG anniversary free night with spending

In addition to the anniversary free night award that you get just for having the card (which I’ll cover below), you can earn a second free night award annually when you spend $60,000 on the card in a calendar year. The free night award can be used at a property costing up to 40,000 IHG One Rewards points, though you can use additional points to top off the award and redeem at more expensive properties.

IHG Premier Business Credit Card benefits & perks

What makes the IHG Premier Business Credit Card exceptional is the benefits and perks that it offers, which in my opinion more than offset the annual fee on the card. Let’s take a look at some of those perks.

IHG anniversary free night award

Every year on your account anniversary you get a free night certificate, valid at any property costing up to 40,000 IHG One Rewards points per night. This doesn’t require any spending, though as noted above, you can earn a second free night award by spending $60,000 on the card in a calendar year. 

Best of all, you can use points to top off your award and redeem at a more expensive property. In other words, you could book a hotel costing 60,000 points per night by using the certificate and redeeming an additional 20,000 points.

This free night certificate will be issued shortly after your anniversary and is valid for 12 months. I’ve consistently gotten huge value with these certificates, and have been able to redeem them at properties costing $250+ per night. And that’s not even accounting for the ability to top them off and redeem at more expensive properties.

Fourth night free on award redemptions

Just for having the IHG Premier Business Card you get a fourth night free on award redemptions. When you book four consecutive nights on an award redemption then you only have to redeem points for the first three nights.

This is an awesome perk, since it can be used an unlimited number of times (you can even use it to book multiple rooms at the same hotel). If you usually redeem points for stays in increments of four nights, this is like getting 25% off all your redemptions.

IHG Platinum status

You receive IHG One Rewards Platinum status for as long as you have the IHG Premier Business Card. Among other things, IHG Platinum members receive:

• Complimentary room upgrades, subject to availability
• 60% bonus points
• Late check-out, subject to availability
• Priority check-in
• Complimentary internet
• Welcome amenity
• Access to award sales throughout the year
• Access to the Milestone Rewards program based on how many elite nights are earned, offering perks like confirmed suite upgrades, club lounge access, and more

Up to $50 United® TravelBank Cash per year

The IHG Premier Business Card offers up to $50 in United® TravelBank Cash per year:

• Each calendar year you’ll receive one $25 United® TravelBank Cash deposit around January 1, and another around July 1
• Deposits made between January 1 and June 30 expire on July 15, and deposits made between July 1 and December 31 expire on January 15
• You must complete one-time registration to receive this benefit

If you fly United with any frequency, then this is like $50 worth of travel on United per year, which is awesome.

Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS credit

The IHG Premier Business Card offers a Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS credit once every four years. Just charge the membership fee of up to $120 to your card, and it will automatically be reimbursed. It doesn’t matter who the fee is being paid for, as long as you charge it to your eligible card.

Is the IHG Premier Business Card worth it?

If you stay at IHG properties with any frequency, then I think the IHG Premier Business Credit Card is absolutely worth having.

The card’s $99 annual fee is easy to justify based on the perks that it offers. The card offers an anniversary free night certificate, a fourth night free on award redemptions, IHG Platinum status, up to $50 in United® TravelBank Cash per year, a Global Entry fee credit, and more.

Admittedly if you have the personal card as well, some of the benefits do overlap. However, I consider the anniversary free night award alone to be worth more than the annual fee, so that’s a reason to pick up this card.

IHG Premier Personal Card vs. IHG Premier Business Card

The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (review) is the personal version of this card, so how does it compare? The benefits are virtually identical, though I’d say the business version of the card has some potential advantages:

• Both cards offer an anniversary free night certificate, IHG Platinum status, a fourth night free on award redemptions, up to $50 in United® TravelBank Cash each year, etc.
• The major differences are that the business card has a few more bonus categories, and offers an additional free night award if you spend $60,000 on the card in a calendar year

Both of these cards are excellent, and personally, I think it’s worth picking both up, so that you can earn two free night awards per year without having to spend anything.

Bottom line

The IHG Premier Business Credit Card is a product that I highly recommend getting, and this is a particularly good time to apply, given the bonus that’s currently available. The card’s $99 annual fee is easy to justify, thanks to the anniversary free night award, up to $50 in United® TravelBank Cash, IHG Platinum status, and much more.

This free night certificate is the single biggest benefit of the card, and consistently offers outsized value. Best of all, you can top off the award to redeem at a more expensive hotel.

I know some people are opposed to having a lot of credit cards, but often it can make sense to have some cards just for the perks they offer, even if you don’t necessarily plan on spending much money on the card. This is one of those cards.

If you want to learn more about the IHG Premier Business Card, follow this link.

Sometimes companies really want you to buy products from them, to the point that it can make sense to purchase something through an online shopping portal even if you don’t actually have a use for it. Along those lines, there are a few such promotions available right now, which I think are worth taking advantage of. However, they’re only available for a limited time and could be pulled at any point, so you’ll want to act fast.

I covered similar offers some number of weeks back, but these deals do tend to reappear every so often. I’m taking advantage of all of these that I’m eligible for, given that I can’t turn down points at this rate…

Rakuten has a $50 (5,000 point) refer-a-friend offer

The offers I’m going to cover below are useful for both new and existing Rakuten members. However, if you’re not yet a Rakuten member, let me mention that the company has a great refer-a-friend program, which stacks with these deals.

If you’re new to Rakuten you can register using a refer-a-friend link, and then you’ll earn an additional $50 bonus after completing your first purchase of at least $50. While I ordinarily recommend unlocking this bonus with a simple gift card purchase, you can also stack it with any of the above offers, to get an even better return.

Earn 95% cash back or 95x points with Rakuten

At the moment, Rakuten is offering 95% cash back or 95x points on purchases with select retailers:

• Earn 95% cash back or 95x points with NordProtect
• Earn 95% cash back or 95x points with NordPass
• Earn 95% cash back or 95x points with Surfshark

Let me emphasize that you should always read the “terms & exclusions” section at each link to see what kind of purchases qualify, as they differ by company. Perhaps you find value in one of these services, but even if you don’t, this is a price at which it’s hard to resist points.

What I love about Rakuten is the ability to earn points rather than cash back, to get even more value, since that transforms these subscriptions from being basically free, to potentially being profitable:

• If you select Amex Membership Rewards points as your earnings preference (this has to be done in advance), this would instead earn you Amex points at the rate of one cent per point
• You can also select Bilt Rewards points as your earnings preference (this doesn’t have to be done in advance), and this would also earn you Bilt points at the rate of one cent per point (keep in mind for payouts after May 15, 2026, you need Bilt elite status to receive that rate of return, but that can also easily be earned with Bilt credit cards)

Let me just give one example of how this process works. I recently took advantage of this offer with Surfshark.

The idea was that you could spend $113.13 on the most expensive eligible plan, and then earn either $107.47 back, or receive 10,747 Amex or Bilt points.

Taking advantage of this is easy. Once you’re registered for Rakuten (if you’re not already), follow this link to go to the Surfshark page, and make sure you see the 95% back offer (this likely won’t be around that much longer). Then click through to be redirected to Surfshark’s website.

Here are the key terms of this offer:

Cash Back is only available for new Surfshark customers on first purchase. Limited to one per member.

If you want to get as many points as possible, buy the two year plan (with three more free months, for a total of 27 months) for the Surfshark One+ bundle.

The price should then be $113.13, so you can pay for that with whatever credit card you’d like.

A short time after making your purchase, you should see the transaction show up as “pending” in your Rakuten account, initially with a $0 amount. However, some time later, it should update to show the correct amount.

Why I’m very happy buying points at this cost!

I love collecting points, and of course I try to earn them as inexpensively as possible. That can include credit card welcome offers, maximizing my return on spending, etc. I’m also happy to just outright buy points, if the price is right.

Personally, if I can pick up transferable points for well under 1.2 cents each, I consider that to be a deal, and it’s something I’d do all day long. I absolutely can get outsized value with that. For example, I’m choosing to earn Bilt points with Rakuten right now, so indirectly earning Alaska Atmos Rewards points or World of Hyatt points for this price is tough to beat, if you ask me. There’s no way I won’t get significantly outsized value here.

And of course if you can actually get use out of these services, the math is even better. Some people may wonder why these companies are offering such a good return on spending. Clearly these companies want to acquire new customers, and the incremental cost of actually providing the service is very low.

So the hope is that the big reward gets people to try the service, and then keep it in the long run. Or at a minimum, maybe the company hopes that people forget to cancel their auto-renewal.

I’ve now taken advantage of several Rakuten promotions in recent weeks offering 85-100x points per dollar spent, and I’m very happy with the value being offered.

Bottom line

At the moment, Rakuten is offering 95% cash back (or 95x points) on purchases with three different services, and you can potentially take advantage of multiple of these. If you value transferable points, I think most people would agree that acquiring points for 1.0-1.1 cents each is quite a good deal (and that assumes you place no value on the services as such).

The math is even better if you’re not yet a Rakuten member, as you can receive a further bonus of $50 (or potentially 5,000 points). 😉

Are you taking advantage of any of these Rakuten offers?

American Express and Hilton have four co-branded credit cards, which can be extremely lucrative. These cards offer valuable benefits for those who stay at Hiltons with any frequency, so if you travel often, it’s worth having (at least) one of these cards in your wallet.

If you’ve been considering applying for a Hilton Amex, now is the ideal time to do so. Several weeks ago we saw limited time welcome offers rolled out on these cards, and they’re going to be pulled very soon.

Hilton Amex Card limited time welcome offer details

For applications through Wednesday, April 15, 2026, all four Hilton co-branded credit cards are offering improved welcome offers. Let’s cover the details of the offers, starting with the most basic card, all the way up to the most premium.

As you can see, three of the four cards are offering free night awards as part of the welcome offer (in addition to the points), which are super valuable. They’re valid for 12 months from when they’re issued, and can be redeemed with fairly few exclusions at properties costing up to 250,000 points per night.

Hilton Honors Amex Card: 70,000 points + free night award

The Hilton Honors American Express Card has no annual fee (Rates & Fees), and for applications through April 15, 2026, the card has a limited time welcome offer of 70,000 Hilton Honors bonus points plus a free night award after spending $2,000 within the first six months.

Beyond the welcome offer, the Hilton Honors Amex Card features the following perks in the long run:

• 7x points for eligible spending at Hilton hotels
• Hilton Honors™ Silver status for as long as you have the card
• Hilton Honors™ Gold status when you make $20,000 in eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year

Read a full review of the Hilton Honors Amex Card.

Hilton Honors Surpass Card: 130,000 points + free night award

The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass^® Card has a $150 annual fee (Rates & Fees), and for applications through April 15, 2026, the card has a limited time welcome offer of 130,000 Hilton Honors bonus points plus a free night award after spending $3,000 within the first six months.

Beyond the welcome offer, the Hilton Honors Surpass Card features the following ongoing benefits:

• 12x points for eligible spending at Hilton hotels
• Hilton Honors™ Gold status for as long as you have the card
• Hilton Honors™ Diamond status when you make $40,000 in eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year
• Up to $200 in Hilton credits per year — get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter for purchases made directly with a property in the Hilton portfolio
• A Hilton free night reward when you spend $15,000 on the card in a year
• National Emerald Club Executive status (Enrollment required)

Read a full review of the Hilton Honors Surpass Card.

Hilton Honors Business Card: 175,000 points + free night award

The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card has a $195 annual fee (Rates & Fees), and for applications through April 15, 2026, the card has a limited time welcome offer of 175,000 Hilton Honors bonus points plus a free night award after spending $8,000 within the first six months.

Beyond the welcome offer, the Hilton Honors Business Card features the following perks in the long run:

• 12x points for spending on eligible Hilton purchases
• 5x points on other purchases made on the first $100,000 in purchases each calendar year (3x points thereafter)
• Hilton Honors™ Gold status for as long as you have the card
• Hilton Honors™ Diamond status when you make $40,000 in eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year
• Get up to $240 back each year on eligible purchases made directly with a property in the Hilton portfolio, with up to $60 in statement credits per quarter

Read a full review of the Hilton Honors Business Card.

Hilton Honors Aspire Card: 175,000 points

The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has a $550 annual fee (Rates & Fees), and for applications through April 15, 2026, the card has a limited time welcome offer of 175,000 Hilton Honors bonus points after spending $6,000 within the first six months.

Beyond the welcome offer, the Hilton Aspire Card features the following ongoing benefits:

• 14x points for spending at Hilton hotels
• Hilton Honors™ Diamond status for as long as you have the card
• Up to $400 in Hilton resort credits annually — get up to $200 in statement credits semi-annually for eligible purchases made directly with participating Hilton resorts
• Up to a $200 flight credit annually — up to a $50 statement credit for flights booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel once per quarter
• Up to a $209 CLEAR+ credit annually — enroll in CLEAR+ and charge it to your card, and you’ll be reimbursed up to $209 per year
• A Hilton free night reward every year, a second one when you spend $30,000 on the card in a year, and a third one if you spend $60,000 on the card in a year
• National Emerald Club Executive status

Read a full review of the Hilton Aspire Card.

Are you eligible for Hilton Honors Amex cards?

Anecdotally Hilton Honors Amex cards are pretty easy to be approved for:

• Each of these cards is considered a separate product, so you’re eligible for the welcome offer on each card, within the typical “once in a lifetime” rule
• The standard American Express card application rules apply, including that you’re generally limited to having five Amex credit cards at a given point (this doesn’t include charge cards and hybrid cards)
• For those with excellent credit, I find Amex credit cards to be among the easiest to be approved for
• If you are worried about Chase’s 5/24 rule, applying for the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card won’t count as a further card toward that limit

Which Hilton Honors Amex offer is best?

If you’re trying to decide which of these offers makes the most sense, here are a few considerations:

• If you’ve already had a Hilton Honors Amex card, pick up a card that you haven’t had before, so you’re eligible for the welcome offer
• If you’re looking for a personal card, you really can’t go wrong with the Hilton Honors American Express Card or Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card; I’d say the latter is worth the annual fee, given the better bonus and incremental perks
• Personally I think the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card is worth the fee, especially if you stay at Hilton resorts at least once every six months
• If you’re looking for a business card, the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card is your best bet, and fortunately, it’s a great card with a solid bonus

Bottom line

For applications through Wednesday, April 15, 2026, Hilton Honors’ American Express cards have limited time welcome offers. If you’ve been considering picking up one of these cards but haven’t yet applied, now is the time to do so.

If you’re looking for a no annual fee card, then the Hilton Honors American Express Card is for you. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a card with stronger perks and an even better bonus, I recommend the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card or Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card. The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card is also a good option for small businesses.

Do you plan on picking up a Hilton Honors Amex with these bonuses?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: Hilton Honors American Express Card (Rates & Fees), The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (Rates & Fees), Hilton Honors American Express Surpass^® Card (Rates & Fees), and Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (Rates & Fees).

I want to provide an update, as Flying Blue has completely overhauled which countries are eligible. For example, the United States and Canada are finally being targeted (unlike in the past), but with some limits. So let’s take a look at the details (let me mention that I wrote about this last week, but that was a false start, and this is now “officially” live).

Basics of Flying Blue’s status match promo

The website statusmatch.com is currently partnering with Air France-KLM Flying Blue to offer a status match promotion, with the option to earn Silver, Gold, or Platinum status. This offer is available to residents of several countries, at different price points, and with different restrictions. Specifically:

• For residents of the United States, you’ll pay 99 USD for a Silver match, or 199 USD for a Gold match (Platinum matches aren’t available to these members)
• For residents of Canada, you’ll pay 149 CAD for a Silver match, or 299 CAD for a Gold match (Platinum matches aren’t available to these members)
• For residents of Thailand and Singapore, you’ll pay 99 USD for a Silver match, 299 USD for a Gold match, or 399 USD for a Platinum match
• For residents of Italy (only with Lufthansa Miles & More status), you’ll pay 89 EUR for a Silver match, 199 EUR for a Gold match, or 349 EUR for a Platinum match

The status match request should take just a minute to complete, though it can take up to five business days for the request to be approved. Matched status is valid for a period of 12 months from when the match is approved. There’s no published end date for this promotion, though it can be pulled at any time.

Which airline status is Flying Blue matching?

According to the FAQs, Flying Blue is matching status from the following programs:

• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air China PhoenixMiles
• Air India Flying Returns
• American AAdvantage
• Asiana Club
• British Airways Club
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
• EgyptAir Plus
• Emirates Skywards
• Ethiopian Airlines ShebaMiles
• Etihad Guest
• Finnair Plus
• Gulf Air Falconflyer
• Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club
• Lufthansa Miles & More
• Oman Air Sindbad
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• South African Airways SAA Voyager
• Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
• United MileagePlus

As you can see, this includes many non-SkyTeam airlines, with a presence across the globe. Status maps over roughly as you’d expect, with top tier status generally mapping to Flying Blue Platinum, entry level status generally mapping to Flying Blue Silver, etc. The exception, as mentioned above, is that residents of select regions (including the United States and Canada) aren’t eligible for a Flying Blue Platinum match.

How this status match opportunity could be useful

Flying Blue is generally a valuable program for award redemptions, and I redeem miles through Flying Blue all the time. Even beyond the redemption opportunities, there’s value to having status with Flying Blue. Status really gets valuable with Flying Blue Gold and Platinum.

Flying Blue Gold status offers:

• The ability to earn 7x miles per € spent on airfare
• SkyTeam Elite Plus status, which offers priority check-in, priority security, priority boarding, extra baggage, lounge access, and much more, whether flying with Air France, KLM, or a SkyTeam partner
• Some free premium seat options 72 hours before departure

Flying Blue Platinum status incrementally offers:

• The ability to earn 8x miles per € spent on airfare
• The ability to redeem Flying Blue miles for Air France first class (La Premiere)
• Access to more award availability, including in long haul business class
• Free premium seat options at the time of booking
• Access to a dedicated Platinum phone service line
• Waived change & cancelation fees on Flying Blue awards

In general, this status match opportunity is an easy way to unlock SkyTeam Elite Plus perks, regardless of which airline you may fly. On top of that, for those eligible for a Flying Blue Platinum status match, that could be worth it for the ability to redeem miles for Air France first class.

Even if you’re not eligible for the Platinum match, I’d note that taking advantage of a Flying Blue Gold status match gets you closer to Platinum status. The system of qualifying for status with Flying Blue works a bit differently than with other programs:

• 100 XPs gets you Flying Blue Silver status
• You then need 180 additional XPs to earn Flying Blue Gold status
• You then need 300 additional XPs to earn Flying Blue Platinum status

However, there’s a bit more nuance to this, which also makes it easier to earn status. For example, you don’t need 580 XPs in a year to earn Platinum status:

• Once you earn 100 XPs in a membership year, you’ll earn Silver status
• Your status will then be reset, and you’ll need to earn 180 XPs over the next 12 months to earn Gold status
• Your status will then be reset, and you’ll need to earn 300 XPs over the next 12 months to earn Platinum status
• Maintaining status on an ongoing basis simply requires 100 XPs for Silver, 180 XPs for Gold, and 300 XPs for Platinum

In other words, if you started from scratch and wanted to earn Flying Blue Platinum status, you’d need to earn 580 XPs. Meanwhile if you already had Gold status through this match, you’d only need to earn 300 XPs in order to earn Platinum status.

Bottom line

The Air France-KLM Flying Blue program is currently offering a status match promotion, whereby you can pay for a 12-month status match all the way up to Flying Blue Platinum status. This offer does have residency requirements, though the good news is that some countries, including the United States, have just been added to this offer.

If you value SkyTeam Elite Plus status, or if you want a shortcut to Flying Blue Platinum status, this offer could be well worth it, assuming you meet the eligibility requirements.

Do you plan on taking advantage of this Flying Blue status match opportunity, if eligible?

So there’s an update, as we’ve just seen a great new Amex Offers deal introduced for Marriott stays, which should save a lot of people some money.

Spend $400+ with Marriott, get $100 back

The Amex Offers program has just rolled out at least one new targeted promotion that can save cardmembers money on the cost of Marriott stays. Specifically, I see an opportunity to receive a $100 statement credit after spending $400+ with Marriott (though it’s possible other accounts see different offers).

As you’d expect, there are some terms to be aware of:

• This offer is valid if you pay for your stay between April 8 and July 22, 2026
• This offer is valid for stays at properties in the United States, the Caribbean, Canada, and Mexico
• This offer excludes stays at select brands, including Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, EDITION, The Luxury Collection, W Hotels, JW Marriott, Marriott Vacation Club, Design Hotels, Protea Hotels by Marriott, Marriott Executive Apartments, Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy, and Vistana
• This offer excludes gift card purchases, online retail purchases, and purchases of Bonvoy points
• The terms state that you need to book directly with Marriott to take advantage of this
• This can be combined with any promotion being offered directly by Marriott
• Registration is required

Make sure to maximize points while you’re at it

When it comes to Amex Offers deals, I always recommend trying to add them on cards that also offer you the best rewards on those particular purchases. For example, ideally you’ll see these offers on a co-branded Marriott card, so that you can earn 6x points on your stay, while also earning cash back. Or otherwise, at least use a card that offers bonus points on travel purchases, which include hotels.

Also keep in mind that it’s possible to split card payments at check-out. So if you have a certain spending threshold you still need to reach on a specific card, you can always ask them to charge one amount to one card, and another amount to another card.

Bottom line

There’s a new Amex Offers deal for Marriott, which can save you $100 on the cost of upcoming hotel stays. This offer seems to exclude Marriott’s higher end brands, so it should be useful across a wide variety of properties. If you’re eligible for this offer, I’d definitely recommend registering ASAP.

Was your account targeted for this Amex Offers deal, and do you plan on taking advantage of it?

However, let me state that I find this to be a lot less lucrative than in the past, given that Hilton Honors underwent a massive devaluation, and within the past year, top properties have gone up in price by up to 67%. So only take advantage of this if you know what you’re doing, and are aware of the program’s latest pricing.

Promotion on purchased Hilton Honors points

Between April 8 and May 29, 2026, Hilton Honors is offering a bonus on purchased points. Different members may be targeted for different bonuses, so you’ll want to log into your account to see what you’re eligible for. It would appear that the best offer is for up to a 100% bonus, which kicks in when you purchase at least 5,000 points in one transaction.

How much does it cost to buy Hilton Honors points?

Hilton Honors ordinarily charges one cent per purchased point, including all taxes and fees. That’s before any discounts or bonuses. If you’re eligible for the 100% bonus and maxed out the offer, you’d receive a total of 320,000 points at a cost of $1,600, which is a rate of 0.5 cents per Hilton Honors point.

When Hilton Honors offers a promotion on purchased points, it’s typically for either a 100% bonus or 50% discount, so this offer is in line with the best deals from the program.

How many Hilton Honors points can you buy?

Ordinarily, Hilton Honors lets you buy up to 160,000 points per account per calendar year, before any bonuses. With a 100% bonus, that means you could purchase up to 320,000 points.

Do note that Hilton lets you combine points across accounts at no cost, so in reality you could acquire substantially more points by simply buying them across accounts and then consolidating them.

Which credit card should you buy Hilton Honors points with?

Hilton Honors point purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as a hotel purchase for the purposes of credit card spending.

I’d recommend using a card with which you’re trying to reach a minimum spending requirement, or a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending. When in doubt, review which credit cards are best for buying points and miles.

Best cards for non-bonused spending:

• Citi Double Cash® Card
• Chase Freedom Unlimited®
• The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Citi Double Cash® Card

Learn More Terms Apply. | See Rates & Fees

• Earn 1% cash back when you make a purchase, earn 1% cash back when you pay for that purchase
• $0

Chase Freedom Unlimited®

Learn More

• Earn 3% Cash Back on Dining
• Earn 3% Cash Back at Drugstores
• Earn 1.5% Cash Back On All Other Purchases
• $0

The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Learn More Terms Apply. | See Rates & Fees

• 2x points on purchases up to $50k then 1x
• Access to Amex Offers
• No annual fee

Is buying Hilton Honors points worth it?

There’s potentially huge value to be had buying Hilton Honors points. Hilton Honors sells points at a reasonable cost, has lots of aspirational properties, has good redemptions with a fifth night free opportunity, and elite status is also easy to earn with the program. Hilton’s partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) is also awesome, and offers great redemption opportunities.

When you combine those factors, buying points can be a great deal.

How many points do you need for a free night at a Hilton?

Hilton Honors doesn’t have a published award chart, but rather the program has dynamic award pricing. This means that the cost of a standard free night award can vary depending on the day of the week, time of year, etc.

As a general rule of thumb, Hilton Honors free night awards start at 10,000 points per night, and go up to 250,000 points per night (which is a shame, because up until last year, properties maxed out at 150,000 points per night).

Sometimes you’ll see award costs that are way higher than these amounts. In those situations it’s because there’s not a standard room available, so higher pricing kicks in for premium rooms. That’s generally not nearly as good of a use of Hilton Honors points.

What is the Hilton Honors fifth night free benefit?

If you have Hilton Honors elite status (which is easy to earn, as I’ll outline below), you receive a fifth night free on award redemptions. This is a way to stretch your points even further, and whenever possible, I’d recommend making your Hilton Honors award stays in increments of five nights.

To take advantage of this, just log into your Hilton Honors elite account, and go through the process of making an award booking for five nights. When you get to the booking page, you should notice that the cost of the fifth night is automatically deducted.

Tip: Easily earn Hilton Honors elite status

One thing I love about the program is how easy it is to earn elite status with credit cards, including both Hilton Honors™ Gold Status and Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status. These tiers offer perks like room upgrades, complimentary breakfast, hotel credits, and more. For example:

• The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (review) offers Diamond status for as long as you have the card
• The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (review) and Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (review) offer Gold status for as long as you have the card
• American Express Platinum Card® (review) and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review) offer Hilton Gold status for as long as you have the card (Enrollment required)

Do Hilton Honors points expire?

Hilton Honors points don’t expire as long as you have at least some account activity once every 24 months. Eligible account activity includes earning or redeeming points, so buying points would even reset the expiration of your points.

How much are Hilton Honors points worth?

Everyone will value points differently, but personally I value Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents each, and I tend to value points pretty conservatively. As you can see, the pricing here is roughly in line with how much I value these points, and there are ways to get a ton of outsized value with this promotion.

Does Hilton Honors have blackout dates?

Hilton Honors doesn’t have blackout dates on award nights, and all standard rooms are available for award redemptions. So this is about as good of a policy as you’ll find with any hotel group when it comes to award room availability.

How else can you earn Hilton Honors points?

There are lots of ways to earn Hilton Honors points, beyond just staying at Hilton properties or buying the points directly. You can easily earn points by using Hilton Honors’ co-branded credit cards, which also offer great welcome bonuses. These cards include the following:

• Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (review)
• Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (review)
• Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (review)
• Hilton Honors American Express Card (review)

While you can also transfer points from Amex Membership Rewards to Hilton Honors, I tend to think this doesn’t represent a very good deal, given how valuable Amex points are.

Bottom line

Hilton Honors has just launched a bonus on purchased points, whereby members can receive up to a 100% bonus, which is an opportunity to acquire points for 0.5 cents each. This is as good as deals from the program get. With a short term use in mind, there are plenty of situations where this could represent a good deal.

Unfortunately with the recent devaluation of Hilton Honors points, I wouldn’t consider this to be as lucrative as in the past. Still, there are definitely situations where the math checks out.

Do you plan on buying Hilton Honors points with a bonus?

Sale on purchased IHG One Rewards points

Between April 7 and April 30, 2026, IHG One Rewards is offering a bonus on purchased points. The standard promotion seems to be for an 80% bonus. In order to unlock the best offer, you need to purchase at least 5,000 points in one transaction.

How much does it cost to buy IHG One Rewards points?

Ordinarily you can buy IHG One Rewards points for as little as one cent each (the pricing isn’t linear), before any discounts or bonuses. With that in mind, if you were eligible for a 100% bonus and purchased 200,000 IHG One Rewards points pre-bonus, you’d receive a total of 360,000 points at a cost of $2,000, which is a rate of 0.56 cents per IHG point.

IHG sells points quite often, and when the program does, the bonus is typically in the range of 80-100%. So the 80% bonus isn’t the best offer, but ultimately the cost per point isn’t that different between the two offers (0.5 cents vs. 0.56 cents).

While the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (review) and IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (review) offer a 20% discount on purchased points, that benefit only applies when buying points at the normal cost, and wouldn’t be applicable here.

How many IHG One Rewards points can you purchase?

IHG One Rewards ordinarily lets members purchase up to 150,000 points per calendar year, before any bonuses. However, during this promotion that cap has been increased to 200,000 points.

Which credit card should you buy IHG One Rewards points with?

IHG One Rewards points purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as a hotel purchase for the purposes of credit card spending.

Therefore I’d recommend using a card on which you’re trying to reach a minimum spending requirement, or otherwise, a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending. See this post for more on which credit cards are best for buying points.

Best cards for non-bonused spending:

• Citi Double Cash® Card
• Chase Freedom Unlimited®
• The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Citi Double Cash® Card

Learn More Terms Apply. | See Rates & Fees

• Earn 1% cash back when you make a purchase, earn 1% cash back when you pay for that purchase
• $0

Chase Freedom Unlimited®

Learn More

• Earn 3% Cash Back on Dining
• Earn 3% Cash Back at Drugstores
• Earn 1.5% Cash Back On All Other Purchases
• $0

The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Learn More Terms Apply. | See Rates & Fees

• 2x points on purchases up to $50k then 1x
• Access to Amex Offers
• No annual fee

Is buying IHG One Rewards points worth it?

IHG One Rewards has dynamic award pricing, which means there’s no minimum or maximum number of points a hotel stay can cost. Rather, the cost of an award stay generally correlates somewhat to the cost of a revenue stay.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get the same value with all hotel stays. There are many situations where you can get outsized value by buying points and then redeeming them, so let’s get into that in a bit more detail.

Tip: Get a fourth night free with an IHG credit card

You’ll get the most value from your IHG points if you have the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (review), IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (review), or IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card (review).

That’s because the cards offer a fourth night free benefit, meaning that you can book a four night award stay for the cost of three nights. This is essentially the equivalent of 25% off in increments of four nights, since you can use this benefit an unlimited number of times.

At what hotels can you redeem IHG One Rewards points?

IHG has over 15 hotel brands, so there are lots of options for redeeming your IHG One Rewards points. IHG points can be redeemed at the following properties, among others:

• For luxury & premium hotels, there’s Six Senses, Regent, InterContinental, Kimpton and Hotel Indigo
• For mid-range and limited service hotels, there’s Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Candlewood Suites, Staybridge Suites, voco, and EVEN

How much are IHG One Rewards points worth?

Everyone will value points differently, but personally I value IHG One Rewards points at ~0.5 cents each, and I tend to value points pretty conservatively. So the purchase price is around what I value these points.

Do IHG One Rewards points expire?

For non-elite members, IHG One Rewards points expire after 12 months of inactivity. However, any sort of points earning or redemption activity would reset the expiration of your points. Furthermore, IHG One Rewards points don’t expire for elite members in the program.

Keep in mind that IHG elite status is quite easy to earn. Just for having the IHG Premier Card you receive Platinum status, without any sort of a spending requirement.

Does IHG One Rewards have blackout dates?

IHG One Rewards doesn’t have blackout dates on award nights, but the program does have capacity controls. What this means is that some number of standard rooms will be made available for award redemptions every night, but that doesn’t mean that all standard rooms are available for award redemptions.

Bottom line

IHG One Rewards is offering a sale on purchased points. Through April 30, 2026, IHG One Rewards is offering a promotion, and members seem to be eligible for an 80% bonus, which is an opportunity to buy points for 0.56 cents each.

There are instances where buying points can save you over 50% on the cost of a luxury hotel stay. I also think there’s value in having a “reserve” of IHG points, given the brand’s global footprint. You can get even more value out of buying IHG points in conjunction with the IHG Premier Card, which can get you a fourth night for free on award redemptions.

Do you plan on buying IHG points with a bonus?

In recent times, I’ve been writing a series about some of the world’s small luxury hotel groups, including Airelles, Aman, BVLGARI, Cheval Blanc, Oetker, One&Only, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, etc. In this post I’d like to cover Capella Hotels & Resorts — I recently had my first Capella stay, and this is a brand that I’m really impressed by, and that I think might be among the most interesting out there. Checking out the other Capella properties is now front-of-mind for me.

While Capella has a small collection of properties, they’re incredibly high quality, and typically represent among the best hotels in their locales. The brand is heavily focused on Asia-Pacific, but we’ll finally see the brand expand beyond that in next year, and I can’t wait to see how that plays out. There’s also even an interesting loyalty program angle to Capella.

Basics of what makes Capella Hotels & Resorts special

Without the massive footprint or decades of legacy that competitors possess, Capella Hotels & Resorts has managed to build an impressive reputation in recent years. While I don’t exactly put much weight on these rankings, Capella as a brand, plus the individual properties, have earned a disproportionate number of awards, and they seem to be well deserved.

The backstory of Capella is interesting, as it was first founded in 2001 by Horst Schulze. He was also the co-founder of Ritz-Carlton back in 1983, long before Marriott got involved (and made the brand what it is today). Then in 2017, Schulze sold Capella to Singapore’s Kwee family, and it’s really since then that the “modern” Capella brand was born.

To expand on that a bit, virtually all of the initial Capella properties from a couple of decades ago have been rebranded. For example, Breidenbacher Hof Dusseldorf, Cala de Mar Ixtapa, Rosewood Washington DC, Waldorf Astoria Pedregal Los Cabos, etc., were all former Capella properties.

In many ways, Capella’s new and boutique portfolio has allowed the company to remain heavily focused on quality. I like Capella’s stated vision — “visionary design elevated with honest-to-heart hospitality” — and it’s quite a contrast to so many of the other mass market hotel groups you’ll see out there.

I recently completed my first Capella stay, at the property in Taipei, and I was absolutely blown away, and this is now one of my two favorite boutique hotel brands (along with Airelles). Here’s what stands out to me about Capella:

• Each property has a unique, cool, quirky design, so no two properties are the same, or even similar; the designs of some properties are really “out there,” so I appreciate the bold vision
• Capella leans more into the local community and culture than some other hotel groups; many of the hotel’s staff are referred to as “Culturists,” and there are several daily activities involving local culture
• Capella properties are known for their restaurants & bars, so the goal is for the venues to be popular with both locals and guests
• Each Capella property has what’s known as “the living room,” which is essentially a club lounge that all guests get access to, with soft drinks and coffee throughout the day, and complimentary alcohol and snacks in the evening

In an industry where it often feels like there’s little attempt to differentiate, I very much respect what Capella does, and think the company stands out. I also like the company’s vision, and I think it paints a pretty accurate picture of the kind of experience the brand offers:

Our vision is to combine tradition, discovery, individuality and a twist of the unexpected, to create the perfect stay for each guest. Our destinations are designed by world-renowned architects. Our restaurants offer authentic flavours imaginatively reinvented. From the Auriga spas to each location’s dedicated and personal guest services, the Capella spirit is holistic, generous and bespoke.

One way I like to think about Capella is that it’s similar to the early days of Aman, except with more of a focus on city properties than rural retreats.

Capella Hotels & Resorts locations

Capella Hotels & Resorts currently has just 10 properties in its portfolio, so it’s among the smallest hotel collections out there, with all properties being in Asia-Pacific.

However, the brand is expanding significantly at the moment. In the coming years, we should see new properties open in Elanan, Florence, Kenting, Nanjing, Riyadh, and Shenzhen. As you can see, we’ll finally see Capella make its European debut. So while there’s a lack of geographic diversity in the portfolio, Asia-Pacific is such a good region for hospitality, so you’ve gotta appreciate how this also allows the brand to have stellar properties.

One other thing I should mention is that Capella also owns Patina Hotels & Resorts, which currently has properties in the Maldives and Osaka, with locations coming to Tianjin and Sanya. This is a separate hotel group, but also very well regarded, so it’s worth being aware of.

With the above out of the way, let’s go over the details of Capella’s current properties.

Capella Singapore

Set on Sentosa Island just off Singapore’s southern coast, Capella Singapore opened in 2009 as the brand’s flagship. It was built first in the 1880s and provided military housing for the British Royal Artillery. Today, the resort has 112 rooms, suites, villas, and manors, spread across 30 acres of gardens that blend British colonial buildings with modern architecture. Capella Singapore is a standout in the city, given its setting on Sentosa, and historical significance to Singapore.

It’s a great option for anyone who is looking for a resort-style vacation in Singapore. While I don’t put much weight on this, in 2024 Capella Singapore was recognized as one of the World’s 50 Best Hotels, ranking 33rd on the list.

Capella Bangkok

Capella Bangkok opened in 2020 on the Chao Phraya River, and offers 101 rooms, suites, and villas, all of which offer uninterrupted views of the water. The location along Charoen Krung Road and next door to the Four Seasons Bangkok puts guests within Bangkok’s historic waterfront district. One of the unique features of the hotel are the Riverside Villa and Presidential Villa, which offer private riverfront pools and gardens.

Capella Bangkok has quickly established itself as one of the best in Asia and Bangkok. It debuted with a 1st place ranking on the 2024 World’s 50 Best Hotels list, and followed up with a 3rd place ranking in 2025.

Capella Ubud, Bali

Capella Ubud consists of just 23 tents, each with a private saltwater pool. The resort opened in 2018 and caters toward couples, with 22 tents having one bedroom, and one tent having two bedrooms. Every structure at the resort is elevated within the jungle canopy and surrounded by vegetation, and is intended to offer a “glamping” experience. The resort features a tented gym called The Armory, an open-air spa, and a beautiful main pool among the jungle’s treetops.

Capella Shanghai

Capella Shanghai occupies a collection of restored shikumen townhouses in the former French Concession. The property opened in 2017, and offers 55 villas and suites, each spread across multiple levels, with private courtyards and interiors that blend elements of China and Europe.

Le Comptoir de Pierre Gagnaire offers French dining, and the Auriga Spa, along with the library lounge and serene courtyards, give guests plenty of places to unwind away from the city. So the property really feels like a resort within a city, something that Capella is good at.

Capella Tufu Bay, Hainan

Capella Tufu Bay opened in 2019, as a contemporary beachfront escape on the southeastern coast of China’s Hainan Island. The resort has 190 rooms, suites, and villas, all of which face the South China Sea. The property emphasizes wellness, with yoga, tai chi, and holistic spa treatments, forming a key part of the experience.

Capella Hanoi

Opened in 2021, Capella Hanoi brought the brand to Vietnam’s capital, with 47 rooms and suites located in the city’s French Quarter. Designed by Bill Bensley, the property takes inspiration from the world of opera, with Art Nouveau interiors that contrast with Hanoi’s historic streets.

The small scale of the hotel creates an intimate and residential feel. Koki, the hotel’s Japanese restaurant, has also become a local highlight. Guests have access to the Auriga Spa, an indoor pool, and a collection of artist-inspired suites, with period antiques and custom artwork. This is unarguably Hanoi’s best hotel.

Capella Sydney

Capella Sydney opened in 2023, transforming the city’s former Department of Education building, an early 20th-century sandstone landmark, into a hotel with 192 rooms and suites. The renovation took seven years and proceeded slowly in order to retain much of the building’s heritage detail, while making the interiors contemporary.

Located in Sydney’s central business district, Capella Sydney is just a few minutes walk far the world famous Opera House, the Rocks, and Sydney Harbour. While the Park Hyatt Sydney used to be regarded as the city’s best hotel, many now think the Capella Sydney has taken over that title, especially in terms of service and amenities.

In 2025, Capella Sydney made its debut with a 12th place ranking on the World’s 50 Best Hotels list, earning the distinction of being named “Best Hotel in Oceania.”

Capella Taipei

Capella Taipei opened in April 2025, with 86 room and suites, and is the third newest addition to the portfolio. Designed by André Fu, the hotel is meant to offer a “modern mansion” aesthetic. The property features an Auriga Spa, a small, serene indoor pool, a Cantonese restaurant, a European brasserie, and a patisserie with views of the hotel’s garden.

This is without a doubt Taipei’s best hotel, and has elevated the hospitality standard in the city.

Capella Galaxy Macau

Capella Macau opened in February 2026, with 95 room and suites, and is the second newest addition to the portfolio. This is a hotel within a hotel, as it’s located within the Galaxy Macau complex.

The hotel is described as being influenced by the jungle-inspired motifs found throughout world fashion, with the hotel feeling like a “residential sanctuary in Macau.” As you’d expect, the hotel also has a spa, and is a dining destination.

Capella Kyoto

Capella Kyoto opened in March 2026, and the property has 89 rooms and suites, and is the newest addition to the brand. Kyoto has of course become a hotspot for luxury hotels in recent times, and I imagine Capella is elevating things once again. The hotel is located in the historic Miyagawa-cho kagai (geisha district), close to the Kenninji temple and the Kamo river.

The property is described as a modern day machiya (townhouse), so it’s a twist on the traditional Japanese concept, which reinterprets Kyoto’s characteristic spatial composition. The hotel has an Auriga Spa a selection of dining outlets,

Best way to maximize value with Capella Hotels & Resorts

If you’re going to stay at a Capella Hotels & Resorts property, there are two ways to maximize value — make sure you’re participating in a useful hotel loyalty program, and also book through a program offering extra perks.

Earn points with Global Hotel Alliance

Unlike some other small luxury hotel groups, Capella does participate in a hotel loyalty program. Specifically, it’s part of GHA Discovery (GHA stands for “Global Hotel Alliance”) which is an often overlooked loyalty program.

Not only does GHA Discovery offer elite tiers, but the program also offers 4-7% back on your spending, in the form of credits you can use toward future GHA stays. So you absolutely should take advantage of this program if booking a Capella property.

GHA Discovery even often has a lucrative status match promotion, and if you have elite status, you could score perks like additional room upgrades.

Book with a program like Virtuoso for extra perks

Capella properties participate in Virtuoso and similar preferred partner and credit card programs. Booking through those channels usually includes:

• Daily breakfast for two
• A room upgrade, if available
• A resort or spa credit, typically $100 per stay
• Early check-in and late check-out, if available

Given the rates, it’s worth booking through a program that offers these benefits. So whether you book through a premium credit card program or a travel advisor affiliated with Virtuoso, this is the best way to book these properties. Ford and his team are happy to help with Capella requests, and can be reached at ford@fordbtravel.com.

The good thing is that booking through Virtuoso still makes you eligible for GHA Discovery rewards, so you can double dip. Furthermore, if booking through Virtuoso, it’s sometimes possible to combine an advance purchase rate with extra perks. You can also look at these rates on TravelWits.

Bottom line

Capella is one of the world’s most well regarded luxury boutique hotel brands. Capella currently has 10 properties in Asia-Pacific, and seems heavily focused on quality over quantity. I’d almost view Capella as being what Aman used to be in its early days, but with more of a city focus.

In particular, in Bangkok, Hanoi, Shanghai, Sydney, and Taipei, Capella properties are considered to be the best in their cities. Having recently stayed at the Taipei property, checking out the rest of the portfolio is now also on my to-do list, as these are some pretty special hotels.

If you do book a Capella property, make sure you book through Virtuoso or a similar program, and double dip it with the GHA Discovery program.

If you’ve stayed at a Capella property, what was your experience like?

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review) is a popular business card, which underwent a refresh in 2025. The card has a $895 annual fee (Rates & Fees), which is of course steep, especially since this has recently been increased. Often people will wonder if the card is worth that amount of money. There’s no “one size fits all” answer, so in this post, I’d like to talk about how I’d go about deciding.

The way I view it, there’s not just one question here. It comes down to whether the card is worth getting in the first place, and also whether it’s worth keeping, based on the ongoing perks. So here are my thoughts on the value proposition of the Amex Business Platinum Card, in no particular order…

The Amex Business Platinum welcome offer is compelling

One of the big incentives to pick up any card is the welcome offer. Fortunately the Amex Business Platinum Card currently has a phenomenal welcome offer, which I value at thousands of dollars. So that can be a great incentive to pick up the card and give it a try for at least a year.

As I’ve explained before, anecdotally I find Amex business cards to be quite easy to get approved for, and there are several advantages when it comes to applying for the Amex Business Platinum, even if you’re new to business cards. There’s no reason to leave those kinds of rewards on the table, if you ask me.

The Amex Business Platinum isn’t a slam dunk for spending

While the Amex Business Platinum Card has a huge welcome offer and features some great perks, the one area where the card is a bit weak is when it comes to actual rewards for spending. The card offers:

• 5x Membership Rewards points on prepaid hotels and flights that are booked through American Express Travel®
• 2x Membership Rewards points on purchases at U.S. construction material & hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on each eligible purchase of $5,000 or more, on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year (and then 1x points); purchases eligible for multiple additional points bonuses will only receive the highest eligible bonus
• 1x Membership Rewards points on all other eligible purchases

Truth be told, I’d consider cards like The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (review) and Capital One Venture X Business (review) to potentially be more compelling for everyday spending. That’s not necessarily an issue, but the point is that the cards we have for perks and the cards we use for spending aren’t necessarily always the same.

The Amex Business Platinum credits easily offset the annual fee

The Amex Business Platinum Card offers a variety of credits and benefits, which on the surface, are the easiest way to offset the annual fee. I won’t go over all the credits here (since too many disclaimers are required), but you can find all the details in my card review. This includes everything from hotel credits, to airline fee credits, to wireless credits, to Hilton credits, to Dell credits, to Adobe credits, to CLEAR credits.

If maximized, the credits can potentially get you over $2,000 of value per year. However, a vast majority of people aren’t going to be able to maximize every one of these credits, given the effort required to use them (they’re often broken up into periods, and have restrictions on redemptions).

I would like to flag the $600 per year in hotel credits that were recently added, as they alone could nearly offset the annual fee. This is a semi-annual credit, so you get a $300 credit in January through June, and a $300 credit in July through December. This is actually a pretty easy perk to use — just book a prepaid hotel through Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® (no minimum stay) or The Hotel Collection (two night minimum stay) through American Express Travel®, and you can receive up to a $300 credit semi-annually.

Personally, I’ll have no issues maximizing that $600 credit, and on top of that, I get value from the airline fee credits, Hilton credits, and more, and that essentially helps me breakeven on the annual fee.

The Amex Business Platinum lounge access could be valuable

Nowadays, airport lounge access is one of the most valuable perks offered by premium cards. Admittedly there’s quite a bit of overlap here, given that premium cards from all of the big issuers offer some sort of lounge access, though the details differ.

Amex is known for its comprehensive lounge access perks. What’s most noteworthy is the lounge access perks offered for Amex Centurion Lounge and Delta Sky Club® locations, as that’s a major point of differentiation compared to cards from other issuers.

The Amex Business Platinum offers assorted other perks

Beyond the lounge access and credits, the Amex Business Platinum Card offers a variety of perks that will be of varying use to card members. We’re talking about everything from Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy elite status, to Hertz and National elite status, to access to the Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® program and Amex International Airline program.

Personally, I also appreciate the unique opportunity this card affords for Membership Rewards points redemptions. The card offers a 35% bonus on select Pay With Points redemptions when traveling your designated U.S. airline, potentially letting you redeem points for up to 1.54 cents each toward airfare (with some restrictions).

Is the Amex Business Platinum Card worth it?

What’s my take on the value proposition of the Amex Business Platinum Card? I recently picked up the card again, given the current welcome offer, plus given that I was targeted for an offer with “no lifetime language” (meaning I was eligible for the welcome offer, despite having had the card years back).

The card’s welcome offer is of course massive, and a big incentive to pick up the card. Beyond that, I just consider the card’s value proposition on a year-by-year basis. One additional consideration is that I also have the personal version of the card, American Express Platinum Card® (review), and there’s some overlap in the benefits between the cards.

Personally, I’ve been getting good value from the credits on this card, and with the recent refresh, I’m finding it easier to justify the card than ever before. Particularly, the up to $600 annual hotel credit really does wonders with reducing the “out of pocket” on this card, for mental accounting purposes. I also appreciate the 35% airline bonus on select Pay With Points redemptions. While this has been devalued compared to the past, it’s still valuable, in my opinion.

I’m not sure I’ll be keeping this card forever, but for now, I’m very happy with it, especially given the offer that I received.

Bottom line

The Amex Business Platinum Card is a premium business card, and one that many people have. It’s worth getting for the large welcome offer, and it’s potentially worth holding onto for the credits, lounge access, and assorted other perks.

Admittedly there’s some effort required to really maximize the card, but for many people, I know the math checks out. If you ask me, the downside to the card is that there are better cards for everyday spending, so that makes it hard to justify putting a significant amount of spending on the card, if you’re looking to maximize your rewards.

What’s your take on the value proposition of the Amex Business Platinum Card?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: The Business Platinum® Card from American Express (Rates & Fees).

In this post, I’d like to take a look at how Delta SkyMiles lifetime status works. Delta completely overhauled its lifetime elite status program in 2024, so there have been significant changes over time. Separately, I’ve written about lifetime elite status with Alaska Atmos Rewards, American AAdvantage, and United MileagePlus. On the hotel front, I’ve also written about lifetime elite status with Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, and World of Hyatt.

How to earn Delta SkyMiles lifetime status

With Delta SkyMiles’ million miler program, members can earn lifetime status for all elite tiers, though you better be ready to be loyal for a very long time. Here’s how qualifying lifetime activity has changed over time:

• Through the end of 2023, Delta’s lifetime elite status was based on the number of Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs) that you earned through all means; this could include MQMs earned through flying with Delta or partner airlines, as well as MQMs earned through spending on Delta’s co-branded credit cards
• As of 2024, Delta only counts eligible miles flown on Delta toward million miler status, so miles earned through any other means no longer count
• However, Delta is honoring all existing lifetime mileage balances, and they’ve been converted to the new metric at a 1:1 ratio

So while Delta has made it much harder to earn lifetime elite status, the program has also made lifetime elite status much more rewarding. Below I’ll share the million miler elite thresholds that currently exist, which are incredibly lucrative.

Lifetime Delta Gold Medallion status (one million miler)

Those who achieve one million miler status in the Delta SkyMiles program receive Gold Medallion status for life. On top of that, members receive a special gift for passing the threshold.

Lifetime Delta Platinum Medallion status (two million miler)

Those who achieve two million miler status in the Delta SkyMiles program receive Platinum Medallion status for life. On top of that, members receive a special gift for passing the threshold.

Lifetime Delta Diamond Medallion status (three million miler)

Those who achieve three million miler status in the Delta SkyMiles program receive Diamond Medallion status for life. On top of that, members receive a special gift for passing the threshold.

Lifetime Delta 360 status (five million miler)

Those who achieve five million miler status in the Delta SkyMiles program receive Delta 360 status for life, which is Delta’s invitation-only elite status. On top of that, members receive a special gift for passing the threshold.

Delta SkyMiles lifetime status FAQs

While the above is a basic rundown of Delta’s million miler program, let me answer some of the common questions people may have about the program.

Can you earn lifetime Delta status with credit card spending?

While you can earn Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs) through credit card spending, this no longer counts toward lifetime status. Through the end of 2023, credit card spending made up a significant portion of how many people qualified for lifetime status status. However, that’s no longer the case.

How can you check your Delta million miler status progress?

You can check your progress toward Delta million miler status by logging into your SkyMiles account. On your account summary page you’ll see your progress toward million miler lifetime elite status.

Do Delta million miler miles expire?

Miles toward million miler elite status don’t expire, which is to say that you can continue to rack up miles slowly toward lifetime status. Unlike other elite miles, they don’t reset each year.

Also keep in mind that these are completely separate from redeemable miles, as you can’t use million miler miles toward anything. It’s simply a tally of how many eligible miles you’ve earned over the lifetime of your membership.

Is Delta million miler status worth it?

Is it awesome to be rewarded for long-term loyalty with lifetime status? Absolutely. But in my opinion it’s never worth significantly changing your behavior in order to earn lifetime status. Why?

• Airlines can change qualification rules at any time for lifetime elite status, even if you’ve spent the past 20 years trying to earn it
• Airlines can change elite benefits at any time, so the perks of elite status can change considerably even after you earn lifetime status
• While the airline industry is more stable than decades ago, there’s always the risk of the airline going out of business, merging, etc.

So it’s awesome to earn lifetime elite status, but it’s not worth significantly going out of your way to earn it, in my opinion.

How does Delta’s million miler program compare to others?

Compared to American and United, I’d say Delta’s million miler program is right in the middle in terms of value:

• American’s million miler program is the worst, as you can “only” earn up to Executive Platinum status, and that requires five million lifetime miles (the same that’s required for Delta 360 status)
• United’s million miler program is the best, as you can not only earn lifetime Global Services status, but you can also give elite status to a companion

With the 2024 updates to Delta’s lifetime elite status program, I’d say Delta is more closely aligned with United than American, but the program still isn’t quite as good.

Bottom line

Delta Air Lines has a million miler program, whereby SkyMiles members can earn lifetime Gold, Platinum, Diamond, or Delta 360 status. While the status has historically been earned based on the total number of Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs) earned, as of 2024, it’s based on flown miles only.

Lifetime elite status is a great reward for being loyal over a long period of time, but it’s not worth going out of your way to earn, in my opinion.

Are any OMAAT readers lifetime Delta SkyMiles elite members? If so, what has your experience been like?

The $395 annual fee Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite^® Credit Card (review) is the premium personal credit card of Atmos Rewards, which is the combined loyalty program of Alaska & Hawaiian. There are three co-branded Bank of America credit cards, and there’s merits to each of them.

There are lots of reasons to get the Summit Card, from a huge welcome bonus, to the great perks and rewards for spending on an ongoing basis. It’s a card I’ve applied for and have in my wallet, as I find it to be truly innovative and rewarding.

In this post, I’d like to talk about how the Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers the ability to earn Global Companion Awards, both just for having the card, and for spending. These certificates can offer incredible value for award redemptions on Alaska, Hawaiian, and partner airlines, so let’s talk about them in a bit more detail, including about my firsthand experience with redeeming one of these.

How to earn Atmos Rewards Global Companion Awards

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card gives cardmembers the opportunity to earn up to two Global Companion Awards per year:

• The card offers a 25,000-point Global Companion Award as part of the welcome offer, and as an annual bonus on the cardmember anniversary every year
• The card offers a 100,000-point Global Companion Award when you spend $60,000 on the card in an anniversary year (so that’s 12-month periods from when you opened your account, different than a calendar year)

Let me emphasize that you can earn both of these Global Companion Awards, so it’s not that you can only receive one or the other. So, when should cardmembers expect for these Global Companion Awards to post? Per the terms:

• The 25,000-point Global Companion Award will post within two billing cycles of qualifying for the welcome bonus on the card, and within two billing cycles of the account anniversary
• The 100,000-point Global Companion Award will post within two billing cycles of completing the $60,000 spending requirement in an anniversary year

Based on my experience, the first Global Companion Award posts at the same time as the bonus points you earn with the welcome offer, so the sooner you complete the minimum spending requirement, the faster you get the certificate.

Once issued, Global Companion Awards are valid for 12 months. The good news is that it’s fine if you travel after that 12 months, you just need to ticket by then (and if you end up canceling your ticket after the expiration, you’d also forfeit the certificate). I should also emphasize that there need to be two award seats at the same rate to use this award, so you can’t use this award if there’s only one seat available.

How to redeem Atmos Rewards Global Companion Awards

How can you redeem the Global Companion Awards earned with the Atmos Rewards Summit Card? They’re super flexible.

In order to use Global Companion Awards, you need to find award availability for two passengers. This can be for travel on Alaska, Hawaiian, or any of the Atmos Rewards global airline partners (ranging from Condor to Qatar Airways).

Tickets must be booked on alaskaair.com, with both passengers being booked at the same time. The cardmember doesn’t need to be one of the travelers, as the certificates can be redeemed for others. Both passengers are still on the hook for taxes and fees, which have to be paid with the Atmos Rewards Summit Card (which also means that the $12.50 per person partner award booking fee will be waived).

The idea is that the 25,000-point Global Companion Award will take 25,000 points off the cost of a companion’s award, while the 100,000-point Global Companion Award will take 100,000 points off the cost of a companion’s award.

You can top off these certificates with more points if you’d like, and they’re valid for one-way or roundtrip travel. Just as an example, if you had a 25,000 point Global Companion Award:

• You could book a ticket that costs 20,000 points per person; you’d pay the 20,000 points for the first passenger, and then the certificate would totally cover the second passenger (though there would be no residual value)
• You could book a ticket that costs 50,000 points per person; you’d pay the 50,000 points for the first passenger, and then you’d have to pay an extra 25,000 points for the second passenger, to cover the overage

Step-by-step guide to Global Companion Award redemption

I’ve redeemed the 25,000-point Global Companion Award that I earned with the Atmos Rewards Summit Card, so let me share my experience with the booking process.

First I went to the “Discounts and companion fares” section of my Atmos Rewards account, where I found the code for the “Global Companion Awards Ticket 25K.” You can either copy and paste the code, or you can click “Use to book,” and that will then take you to Alaska’s booking homepage.

On the booking homepage, you’ll see that the code is automatically copied into the “Discount code” box, so you can enter your origin, destination, date of travel, and number of travelers.

For example, I constantly redeem Atmos Rewards points for travel on American, so I used mine for a first class ticket on American from Miami (MIA) to Salt Lake City (SLC), which costs 25,000 points per person in first class. As you can see, the search result showed that the companion would cost zero points.

The next page confirmed that, with a total cost of 25,000 points, plus the taxes and fees for both passengers.

Then when you get to the final booking page, you’ll see a note that the ticket has to be purchased with your Atmos Rewards Summit Card. That’s something you want to do anyway, since it means it’ll waive the $12.50 per person partner award booking fee. So while the initial page showed a cost of $36.20 for both passengers, that price was then lowered to $11.20, thanks to the $25 in waived fees.

And that’s it — the process was that straightforward! Keep in mind that the Atmos Rewards program awards status points for award flights, and both passengers would be eligible to earn status points for those flights, as the companion is treated the same as any other award passenger.

My take on the value of Atmos Rewards Global Companion Awards

The Global Companion Awards make up a major part of the value proposition of the Atmos Rewards Summit Card. How would I go about actually valuing these certificates, though? Let me share how I think about them…

To start, I should mention that I redeem a good number of Atmos Rewards points (formerly Alaska Mileage Plan miles). They’re super handy for redemptions on a variety of airlines, and particularly, for short haul travel on American, which is especially valuable to me. So while I don’t have high tier Atmos Rewards status, I am very much in the ecosystem.

Let me acknowledge that you should consider your own circumstances when deciding how much you value them. For example, if you almost always travel alone, then a companion certificate will likely be worth a lot less to you.

With that in mind, let’s talk about the two types of Global Companion Awards separately, because there are different questions cardmembers should be asking themselves.

Does the 25K certificate justify the annual fee?

You get the 25,000-point Global Companion Award annually just for having the card. Personally, I consider that to be worth pretty close to the “retail” value, since I travel on an Alaska award with a companion at least once per year, while spending 25,000+ points per passenger.

If you ask me, that more or less makes this a breakeven card for me, as I value that certificate very close to the card’s $395 annual fee, if not more. Between this and the waived partner award booking fees that come with the card, I’m way ahead, just by being a cardmember. That says nothing of the other perks, which are numerous.

Of course points give you more flexibility than an award, but I feel confident enough in my ability to use that award efficiently to say it’s basically worth face value (as I’ve proven with how I’ve used this certificate the first year). Everyone will be in a different situation, and that’s just how it is for me, as someone who redeems a good number of points.

Does the 100K certificate justify $60,000 spending?

The much more interesting question surrounds whether it’s worth spending $60,000 per cardmember year in order to earn the 100,000-point Global Companion Award. This assumes you have that much spending to throw at a card, which won’t be the case for many people (but there’s not much to analyze if you can’t spend that much).

I think the major consideration with putting a big amount of spending on the card is that you’re not just earning a Global Companion Award, but you’re also earning some other valuable rewards:

• You earn one status point for every $2 spent on the card, so if you’re trying to earn elite status, that will help you greatly
• The card has some amazing bonus categories, including offering 3x points on foreign purchases, as well as on dining, and on Alaska and Hawaiian flight purchases; the card also has strong purchase protection, including for rental cars and travel coverage

Obviously the math will work out very differently here if you earn the 100,000-point Global Companion Award by spending $60,000 in a category that earns 1x points, vs. spending it in a category that earns 3x points. For $60,000 of spending:

• If you were just earning 1x points, you’d earn 60,000 redeemable points, 30,000 status points, and the 100,000-point Global Companion Award
• If you were just earning 3x points, you’d earn 180,000 redeemable points, 30,000 status points, and the 100,000-point Global Companion Award

The funny thing is, I’d argue that even on the low end, that’s a good return on non-bonused spending. But on the high end, I’d argue that’s basically an unbeatable return on spending.

Now, how much would I value the 100,000-point Global Companion Award? I’d probably be conservative, and value it at around half of face value. Why?

• You have a lot less flexibility than just having points, since you need to book within a certain timeframe, and need to book an expensive award to maximize value
• Many people will have to book awards as roundtrips vs. one-ways to maximize value (to get to the 100,000-point requirement), and that limits flexibility
• The Atmos Rewards sweet spots are largely for shorter haul awards, so often you don’t even want to book the most expensive types of awards with Atmos Rewards points

But even if you were to value that certificate at 50,000 points, I think that still contributes very nicely to the value proposition.

I also think what’s so brilliant here is how the way this card is structured really keeps you on the “hamster wheel” — you earn enough points so that you can actually use your Global Companion Awards, and you earn so many status points that you’re really incentivized to fly more on Alaska, Hawaiian, and global airline partners.

Bottom line

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card gives cardmembers the ability to earn two Global Companion Awards — you can earn a 25,000-point certificate each cardmember year just for having the card, and a second 100,000-point certificate each cardmember year for spending $60,000 on the card.

Everyone will want to crunch their own numbers regarding the value of this. Based on my own redemption patterns, I think the 25,000-point award is easy enough to use and worth close to the annual fee.

Meanwhile I think the 100,000-point award is awesome, but requires some discount for mental accounting purposes, given the limited uses that allow cardmembers to maximize it. However, when you consider the overall value proposition of spending on the card, there’s a lot to be said for using this card for spending.

What do you make of the Atmos Rewards Summit Card Global Companion Awards?

American Airlines offers a small business rewards program, known as the AAdvantage Business program. This is a great way to earn extra rewards for your travel on American, including qualifying for bonus Loyalty Points and miles. Best of all, eligibility for the program is surprisingly simple, assuming you have the Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® (review).

In this post, I’d like to take a look at all of the details of the program, as many people find it to be quite complicated. Note that AAdvantage Business was launched in late 2023, replacing the previous American Business Extra program (which no longer exists).

How the AAdvantage Business program works

AAdvantage Business is the name of American Airlines’ business rewards program. This allows you to earn extra rewards in a business account, in addition to the rewards you can earn through your own AAdvantage account. Best of all, you have quite a bit of flexibility in terms of distributing the rewards. Let’s go over the details of how this works.

AAdvantage Business program rewards structure

The AAdvantage Business program has a pretty straightforward rewards structure, as it rewards members with both Loyalty Points and AAdvantage miles. With the AAdvantage Business program, you earn the following rewards, which will post within 72 hours of an eligible flight:

• AAdvantage Business offers the individual traveler one bonus Loyalty Point per dollar spent on eligible airfare (that’s not a redeemable mile, but just a Loyalty Point toward earning elite status)
• AAdvantage Business offers the business one bonus AAdvantage redeemable mile per dollar spent on eligible airfare

Just to clarify a few additional points:

• In order for a flight to be eligible to accrue with the AAdvantage Business program, you must book directly with American and add the AAdvantage Business number to the reservation at the time that you make the reservation, and designate it as a business trip; alternatively, an accredited travel agency may book travel on your behalf through its booking tool channel, and have the trip still qualify
• Travel on partner airlines qualifies for the AAdvantage Business program, as long as it’s booked through American
• The AAdvantage miles that the company accrues can be transferred to a designated member at no cost, and can be redeemed like any other AAdvantage miles; however, these wouldn’t earn you any additional Loyalty Points, so also wouldn’t get you any closer to earning more Loyalty Point Rewards

These rewards are all in addition to the standard rewards that AAdvantage members receive:

• AAdvantage members ordinarily earn five Loyalty Points per dollar spent on airfare
• Elite members receive Loyalty Points bonuses — Gold members get a 40% bonus, Platinum members get a 60% bonus, Platinum Pro members get an 80% bonus, and Executive Platinum members get a 120% bonus
• All Loyalty Points earned from flying also count as redeemable miles, so you earn as many redeemable miles as Loyalty Points

Just to be crystal clear, an Executive Platinum member ordinarily earns 11 Loyalty Points per dollar spent on airfare, while if enrolled in the AAdvantage Business program, they’d earn 12 Loyalty Points per dollar spent. There’s no reason to leave those bonus rewards on the table!

Qualifying for the AAdvantage Business program

In order to be eligible to participate in the AAdvantage Business program, you need to have a business in the United States or Canada with a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) or Business Number. Even small businesses are eligible for this program.

You accrue rewards in the AAdvantage Business program without any minimums. While you can redeem directly from there, alternatively, you can transfer the rewards to individual members. In order to transfer the miles in the AAdvantage Business account to an individual AAdvantage account, you need to meet one of two requirements:

• You must have at least five unique travelers who have credited flights to the AAdvantage Business account, totaling at least $5,000 in flight revenue over the course of a year
• Alternatively, you can be a Citi AAdvantage Business Card (review) member, in which case the minimum requirement is waived, as there’s no minimum to the spending or number of travelers

The value of the Citi AAdvantage Business Card

The AAdvantage Business program creates a huge incentive to get the Citi AAdvantage Business Card (review). That’s because just having the card allows many people to unlock the value of the AAdvantage Business program — there’s no need to actually use the card for your spending, but just having it is all that’s needed to redeem AAdvantage Business program rewards with no minimum on the number of travelers or revenue.

There are several potentially useful perks to this card, and on top of that, the card is offering a great bonus. This is a card that I applied for and got approved for. I applied thanks to the huge welcome bonus and the access to the AAdvantage Business program, among other things.

It’s worth understanding how closely this card is actually integrated into the AAdvantage Business program:

• AAdvantage miles earned from spending on the card post to your AAdvantage Business account, and then you can transfer them to the account of anyone linked to the account
• AAdvantage Loyalty Points post directly to the account of the person responsible for the spending, meaning that authorized users actually earn their own Loyalty Points (this is a unique card feature); however, we’ve seen some users targeted for promotions where both the primary cardmember and authorized user can earn Loyalty Points, which is pretty awesome

For American frequent flyers with a small business, this creates a strong incentive to get the card. The card has a $99 annual fee that’s waived the first year, and just having the card will allow many people to earn a sizable number of bonus miles.

Logistics of the AAdvantage Business program

If you’re curious about how the AAdvantage Business program works in practice, let me share some screenshots, for those who are more visual. Once you have an AAdvantage Business account, you can invite people to join your account (these should be people who work for your company, but there’s no verification process, as far as I know).

So you’ll want to click “Invite people,” and then once they accept your invitation, they’ll show up on your account.

If someone’s AAdvantage account is linked to an AAdvantage Business program account, you’ll see that when you go to make a booking on aa.com, you’ll be asked for your “Travel type,” and can select “Business” or “Personal.” If you select “Business,” you’ll see that the company name populates, and you can select the name of the traveler.

While the Loyalty Points from flights will post directly to the AAdvantage account of the member, the redeemable miles will post to the AAdvantage Business program account (the same is true for miles earned on the Citi AAdvantage Business Card).

Then if you’re eligible to transfer those miles, you’ll see the mileage balance listed, plus a “Transfer miles” button. There’s also a dashboard that shows your eligible number of travelers and eligible spending. However, as you can see above, I’ve met the transfer conditions even though I haven’t met the required threshold, since I have the Citi AAdvantage Business Card.

The process of transferring miles is super easy. You’ll just enter how many miles you want to transfer, and who you want to transfer them to, and then they should post to the AAdvantage account instantly.

My take on the AAdvantage Business program

My general take on the AAdvantage Business program is as follows:

• This program isn’t really so rewarding that it’s a game changer, or that it’s going to move the needle for people deciding whether or not to be loyal to American
• However, if you are eligible for the program, there’s absolutely no reason not to participate

The program basically offers an incremental 1.5% return on your American spending, since you earn one extra AAdvantage mile per dollar spent, and I value those miles at 1.5 cents each. On top of that, the program offers an incremental Loyalty Point per dollar spent — that will have no value to some, while it will have significant value to others, depending on the extent to which you’re pursuing status in the coming year.

It is interesting the extent to which American has basically given up on corporate travel. American’s priority is getting people to book direct and keeping distribution costs as low as possible. So this program is intended as the major incentive for most small businesses.

Bottom line

American Airlines offers the AAdvantage Business program. With this program, the business earns one AAdvantage mile per dollar spent on eligible airfare, while the individual traveler earns one Loyalty Point per dollar spent. In order to participate, you need a business with at least five registered employees and $5,000 in annual spending, or you need to have the Citi AAdvantage Business Card.

What do you make of the AAdvantage Business program?

The $95 annual fee Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® credit card (review) is the basic personal credit card of the Atmos Rewards program, which is the loyalty program of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. The card is issued by Bank of America, and is a rebranding of the former Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card.

This is a card that many people may not have considered, so in this post, I’d like to share nine reasons you should pick up this card if you’re eligible. Not only does the card have a huge welcome offer, but it can also be worth holding onto. In no particular order…

Limited time bonus of 80K points & companion fare

At the moment, the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card has a limited time welcome bonus where you’ll receive a 50% flight discount code for a qualifying future flight after opening your new account. Additionally, you can earn 80,000 Atmos Rewards bonus points and a $99 Companion Fare (plus taxes and fees from $23) after spending $4,000 or more on purchases within the first 120 days of opening your account.

I value Atmos Rewards points at 1.5 cents each, given the great uses of these rewards. That means that to me, the 80,000 points are worth $1,200. That doesn’t even account for the value of the companion fare or the flight discount code!

Note that eligibility for this card (including the welcome bonus) is unrelated to which other Atmos Rewards cards you have. So you’re eligible for this card even if you have the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite^® Credit Card (review) and/or Atmos™ Rewards Visa Signature® Business Card (review).

This is a card many people are eligible for

In the miles & points world, there are some cards that seemingly everyone has had at this point, and therefore they’re not eligible to apply for them and receive the bonus. Obviously, some people have had the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card (or its predecessor), but I assume there are lots more people eligible than with some of the mainstream travel rewards cards out there.

The Atmos Rewards program is incredibly useful, as there are lots of great uses of these points. The redemption possibilities are endless, including for travel on carriers like Condor, Fiji Airways, Japan Airlines, Starlux Airlines, etc.

Ability to earn $99 companion fare annually

One incentive to actually put spending on the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card is that you can earn an annual $99 Alaska & Hawaiian companion fare when you spend at least $6,000 per anniversary year on the card, valid for flights within North America.

For many people, this could be well worth it, especially given the size of the Alaska and Hawaiian network in North America. This could save you hundreds of dollars on the cost of a ticket, and is one of the most flexible companion fares out there. Interestingly, this is a perk that isn’t available on the more premium version of the card, so it’s a reason that many people will continue to want to hold onto this card.

A lucrative rewards structure, up to 3x points

Atmos Rewards points can be hard to come by, as the program doesn’t partner with any major transferable points currencies, with the exception of Bilt Rewards. That’s why it’s worth noting the rewards structure of the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card.

The card offers 3x points on Alaska and Hawaiian purchases, and 2x points on gas, EV charging stations, local transit (including ride share), cable, and select streaming services. Keep in mind you can get even more value if you have an eligible Bank of America account, as you can receive a 10% relationship bonus in terms of the points earned.

This is a great way to generate Atmos Rewards points with your credit card spending.

Spend your way to Atmos Rewards elite status

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card can help you earn elite status. You can earn one Atmos Rewards status point per $3 spent on the card, with no cap to how many status points you can earn with the card.

If you are going to get serious about earning elite status with Atmos Rewards, you’ll want to go for the more premium card, the Atmos Rewards Summit Card, which offers one status point per $2 spent, so that will rack up status points quite a bit faster.

Preferred boarding on Alaska flights

Those with the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card can receive preferred boarding for themselves and up to six companions on the same reservation when flying on Alaska. In order to use this perk, you need to charge the cost of the ticket to your card.

Preferred boarding can be valuable for ensuring that there’s overhead bin space for your carry-on bags, since that can otherwise be a challenge nowadays if you end up in one of the last boarding groups.

First checked bag free on Alaska & Hawaiian flights

Those with the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card can receive a free first checked bag on Alaska and Hawaiian flights. You must purchase the airfare with your card, and this also applies for up to six travelers on the same reservation. Alaska and Hawaiian ordinarily charge $35-40 for a checked bag, so the savings there are substantial.

20% back on Alaska & Hawaiian inflight purchases

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card offers 20% savings on Alaska and Hawaiian inflight purchases, including for food, premium beverages, and Wi-Fi. If you fly Alaska or Hawaiian with any frequency, those savings can add up quickly.

Valuable authorized user perks

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card allows you to add authorized users at no extra cost. Not only can the spending of authorized users help you accumulate more Atmos Rewards points (admittedly you have to foot the bill, though), but there are further perks that authorized users get.

Specifically, they receive the same preferred boarding, first checked bag free, and 20% savings on inflight purchases, as the primary cardmember. For example, it’s awesome to be able to add family, and have them get the same valuable perks that you get, even when they’re not flying with you.

Since a checked bag ordinarily costs $35 one-way, this benefit offers savings of up to $70 roundtrip per person, or potentially up to $490 per group roundtrip (if you were traveling with six companions).

Bottom line

The Atmos Rewards Ascent Card is currently offering an excellent limited time welcome bonus, which could earn you 80,000 Atmos Rewards points, plus a companion fare and flight discount code. Beyond that, the card offers significant value in the long run for those who fly Alaska or Hawaiian with any frequency. If you’re eligible for this card and haven’t yet applied, I’d seriously consider doing so.

If you have the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card, what has your experience been with the card?

Rosewood is one of the fastest growing luxury hotel groups, and has an impressive portfolio of hotels. Rosewood is approaching 40 properties, with nearly two dozen more hotels in the pipeline. Rosewood properties are known for beautiful design, great dining outlets, and friendly service, and the brand is quickly becoming a global name.

While Rosewood doesn’t have a loyalty program, there is a way to get extra perks for Rosewood stays by booking through an eligible travel advisor. In this post, I’d like to talk about why it typically makes sense to book a Rosewood property in such a way, as travel advisors can add perks to your booking, all at no extra cost to you. Let’s take a look at the details of that.

How travel advisors can help with Rosewood bookings

Many people think that the concept of booking hotels through travel advisors is outdated. While that’s true for many types of hotel stays, that’s very much not the case when it comes to luxury hotels.

For luxury hotel brands like Rosewood, you’ll almost always get the best deal by booking through a luxury travel advisor, who can help add perks to your booking at no extra cost to you. There’s even a specific program available to select travel advisors that adds value at Rosewood properties.

How is this possible? Well, hotels spend a lot of money on marketing so that they can fill rooms at decent yields. One sales technique that hotels use is that they offer select trusted travel agents extra perks they can give their clients when staying at Rosewood properties. It’s a win-win-win, for Rosewood, the guest, and the travel advisor.

Rosewood Elite perks: free breakfast, upgrades, and more

Rosewood has a special program for select travel advisors, which allows them to give their guests extra benefits on Rosewood stays. This is similar to programs offered by other hotel groups, like Accor Preferred, Belmond Bellini Club, Four Seasons Preferred Partner, Hilton for Luxury, Hyatt Privé, Mandarin Oriental Fan Club, Marriott STARS, Oetker Collection Pearl Partner, Peninsula PenClub, and Shangri-La Luxury Circle.

The program is called Rosewood Elite, and for booking through a Rosewood Elite travel advisor, you get the following benefits:

• Daily breakfast for up to two people per bedroom
• Complimentary room upgrade upon arrival (based on availability)
• A welcome amenity and note
• Additional property specific elite enhanced amenities, which vary by property; these can include a $100 credit per stay, though you’ll want to check with a Rosewood Elite travel advisor to determine the property specific amenity available for your stay

These benefits are only available when booking published rates and featured Elite Exclusive Offers. This includes many of the rates available directly through Rosewood, including a fourth night free offer, for example. A few important things to note:

• Upgrades and VIP treatment are prioritized for Rosewood Elite guests over those booking through other programs, like Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® or Virtuoso, so you’re almost always best off booking through a Rosewood travel agent
• What sets Rosewood Elite apart from booking through other programs is that the perks are combinable with other promotional rates offered directly by Rosewood, allowing you to really maximize value.
• A good Rosewood travel advisor can help you compare rates through these various programs

Ford and his team have access to Rosewood Elite perks, and can be reached at ford@fordbtravel.com. They don’t charge any service fees for Rosewood reservations, with a certain minimum. In some cases they might even be able to help with existing Rosewood bookings that don’t have these benefits added.

Why Rosewood hotels are worth considering

For those of you not familiar with Rosewood, the brand currently has around three dozen luxury properties. Rosewood was founded in 1979, though the brand has been growing at a much faster rate in recent years, especially since being acquired by a Hong Kong-based firm in 2011.

I’d say Rosewood is probably most comparable to Four Seasons in terms of quality. What I love about Rosewood is the huge variety of locations. Rosewood has some phenomenal city hotels (like in London and Hong Kong), while it also has some of the top resorts in vacation destinations (like in Courchevel, Los Cabos, etc.).

Just to give a few examples, the Rosewood Hong Kong is regarded as one of Hong Kong’s top hotels, while the Rosewood Mayakoba and Las Ventanas al Paraíso are regarded as two of Mexico’s best resorts. In particular, the company’s properties in Asia are known for being next level, given that they’re largely also owned directly by Rosewood (rather than there just being management contracts). Some of them also have the awesome Manor Club concept.

Rosewood Elite travel advisor booking FAQs

While the above hopefully covers the basics of Rosewood Elite, let me answer some FAQs regarding the program, in no particular order.

What hotels belong to Rosewood Elite?

Currently all Rosewood properties across the globe belong to Rosewood Elite, as they’re all bookable through the program. This is the most reliable way to get extra perks at Rosewood properties.

What rates are eligible for Rosewood Elite perks?

Rosewood Elite perks can generally be combined with any rate bookable directly with Rosewood, including advance purchase rates, best available rates, etc. This is an advantage of Rosewood Elite over other programs, as the perks are combinable with more types of rates.

Is there a minimum stay requirement for Rosewood Elite bookings?

No, you can take advantage of Rosewood Elite benefits even on a one-night stay, so there’s no minimum stay required.

Can you book Rosewood Elite rates without a travel agent?

In order to book a Rosewood Elite reservation, you have to go through a travel advisor affiliated with the program. There is one way that travelers can book these rates directly, though it still (sort of) uses a travel advisor.

Specifically, the TravelWits portal lets you book Rosewood Elite rates directly. You’re still booking through a specific travel advisor’s platform, but it’s great to be able to compare rates. These portals do have to be password protected, so if you’d like to use Ford Beckett Travel’s portal, you need to email travelwits@fordbtravel.com to request the password.

For example, this lets you see how you can apply Rosewood Elite benefits to a promotional, non-refundable rate…

How do you pay for Rosewood Elite reservations?

When you reserve a Rosewood Elite booking, you’ll still pay the hotel directly, so it’s no different than if booking direct. A travel advisor simply has to assist you with making the reservation, and then the hotel handles the stay.

Bottom line

Rosewood has some gorgeous hotels, and the brand’s portfolio keeps growing. From well-regarded resorts, to cutting-edge city hotels, Rosewood is in many cases setting a new standard for luxury.

The best way to book a Rosewood hotel stay is through a travel advisor affiliated with the Rosewood Elite program. While Rosewood doesn’t have a loyalty program, you can get perks that rival typical elite benefits by booking through a Rosewood Elite travel advisor. This will get you free breakfast, a room upgrade subject to availability, and some additional perks.

In many cases travel advisors won’t charge any sort of service fees (that’s because they get a commission from hotels, even though you’re paying the same rate you would directly), and that’s why booking luxury hotels through a travel advisor is a no-brainer.

If you’ve stayed at a Rosewood hotel before, what was your experience like?

The Royal Hawaiian Waikiki has no room service

The 528-room Royal Hawaiian belongs to Marriott Luxury Collection, and is one of the popular properties in Waikiki. Admittedly we can debate the extent to which US-based Luxury Collection properties are actually luxury, but here’s a detail that surprised me — the hotel doesn’t offer in-room dining, and it has been that way for years.

No, it’s not just that the hotel doesn’t have room service over certain overnight hours, or anything like that. Instead, it really doesn’t have room service at all, and the hotel simply recommends guests order food via food delivery services (which still requires going to the lobby, as those items can’t be delivered to rooms).

At what hotels should guests expect room service?

Back in the day, a vast majority of full service hotels had room service. Obviously not limited service properties, but beyond that, most hotels did have this amenity, at least in some capacity.

However, increasingly this is going from being industry standard to being the exception. Coming out of the pandemic, many hotels temporarily suspended room service, only to never restore it again. I guess that’s true of so many aspects of the guest experience at hotels in the US (in particular).

I think people are surprised to learn that room service generally isn’t profitable for hotels. You’d think it would be, given that it typically comes with lots of extra fees, and the process of serving it isn’t that inefficient. Yet somehow it’s something that most hotels lose money on.

The challenging economics also seem like the reason that room service should be a standard at a hotel that’s claiming to be luxury and have more high touch service, rather than it being something that’s just nice to have. Admittedly not everyone values room service, but part of what sets apart luxury hotels is how frictionless they’re supposed to be. If you’re willing to pay the inflated prices, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to bring food to your room.

So anyway, I’m a bit surprised by this policy at the Royal Hawaiian, even with the low expectations I have of hotels in the US. But I’m curious if it’s actually common for a “luxury” hotel to not have room service, or if this is unusual. Is it just a challenge with labor shortages in Waikiki, or…?

Bottom line

The Royal Hawaiian Waikiki, part of Marriott Luxury Collection, doesn’t offer room service. It seems to me like that should be a standard amenity at any luxury property, and should even be brand standard for Luxury Collection. Yet this 500+ room hotel offers no way to have food delivered to your room.

Obviously this is minor in the scheme of things, but still, it’s a sad reflection of how hotels in the US know no bounds when it comes to the corners they’ll cut (and this is hardly the most egregious example).

What do you think — is this a rare outlier for a “luxury” property, or is this more common than I realize?

In terms of service to the United States, the airline currently flies from Taipei (TPE) to Los Angeles (LAX), Ontario (ONT), Phoenix (PHX), San Francisco (SFO), and Seattle (SEA). The airline operates long haul service with its Airbus A350s, which feature a first class product.

Nowadays there aren’t many new airlines introducing an international first class product, so it’s cool to see Starlux offering this. However, the airline is taking an unconventional approach to this cabin. When the airline first launched long haul flights, I wrote about how the carrier’s first class strategy didn’t make much sense to me.

I want to address this topic once again, because years later, it still doesn’t make much sense to me, and I can’t figure out the economic justification for this strategy, especially with how few seats are selling!

Really I’m just writing about this because I desperately want to review Starlux first class, but can’t bring myself to pay the sticker price (to be clear, that’s not a request for a free flight, but instead, a request for the cabin to become a bit more accessible!). 😉

Starlux Airlines’ modest A350 first class seats

Starlux Airlines offers special first & business class products on its Airbus A350s, which are primarily used for long haul flights (though also used on some intra-Asia flights). Starlux is the only airline in Taiwan to offer first class.

Starlux’s A350 first class cabin consists of just four seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration. Arguably it’s not even a separate cabin, as it’s simply the first row of business class, and there’s no curtain between first class and business class. The airline is known for incredible quality, so in that sense, many people were surprised that the airline didn’t go more over-the-top with its first class.

Based on the hard product, this almost seems like some of the “business class plus” seats we’ve seen introduced in recent years, like the United Polaris Studio, American Flagship Suite Preferred, etc. More than anything else, it efficiently utilizes the space at the bulkhead.

The seat has some useful features, like 60-inch doors and privacy partitions, 32-inch 4K screens with bluetooth audio, zero-gravity seat settings, and personal wardrobes for storing luggage. However, there’s no denying that the airline didn’t set out to create the world’s best first class hard product.

First and business class is exclusively between doors one and two, and on the A350-900, the airline managed to fit 30 seats in this space (four first class seats and 26 business class seats). As a point of comparison, Qatar Airways’ A350-900s with reverse herringbone seats have just 24 seats in that space (though there is a little bar at the back of the cabin).

To be clear, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with introducing a first class product that’s incrementally better than business class, though you’d also hope that the price reflects that.

Starlux Airlines nicely invests in first class service

Starlux Airlines is known for its great soft product in all cabins, and that also extends to first class on the A350:

• In Taipei, Starlux first class passengers receive chauffeur service to and from the airport (TPE), plus receive access to the Huan Yu VIP Terminal
• In Los Angeles, Starlux first class passengers are able to use PS, the private suite that offers chauffeur service to and from the plane, allowing you to skip the terminal altogether; if you’re traveling alone you have access to The Salon (a shared space), while if you’re traveling with someone, you have access to The Suite (a private space)
• Starlux has a great first class inflight service on long haul flights, with caviar, La Mer gifts, and more

Starlux is definitely investing in its first class soft product both in the air and on the ground. Whether that makes up for the lack of separation from business class is more open to debate, though.

Starlux Airlines first class pricing is steep

When we first saw Starlux Airlines’ first class product, many of us assumed it would come at a reasonable premium over business class, since it’s not even in a fully separate cabin. That didn’t turn out to be the case, though. Ever since the product was launched, Starlux has maintained the same steep pricing for first class, typically around triple the price of business class.

You won’t find a one-way transpacific first class fare that’s priced under $8,000 (at least not one that I’ve found). I should mention that Starlux also offers first class on some flights within Asia, and there you’ll typically find that the cabin is priced around $2,500 one-way. While this includes the full first class ground experience, the onboard soft product on these flights is scaled back considerably.

Admittedly lots of airlines have very high sticker prices for first class, but then there are ways to get a much better deal. However, most of those don’t apply here:

• Starlux Airlines offers limited opportunities to redeem miles for first class; it’s bookable through Starlux COSMILE, but I can’t imagine many people have huge balances with the program
• Fares aren’t considerably cheaper if connecting, as is often the case with other airlines
• I can’t imagine Starlux Airlines has many corporate contracts offering huge discounts to travelers, since the carrier doesn’t exactly have a global route network yet
• Many airlines will sell buy-ups to first class; though Starlux’s buy-up costs are ridiculously high; for example, at check-in you can typically buy a business class to first class upgrade across the Pacific for $5,000, which is basically the fare difference, and it doesn’t include the full soft product

At these fares, I can’t imagine Starlux will be able to consistently fill any substantial number of seats. Even with just four seats, you’re not going to regularly find people willing to pay these kinds of fares, in my opinion. Furthermore, while Taipei is an amazing city, it’s not Hong Kong or Singapore in terms of pricing power for tickets (quite to the contrary, people often originate travel in Taipei to get cheaper premium fares).

Is Starlux Airlines selling first class seats?

I’m completely open to the possibility that I just have no clue what I’m talking about, don’t understand first class demand levels in Taiwan, etc. Fortunately with the airline just having four first class seats in the cabin, it’s easy to look at how many seats have actually been sold.

I just quickly pulled up inventory for an upcoming six-week period, between April 12 and May 24, 2026. How many seats have been sold on the various US routes? Let’s look at a couple of markets, as an example:

• From Taipei to San Francisco, five of the 168 seats have been sold, representing a 3.0% load factor
• From San Francisco to Taipei, two of the 168 seats have been sold, representing a 1.2% load factor
• From Taipei to Seattle, four of the 168 seats have been sold, representing a 2.4% load factor
• From Seattle to Taipei, zero of the 168 seats have been sold, representing a 0% load factor

Admittedly some people book first class very last minute, but that’s… still not a lot of seats to sell. And I think when you haven’t sold a single seat on a route for the upcoming six weeks, something is fundamentally wrong with the monetization system, assuming the goal is actually to maximize revenue. Which brings me to my next point…

This product seems like it could be better monetized

It doesn’t seem like Starlux Airlines is having much luck selling its first class. Starlux’s transpacific business class product is very good, but first class is priced roughly three times as much, all while not even offering a fully separate cabin.

This cabin ultimately comes at a fairly limited opportunity cost, given that the airline has a total of 30 seats between doors one and two, consisting of first and business class. Other airlines fit the same number of business class seats into that space.

If Starlux wanted to maximize revenue, it seems like selling upgrades to first class would be the best way to do that. These transpacific flights are quite long, so say the airline tries to charge somewhere in the range of $1,000-1,500 to upgrade a business class ticket to first class, without the extra ground services. I’m sure that’s something that some people would take advantage of, and it certainly seems better than consistently letting those seats go out empty.

For that matter, maybe these should just be rebranded as a business class “plus” product, with the same business class service, but better seats.

It seems to me like Starlux’s CEO likes the idea of having a proper first class cabin, and it’s a point of pride. I totally respect that. But it also seems really unusual for an airline to leave incremental revenue opportunities on the table, the way that Starlux is doing, since I know the goal is for the airline to be as profitable as possible.

This brings me to my age-old Starlux conundrum

As I mentioned in the introduction to the post, I do have my motive for discussing Starlux first class. Starlux is one of only two airlines in the world I haven’t flown in first class, with the other being Air Côte d’Ivoire. I’m a bit of a completionist by nature, so I’d really like to review this experience.

However, I just can’t bring myself to actually book a ticket, one way or another:

• I guess the most “reasonable” option would be to book an intra-Asia flight, which gives you the full ground experience, and it only costs a fraction as much as a long haul flight; however, the soft product seems to be significantly scaled back, so I feel like it doesn’t give the full experience
• If I book a transpacific ticket with cash, it’ll literally be the most expensive first class ticket I’ve ever booked, even more than The Residence on Etihad’s A380 back in the day; I hate the idea of spending so much on a flight, only to expect that I’ll be disappointed (in terms of cost vs. experience)

I guess the thing is that I keep expecting that Starlux will eventually come to its senses and better monetize first class. I don’t want to spend a fortune on a Starlux first class ticket, only to then a week later have partner award tickets be upgradable for a reasonable sum of money (wouldn’t that be nice?). Heck, maybe Starlux will at least get into the business of selling miles, and then those miles can be purchased at a reasonable cost, and redeemed for first class.

I’m almost impressed by the degree to which Starlux ensures no one gets a good deal on a first class ticket. Even on the airlines known for having among the higher premium cabin pricing, I’ve always been able to get a deal by just strategically positioning myself and being patient.

So if anyone has any ideas for how to get a deal on a Starlux first class ticket, please let me know. I just have a hard time believing that there’s not something I’m missing!

Bottom line

Starlux Airlines has been nicely growing its transpacific network for some time, and it now operates five routes between Taipei and the United States. Starlux has an intimate first class cabin on its Airbus A350s, with just four seats. Oddly it’s not even separated from business class, but is just the first row of the cabin.

While the hard product probably won’t blow anyone away, the soft product seems to be very good, both in the air and on the ground. Then again, the carrier’s business class inflight product is very good as well.

It seems to me like Starlux is struggling to actually sell its first class seats, and I feel like the airline could pursue a better strategy to monetize the cabin. I continue to be puzzled by the approach the carrier is taking, as it has been this way for years now, and last I checked, the airline is intended to be for-profit, rather than a prestige project.

What do you make of Starlux Airlines’ first class strategy?

Four Seasons recently got into the cruising business (or at least the business of licensing out its name for a cruising venture), with the launch of Four Seasons Yachts. The company’s first ship has set sail as of March 2026, with voyages in the Mediterranean in summer, and Caribbean in winter.

There’s a lot that makes Four Seasons Yachts unique, from the unparalleled amount of space dedicated to each passenger, to the plan to primarily tender guests into port (rather than using cruise terminals), to the pricing model for cruises.

In this post, I’d like to take a look at Four Seasons’ pricing model for these cruises, which is raising some eyebrows. From the time that it was announced, it was pretty clear that the goal with Four Seasons Yachts was to essentially be a cruise line for those who wouldn’t ordinarily take a cruise, and I think the pricing model reflects that. That being said, that’s not to say that I like the system.

Four Seasons Yachts cruise pricing & inclusions

There are two unique things about Four Seasons Yachts’ pricing compared to other luxury cruise lines — pricing isn’t all-inclusive, and pricing also isn’t per guest. This is sure to be controversial among some, so let’s take a closer look.

Four Seasons Yachts doesn’t include meals & alcohol

Virtually every major cruise line includes all meals with a sailing. Furthermore, generally luxury cruise lines include alcohol, so you’ll spend very little money onboard. Four Seasons Yachts is different:

• Four Seasons Yachts pricing includes your accommodation, breakfast, non-alcoholic drinks, light snacks, and gratuities
• Four Seasons Yachts charges extra for lunch, dinner, and alcoholic beverages; the exception is that children ages five and under receive complimentary dining throughout the ship, except through room service

Do note that if you book your journey through a travel advisor affiliated with Four Seasons Preferred Partner, you can receive a shipboard credit, which can be used toward food and beverage purchases, among other things. Booking Four Seasons Yachts through an advisor won’t cost you extra, so it’s no doubt the best way to book.

Ford and his team are happy to help with Four Seasons Yachts bookings, and can be reached at ford@fordbtravel.com. They have experience with booking Four Seasons Yachts, and belong to the Preferred Partner program.

Four Seasons Yachts charges per suite

Perhaps this is more a technicality than something with major implications, but it’s still worth covering. Cruise line pricing is typically per person, based on double occupancy. Four Seasons Yachts takes a different approach, and you pay per suite, regardless of occupancy.

In other words, it’s very much like booking a hotel room, where the cost typically doesn’t vary, as long as you’re within the occupancy limits. This same policy applies whether you book the entry level Seaview Suite (which can accommodate two adults and one infant), or the the four story Funnel Suite (which can accommodate five adults and one child).

How much Four Seasons Yachts charges for food & drinks

Officially, Four Seasons Yachts claims that guests can expect to spend approximately $250 per person per day to cover food and beverages. It goes without saying that this is purely intended to be an estimate, and actual consumption will differ greatly, especially with alcohol (I think many people spend more money on drinks than food when traveling, so…).

Now that Four Seasons Yachts has actually launched, the company has provided some sample menus with pricing, which is appreciated. You can find all the food and beverage outlets on this page. Then click on “Explore” for the restaurant you want, and then click on the “Menu Highlights” at the top right.

Quite honestly, based on the menu highlights, the pricing seems quite reasonable. That’s not to say that it’s cheap, but it doesn’t strike me as unreasonable, or anything, given the type of experience we’re talking about. Also keep in mind there are no taxes, and no expectation of gratuity (though there is an option to add gratuity on checks).

For those curious about the tipping situation in more detail, the company notes that “shipboard employees are fairly compensated for their service,” and “there is no expectation to receive additional tips or gratuities.” However, it’s noted that an “option to add gratuity for exceptional service for F&B purchases and spa services will be made available at the time of payment for goods and services purchased outside of your voyage fare.”

Below are some sample menus that Four Seasons Yachts has provided. I’m not saying any of this is cheap, but I could certainly see them trying to charge more.

My take on Four Seasons’ cruise pricing & inclusions

I’ve seen some people react negatively to Four Seasons’ a la carte pricing model for its cruises. Of course everyone is looking for a different experience, and the market will decide whether or not this model makes sense.

I’ll admit that I was surprised when I first heard that, but that’s mainly because we’re conditioned to think of cruise ships as essentially being big floating restaurants and bars. And in fairness, that’s kind of a nice thing — I recently took my first cruise in 20+ years with Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, and in an era where it feels like there’s endless nickel-and-diming in hospitality, it was really nice to have virtually everything included.

So I’d like to talk about this in a bit more detail, as I think there’s some nuance to this policy. To be clear, I don’t have a strong opinion here one way or another. I just think that just because something is different doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad.

Some people seem to be framing this as “how cheap not to include meals and drinks,” rather than asking “would you rather the fare be $X amount higher and include meals and drinks?”

Four Seasons Yachts’ pricing isn’t unreasonable

The first thing to keep in mind that Four Seasons Yachts journeys are a lot more reasonably priced than most people were expecting before they were on sale. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still really expensive compared to other cruise lines, but Four Seasons is creating a really special experience here, offering a product that’s basically not otherwise available at sea.

When the concept of Four Seasons Yachts was first announced, I speculated in a blog post that journeys would start at $1,500-2,000 per person per day (I had no inside information, that was just a guess). In the comments section of that post, not a single person agreed with me — everyone thought it would be significantly more expensive than that.

In reality, pricing generally starts a little under $3,000 per suite per night, with some variance based on the voyage. Based on the current itineraries, the cheapest journey starts at ~$1,900 per suite per night (the transatlantic crossing itinerary), while the most expensive journey starts at ~$3,350 per night (some of the Greek itineraries).

Of course that’s not cheap, but Four Seasons Yachts is a unique product, as the ship just has 95 accommodations. Obviously that needs to be priced accordingly in order for it to make economic sense. This isn’t Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, with 2,800+ rooms.

Even on the high end, compare this to the first Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection ship:

• Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection’s smallest ship is marginally smaller than the Four Seasons Yachts’ ship, but has 57% more rooms (149 keys vs. 95 keys)
• Four Seasons Yachts’ entry level suites are 58% larger than Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection’s suites (473 square feet vs. 300 square feet)

When Four Seasons Yachts was first announced, many media reports claimed that pricing would start at $2,500 per person per day. I’m not sure what the initial source was for that, but suffice it to say that the reality ended up being much more palatable.

Is all-inclusive inherently better than a la carte?

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a cruising expert. I used to love cruise ships when I was a kid, but there was then around a two decade gap between cruises. I recently took my first journey since then with Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, and I also have a sailing booked on Four Seasons Yachts for this summer.

But it raises a question for which I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer — would you rather Four Seasons Yachts charges an extra $X amount per night and includes food and drinks, or would you rather have more of an a la carte model?

I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer, but here are a few thoughts as to why I think countering the industry trend isn’t necessarily a bad idea:

• Even luxury cruise ships are never truly all-inclusive; at a minimum, there’s always premium alcohol that you can buy, and Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection (just to keep the comparison going) also has a fine dining restaurant onboard that you have to pay extra for, to the tune of hundred of dollars per person
• Given the price of some suites on Four Seasons Yachts — in some cases $200K+ per journey — I’m sure there are some people who would regularly be buying premium food and drinks anyway
• Four Seasons Yachts has a lot of legitimately great itineraries where you’re at a destination during lunch and dinner hours, and you probably want to eat at the destination; this is different than taking a cruise where you’re docking in the port of Nassau or Cozumel on a 6,000-person ship
• Four Seasons doesn’t have any all-inclusive resorts, and I think Four Seasons Yachts is going after a similar customer base, who are used to this; admittedly if you like the existing cruise industry or all-inclusives, this might appeal to you less

So I guess to summarize:

• Would I love if Four Seasons Yachts had the current pricing and included all food and drinks? I mean, of course I would… who doesn’t want more for less?
• Would I rather Four Seasons raise prices by $1,000 per night per stateroom and include meals? For me, definitely not, because I’m not taking a cruise to have 15 drinks per day and eat three huge meals per day
• Do I understand why people who specifically enjoy cruises for the all-inclusive aspect of it are put off by this? Of course I do, and I think that’s the beauty of any competitive industry, because there are options for everyone
• Interestingly Aman at Sea is launching in 2027 at an even higher price point than Four Seasons Yachts, and will only include dining at one restaurant, and won’t include alcohol

After my recent cruise, I definitely appreciate the concept of all-inclusive experiences. It’s not just about the cost, but it’s also about how nice it is to not always have to wait for a check, and to just feel like a company is putting effort into something without nickel-and-diming.

When I take a Four Seasons Yachts journey, I’m not sure the non-included items will actually end up costing me that much. Breakfast is of course included. Then I might have a drink or two in the evening, plus one meal onboard per day. Then for booking through Four Seasons Preferred Partner you also get a credit that can help offset that amount.

Bottom line

Four Seasons has gotten into the cruising industry, with the launch of Four Seasons Yachts, and the first ship is now sailing. I don’t think anyone would deny that the ship looks amazing, so this should be a very special experience.

Four Seasons Yachts has some unique policies that people probably weren’t expecting, including that only breakfast and non-alcoholic drinks are included, while lunch, dinner, and alcoholic drinks, come at an extra cost.

It’s not all bad news, though, as Four Seasons Yachts pricing is more reasonable than most people had predicted (though still at the top of the market, given the product being offered). Furthermore, the price of food and drinks isn’t unreasonably high, at least.

What do you make of Four Seasons Yachts countering the cruising trend with inclusions?

The surprising non-hotel history of Marriott

Most people probably don’t know much about how Marriott was founded, other than knowing of Bill Marriott (formally “John Willard,” which is where the JW Marriott brand comes from), the Mormon connection, and that the first hotel opened in the 1950s.

There’s a lot more to Marriott’s history that might surprise people, and the below ~12 minute video sharing the history of how Marriott started is quite interesting.

Okay, to be honest I find the narration interesting, while the generic images used throughout the video take away from it a bit, though I can appreciate the challenges. If you have the time, I’d recommend giving the below video a watch.

From root beer stand to world’s largest hotel group

As you may have learned above, Marriott really started as an A&W Root Beer Stand, and did airline catering before it ever opened a hotel. To briefly summarize how Bill Marriott got into the hotel business:

• Bill Marriott was born in 1900 in Marriott, Utah, and his parents were sheep herders
• Bill Marriott was always entrepreneurial, started working for his dad at the age of eight, and started his own business at the age of 13; there were lots of ups and downs, but we’ll fast forward to how Marriott started
• In 1927, Bill Marriott and his wife opened the first A&W Root Beer franchise in Washington DC; they had noticed the popularity of root beer stands elsewhere, and thought it would do well in DC
• While it worked great at first during hot summer months, they realized that in the winter it wasn’t as popular; they decided to add warm items to the menu in winter months, and branded the business as “Hot Shoppes”
• In 1928, Bill Marriott opened two more Hot Shoppes, and kept growing from there
• In 1936, Hot Shoppes approached airlines about the prospect of catering boxed lunches on planes, which had previously never been done before; airlines were interested, and soon enough the company was catering inflight meals at Hoover Airport in Washington DC
• In 1953, Hot Shoppes went public, and stock sold out within two hours of trading
• In 1957, Bill Marriott shifted into the hotel business, and opened the first motor hotel (motel) in Arlington, Virginia
• In 1959, the second Marriott property opened, which was the Key Bridge Marriott
• From there Marriott continued to grow to what it is today — the world’s biggest hotel group

Bottom line

Most people don’t realize that Marriott started as a root beer stand, then turned into a restaurant serving hot food, and then turned into an airline catering company. Hotels only came into the picture decades later.

What a fascinating and inspiring story. While Marriott is now the world’s largest hotel group, I can’t help but feel like the innovation that got Marriott to where it is today is sorely lacking at this point, and has been for a long time.

Did you know this aspect of Marriott’s history?

Hotels encourage you to use mobile check-in

If you have a confirmed stay with a major hotel group and have their app, chances are that you’ll get a push notification within a couple of days of arrival, inviting you to check-in online.

We’re used to the concept of checking in online with airlines, for example, as that’s how a vast majority of passengers (at least in the United States) obtain their boarding passes. However, people generally aren’t as enthusiastic about checking in with hotels. Why is that?

• With hotels, it’s much more common for people to want to talk to a front desk agent, either to discuss specific property information, see if any upgrades are available, ask for late check-out, etc.
• When you do mobile check-in with a hotel, you often still have to stop by the front desk to show your ID or payment method, or to activate your mobile keys
• Speaking of mobile keys, while that’s now widely offered (whereby you can use your smartphone to unlock your room), not everyone actually likes using that feature
• If you’re hoping to take advantage of any elite perks, that could become more complicated if you skip the front desk

It’s also worth emphasizing that mobile check-in doesn’t have the same functionality with all hotel groups. With the Marriott Bonvoy app, mobile check-in just asks you to confirm your arrival time and you push a button stating that you want to check-in, and that’s it. Meanwhile with Hilton Honors, there’s a lot more functionality, including the ability to select your specific room from any available room within your category.

My approach to hotel mobile check-in

I’m pretty lukewarm on hotel mobile check-in — sometimes I use it, while other times I don’t.

I guess the first thing to note is that I don’t remember the last time I actually used the mobile key option, whereby your smartphone can unlock a room. I’m not sure why, exactly, but it’s just something that has never really appealed to me. Maybe I just need to get in the habit of it… I’m curious if I’m alone in feeling that way?

Back when hotels first introduced mobile check-in (a decade or so ago), I had tried it several times, and almost always found it to be glitchy. So maybe those memories are why I still don’t use it.

With that in mind, here are the situations in which I typically do check-in online:

• If I’m happy with the room category that I’m blocked in (it typically shows through the app), factoring in the possibility for elite upgrades
• If I’m arriving really late, and want to make sure the hotel doesn’t cancel my reservation or walk me
• If I’m just staying at a limited service property, or if I’m on a short stay, where an upgrade is unlikely or not important to me

When I do mobile check-in, I always still drop by the front desk. However, I find that more often than not it speeds up the check-in process at least marginally, and often the keys are already prepared for me, and are handed over after showing my ID.

Meanwhile I typically don’t check-in online if:

• My room type doesn’t show as having been upgraded, and I feel like I might have better odds of an upgrade if checking in with a human at the front desk
• I’m heading to a resort or true luxury hotel, where the check-in experience can be helpful, and even pleasant

So yeah, I’m kind of wondering if most people take a similar approach to me, or if I’m in the minority. I don’t feel passionately one way or the other about this, though mobile check-in has never struck me as a huge time saver, unlike with airlines. But again, maybe I’m just stuck in my old ways.

Bottom line

We’re just about all used to checking in online for our flights. While most major hotel groups have this functionality, the benefit just isn’t the same, if you ask me. Personally I use mobile check-in sometimes, but even when I do, I wonder if it’s worth bothering. Meanwhile if I’m hoping for an upgrade beyond what the hotel app shows, I’ll usually hold off on checking in prior to arrival.

Where do you stand on mobile check-in with hotels?

In recent times, I’ve gotten more interested in cruising again. It’s an interesting time for the industry, given the number of luxury hotel groups that are sort of getting into the cruising industry, at least from a licensing standpoint — we’re talking about Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, Four Seasons Yachts, Orient Express Sailing Yachts, and Aman at Sea. Obviously these brands are trying to make cruising cool for those who may have otherwise preferred land based vacations.

While cruising in general can be a relaxing and luxurious experience, I think the ultimate benefit of cruising is getting easy access to places where you can’t easily vacation on land. I think the prime example of that is Antarctica, which I think is a bucket list destination for just about any traveler. Along those lines, I was hoping to get some feedback, as I’m sure I’m not the only one who is curious to learn about the best options…

Planning an Antarctica cruise seems overwhelming

I think I’m hardly alone by having Antarctica at the very top of my bucket list of places to visit. To be honest, since we have two small kids, I’m not sure how realistic this trip is any time soon, even with family help, but it can’t hurt to dream, or to at least start thinking about when this might be realistic.

I think it goes without saying that planning any Antarctica trip seems like a big undertaking. You’re typically committing to a long and expensive journey, and many of the cruise lines that have good expedition ships might be different than the cruise lines that are known for great luxury experiences.

So I think for lots of us there’s a big learning curve in deciding which direction to go. Is it worth cruising to Antarctica and back, or is it worth taking one of the options that involves flying? While all Antarctica cruises are on the long side, is it worth booking one that is extra long, which potentially stops at some other islands as well?

I think the good news is that back in the day, people had to be prepared to disconnect when taking cruises like this. However, thanks to Starlink, it’s my understanding that connectivity at sea (including in Antarctica) is excellent.

What’s the best option for an Antarctica cruise?

As I start brainstorming this cruise concept, I’d love to hear from people who have taken a cruise to Antarctica, with their thoughts, or at least those who have maybe researched it more than I have.

Essentially, I’m curious what the “best” cruise line is for Antarctica. Obviously this is highly subjective. Antarctica cruises are primarily about the destination, and I’ve heard there’s a big benefit to the smaller ships, in terms of being able to get on land more often (given how closely regulated this is in Antarctica).

But beyond that, I’m just also curious which cruise line offers the all-around best experience in terms of the luxury of the ship, the food and drinks, the inclusions, the service, etc. I imagine there’s no right or wrong answer here, which is why I’d love to hear some firsthand reports.

It looks like cruises to Antarctica mostly leave from Ushuaia, and last anywhere from 10 days to several weeks. While that sounds like a long time, it takes at least a couple of days in each direction to get to Antarctica via the infamous Drake Passage, so it makes sense that the cruises aren’t shorter.

Looking at the options, several cruise lines come to mind as being most interesting:

• French cruise line PONANT seems to do really well when it comes to expedition cruising, and has a focus on that; my impression is that PONANT strikes a good balance between adventure and luxury
• National Geographic & Lindblad Expeditions has a focus on expedition cruising and the latest generation Endurance ships seem quite nice
• Some of the traditional luxury cruise lines, like Silversea and Seabourn, have voyages in Antarctica; however, I’m not sure if the more traditional luxury comes with a tradeoff in terms of expedition cruising, or if they have just as much experience with this
• While not cruising, I should mention that White Desert probably has the most premium trips to Antarctica, but those mostly don’t involve cruising; they include flying to & from Antarctica, and then land-based lodging

For some context on the general itineraries, most cruises from Ushuaia to Antarctica take a minimum of 10 days, as that includes two days in each direction to get through the Drake Passage, and then at least five or so days in Antarctica to enjoy the scenery and go adventuring.

Journeys can get much longer than that, though, especially if you pair it with the Falkland Islands. You can easily be looking at a three week trip, then, and it brings you to a part of the world that even fewer people see.

If you’re in more of a crunch for time, Silversea has some shorter six-night itineraries, which include roundtrip flights from Santiago to Antarctica, and then a shorter trip around the region. Flying in obviously lets you skip the rough seas of the Drake Passage, and it’s certainly a cool aviation geek flight!

Bottom line

Regardless of how one feels about cruising in general, I think it’s safe to say that Antarctica is the ultimate place to cruise, given that it’s a destination that isn’t exactly known for five-star hotels.

There are an overwhelming number of options for cruises to Antarctica, so I’d love to hear about some firsthand experiences about which cruises lines are worth seeking out, and which are worth skipping. Similarly, I’d be curious to hear about impressions of sailing across the Drake Passage, vs. flying into Antarctica, and cruising from there.

Anyone else fascinated by the concept of a cruise to Antarctica?