Non-U.S. airlines tend to invest more heavily in their amenity kits and the British Airways First Class kit reviewed below is no exception. For a better description of each category and the 7-point scale for scoring, please review my introductory post here. Bag/Container: British Airways partnered with Anya Hindmarch to design the case for their…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for July 2011.
Bonus video from Tom Stuker’s 10 Million Mile United Airlines celebration
It has been a busy week for me, but I finally uploaded the additional videos and pictures I took at Tom Stuker’s 10 million mile celebration with United Airlines a week ago. Featured in this video are Randy Peterson, founder of BoardingArea, Flyertalk, MilePoint and countless other frequent flyer essentials, and Francis Gallagher, Publisher &…
Review: Hilton Los Angeles Airport and Towers King Room 1717
I’ve stayed at the Hilton LAX now several times in my quest to maintain Gold status in the HHonors program, so I think it’s about time I publish a review of the property here on my blog. I booked an advance purchase rate for a Towers King room on a previous return from a lengthy…
Advice needed: What to do with 100,000 Club Carlson hotel points
Last year I began my mattress running addiction with the Carlson group of hotels, mainly Radisson and Country Inn & Suites here in the U.S., after having stayed at several properties and been comped Silver elite status. Not usually in any conversation in terms of preferred hotel loyalty programs, I started with Radisson since they…
New United Airlines minimum check-in times started June 15, 2011
I hadn’t known of this change until grabbing the flyer below last weekend at LAX, but United Airlines rolled out new minimum check-in times that became effective June 15, 2011. It looks to me like they’ve aligned things with Continental’s timelines and while still requiring 45 minutes at most major airports when checking bags (30…
American Airlines Terminal 4 construction at LAX & Los Angeles I-405 closure
I received an email from American Airlines yesterday advising of Los Angeles area travel alerts impacting both travel to the airport and construction inside Terminal 4. I appreciate the proactive notice and wonder if I received it as being based here via my AAdvantage profile, or if this was a blanket broadcast to all American…
Tom Stuker’s 10 million mile United Airlines celebration Part 2
As I mentioned yesterday, I was incredibly fortunate to have been invited to Tom Stuker’s 10 million mile celebration at United’s Red Carpet Club in Chicago on Saturday. Tom is active on Flyertalk and had extended invites to 20 people for the event, so since I had already had plans to be flying through Chicago…
Tom Stuker’s 10 million mile United Airlines celebration Part 1
I was extraordinarily fortunate to have been in Chicago yesterday and received an invitation to attend Tom Stuker’s celebration at the C-concourse Red Carpet Club commemorating his 10 millionth mile flown on United Airlines. I met so many wonderful people, including Randy Petersen, BoardingArea’s founder and respected frequent flyer program guru, Jeff Smisek, United’s CEO,…
Vintage Airline Seat Map: Piedmont Airlines Boeing 727-200
Piedmont Airlines began operations in 1948 from its home base of Winston-Salem, North Carolina and eventually grew into a national carrier with a route network stretching to the west coast (and later to London’s Gatwick Airport). The east coast was still its strength with the largest frequencies operating from hubs in Charlotte, Baltimore and Dayton.…
The next ancillary airline product for coach passengers: amenity kits
An article appeared in the San Jose Mercury News in May discussing the evolution of amenity kits since their introduction around the 1950s. As a collector of the kits myself, I’m keen to know what the future holds for them as some airlines are foregoing fully stocked bags/containers and simply handing out individual products upon…