A sampling of industry news that caught my attention today: You can again track your American Airlines AAdvantage account activity with AwardWallet. New security measures have been put in place at AwardWallet to American’s satisfaction, re-opening access for members. Here’s hoping Delta, Southwest and United return eventually! American Airlines is hiring 80 work-from-home reservations agents…
Virgin Australia
Category Archives for Virgin Australia.
Australia Trip Report: United, Virgin Australia, Hilton and Radisson Blu
At this time last year, I was in Australia for a couple of weeks and reviewed each portion of my trip here on Frequently Flying (or CNBC’s Road Warrior), including my United Airlines LAX-Sydney flight, a sponsored trip on Virgin Australia between Sydney and Perth, two Hiltons, and the Radisson Blu Sydney. Here’s a recap…
World’s Best Airline Meals and My Top 5 Picks
You don’t hear as many jokes these days about airplane food as you did years ago when airlines served a hot meal – to all passengers – on just about every flight lasting more than 1.5 hours. But airline food remains a popular topic and I’ve been assigned the task to come up with a…
World’s Top Airline Amenity Kits of 2012 – TravelPlus Awards
I posted the third annual TravelPlus Airline Amenity Bag Award winners over on my Road Warrior blog last week. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention them here, as many of you know I’m an amenity kit aficionado. Not surprisingly, the top honors in each category went to non-U.S. carriers. United Airlines, however,…
Stick With United as a 1K or Switch to Virgin America as Elevate Gold?
Reader Elizabeth emailed me the following question yesterday: I am a 1k flier on United. I’m thinking of leaving them for Virgin Atlantic, as I moved from California to the UK in 2011 and have grown increasingly unhappy with their service. I fly back to the US from LHR 6-8 times a year. I have…
Virgin America Launches Status Match for American, United Elites
Virgin America today launched a status match program for elite frequent fliers with American and United. It’s a match/challenge combo, actually, where you’ll be matched outright until April 30, 2013 and offered the ability to extend your status through the end of 2013. First, here’s the chart of how the American and United elite tiers…
Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel Industry News: September 20, 2012
United Airlines plans to layoff workers in Guam. A United spokesperson said the airline remains committed to Guam, but plans to close the contact center, outsource cargo operations and reduce airport staffing. The contact center and cargo department employ 48 and 42 people respectively. When Apple debuted the iPhone 5 last week and went through…
Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel Industry News: August 28, 2012
United Airlines had a major SHARES outage late this afternoon, bringing their website down and halting operations at some airports. United is apparently offering a travel waiver for impacted customers, but as of this posting, no link has been posted online. [Edited (thanks Kris): The waiver is now posted.] In other not-so-good United news, a…
Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel Industry News: August 27, 2012
The FAA is beginning to review electronic devices and whether passengers can one day use them at all times during a flight. The agency is forming a committee to review the issue, even accepting input from the traveling public. American Airlines posted a net income of $135 million for July 2012, the second straight month…
Flight Review: Virgin Australia Business Class Perth to Sydney
I flew to Perth on a Virgin Australia Airbus A330 sporting the old business class configuration, and I was excited to experience the new, more luxe layout on my return to Sydney. If you didn’t read my outbound review, you should know that Qantas and Virgin Australia have really upped their game on this premium…