I’ve collected airline-related memorabilia since I was a child and built up quite a collection of items over the years. When I worked for United, I went overboard in the company logo store that used to exist in the old executive offices there on Algonquin Road in Elk Grove Village. If it had the United…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for December 2010.
Video: Lufthansa First Class trip report from Los Angeles to Bangkok via Frankfurt
Instead of posting someone else’s video from YouTube this week, I’ll post one of my own. Here is part one of my video trip report from September this year, where I flew First Class from Los Angeles to Seattle to Frankfurt to Bangkok. I’ve heard good reviews of the Lufthansa soft product, and definitely wanted…
American Airlines is launching something called “Arrivals” next year
I appreciate it when the airlines I fly wish me a happy holiday and thank me for flying with them throughout the year. American beat United this year, and I received the following email this afternoon: I thought it was cute they went all multi-media and I clicked into the video expecting snowflakes and Christmas…
Continental and United complimentary elite domestic upgrades
I joined OnePass more than 20 years ago and still have my original card, which includes the Eastern Airlines reservations number and logo on the back. I also signed up for the Continental Airlines Chase checking account & have been accruing miles for my purchases, as well as earned 25,000 bonus miles. So, I suppose…
Hotel loyalty programs and why I started with Radisson
Up until this year, I haven’t paid too much attention to loyalty programs on the hotel side. I generally would just research historical winning bids over at betterbidding.com, and go on a bidding spree on Priceline. I got pretty good at it, actually, and enjoyed the challenge & frequently won lower winning bids than those…
Listening to air traffic control onboard United Airlines
As a former student pilot, I appreciate listening to “From the Flight Deck” (Channel 9) onboard United Airlines flights. While it is the captain’s prerogative as to whether or not to offer it on each flight, I have found it available more often than not. It brings the flights to life and enables you to…
Vintage Airline Seat Map: United Airlines DC-10-10
In addition to the real-time seat maps on airline websites, there are other services out there such as SeatGuru and SeatExpert that provide detailed seat maps. These can be invaluable for selecting the best seats on the plane, and I have to admit I just like browsing through the different aircraft layouts by airline. From…
Stranded at an airport and need a cheap hotel?
One of the perks of being a 100,000-mile flyer on United Airlines each year is the level of service and accommodation they provide during irregular operations. In addition to getting me re-booked quickly and effortlessly, they have consistently provided hotel accommodations to me as a 1K even in the case of weather. While this is…
Airline policies, rules & regulations while flying
For many, traveling is a stressful activity filled with uncertainty and nervous apprehension in knowing what to do and how to act. It has become pretty routine for me and the other frequently flying types, and most respectfully go along with the various rules and regulations the airlines dish out whether or not they agree…
Airline no-show policies, communication failures and our expectations
This week a blogger posted a lengthy rant about his customer service experience with United Airlines over the Thanksgiving weekend. The short version of his story is that he bought a roundtrip ticket, didn’t show for the first flight (drove instead), so United canceled the reservation. A few days later, he shows up wanting to…