I’ve updated the airline travel waiver summary I posted earlier in the week, as many airlines have extended the date ranges due to the events in Japan. As always, it is recommended that you call your airline directly for assistance with rebooking and/or canceling your trip. The updated chart is in the original post, which…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for March 2011.
The United Airlines Tulip gets a star at the Los Angeles Airport
Anyone who flies United Airlines with any regularity out of LAX has probably seen the wall of photographs just before you reach the Red Carpet Club in Terminal 7. Named “United’s Stars in the Friendly Skies,†it’s a nice way for United to recognize their employees who work at the airport, both frontline and behind-the-scenes.…
United Airlines & Continental award chart changes effective June 15, 2011
Yesterday, United Airlines and Continental announced award chart changes to become effective June 15, 2011. The current & new award structure can be found here. Since the majority of travelers focus on pure round-trip travel at the Saver award level (lowest mileage amount required), I’ve reproduced the not so easy to read charts into a…
Summary of airline travel waivers due to the earthquake in Japan
The U.S. State Department had previously issued a travel alert advising citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Japan through at least April 1, 2011 due to the earthquake. That advisory has been lifted, but all airlines have some type of travel waiver in place to enable rebooking or cancelling current trips to Japan for a…
Compensation for service failures at the new United Airlines
When things go wrong onboard United Airlines, the pursers are armed with handy “Please accept our apology†cards, previously known as Skykits. They allow you to log onto United’s website, punch in the nature of the problem along with the unique serial number from the card, and you are presented with a few options to…
Amenity Kit Review: Continental Airlines BusinessFirst (2011 version)
I’ve selected the current international BusinessFirst kit from Continental Airlines for this edition of Amenity Kit Reviews. For a better description of each category, and the 7-point scale for scoring, please review my introductory post here. Bag/Container: The patterned gray, rectangular nylon/canvas zipper bag is branded with a navy blue BusinessFirst tag sewn into the…
Airline collectible & memorabilia show in San Francisco today
If you’re in San Francisco and have nothing to do today, why not head down to the Best Western Grosvenor Hotel near the airport. It’s on until 3pm today and you can likely get oodles of United Airlines tulip memorabilia before they’re gone.
Major earthquake strikes Japan & related impact to airline flight operations
Terrible news this morning, as I’ve just finished reading about the horrendous magnitude 8.9 earthquake in Japan, the corresponding tsunami & enormous loss of life. My sincerest thoughts are for the region and everyone impacted today. The vast majority of flights (if not all) headed to Narita Airport outside Tokyo were diverted to other airports…
Vintage Airline Seat Map: Eastern Airlines DC-10-30
I’ve selected an Eastern Airlines DC-10 for this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps. The series 30 model was a longer range version of the then popular Douglas Aircraft Company tri-jet. Instantly distinguished from the dash-10 series by the additional center main twin-wheel landing gear, Eastern initially operated this airplane on the Miami to London…
Review of Room 77: a new hotel search engine featuring floor plans & room views
A new and ingenious hotel search engine has entered the market of travel websites. Named Room 77, it allows you to search for a specific hotel, enter your room type preferences including bed type, floor level & distance from the elevator, and then displays a list of top-matching rooms at that hotel, as well as…