[Edited to add: Thanks for everyone’s interest. Commenter #58 ended up being chosen and the upgrades are reserved in his name] My international travel has been plotted through at least January next year and I have two United Airlines Systemwide Upgrade certificates available that I’d like to gift to someone, so who better than one…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for August 2011.
Review of Google’s new Hotel Finder metasearch tool
Last month Google launched Hotel Finder, a new travel tool that searches for hotels based on city and other inputs from the user and returns Online Travel Agency (OTA) pricing. Limited to the United States for now, you can type in a city name or zip code and a small map will appear along with…
Airline ticket tax holiday short-lived, but long-term FAA funding far more critical
The partial shutdown of the FAA ended yesterday, but it’s only a temporary reprieve and I still hold firm in my disgust of politicians and their ability to hold citizens hostage from their employment. Sixteen days went by where airlines didn’t have to collect federal taxes that fund not only the salaries of Federal Aviation…
Test-driving Dynamic Air Awards by American Airlines
Last week American Airlines introduced Dynamic Air Awards where elite members of AAdvantage have access to discounted economy class mileage awards for travel in the contiguous United States. Based on published fare levels, the amount of miles varies, but are below the AAnytime award level of 50,000 miles for a roundtrip ticket. These awards are…
US Airways sues pilots, mechanic steals; new airline routes; GDS extensions and profits galore
In other airline, hotel and travel industry news this week… Late last Friday US Airways filed a lawsuit against… its own pilots. Upset with what they’re calling an “illegal slowdown” by some East (read: US Airways) pilots, the carrier claims their West (read: America West) pilots are far more efficient in minimizing delays that impact…
Vintage Airline Seat Map: Midway Airlines DC-9-10
Midway Airlines was founded in 1976 but began operations in 1979 as one of the first low-cost airlines compliments of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Based out of Chicago’s Midway Airport, the airline had a modest start with DC-9 aircraft purchased from TWA and served Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City. During its heyday in…
Instant Hilton HHonors Gold plus free night and bonus miles for airline elites
Last Friday I received a letter co-branded with the Hilton HHonors and United Airlines Mileage Plus logos stating, “We’ve opened the doors to Gold status just for you.†Thanks, Hilton, I’m already a Gold and you’ve just opened up a brand new account and sent me a new card. Reading on, though, it’s a targeted…
Testing airline response times and accuracy to question submitted online
A couple of weeks ago I decided to pose the same question to a number of airlines to see how quickly & accurately they would respond with an answer. While many airlines don’t publish an email for general questions, they do have online forms available to reach customer service or other departments with questions. I…
My travel experiences flying American Airlines vs. United Airlines
I’ve now taken a dozen domestic American Airlines flights since the end of May in both first class and coach and offer my opinions below as compared to my 62 flights on United Airlines this year. I’m a top-tier elite in Mileage Plus with United and only just Saturday rolled over to Platinum in AAdvantage…