Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for August 2012.

United’s Generous Compensation, Yet Impersonal Reply About My Cancelled Flight

I posted last week about how I proactively rebooked myself and was able to keep my upgrade after my United Airlines Sydney to Los Angeles flight cancelled. The next day, I emailed ‘1K Voice’ asking for compensation for the 24-hour delay and subsequent expenses incurred for an extra day in Australia. I further explained that…

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Vintage Airline Seat Map: American Airlines Boeing 707-323B

I previously posted American’s 707-123 and 707-323C seat maps and now bring you their sibling, the 707-323B, for this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps. The only difference from the -323C is the addition of seats 22A and 22F. I’ve learned the ‘C’ variant was developed as a convertible aircraft capable of switching from a…

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A Tale of Obsessive Flight Tracking Leading to Proactive Rebooking

My return from Sydney on United Airlines last week was delayed by one day due to a combination of a mechanical problem and the crew exceeding their duty time. It wasn’t my flight, actually, but rather that of the inbound aircraft that would have been United 840 back to LAX on Friday, August 3. Being…

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Virgin Australia’s Domestic Lounge at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport

I had the privilege of flying Virgin Australia in business class from Sydney to Perth a couple of weeks ago and gave you a sneak peek here. Prior to the flight, I spent a few hours in their domestic lounge in Terminal 2 – a benefit for business class ticketholders similar to what we enjoy…

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Starwood American Express Credit Card Offering 30,000 Starpoints

[Edited 9/5/12: This offer has now expired and I’ve removed the links.] In the unlikely event you haven’t read about the limited time credit card offer from Starwood and American Express, here it is. If you apply for the card before September 4, 2012, you can earn up to 30,000 bonus Starpoints in the SPG…

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Parmelia Hilton Perth Review (and My First Suite Upgrade)

While in Australia, I flew to Perth and stayed at the Hilton Parmelia for one night before returning the next day back to Sydney. I had been to Perth previously and this trip was primarily to review Virgin Australia’s service (post forthcoming), so the one-nighter was just fine with me. Not to mention hotel rates…

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Video of my takeoff from Sydney today

It was a stunning day in Sydney today. I’m fighting jet lag, but did manage to upload the video of my takeoff from Sydney today onboard United Airlines flight 840 to Los Angeles (yes… yes… I know… my electronic device was on and it shouldn’t have been). I was supposed to be on yesterday’s flight,…

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United’s Smisek Apologizes, Front-end Improvements Coming to SHARES

Tidbits of information about forthcoming improvements to SHARES, the reservations system for United Airlines, were revealed during the second quarter earnings call last week. In addition to apologizing for a range of customer disservice issues we’ve all experienced since March 3 (seat assignments falling off, missing upgrades, miles not posting, etc.), CEO Jeff Smisek said,…

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