Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for September 2013.

Amenity Kit Review: Air Astana Long-Haul Business Class – Men’s

Amenity kit supplier Formia generously sent me several samples from its collection and I bring you Air Astana’s long-haul gentleman’s business class offering for this installment of Amenity Kit Reviews. For a better description of each category and the 7-point scale for scoring, please review my introductory post. Your first thought might mirror my own:…

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Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: September 13, 2013

A brief sampling of industry news that caught my attention today: JetBlue experienced an IT outage today delaying a majority of its flights. The problem was fixed by midday, though the airline said further delays could continue throughout the day. United Airlines will reportedly honor the $5-$10 tickets it issued yesterday during a fare loading…

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Vintage Airline Seat Map: Air France 3-Class Airbus A300

It’s time for another Vintage Airline Seat Map and I’ve selected a three-class Air France Airbus A300 seen flying the skies in the late 1980s. A couple of interesting things to note below are the white seats behind row four, and those in the middle section of row 40. I’m assuming they were crew rest…

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Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: September 12, 2013

A brief sampling of industry news that caught my attention today: United Airlines plans to launch nonstop service from Chicago to Edinburgh, Scotland beginning in May 2014. A Boeing 757 will serve the less-than-daily route. So this is why I couldn’t access Twitter earlier today: United was reportedly selling airfares for $5-$10 on Thursday. Damn……

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Jumping the Upgrade Queue on United Airlines

As I mentioned earlier this week, I flew a mileage run on United this past Saturday from Reno to Washington Dulles and back. Having a couple of Regional Premier Upgrades (RPUs) that would otherwise have gone unused the remainder of the year, I decided to apply them when I booked the ticket last month. The…

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Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: September 11, 2013

It’s been a respectfully quiet day for official airline news this 12th anniversary of the tragic events on September 11, 2001. Here’s a brief sampling of industry news that caught my attention today: Late yesterday, United Airlines and Air Canada initiated an airfare hike, the 11th such attempt of 2013. I have a feeling Delta…

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Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: September 10, 2013

A brief sampling of industry news that caught my attention today: The United Club “enhancements” I wrote about previously are here. As far as booze, United today launched an expanded premium beverage menu at U.S. club locations, which consists of a wider selection of beer, wine and spirits. This page on Flyertalk has some of…

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Random Notes From My United Mileage Run on Saturday

This past Saturday I flew a “simple†mileage run on United from Reno to Washington Dulles, connecting in San Francisco in both directions. It was a long day with flight 1 of 4 departing at 5:30 a.m. and flight 4 of 4 arriving back in Reno at midnight. I had Regional Premier Upgrades to burn,…

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Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: September 9, 2013

A brief sampling of industry news that caught my attention today: Delta’s Medallion Qualifying Dollar (MQD) tracking tool is now live and appears on the “My SkyMiles” summary and account activity pages. The revenue requirement addition to achieve each elite tier goes into effect January 1. United Airlines announced new daily nonstop service from Chicago…

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