A brief sampling of industry news that caught my attention today: Boeing’s stretched Dreamliner, the 787-9, took to the skies for the first time. A live video feed was available and I imagine very few #avgeeks got any work done for a while today. Delta Air Lines tweeted out a rather amusing comic/graphic showing various…
United Premier Gold Elite Status Wins Over Platinum, Unless…
Last month I wrote a post questioning if I should aim for United MileagePlus Premier Platinum elite status over simply holding Gold for 2014. And I’ve come to a decision. As I mentioned: Whether or not to strive for a higher (or any) elite status really comes down to two considerations: Your planned flying in…
Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: September 16, 2013
A brief sampling of industry news that caught my attention today: Bombardier’s CSeries jetliner took to the skies for the first time today in Montreal. The CS100 jet and family is designed for the 100- to 149-seat market and it will certainly provide new competition for Airbus and Boeing. American Airlines inaugurated Airbus A319 service…
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:…
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…
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…
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……
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…
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…
Did You Win a Delta Air Lines Tumi Amenity Kit?
Thanks to everyone who entered my Delta Air Lines BusinessElite amenity kit giveaway, and especially to Delta for sending them to me in the first place. You can check out my critique of the Tumi offering here. I asked those who entered to leave a comment as to which of the three Delta kits I’ve…