I’ve selected the current international first class kit from United Airlines for my first amenity kit review. For a better description of each category, and the 7-point scale for scoring, please review my introduction post here. Bag/Container: The nylon/canvas bags come in varied colors, include leather accents attached to the zipper, and a gold fabric…
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Southwest Airlines expands its routes and wings
This week brought a few noteworthy items from Southwest Airlines. First, they announced their frequency and city selections for all 18-slots they leased out of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). In August this year, Continental and United satisfied antitrust regulator concerns about their merger by granting 18 of their coveted EWR slots to fare-war-favorite Southwest.…
Star Alliance encouraging Virgin Blue to join
Virgin Blue’s CEO John Borghetti was in attendance at the Star Alliance CEOs meeting this week in Queenstown, New Zealand. This is actually encouraging news, and something I thought wasn’t in the cards since they ended their limited codeshare agreement with United Airlines back in 2009, and have since partnered up with Delta. This newer…
Vintage Airline Seat Map: Continental Airlines 727-100
As I mentioned in last week’s post, I’ll be posting vintage airline seat maps from time to time for any enthusiasts out there like myself. This week is United’s newlywed Continental Airlines, and their long-retired 727-100. I flew on a handful of United’s dash-100s, but they didn’t block that seat across from the mid-cabin galley.…
Continental Airlines offers 3- or 7-day reservation holds that lock in the airfare
Yesterday, Continental Airlines announced a new FareLock service that allows you to hold a reservation for three or seven days and lock in the ticket price. Starting at $5 for a 3-day hold, and $9 for a 7-day hold, this seems to be a smart and easy-to-implement ancillary revenue stream. I did a couple of…
Amenity Kit Review: Introduction
From time to time, I plan on offering up my review of airline amenity kits. For anyone who doesn’t know, these lovely little satchels are usually given to First and Business Class passengers embarking on a lengthy international journey. Some airlines still give them out in economy, but for most, they are an exclusive item…
American Airlines is launching something called “Arrivals” next year
I appreciate it when the airlines I fly wish me a happy holiday and thank me for flying with them throughout the year. American beat United this year, and I received the following email this afternoon: I thought it was cute they went all multi-media and I clicked into the video expecting snowflakes and Christmas…
Hotel loyalty programs and why I started with Radisson
Up until this year, I haven’t paid too much attention to loyalty programs on the hotel side. I generally would just research historical winning bids over at betterbidding.com, and go on a bidding spree on Priceline. I got pretty good at it, actually, and enjoyed the challenge & frequently won lower winning bids than those…
Vintage Airline Seat Map: United Airlines DC-10-10
In addition to the real-time seat maps on airline websites, there are other services out there such as SeatGuru and SeatExpert that provide detailed seat maps. These can be invaluable for selecting the best seats on the plane, and I have to admit I just like browsing through the different aircraft layouts by airline. From…
Airline policies, rules & regulations while flying
For many, traveling is a stressful activity filled with uncertainty and nervous apprehension in knowing what to do and how to act. It has become pretty routine for me and the other frequently flying types, and most respectfully go along with the various rules and regulations the airlines dish out whether or not they agree…