I previously reviewed the Cathay Pacific amenity kit provided to male First Class passengers and here now is the female offering for this installment of Amenity Kit Reviews. I received both on my flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong in September last year. For a better description of each category and the 7-point scale…
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Losing your airline elite status? Many carriers make offers to buy it back
Today I received an email from American Airlines offering the opportunity to continue my AAdvantage Platinum status through the end of next February for a modest fee. Last year I took the Platinum elite challenge with American in part to re-experience a carrier I hadn’t flown since 1998, and also to rack up some miles…
Vintage Airline Seat Map: Northwest Airlines MD-80 (1987)
It’s time again for a little narrowbody love for this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps. Featured below is a Northwest Airlines MD-80 seen flying around in the late 1980s and seating a total of 143 passengers – 12 in First Class and 131 in coach. While definitely not a favorite aircraft of mine to…
Preparing for the upcoming United Airlines system conversion
In a little more than two weeks, United Airlines will switch reservations systems from Apollo to Shares, merging all itineraries from Continental and United onto one platform. Other carriers who recently made similar technology shifts were plagued with problems when they flipped the switch, but United is hoping to avoid similar embarrassments. United’s CEO Jeff…
Sell your retail gift cards to United Airlines for MileagePlus miles
United Airlines today introduced a new program where MileagePlus members can convert their retail gift cards with balances of $25 or more into award miles. More than 60 retailers are participating and according to the FAQs, mileage “rates are determined by market pricing, which is affected by several factors.†I have a $25 Target gift…
United & ARC excel, TSA PreCheck expands, airport PFCs, Alaska’s new routes, idiot of the week & more news
In other airline and travel industry news last week… United Airlines reported its January 2012 operational performance and enjoyed another month of increased consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) – up 8.5 to 9.5 percent. On-time performance and the number of flights successfully completed also grew about 1.1 percentage points from a year…
All airline travel waivers due to weather are not created equal
More than a year ago, I posted some general information about travel waivers and now that they’re increasing in frequency with winter weather, I thought I’d expand on a couple of points. Yesterday, United Airlines (and others) issued three separate waivers for Denver, Chicago and the Northeast. For the Denver and Chicago waivers, they isolated…
Amenity Kit Review: Virgin Australia Premium Economy (November 2011)
I’m partnering up with Brad again over at Upgrd.com for this installment of Amenity Kit Reviews. Last year he flew with Virgin Australia on a vacation to Australia and New Zealand, and I previously reviewed the Business Class amenity kit he received here. Up for review today is the carrier’s “Comfort Pack†provided to him…
Vintage Airline Seat Map: American Airlines Boeing 767-200 (1987)
Here’s an American Airlines Boeing 767-200 from 1987 for this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps. Seating a total of 184 passengers, First Class seated 14 people in a 2 x 1 x 2 configuration, Business Class offered 30 seats in the common 2 x 2 x 2 layout and economy sat 140 passengers in…
United Airlines complimentary upgrade failure: How to avoid it
My next favorite United Airlines flight out of LAX after any of the premium service departures to JFK is the morning 777 to Washington Dulles. I’ve never missed an upgrade on it and the flight is perfectly timed for a great array of connection opportunities at IAD. I flew it again this past week, but…