After a brief visit to the ANA Suite Lounge at Tokyo Narita Airport last month, I headed over to the more spacious and serene United Global First Class lounge. Entry to the lounge is via an elevator just inside the reception area to the United Club in Terminal 1. After an agent checked my boarding…
Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel Industry News: February 15, 2013
Southwest Airlines and AirTran are (finally) linking systems, which will allow for passengers to book a single itinerary with segments on both carriers. To avoid baggage fees when flying exclusively on AirTran, book on Southwest.com. The latest domestic airfare initiated by Delta has failed due to lack of participation. It was the third attempt this…
Vintage Airline Seat Map: USAir Boeing 737-200
With yesterday’s merger announcement between American Airlines and US Airways, I thought it’d be appropriate to feature USAir in this week’s installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps. Appearing below is a Boeing 737-200 seen flying the skies in 1987. All of my seat maps from that year show USAir operating nothing but single-class aircraft –…
Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel Industry News: February 14, 2013
The obvious and most notable news today was the long-awaited official merger announcement by American Airlines and US Airways. The $11 billion deal will create the world’s largest airline. Here’s a look at what the eventual AAdvantage frequent flier program might look like. But there was also other interesting news to report, including Polish airline…
What the New American AAdvantage Program Might Look Like
With a merger announcement between American Airlines and US Airways imminent (tomorrow morning by all accounts), we’ll finally put some speculation to rest, but open the door on months of new supposition. [Edited 2/14/13: And it’s official] Of particular interest to me (and many of you, I’m sure) will be the changes to American’s AAdvantage…
Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel Industry News: February 12, 2013
All Nippon Airways (ANA) has been named Airline of the Year by Air Transport World. ANA won based on its exceptional financial performance, fiscal management, customer service and technology leadership. Silver Airways (based in Florida and one I’ve never heard of) won Regional Airline of the Year. Virgin America will launch new service to Austin…
Flight Review: United Airlines Global First, San Francisco to Tokyo Narita
I flew an eight-segment mileage run last month that included a roundtrip from Boston to Tokyo via San Francisco. And due to an unadvertised promotional first class fare (about $3,000) out of select U.S. origins to Tokyo (or Beijing), I was able to fly in comfort and nabbed my favorite seat onboard any United aircraft…
Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel Industry News: February 11, 2013
At the risk of beating a dead horse, have you heard an announcement is likely this week regarding a possible American-US Airways merger? Board meetings scheduled for today were pushed to Wednesday. Delta Air Lines today announced a new expansion of Terminal 4’s Concourse B at JFK that will add 11 more gates. The new…
Amenity Kit Review: Austrian Airlines Business Class
A special thanks goes out to reader Jason for donating a current-generation Austrian Airlines Business Class kit 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. Bag/Container: The charcoal gray case appears to be made out of hemp (or…
And the Winner of Two United Airlines Amenity Kits Is…
Congratulations to commenter #29, who was drawn by the trusty random number generator – you’ve just won a United Airlines Global First and BusinessFirst amenity kit. Congrats Ralph! I’m emailing you now to get your address. Thanks everyone for your interest… I’ll sift through by bins to find more duplicates I can give away in…