I stumbled across another airline reality television series tonight I hadn’t previously known about, so thought it was worth sharing here. Camera crews follow airline personnel at Britannia Airways in the 1990s, once the largest charter operator in the United Kingdom. It rebranded to Thomsonfly in 2004 and then to just Thomson in 2008. If…
United Airlines to rebrand international cabins & upgrade premium amenities
United Airlines today announced the rebranding of international cabin classes and the upgrade of food, entertainment and amenities on those flights. United First will be named United Global First on three-cabin aircraft and Continental’s BusinessFirst name will replace United Business beginning March 3, 2012. The enhanced amenities will include: Additional in-flight food choices, including a…
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…
Mileage Run Opportunity: $169.20 nets 5,439 United EQMs IAD-GEG r/t
Well here’s a surprise. I’m used to seeing fare wars in major markets with a lot of competition, so did not anticipate finding this fare today on United offering a $63 one-way ticket from the Washington, D.C. group of airports to Spokane, WA. I haven’t spent too much time finding ideal connection opportunities for this…
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…
Hotel panic buttons, mini-bar upgrades & revenue, Trump in D.C., healthy room service and a smoke-free casino
In other hotel industry news last week… Many New York City hotels plan to provide their housekeepers, waiters and mini-bar attendants with ‘panic buttons’ in the near future. Not necessarily stemming from the recent accusations against French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the devices have been included as a new requirement in a seven-year deal between the…
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…