Late last month I posted a review of how travel managers ranked airlines, those people who have contracts with Fortune 500-type businesses who are responsible for planning travel. The same outfit, Business Travel News, also surveyed a similar 519 corporate travel department officials who rated hotel chains across 13 categories. As with the last post,…
Video: Lufthansa Airlines celebrates 50 years of service
The dates are actually questionable as to when Lufthansa Airlines really celebrated their proper 50th anniversary. 1955 was the year the carrier began flying again after the second world war, so many consider that “date” as the record of official launch. I disagree since their origins date back to services operated in 1926. And so,…
Delta & United excel, UA to Dublin, US hires, Qantas’ comeback, Virgin upscales and other hotel, travel & airline news
In other airline, hotel and travel industry news last week… Both Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are showing significant operating margins, 10.5% and 10.4% respectively, compared to American Airlines’ 0.60%. American continues to be burdened by the highest labor costs in the industry given it hasn’t filed for bankruptcy protection. Will 2012 be the…
Segment Run Opportunity: $237.20 nets six United EQSs LAX-SFO-PDX-SEA r/t
United Airlines has a fare out there tonight in the Los Angeles to Seattle market that nets six elite qualifying segments for $237.20 all-in, or $39.53 per segment. I’m surprised at how many of you qualify for elite status via segments and have no idea what your threshold is for “good†or “bad†cost-per-segment. If…
Buying top-tier elite status for $400? I’m doing it… would you?
I’ll openly admit I’m a sucker for status matches and challenges, and I received a targeted offer yesterday from Hilton HHonors to fast track to Diamond Status. What to do, what to do? First, here’s the offer: I’m already Gold through March of 2013 and this offer would require I complete six stays by the…
United Airlines DEQMs 11/3/11 – 1/31/12 ORD-LAX/SFO/SNA (CA/IL residents only)
United Airlines today announced a double elite qualifying mile offer for California and Illinois residents only. Details are as follows and I deliberately cut & pasted this from United’s website in the interest of time (and my employer’s pardon)! Registration is required here. For what it’s worth, the cheapest W-fare roundtrip LAX-ORD is $339.40 all-in…
Involuntary Denied Boarding compensation explained
On August 23, 2011, new passenger protections were introduced, one of which increased the amount of involuntary denied boarding (IDB) compensation. A question was posed during last weekend’s Chicago Frequent Flyer Seminars as to the exact calculation, so I thought I’d go through two examples. First, the new rules are as follows: Domestic flights within…
Vintage Airline Seat Map: Eastern Airlines Airbus A300 B2 (Air-Shuttle)
Eastern Airlines pioneered the air shuttle concept in 1961 with hourly service from New York’s La Guardia airport to both Washington National and Boston. It was operated with Lockheed Constellations way back then and eventually included widebodies at peak times in the 1980s. In 1989, Donald Trump bought the Air-Shuttle service and operated it for…
Video: LOT Boeing 767 textbook belly landing – Perfect!
In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a video of the LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767 making a textbook belly landing today at Warsaw Airport. Now THAT is how to land without gear! Well done, LOT pilots.
Upgraded, downgraded and well compensated yesterday flying United Airlines
I flew back to Los Angeles from the Chicago Seminars yesterday and encountered what ended up being a fun screw up on United Airlines’ part. The agent working the first flight began boarding as usual and I was about the sixth or seventh person scanned and made my way onto the jetway. The flight attendant…