I spent the last two days of the year at the Hyatt Regency in Mainz, checking out on January 1st. In the World of Hyatt program, that’s called a head start on the new year! You might think that...
DoubleTree Fires Two Employees Who Kicked Out Black Man
DoubleTree has fired the two employees at the center of a controversy over race and profiling. Jermaine Massey was a guest at the DoubleTree hotel in Portland, Oregon. On December 22nd, he returned late from a concert and took...
Cathay Pacific Will HONOR Cheap Business/First Class Fares!
Cathay Pacific will honor deeply-discounted business and first class fares briefly available on New Year’s Eve. On Twitter, the carrier stated: Happy 2019 all, and to those who bought our good – VERY good surprise ‘special’ on New Year’s...
A New Year, Not A New Start: Travel Reflections On 2019
Happy New Year! As 2019 begins, I’m thinking about time. I ushered in the New Year in Mainz, Germany. Believe it or not, it was the first time I have ever celebrated New Year’s in Germany. As we watched...
Lufthansa Should Ban Vandalism Parent
Did you see the video of a parent helping a child vandalize the seatbacks on a Lufthansa flight? As far as I am concerned, that calls for a ban. The appalling incident happened onboard a Lufthansa narrowbody flight in...
Will Cathay Pacific Honor First Class Fare Deal?
Happy New Year! I went to bed just after midnight last night in Germany and woke up with a flood of texts, tweets, and emails about cheap Cathay Pacific business and first class fares out of Vietnam. It was...
Looking Back On 2018: A Very Odd Year Of Travel
2018 did not end the way I imagined it…not even remotely. That’s both good and bad. On the travel front, things did not exactly go as planned. Of the 10 products I set out to try this year, I...
My Top 10 Flights In 2018
As 2018 draws to a close, it is time for my annual “Top 10” series. Here, I’ll look back on my 10 favorite flights from 2018. As a reminder, this is not a top-1o all-time list nor does it...
My Top 10 Hotel Stays In 2018
As 2018 draws to a close, it is time for my annual “Top 10” series. Here, I’ll look back on my 10 favorite hotel stays from 2018. As a reminder, this is not a top-1o all-time list nor does...
JAL Pleads With Employees: No More Alcohol, Even Off-Duty!
Japan Airlines is asking its employees to refrain from alcohol, even off-duty, for at least the rest of the year. Honor is so important in Japanese culture and the flag carrier of Japan has been disgraced by two embarrassing...
My Top 10 Airline Meals Of 2018
For this year’s final Meal of the Week, I count down my top 10 airline meals of 2018. To be clear, these are only the best meals I have enjoyed over the last year, not my top 10 all-time...
My Top 10 Lounges In 2018
As 2018 draws to a close, it is time for my annual “Top 10” series. Here, I’ll look back on the 10 best airport lounges I visited in 2018. 10. Marco Polo Club – Venice (VCE) I appreciated that...
Airline Fatalities Rise 900% in 2018, But…
The numbers don’t lie…2018 was a comparatively bad year for commercial aviation safety. But let’s keep things in perspective. 2018 marked an all-time high in number of flights and passengers carried: 4.5 billion passengers on 45 million flights. As...
The Only Thing That Annoyed Me In Air France First Class…
The flight itself was near-flawless. The service excellent. But there was one thing that annoyed me about my first class flight on Air France: another passenger in the cabin. Let me start by saying that this is a first...
Meanwhile, I’ll Stick To Hyatt…
I read with some amusement the recent back-and-forth between View from the Wing, One Mile at a Time, and Frequent Miler over Marriott versus Hilton. My solution is simple: I’ll just stick to Hyatt. It started when Gary argued...
Analysis: Why Did DoubleTree Hotel Throw Black Guest Out?
The main issue is not why a black man was asked if he was a guest. Instead, the issue is why he was thrown out once that was established. I’ve held off on commenting on this case, because I...
Case Closed: Sweet Victory Over SWISS!
When it comes to actually honoring EU261/2004 obligations, it seems that most airlines will initially stonewall you, hoping that you will just give up. In the case of SWISS, a sharply-worded letter to the CEO did the trick. A...
Air France First Class Is Even Better On The Ground Than In The Air
Yesterday, I wrote about my incredible first class experience in the air. But the ground experience was even better. I already mentioned the incredible ground service I received, which included an escort almost from door to door. Let’s start...
A New Airline In An Unlikely Place
A new airline has sprung up in the unlikeliest of places: Yemen. Queen Bilqis Airways recently commenced regular commercial flights from Aden to Amman. Here’s a water-cannon salute from the company first arrival in Amman. It appears the airline...
Air France First Class: Wow, Wow, Wow!
I stepped onto my 777-300ER Air France first class flight from Los Angeles to Paris with dangerously high expectations. Even so, they were still exceeded. Air France first class is truly a special product. Let’s start with ground service,...
