Hopefully you have all registered your American Express cards for Small Business Saturday today, an annual event on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in which American Express offers a cash-back incentive in order to boost small business. This year’s offer...
Is the Elimination of Stopovers on United MileagePlus Awards Inevitable?
Delta Air Lines has announced that free stopovers will not be part of the 2015 Skymiles program and it seems likely that the combined American and US Airways AAdvantage program will also not offer complimentary stopovers. That would leave...
Thankful for Travel Companions
I recently had the opportunity to experience Lufthansa First Class with my German wife Heidi — just wait till you read her account of the flight — and it reminded again that flying is so much more fun with...
Three Tips to Get Home for Thanksgiving
A storm has dumped massive amounts of rain and snow along the Eastern Seaboard today, leading to over 500 cancelled flights and endangering the Thanksgiving travel plans of many. But even at this evening hour, you can still better...
United Airlines Announces Service to Venice, Additional Service to Dublin and Paris
United Airlines announced three new Summer 2015 routes today, including new service from Newark to Venice and Chicago to Dublin as well as a second daily flight from Washington to Paris. Newark to Venice The 767-400 scheduled on this...
Sunday Morning to LHR on London Underground
You would think that at the world’s busiest airport for international passengers, London Heathrow, with flights around the clock, there would be reliable subway service early enough in the morning to catch the hundreds of dawn departures. Not so...
More Devaluations for United MileagePlus in 2015
Christmas gifts have arrived early from United Airlines and like last year, we’ve all received lumps of coal. As United continues to dismantle what was once the world’s best airline loyalty program, several more changes have been announced, all...
United Airlines Mimics Delta, Raises 2016 Elite Requirements
The consultants United Airlines hires to provide strategic advice on loyalty innovation and how to increase profit must have a pretty easy job…watch Delta, then copy. Once again, United has mimicked Delta in increasing elite status thresholds for 2016...
Chinese Tourist Visas Now Valid for 10 Years
President Obama is in Asia this week at APEC and the headline has been the climate change deal he announced with China…but wait, there’s more! Of particular interest to travelers is another deal cut with China to extend visas...
United Airlines’ Veterans Day Video
Not exactly a day of celebration here in Germany, but yesterday was Veterans Day (or Armistice Day as I prefer to call it), marking the end of the World War I and a day in the USA to remember...
Great Deals with November 2014 Flying Blue Promo Awards
I have highlighted the value of Air France/KLM Flying Blue Promo Awards on many occasions, and after several months of rather mediocre sales, November offers a number of discounted awards worth considering. Air France/KLM tends to release a lot of saver space to its own...
Photo Tour of American Express Centurion Lounge at SFO
I met my brother for dinner at the newest American Express Centurion Lounge last night at San Francisco International Airport. This fourth U.S. AMEX lounge is great – a welcome addition to Terminal 3 at SFO and a great...
FAQs: American Express Centurion Lounge in SFO Now Open
American Express has opened its fourth U.S. Centurion Lounge today, this one at San Francisco International – I intend to visit it later today and post pictures tomorrow, but for now here is some helpful info on the new...
A Trip After A Trip
I’m out of Africa – mission accomplished. That was more than a week ago. But rather than recovering at home from a 4-week trip to Africa, I never even got back to Germany: from Cape Town, Heidi and I...
Another Costly Travel Screw-Up: Yellow Fever Vaccinations
I think my last big travel mistake was missing the bus by one minute and having to pay an outrageous taxi fee to travel 50km from central Reykjavik to Keflavik International Airport in Iceland. There have been small mistakes, of course,...
Bad News for Aeroplan with Stricter Routing Rules
The news just keeps getting worse for Aeroplan members. Lucky wrote a post entitled Aeroplan Improving Routing Rules — No More MPM! a couple days ago and my heart sank immediately when reading it — I knew the news could...
Stopovers Still Permitted on Delta Skymiles Awards…For Now
When Delta’s latest IT update eliminated the ability to include stopovers on award trips, most assumed the worst…Delta had stealthy devalued its program again with no notice. Turns out the news is not quite as bad after Delta clarified today...
The Hunt for a Competent American Airlines Agent
Earlier today I posted the following about booking Etihad Airways award space with American Airlines– American Airlines Cannot Book Etihad Award Space…Again Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways is a wonderful American Airlines AAdvantage partner, offering excellent premium cabin award space...
United Reports Strong Q3 Profit
United Airlines reported a healthy third-quarter profit today of $1.1 billion, a record and also a 99% increase from last year. Here’s some of the specifics: United’s consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) increased 3.9 percent in...
New United Airlines Premier Status Tracking Website
United Airlines has introduced a nifty new website for tracking MileagePlus status: nothing revolutionary, but knowing how much you have to spend to attain or maintain elite status is now very transparent. Here’s the website and watch this one...
