My award booking service is all about helping clients effectively use their points to realize their family vacations, romantic getaways, business trips, or anything in between. The goal is always to find a combination that best blends schedule, points required, and out-of-pocket spend to create the best itinerary available. Sometimes that itinerary is perfect, sometimes it is not, but after redeeming 1m+ miles each week for the last 2.5 years, I know this: award space waits for no man.
For several months I have highlighted the plentiful award space offered on Aer Lingus on flights between Boston and Dublin. Aer Lingus routinely released at least nine award seats on every flight (two daily flights to/from Dublin during the warmer months) and I have booked many family vacations that include these flights. Not only is Aer Lingus a very respectable airline, this route marks one of the best uses (if not the best use) of British Airways Avios, where a round-trip in economy class is only 25K Avios and business class (with much sparser availability) is 50K Avios round-trip. Aer Lingus is also bookable through United Airlines for 60K r/t for economy–not a great deal, but another option for those with only United points.
It just seemed so odd that while most carriers highly restricted space during the busy summer travel months, Aer Lingus made boatloads of seats available nearly every day of the week. Too good to be true indeed, as Aer Lingus has now pulled all space between May 01 and December 31. This is not a computer glitch, because the dates are precise and availability is plentiful once again for travel in 2014.
At least two of my clients who were deciding on dates will now have to fly on BA via London instead, for more miles and a hefty fuel surcharge (or just buy tickets on Aer Lingus). Both options are not ideal.
Award space is dynamic and often unpredictable. I did not see this coming, but it reinforces my longstanding advice–if something looks good, take it–do not wait for the “perfect” itinerary or you may find yourself with an even less ideal itinerary or nothing at all. The modest change fees for modifying or cancelling award tickets (as opposed to United revenue tickets) should not be a concern, but rather viewed as an insurance policy. I see it multiple times per week–when you wait, you will often find yourself disappointed.
wow, glad i got in, dub-mco for 25k
Thought you would like this email circulating amongst us UA staff. From an old time FA regarding the new uniforms.
During her fitting appointment for the new uniform, a friend of mine, an attractive, sophisticated, slim woman in her sixties, asked to have her new uniform skirt long enough to cover her knees. She was told that, in an effort to prevent the flight attendants from looking dowdy, we were being outfitted in shorter, more form fitting uniforms. The majority of our flight attendants are over the age of 40, some are over 70, and many carry extra weight. Has United’s decision makers ever heard the expression, “Mutton dressed as lamb?” These uniforms are designed for women the age of our daughters, or granddaughters. Dressing matrons in clothing one would expect to find in a store such as Forever 21 will not make us look like those cute little girls who fly for the Asian carriers.
I would like to first address the skirt length. I am 72 years old, active, and slim; still my inner thighs swag in a manner reminiscent of window drapery. I have seen some of my heavier coworkers seated on jumpseats while wearing short skirts, and if it weren’t for the extra weight, there would be a view of parts that should remain unseen. Perhaps United logos on crotches would be a nice additional marketing tool. After my uniform arrived, I placed the massive carton on the floor, and put on my skirt. I then bent over to retrieve the jacket from the carton, and the kitties, startled by the sight of my personal plumbing, scrambled under the couch, and remained there for hours, blinking in disbelief. My legs have always been shapely, and remain so, but I have been cursed with bulging ropey veins that cause lust in phlebologiest; unfortunately, they are also atop the fronts of my legs. Medical students take notes as they look at me, studying the major thoroughfares for blood in the human body. Since the new trousers resemble either dual sausage casings or pantaloons, the skirt is my only option, and the short length reveals the aforementioned flaw to disadvantage. It’ll give people a better view of my medically prescribed compression hosiery, though. Maybe the manufacturer’s name should be visible, and I can make money doing endorsements. Given our present wages, that could be a very good thing.
The dresses are short-sleeved, giving us older women more opportunity to reveal additional crepe yardage. Of course, as we wave goodbye, there will be that echoed farewell from the underarm flesh.
The uniforms are tight. I’ll admit that I did see one flight attendant who looked good in the aqua colored dress. She was tall, very slim, and had a nice little butt. She looked like probably 1% of our population. I saw another woman, probably 45 to 50 years of age, who was short, busty, and overweight. In one of the dresses, she looked like a navy blue loaf of bread. Even though I am not overweight, I am not the firm package I once was. The sight of myself in the dresses, reminded me of music one would hear in the chase scenes of old Western movies: “Lumpity Lump, lumpity lump, lumpity lump, lump, lump.” Pity the poor young woman who had her uniform fitting before her pre-menstrual bloat. Closing the zipper may be impossible during “that time.” And did anybody remember that everyone inflates a bit in flight? Those who remove clothing during rest breaks may end up like those hapless passengers who remove shoes during a flight, only to discover that they can no longer put them back on.
We will be required to wear a serving jacket when working in the premium cabins and an apron if working in economy. If one moves into another cabin to assist, a change of costume will be necessary. Economy workers volunteering to help in Business and First Class will be as rare as intelligence in United’s management.
Cintas, who has made our uniforms, also provides for McDonalds. Maybe they think that our job is the same, but they do not understand what flight attendants actually do. We know that our management does not. We stand on seats to reach into luggage bins, and those wearing the skirts may be giving new meaning to the term, “Friendly skies.” We get filthy, and I, often a galley worker when not flying as purser, usually look as if I’d been on the losing end of a food fight. There are no pockets in any of the uniform pieces, and we need a place for pens, keys, and flashlights. Maybe we need tool belts They could been equipped with flashing lights which read, “chicken/beef”, small computers, and a cattle prod. (I would also love weaponry with which to threaten the next designer of our uniforms!) Unlike Mickey Dee’s employees, we travel the world, and sometimes fly to very cold places. The new coat is short and lightweight, and those of us in skirts will suffer blasts of arctic air that may put frost on our knees and shrubbery. We aren’t always at home when we dress for work. Women who ordered the dresses say that they can’t zip them up in back. Will we soon have to share rooms in order to have assistance getting dressed? Maybe we will receive reprimands from hotel managers for knocking on doors of other guests, requesting zipper assistance.
I have flown for over 47 years, first with Pan Am, and now with United. I have seen the decline in the quality of flight attendants’ lives over the decades, yet we soldier on, making things as good as we can, given the challenges hurled at us. A good example is the meal service in United Business, which Continental does with double the number of galleys and flight attendants the United group has. Yet we make it work. We always “make it work”, which is probably not always in our best interest. . We cannot make these new uniforms work! Management, while filling their pockets, has cheapened our airline. Now they’re trying to cheapen us, too! Welcome to Walmart Air!