A SkyWest CRJ-200 bound for Casper, Wyoming begins boarding in Denver. As departure time nears, a man seated in the exit row refuses to switch off his mobile phone. After repeated requests to turn off his phone, all of...
In the Belly of a Boeing + Other Picts from my UA SFO Tour
United Airlines graciously hosted a group of Flyertalkers at San Francisco International Airport two weeks ago, offering a behind-the-scenes tour that included a peek into UA’s Ops Center, baggage claim system, and a walk around the tarmac. There were...
United Airlines Offers Assistance to Stranded Southwest Passengers
United has sensed a business opportunity and chance to score corporate brownie points in the aftermath of Southwest Airlines’ decision to ground 80 737-300 aircraft. With about 300 Southwest flights canceled today, stranded passengers now have another reasonable option...
A Rundown of My Whirlwind Week of Travel on United/Continental
Re-qualification for 1K status on United is a daunting task while living in Germany. While I do a fair amount of travel within Europe, it is primarily for leisure and on cheap Lufthansa tickets that do not earn miles. When...
How I Scored an Upgrade I Didn’t Deserve
Somehow this didn’t get published last Friday. My apologizes. This morning was a nail-biter in Frankfurt. As I mentioned earlier today, the upgrade on my 747-400 flight to Chicago was still waitlisted and according to my friend at the...
"Terrorists" Force Diversion of a United Flight
Readers of my blog know that I have very little tolerance for irrationality. Such irrationality is often manifested in the actions of the TSA, but sometimes passengers or flight crews are to blame, like when a flight attendant overreacts to...
When Economy Class is more Comfortable than International Business Class
A full recount of my 20,000+ miles of travel over the last week on United and Continental is coming, but tonight I want to briefly share about hitting the jackpot on my Washington Dulles-Frankfurt flight on United Tuesday night....
Guess Who Didn’t Get the Upgrade?
The screenshot below was grabbed four hours prior to departure on Monday. Guess who didn’t get the ugprade? If you gussed me, you guessed correctly. Unfortunately, I still suffer from upgrade phobia and was quite angry when I was offered the...
A First For Me: I Slept Through Meal Service on United
This is not really anything to be proud of, I suppose, but it was a first for me: I slept through a transcon redeye on United last night, consuming no food or drink onboard. While this might be trivial...
Would You Have Spoken Up? Biting My Tounge in the Chicago Red Carpet Club
I find that it is generally a good idea to mind my own business. Sometimes, however, it is quite difficult. Yesterday I entered the United Red Carpet Club in Terminal C at Chicago O’Hare where a Lufthansa Senator flying...
Trip to Japan Postponed – I’m Coming Home!
When disaster struck Japan, I waivered over whether to take my planned trip to Tokyo next week. Despite dire warnings of radiation contamination, empty shelves at grocery stores, and rolling blackouts, I determined that media reports were overblown (to...
Flight Lands Without Guidance in Washington, DC While ATC Sleeps
Isn’t it a comforting thought that air traffic controllers at major airports sleep on the job? It is not the first time this has happened and I know it won’t be the last, but it is always newsworthy when it does occur. Earlier today, just after...
Jeff Smisek Hints at Major Changes for United
United CEO Jeff Smisek has been making his rounds lately and spoke today at the J.P. Morgan Aviation, Transportation & Defense Conference in New York City. I just listened to it and offer my notes from his ~30 minute...
Continental Plans Wi-Fi Expansion to 737s, 757s – Will United Follow?
United announced today that its fleet of Continental domestic 737s and 757s (over 200 planes) will be equipped with Wi-Fi starting in 2012. Unlike the Gogo land-based system that UA currently uses, Continental will use satellite provider Ka-band, which purportedly will utilize world’s highest-capacity satellite to provide...
L-Class Lufthansa Intra-Europe Fares Earn 100% RDMs/EQMs on United
I flew on Lufthansa from Milan to Frankfurt Staurday evening on a cheap fare that I thought would earn zero miles. For the heck of it, I added my Mileage Plus number when checking in and was shocked to...
Lufthansa Proves United isn’t the only Website with Problems
For reasons which I will discuss later this week, I decided to skip my return flight to Frankfurt on Ryanair and book with Lufthansa instead. The LH fare itself wasn’t bad, but booking it turned out to be a huge...
My Japan Dilemma – To Go or Not to Go?
To be clear, compared to what the Japanese people are going through right now, my dilemma is quite unsubstantial, but because this is my travel blog, I trust you won’t find it in poor taste to speculate about my...
United’s New Award Chart a Better Deal for the Savvy Traveler
It came a complete shock to me when United updated their award chart this week and did not introduce across the board price increases. On the contrary, United cut the number of miles needed to fly to Europe or...
United to Eliminate Emirates as Award Partner on May 28th
Following Continental’s lead, United’s partnership with Emirates will end on 28 May. You can still accrue award miles miles through that date and have until 28 November to request missing mileage credit for flights taken on or before 28...
Jeff Smisek Addresses United’s "Service" Problem
While Glen Tilton, former United Airlines CEO, may not have been as bad as some made him out to be, he seemed to have a lot of trouble with empathy. He often gave the appearance that he could care...
