I recently published a resoundingly positive trip report from a flight in EVA Business Class from Amsterdam to Taipei. Other than a 2hr delay leaving Amsterdam, the flight experience was spectacular. As I stated in my report, EVA has an outstanding product....
Leggingsgate: What Happens to Employee Whose Passes were Being Used?
When a pass rider abuses the privilege of flying NRSA (non-revenue, space available), what are the consequences? Amazingly, the story of #leggingsgate has dominated the news over the last 24 hours. Check out One Mile at a Time on NBC’s...
United, Leggings, and the Power of Misinformation
Nothing like a dishonest tweet exploding into a firestorm on an otherwise quiet Sunday… I’ll address United’s pass rider dress code policy and the specific incident below, but let’s start with the tweets that set this all off: Turns out,...
United Leggings Incident: What REALLY Happened Yesterday
I will offer pointed commentary later this morning on the events surroundings #leggingsgate, but want to use this post to succinctly lay out a timeline of what REALLY transpired yesterday. Someone needs to. Here is what we know: Incident...
Live and Let’s Fly Weekend Digest: March 26, 2017
Good afternoon from the Black Forrest of Baden Württemberg. It has been another busy but great week visiting family and friends. The coming week will also be busy, but there will be downtime as well. The in-flight electronics ban...
Review: Grand Hyatt Taipei
In the interest of transparency, I state at the outset that this review has never been published before, but is from October 2013. It is part of my Star Alliance Business Class Adventure in Europe and Asia report. I outline in that...
AA Unable to Confirm Air Tahiti Nui Award Space
Just a heads up, Award Expert has been unable to confirm any award space on Air Tahiti Nui using AA miles for the last two weeks. Air Tahiti Nui is one of my favorite ways to get from the...
Lie-Flat Beds Return to Schedule Between BOS-SFO on United
Earlier this month I wrote about United Airlines offering lie-flats seats on all flights between Boston and San Francisco starting on 08 June 2017. Two weeks later, I followed up with news that United swapped in 737s with standard domestic first class seating for...
Uh Oh! Uber Self-Driving Car Crashes in Arizona
Uber has really had a tough year. I just posted a story called Double Standards and Dirty Tricks from Uber? about contradictory messages the company is sending to its drivers and riders. Now a self-driving vehicle has crashed in Tempe,...
Double Standards and Dirty Tricks from Uber?
Is Uber secretly encouraging drivers to call riders and pressure them to cancel if the ride does not “suit” the driver? As I wrote about here, Uber drivers are increasingly calling ahead to ask where you are going, then cancelling if...
Condor Partnership = Lufthansa Miles on Alaska?
Alaska Airlines and Condor, a German budget/leisure airline, have partnered: you can now earn Alaska miles when flying on Condor. But what about the other way around? Condor used to be partially owned by Lufthansa. Being a German airline...
Amazing View of Southern Lights from Air New Zealand Flight
Confession: I didn’t even know the Southern Lights were a thing. But now I know our Earth has Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and Aurora Australis (Southern Lights). I’ve mentioned several times here how high seeing the Northern Lights are on my bucket...
Review: EVA “Royal Laurel” 777 Business Class from Amsterdam to Taipei
If there is one thing I want you to take away from this review, it is this: EVA is not a Mainland Chinese carrier. So often, we encounter reluctance to flying EVA from Award Expert clients. The usual response goes...
Am I the Only One Who Doesn’t Use Hotel Deadbolts?
Earlier this week I wrote about a rough experience I had at the Hyatt Regency Mainz. A member of the hotel staff entered the room without knocking at 3:10AM, while my family slept. In the comments section, many reprimanded...
Delta’s Expensive Investment at LAX
Traffic at LAX has grown 30% since 2011. Last year 81 million passengers flew through LA’s only international airport, far more than it was ever designed to accommodate. Consequently, LAX is already a zoo, to put it nicely. But...
Impressive! How EVA Handled Our Delayed Flight
Delays are rarely fun, but some airlines handle delays much better than others. My EVA flight from Amsterdam to Taipei was delayed two hours but that gave EVA a chance to demonstrate model-behavior on how to manage a delay. Upon arriving...
Alaska Airlines Will Bury More Than Virgin America Brand
Alaska Airlines will retire the Virgin America brand by 2019. The news is hardly surprising considering the royalties involved in using Sir Richard Branson’s trademark brand, but Alaska will do much more than repaint aircraft. Changes Coming to Alaska Airlines In...
How to Maximize In-Flight Productivity On Your Mobile Phone
With a ban on in-flight electronic devices on nonstop flights from eight nations to the United States, business travelers may find themselves with only a mobile phone on a 15hr flight. Here are three must-have items to maximize productivity even...
Emirates Will Gate Check Your Banned In-Flight Electronic Devices
While the in-flight electronics ban prohibits items larger then mobile phones on U.S. bound flights, it does not specify how airlines must implement the ban. Emirates has come up with a clever solution: gate checking larger electronic devices. Bloomberg reports–...
Scary! Stranger Walks Into Our Hotel Room at 3AM
Imagine waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of your hotel room door flinging open and footsteps inside. That just happened to me last night. Although Augustine slept soundly on the flight over to Europe, it has...
