Elite status is valuable to me, as a frequent traveler, for a number of reasons but over the last two years, changes to American Airline Advantage program are causing me to ask if it’s time to let go of...
Afternoon Tea: United Airlines vs. British Airways
United Airlines no longer serves afternoon tea onboard its westbound flights from London. Still, I thought I would compare tea service on United and British Airways this week for my Meal of the Week installment. Why? Rumors are swirling that...
Free Lounge Access at LAX for United Star Golds
Earlier today I wrote about the new Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge in Terminal 6 at LAX. This lounge, along with the Star Alliance Lounge in the Tom Bradley International Terminal, presents two superb free lounge options for United...
Odd Upgrade Pricing on Sun Country Airlines
My job is to analyze airlines, but sometimes I encounter things I cannot explain. Upgrades on Sun Country Airlines are one of them. Yesterday I flew from Los Angeles to Minneapolis on Sun Country. It was my first time...
First Look: New LAX T6 Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge
Air Canada has moved from Terminal 2 to Terminal 6 at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). As part of the move, it has opened a brand new Maple Leaf lounge in T6 that is small but outstanding. First, the bad...
Review: Biman Bangladesh 737-800 Economy Class Bangkok to Dhaka
I bought my ticket the day before travel and was quite disappointed to see that business class had sold out. With no formal reviews online of Biman Bangladesh, I had no idea what to expect and braced myself for a wild...
SWISS Neutrality Continues on Secret Fifth Freedom Route
In thinking about the whole mess in Qatar, I had to chuckle that the Swiss have found a way to play peacemaker: a Fifth Freedom route between Muscat and Dubai. Each evening at 9:25p a SWISS A330 departs Dubai,...
EU Makes It Easier for Carriers to Legally Challenge Gulf Rivals
Protectionism is the darling of populist movements and populism is alive and well around the world today. Now the EU plans to make it easier for European carriers to lodge anti-competitive complaints against foreign rivals. If the discourse in Europe even remotely resembles the...
Oman Air a Big Winner in Qatar Crisis
What happens when you need to travel between Saudi Arabia or the UAE and Doha? Answer: take Oman Air. As one of the easiest way to sidestep the Qatar embargo, the Omani national airline has found itself suddenly in...
Review: American Airlines A321 First Class New York to Los Angeles
As the last carrier to offer a true three-cabin first class product between New York JFK and Los Angeles/San Francisco, American can approach its competitive advantage in three ways: offer a truly compelling product, a marginally better product than the...
Bad News: Iberia Awards Now Bookable Online with AA Miles
Bad news or good news: it all depends on how you look at it. American Airlines now lets you book awards on oneworld partner Iberia online. That’s great news for those who never knew Iberia existed, but bad news for...
A Glowing Review of Delta from My German Cousins
I have German cousins in town this week and around the dinner table last night, they showered Delta Air Lines with praise. They flew economy class from Stuttgart to Atlanta and exclaimed, “Never have we had so much food on...
Sweden Mulls Pricey New Airline Tax
Sweden’s governing coalition has proposed a tax of up to 439 Krona (~$49) on airfare originating in Sweden, a move that critics say will cripple the country’s growing and competitive aviation industry. The UK’s “Air Passenger Duty” and Germany’s “Air...
Review: British Airways 747-400 First Class London to New York
British Airways’ 747-400 First Class is a bit of a tight squeeze, but a comfortable product. My midday flight from London to New York flew by. With excellent service and tasty meals, I landed in JFK with a smile on my...
Why Singapore Airlines Must Be Cautious About Cuts
Singapore Airlines reported a quarterly loss for the first time in five years. CEO Goh Choon Phong has warned that job cuts may be on the horizon. But if Singapore is not careful, it will find itself in an even worse...
My Midyear Hyatt Dilemma
We’ve reached June and I’m facing a new reality: qualifying for Hyatt Globalist status is going to be even more difficult than I thought. I knew that 60 nights is a far different beast than 25 stays. Last year...
Uncle Willie’s Tall Tale
“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” –1984 “It was not a failure of IT.” -Willie Walsh Willie Walsh, the chief of IAG (parent of company of British Airways) is blaming the media for exacerbating the fiasco...
United Airlines Agent Attempts to “Wrestle” Violin from Passenger
I know that the Dao dragging incident has emboldened many to come forward with stories of dubious veracity. Yet there is something about a new “United violin incident” that seems so outlandish that I have trouble believing it was made up....
Review: British Airways Concorde Room London Heathrow
The British Airways Concorde Room at London Heathrow has to be one of most hellacious lounges in the world. Let me tell you about my visit. First, the lounge looks like grandma’s house. You know, your grandma whose furniture is about two...
Update: More Route Suspensions + Statement from Qatar Airways
More bad news for Qatar Airways today, as the Doha-based carrier has suspended flights to Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Yesterday the carrier suspended service to Saudi Arabia. These nations have also blocked Qatar from using its airspace. As...
