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...
Southwest Fuselage Rips Apart Mid-Flight
Imagine you just boarded a Southwest Airlines flight in Sacramento for a quick hop down to Phoenix. You listen to the safety announcements, rolling your eyes as Southwest FAs throw in a few corny puns and one-liners. The aircraft...
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...
VIDEO: WestJet and Southwest Celebrate April Fools’ Day
Today is April Fools’ Day, a day that airlines always seem to have fun with. Check out the two videos below, the first from Southwest Airlines and the second from WestJet. And people thought the Richard Simmons Air New Zealand...
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...
Review: Park Hyatt Milan
Stepping out of the bustling Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and onto a small side street nestled away in the thriving heart of Milan, I spied the Park Hyatt sign. A bellman stood outside the door and welcomed me as I...
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...
Air New Zealand Does it Again: Check Out Their New Safety Video
Air New Zealand continues to win accolades in the creativity department. The airline that has brought us rugby safety videos, peverted fuzz balls, and offensive billboards, now has a new humorous 737 safety video out starring fitness-guru Richard Simmons....
Flawed Radiation Readings Force TSA to Reevaluate Full Body Scanners
I have flown through Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Washington Dulles, and San Francisco the last couple days and been (pleasantly) surprised that each time I have come across a full body scanner, it has not been in operation. In Chicago...
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...
Delta Downsizes Memphis Hub
Only 330 miles away from Delta’s fortress hub and world headquarters in Atlanta, it was only a matter of time before service cutbacks at Memphis would occur after the Northwest/Delta merger. Although Delta promises that Memphis will remain a...
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...
British Midland Yanks Star Alliance Silver Status from New Members
Last week, I blogged about British Midland (bmi) offering free Star Alliance Silver status to new members of their Diamond Club program. Apparently, that offer was not meant for everyone. James, a reader of this blog, just forwarded me the following e-mail he...
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...
