As I wait for last-minute Lufthansa first class award tickets to open for Germany in the coming days, I seriously entertained just booking a cheap economy class ticket earlier this week on WOW Air. But ultimately I just couldn’t do it. There is no disputing the fare sale was tremendous: $99.99 one-way from Los Angeles to Berlin– But […]
United’s New Taxi Ad Campaign: Newark is Closer
Keep an eye out for yellow cabs in New York City with electronic timers on them: it is part of United’s new ad campaign. United Airlines wants to “dispel the myth” that a ride to JFK is quicker than a ride to Newark (EWR). To demonstrate this, it is using GPS real-time traffic data to “educate” the public about travel […]
EL AL’s Beautiful New 787 Dreamliner: Pictures + Video
EL AL has unveiled its new 787 Dreamliner that will become the core of its longhaul fleet. With 16 orders on the way (nine 787-9 and seven 787-8), EL AL will finally have a competitive business class product. The initial renderings of the new cabin are impressive. EL AL Business Class EL AL has a unique market that […]
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 United may bring back tea service on the ex-LHR flights. I mentioned in my British Airways first class […]
Premium Transcontinental Service on United: Free Hot Meals in EconomyPlus + Boston Expansion
The rumors have finally been confirmed: United will expand its premium transcontinental service to flights between Boston and San Francisco on July 01, 2017. Even better, United will spruce up business class food and offer free hot meals in EconomyPlus on all premium transcon routes. United Premium Transcontinental Service Expands to BOS-SFO We all expected this […]
New United Airlines Service to Buenos Aires
United will bring back service between Newark and Buenos Aires starting this fall. As the Argentinian economy gradually improves, United sees an economic opportunity in resuming a dormant route. New service is set to begin on 28 October 2017. Here’s the new flight schedule, subject to government approval: UA979 dep Newark (EWR) 9:50 PM arr Buenos […]
Leaked A350-1000 Configuration on United Airlines
A tweet allegedly reveals how United will configure its new A350 aircraft. Via @A350_Production on Twitter, United’s A350-1000 (on order) will be delivered with the following configuration: 60 United Polaris (Business) [18%] 91 United EconomyPlus [27%] 186 United Economy [55%] —— 337 total seats In brackets I have indicated what percentage of overall aircraft seats each cabin contains. By […]
Live and Let’s Fly Weekend Digest: April 30, 2017
Good evening from Los Angeles. I’m home for a few days between trips, trying desperately to ruthlessly eliminate hurry from my life. I need to do a better job of it… Anyway, I’ve got a great story coming up about my trip home from New York. A truly unexpected surprise that I look forward to sharing with […]
United Airlines Ads Pulled from Tribeca Film Festival
United Airlines ads were pulled at the Tribeca Film Festival after a rather humorous audience reaction to an ad touting the carrier’s great service. United is a major supporter of the Tribeca Film Festival. Fly United and you’ll find a selection of Tribeca films in the IFE selection each month. Part of the sponsorship package entitled United […]
Live and Let’s Fly Weekend Digest: April 23, 2017
Another week, another onboard airline altercation gone viral. I’ve spent most of the day offline today. My goal is to take one day off per week–not always possible, but my wife puts up with a lot during the week so it seems fitting that at least one day per week should not be spent hunched over […]
For Your Protection, No Ice Cream Sundaes on United Airlines
A signature element of United Airlines’ business class service on transcon and longhaul flights is ice cream sundaes. But if you have flown United this week you may have noticed sherbet served in a paper container rather than the usual sundae. As part of the new Polaris rollout, United has new ice cream dishes. Shaped like the United logo, they are […]
Live and Let’s Fly Weekend Digest: April 9, 2017
Greetings from Southern California. I’m home again after nearly four weeks in Europe. My family had a wonderful time visiting friends and family in Germany then spending a few days in Greece to end the trip. While I don’t plan a formal trip report for this journey, I will write a few posts about the […]
United Airlines Closing 787 Base in Houston, Moving it to Washington Dulles
United Airlines is closing its 787 base in Houston and moving it to Washington Dulles. Starting with the Winter 2017 schedule (begins on 29 October 2017), United will operate the Dreamliner to: Beijing London Heathrow Paris Charles de Gaulle Sao Paulo Guarulhos Frankfurt and Tokyo will remain 777s and other cities in Europe will remain […]
Mints on United vs. MINT on JetBlue
If you’re on a United flight this month, keep an eye out for complimentary mints. Yes, not to be confused with MINT (business) class on JetBlue! The Mileage Plus Explorer Card from Chase has an increased sign-up bonus of 50,000 miles going on now (hey look: no referral link, only because I don’t have one…). […]
Live and Let’s Fly Weekend Digest: April 2, 2017
Hello from Franz Josef Strauss International Airport in Munich. We’ll soon be departing for Greece and I’m excited to visit a new part of that beautiful country. The week started off with a huge controversy over leggings — a misunderstanding that morphed into a discussion over pass rider dress code and sexism. I wrote about it extensively: United […]
When a Passenger Steals Your Amenity Kit…
An amusing story popped up on Flyertalk about the case of a stolen amenity kit. The original post: I recently flew BF from EWR to HKG. As we took off my amenity kit fell on the floor and sild down the aisle by about one row. As soon as the chime went off, a passenger […]
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, not surprisingly, that there was a lot more to the story. I outlined the timeline of […]
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 my hometown menagerie will become even more chaotic between May 12-17 as Delta swaps terminals. It […]
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 been a rough week. He’s still on LA time, it seems, so is eating less during […]
Live and Let’s Fly Weekend Digest: March 19, 2017
Hello from Stuttgart. Thanks to these anti-jetlag tips, I quickly adjusted to Central Europe Time and have acclimated back to life in Germany. Little Augustine is meeting many family members for the first time and we’ve had a very pleasant week. The highlight was the flight over — instead of a 10hr nightmare trying to keep […]
