In March, I posted about a new resource that provides in-depth detail about the approximate 700 aircraft in the United Airlines fleet. Everything from exterior items, such as tail numbers and livery information, to interior items, including cabin configuration, economy plus status and in-seat power, is presented in a spreadsheet format.

The new version was just launched and it’s worth bookmarking as it’s constantly updated with changes as more aircraft are either repainted or being overhauled in some way, such as United’s 767-300 “ghetto birds” being converted to an ETOPS lie-flat international configuration.

It, too, is spreadsheet driven and allows you to filter by what you want to see based on what interests you about the fleet. Below, for example, is a screen grab showing information about United’s 767-300 aircraft:

Other areas of the site include a “Meet the Fleet” section with specs about each aircraft and how many of each type have been repainted, a page devoted to deciphering the types as they appear on the United Cargo website and a discussion forum.

The website’s author is highly passionate and dedicated in maintaining it and is open to your questions, comments and feedback. It’s perfect for me as I maintain a spreadsheet myself that lists each flight I take as I like to track not only my mileage accrual, but also the specific aircraft I’ve flown.

Check out the updated fleet tracking site here.

There’s a thread on FlyerTalk discussing a comment United Airlines CFO John Rainey made during the 2012 Bank of America-Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference that caught my eye earlier today. I was highly intrigued, so had to take a listen to the presentation myself and here’s exactly what he said:

That statement was made while he was noting the benefits of SHARES from this slide:

Image courtesy United Airlines

First, he noted how SHARES, unlike Apollo, has the ability to revenue manage ancillary products, like Economy Plus. United can now charge different prices for an E+ upgrade depending on the day of week, time of day, type of seat (aisle, middle, window), etc. Then he mentioned how SHARES allows United to better manage the MileagePlus program.

This is when he dropped the comment, which has many on FlyerTalk pissed off beyond belief. While I’m not outraged by it, it does sting quite a bit and I’m surprised he’d say such a thing at a time when sooo many elites are already questioning a switch in loyalty, if they haven’t already jumped ship. I know that what he said is management’s attitude, but to say “over entitled” out loud… just ridiculous. Even if I’m not in the “certain” group he’s referring to (I know I am), it still stung.

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised… the guy who introduced him said he prefers to be viewed as, “a finance guy more than an airline guy.”

So much for loyalty. A revenue-based elite program (vs. mileage-based) is looking more likely sooner rather than later.

I picked up a couple of Chase Visa United Club Card brochures with the first year free codes (saving $395) at United Clubs in my recent travels and offer them up to anyone who needs them. Here’s my post detailing the benefits of the card, but to summarize again:

• Annual United Club membership (up to a $475 value): As a MileagePlus Club Card member, you and your eligible travel companion have unlimited access to more than 50 United Club locations, as well as access to participating Star Alliance^® affiliated lounges around the globe.
• Premier Access travel services: Save time at the airport with priority check-in, security (where available), boarding and baggage handling benefits.
• Check your first and second bag for free: You and a companion can each check your first and second standard bag for free on United flights when you pay for your tickets with the Card (a savings of up to $240 round trip).
• Earn 1.5 award miles per $1 spent; 2 award miles per $1 spent on United purchases.
• Your miles don’t expire as long as you’re a cardmember: You keep them until you use them.
• You won’t pay close-in booking fees on award tickets: As a MileagePlus Club Card member, you can book United award tickets for close-in dates without having to pay an additional booking fee.
• Use miles for any seat, any time, on any United flight:  There are no restrictions or blackout dates. If seats are available for sale, they can be redeemed at the MileagePlus Standard Award level – a benefit reserved for Card members and MileagePlus Premier members.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Receive special treatment with Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and Avis: Accept the invitation to join an exclusive Avis^® program and also enjoy automatic enrollment in the Platinum Level of Hyatt’s Gold Passport^®.
• Enjoy Luxury Collection Hotel & Resort privileges:  Stay in style with room upgrades, complimentary breakfast and other special Cardmember-only amenities at more than 700 of the finest hotels, resorts and spas in the United States and around the world.

If you’re interested, leave a comment below [Edited 5/20/12 at 7pm PDT: Comments are now closed and winners were announced] and I’ll use random.org to pick two winners tomorrow, Sunday May 20, 2012, at approximately 7:00pm PDT. Only one comment per person, please. If your comment gets held up for moderation… not to worry… I’ll get it approved ASAP and definitely before the drawing.

If you win, you have to go to www.ClubCardRSVP.com to redeem the code by May 31, 2012. Good luck!

United Airlines posted pictures of its new amenity kits on Facebook yesterday. The Global First version looks quite nice and an upgrade from the current version, though the case might not be as reusable. Sadly, the BusinessFirst version doesn’t appear to be much of an upgrade from the current United Business Class model – and a significant downgrade from the Continental BusinessFirst version. I’ll be sure to get my hands on both soon for my Amenity Kit Review series. I’m flying BusinessFirst internationally next week, so I’m hoping they’ll be boarded.

What’s your take based on the pictures below?

Courtesy: United Airlines

Courtesy: United Airlines

Courtesy: United Airlines

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Introduction and Itinerary

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: UA 534 Business Class LAX-JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Swiss & Oasis Lounges JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: SQ 25 Business Class JFK-FRA

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Lufthansa Senator Lounge FRA (B42)

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: SQ 26 Business Class FRA-JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: UA 535 Business Class JFK-LAX & Conclusion

When check-in for my flight rolled around 24-hours ahead of time I tried to give it a go on both the website and mobile app, but each attempt resulted in an error. My fear was that something was askew with the ticket given it was booked seven months prior and it went through the systems changeover on March 3. I didn’t bother calling to find out why and instead headed to the airport early the next morning.

Instead of checking in with an agent directly, I decided to give the kiosk a try first. I plugged in my MileagePlus number, self-scanned my passport and voila… both my United and Singapore Airlines boarding passes printed successfully. I was shocked, actually, but happy nonetheless.

After passing through security, I headed to the Terminal 7 United Club as it was closest to my departure gate of 72 (I do prefer the T6 Club, actually). There, I logged into united.com to confirm I was checked-in, which I obviously was since I had boarding passes. I was just a bit paranoid about it. I grabbed a light snack and got some work done before heading to the gate about 45 minutes before departure.

Everything looked smooth at the gate and boarding commenced right on time. I like to compile video trip reports of my international excursions, so after stepping onboard, I started to film my approach to window seat 9A – my favorite domestic seat of any given the ridiculous amount of legroom it provides in the exit row.

Boarding continued while flight attendants hung jackets and passed out pre-departure beverages, menus, earplugs and eyeshades. The doors closed a couple of minutes early and we pushed from the gate right on time.

Sadly, Channel 9 air traffic communications wasn’t turned on – something I love to monitor during the busy times of taxi and takeoff. Once airborne, flight attendants distributed media players and took menu orders.

I still enjoy the media players as I don’t load up my Mac with much entertainment and the multiple TV and movie options certainly beat out what’s airing on the overhead monitors throughout the cabin.

The usual menu selections appeared on this premium service “p.s.” 757 flight to JFK:

TO BEGIN:

Fresh Seasonal Fruit

Fruit-flavored yogurt

MAIN COURSE:

Herb Scrambled Eggs

Potato gratin, turkey sausage and tomato

Cinnamon Swirl French Toast

Turkey sausage and maple syrup

Cereal and Fruit

Milk and a banana

Cinnamon rolls and croissants with butter and fruit preserves

Light snacks are available at any time following the main meal service. Please help yourself or ask a flight attendant for today’s selections.

I had the French toast on my previous p.s. flight and wasn’t that impressed, so decided on the scrambled eggs.

The eggs and sausage were just “okay,” but I really have been liking the potato gratin being served lately on this and other United breakfast flights. My seatmate had the French toast, which actually looked better than when I had it last, so I was a bit jealous.

But then the best part arrived.

The flight continued and the basket of light snacks came around, which consisted of pop chips, bananas, energy bars, chocolate, etc. Service ended up being very good and both flight attendants serving the business cabin were attentive and friendly. One asked if I was headed home while I waited near the lavatory and we had a nice chat with me telling her I was continuing on to Frankfurt.

Winds were in our favor, so we landed nearly 45-minutes early making the flight seem relatively short. When I passed the flight attendants on my way out and said, “Thank you,” the one I had a chat with wished me a pleasant journey on to Frankfurt – a nice and simple touch that I appreciated.

It was a great flight and I will truly miss the current cabin layout on the p.s. birds once they’re converted starting later this year. Upon deplaning, I began to make my way to the departures level escalator, but was stopped by two Federal Air Marshals. I previously posted about that encounter, so be sure to read about it there… it’s a good story.

Up next: A review of the Swiss and Oasis lounges at JFK Terminal 4.

I’ve added the United Airlines MileagePlus Club credit card from Chase to my page dedicated to mile and point earning credit cards. While this card doesn’t offer bonus miles for signing up like the MileagePlus Explorer card does, there are many other benefits that are equally appealing depending on your travel habits. Among them:

• Annual United Club membership (up to a $475 value): As a MileagePlus Club Card member, you and your eligible travel companion have unlimited access to more than 50 United Club locations, as well as access to participating Star Alliance^® affiliated lounges around the globe.
• Premier Access travel services: Save time at the airport with priority check-in, security (where available), boarding and baggage handling benefits.
• Check your first and second bag for free: You and a companion can each check your first and second standard bag for free on United flights when you pay for your tickets with the Card (a savings of up to $240 round trip).
  
• Earn 1.5 award miles per $1 spent; 2 award miles per $1 spent on United purchases.
• Your miles don’t expire as long as you’re a cardmemeber: You keep them until you use them.
• You won’t pay close-in booking fees on award tickets: As a MileagePlus Club Card member, you can book United award tickets for close-in dates without having to pay an additional booking fee.
• Use miles for any seat, any time, on any United flight:  There are no restrictions or blackout dates. If seats are available for sale, they can be redeemed at the MileagePlus Standard Award level – a benefit reserved for Card members and MileagePlus Premier members.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Receive special treatment with Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and Avis: Accept the invitation to join an exclusive Avis^® program and also enjoy automatic enrollment in the Platinum Level of Hyatt’s Gold Passport^®.
• Enjoy Luxury Collection Hotel & Resort privileges:  Stay in style with room upgrades, complimentary breakfast and other special Cardmember-only amenities at more than 700 of the finest hotels, resorts and spas in the United States and around the world.

The annual fee is $395, but they are currently offering a $95 statement credit after your first purchase. The current APR for this card is 15.24% variable.

As other bloggers have pointed out, this card has some core advantages over the United Explorer card (excluding the obvious United Club membership), including the elimination of foreign transaction fees, an extra 0.5 miles per dollar spent on regular purchases and allowing two checked bags for free instead of one.

For full pricing and other terms and conditions, click here.

I receive a small commission if you get approved for a card by using the links in this post. I remain grateful for any who do and I only dedicate posts to cards I feel have value. Additional travel credit cards can be found here.

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Introduction and Itinerary

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: UA 534 Business Class LAX-JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Swiss & Oasis Lounges JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: SQ 25 Business Class JFK-FRA

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Lufthansa Senator Lounge FRA (B42)

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: SQ 26 Business Class FRA-JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: UA 535 Business Class JFK-LAX & Conclusion

In September last year, Singapore Airlines announced they’d be switching out the daily 747-400 service on the JFK-FRA-SIN run to an Airbus A380. Up to that point, Singapore had blocked their premium cabins on the A380 from Star Alliance award redemptions, so as soon as I heard the announcement, I started scouring for business class award space.

The hope was that the SQ revenue management folks hadn’t been as quick to shut down availability as the airline was to announce the aircraft swap. Success! What I saw available using the ANA Award Tool matched up with what United saw, so I made a roundtrip booking.

(Side note: There are reports now that business class award availability shows with some regularity on SQ’s A380s.)

I really wanted to fly the entire route to Singapore, but given my own calendar restrictions at the time, I was only able to book the JFK-FRA-JFK portion, with flights on United LAX-JFK-LAX. I wasn’t complaining, though. Not only would this be my first Singapore Airlines flight, it would be my first ride on an A380.

United only had coach award availability on the premium service (p.s.) flights between Los Angeles and New York and given there used to be issues with waitlisted segments being sent to another airline on the same PNR – often causing the OA segments to cancel – the agent simply booked me in coach. To avoid checking daily for business class space myself, I created an ExpertFlyer flight alert to notify me when a seat opened and crossed my fingers. I would hate to start a premium experience in a non-premium way, not to mention “wasting” the miles.

I had my reservation booked and ticketed on September 26, 2011. Between then and the flight date, a number of schedule changes came through, business award space opened up on the United flights (yay!) and the very scary systems migration from Apollo to Shares happened on March 3^rd. My final itinerary ended up being as follows:

4/21/12 – UA 534 LAX-JFK 8:06am – 4:34pm: Business Class Seat 9A

4/21/12 – SQ 25 JFK-FRA 8:35pm – 10:45am+1: Business Class Seat 14A

4/23/12 – SQ 26 FRA-JFK 8:30am – 11:00am: Business Class Seat 14A

4/23/12 – UA 535 JFK-LAX 5:55pm – 9:28pm: Business Class Seat 9D

Total Cost: 100,000 miles + $135.20 in taxes

While I know many find such a short trip ridiculous, my goal was simply to ride the A380 and as I mentioned, my calendar at the time wasn’t open to book a longer adventure.

I called United back the day after booking the trip to get SQ’s specific record locator for the reservation and then called Singapore directly to confirm all looked good on their end, as well as get seat assignments. I wanted to be in the mini business cabin ahead of the first door on the upper deck, so was happy to get 14A in the third row (far enough from the lavs and galley). Later, I went on Singapore’s website and placed my “Book the Cook” order.

Stay tuned for the next installment reviewing my United p.s. flight from Los Angeles to JFK.

Success! I finally received resolution on my previously blogged about issue redeeming a $200 United Airlines customer appreciation e-certificate. Here are the links to round one and round two and a short recap:

• The e-certificate wasn’t recognized when I tried making a booking online.
• On my first call to reservations, the agent had me build a PNR online, she supposedly documented it, extended the ticketing time limit and asked me to use the united.com/feedback web page to ask customer relations to research the cert.
• After not hearing anything for several days, I called back. The PNR vanished.
• The new agent (web support) built a new reservation and after an hour trying to get the cert to work with her supervisor, came back and said they’d ticket the full fare, then refund my credit card $200.
• The fare was charged, but no refund ever showed up.
• The next 45-minute call revealed there was no documentation in my reservation about the cert or promised refund.
• I forwarded the original e-cert email I received from United to this agent’s supervisor who spent time researching, but eventually came back to say, “give us a few days to research further with customer relations.”
• The agent mentioned she’d monitor my PNR and would follow up with me the following Monday or Tuesday.

Tuesday passed without hearing anything, so instead of starting from scratch with a new agent by calling – and likely getting another run around – I shot off an email to the supervisor who I previously forwarded the e-cert to in round two. I basically said that I still hadn’t heard back with appropriate resolution and that I expect to get a reply given the multiple failed attempts. I was not going to give up.

A full week went by before I received a response back, which was, “I have talked to two different people in Customer Care and they promise me they will give me an answer in the next couple of days. I appreciate your patience.” (Sigh)

Well… they finally came through. On Thursday, I received an email from Customer Care with not only a new $200 e-cert valid for the next year, but also a note saying they are crediting 20,000 bonus miles to my MileagePlus account. Nope, that’s not a typo… 20,000. And they posted to my account on Friday.

While I lost a few hours of my time and got a ridiculous run around, I’m happy with the resolution and glad I didn’t give up.

As widely blogged and reported, United Airlines has a new promotion out there today offering up to 25,000 bonus MileagePlus miles after completion of a defined number of roundtrip flights from now through 7/15/12. Based on what I’ve read from others, it definitely appears targeted and the required number of trips varies.

I saw a slew of tweets and blog posts from those who had already received an email from United about it before mine arrived in my inbox at 3:15pm PST. I must be on the delayed distribution list, though I guess I shouldn’t care given how a twitter friend got “shafted” (more on that in a bit).

Here was my offer received via email:

I clicked through and successfully registered getting the confirmation as follows:

(Side note: Does everyone take a screen capture or save a PDF of each successful promotion registration? I do. It might pay off if something goes awry with mileage crediting after the promo ends.)

The fine print reads, “To qualify, register for the offer before travel, then purchase and complete paid qualifying roundtrips to any destination worldwide on United– or United Express®–operated flights.” The bolding emphasis was mine. I don’t like the way they worded it, as it might be open to interpretation. Meaning… do you have to register before you purchase or just before travel? I would have written that sentence a bit differently.

Further fine print reveals the ticketing period is 4/15/12 – 7/15/12 and the travel period matches, excluding trips taken between 7/3/12 – 7/5/12.

Now… one twitter follower mentioned his offer was for 5,000 miles after 7 roundtrips, 10,000 miles after 8 and 25,000 miles after 9 roundtrips. He’s a Premier Gold and flew about half the amount of miles I did last year. To me, it would make more sense for United to offer lower-tier members the offer I received and force me to fly even more to qualify.

If you have not received an email and want to give registration a go, click here.

Did you receive a different offer?

Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but in case you haven’t heard about the newest United Airlines promotion, here it is.

Until midnight tonight Central time, there’s a 40% savings in purchased MileagePlus miles on United’s website.

If you’re close to an award, I say absolutely go for it. Anywhere from 2,000 miles for $45.15 up to 100,000 for $2,257.50 can be purchased. As a bench marker, a round-trip “saver” business class (or BusinessFirst on two-cabin aircraft) award to Europe from the United States mainland, Alaska or Canada is 100,000 miles. That’s generally a better value than some of the current business class sale fares out there.

I’ve purchased miles at a higher rate-per-mile when I’ve “needed” them, actually… so again, if you’re close to an award, today is the day to buy miles on United.

Full terms, conditions and the link to buy miles is here.

I’m freshly back from my first ride on an A380 and had a great time – trip report is forthcoming. My quick weekend adventure began with a flight on United’s premium service from Los Angeles to JFK and as I’ve been doing since taking big international trips, I film my journey from start to end and publish a video trip report on my YouTube page.

I’ve been on oodles of United Airlines “p.s.” flights during the past several years and have taken many pics before of the seat, cabin, service items, etc. This was the first time, though, that I actually filmed while boarding the cabin and it, again, was to document my journey as there are a huge amount of aerophiles out there who enjoy watching such videos. The best of which, in my opinion, are from sfflyer123, also a frequent United flyer.

I was particularly careful not to capture crew as I know filming them is prohibited and I also do my best inside the cabin to ensure the faces of fellow passengers aren’t captured – I really wouldn’t want my own appearing in some random person’s video blog.

I had exit row seat 9A on my LAX-JFK flight and was among the first to board. I filmed my approach to the seat and panned around a bit revealing the ridiculous amount of legroom the area provides. Since there was no one around in view, I got some great video, but knew there were people behind me noticing my actions.

Throughout the flight I took more video and pics of the menu and food, out the window, the view forward to the next seat, etc. While I do always feel a bit weird about it and I know the guy next to me at the minimum noticed, I think it’s pretty obvious I’m just a geek and enjoy capturing my journey.

The flight was fantastic and I had a great and friendly crew serving business class, even chatting briefly with one of the flight attendants as I waited for the lavatory at the front of the cabin.

Although I’m not someone who likes to strike up a conversation with my seatmate, we did share a couple of brief sentences that were friendly during the flight when it seemed appropriate without being antisocial.

Anyway, upon landing and parking at the gate, I grabbed my bags from the overhead and exchanged pleasant goodbyes with the crew and headed out the jetway. I generally walk with “purpose” and I was particularly keen to get to Terminal 4 to maximize my time in the lounges there, so made a beeline for the nearby escalator to the departures level to catch the AirTrain.

About halfway there, I noticed a gentleman to my left catching up and starting to say something directly at me. Not hearing him, I keep walking but turned to him and said, “Pardon?” He says something to the effect of “I need to ask you a few questions. I’m a Federal Air Marshal.”

He continues, “A passenger noticed you were filming in the exit row and I need to speak to you about that. Can we step to the side?” By this point another man approaches and explains they’re both Federal Air Marshals and he presents his ID. I stopped, obviously.

After looking at the ID, I figured it was legit and they both very politely explained again that someone noticed me filming in the exit row and they needed to know why. I immediately explained that I’m a travel blogger and that I review airline service for my own website and CNBC.com and provided them with my ID and business card upon request.

They were both incredibly friendly and non-aggressive and one asked to see a couple of the videos I took. I replayed some of them and they took a note of my ID and asked where I was headed. They briefly conferred with each other in front of me acknowledging that I’m not a threat and then thanked me for my time and were on their way.

I’m not sure where the FAMs were seated, but it must have been behind me since I wasn’t approached until halfway through the terminal. They didn’t ask me to delete my videos, for which I was thankful, so my shots will happily appear in my upcoming video trip report.

It was an interesting experience, but it did get me to pause and remember that some flyers aren’t enthusiasts and probably do get freaked out if they see something unusual like filming in the cabin. The “If you see something, say something…” mantra nowadays worked on my flight, it seems.

Any other “avgeeks” out there have a similar experience?