In article published this morning in Bloomberg, American Chief Commercial Officer Virasb Vahidi, discusses the major modification plans for the new A321 jets entering the American fleet this coming November. The jets will replace the current B767-200 equipment on the JFK-LAX route.  The plans aren’t new, though I guess I hadn’t previously focused on the fact that there would be so few economy seats.

“You can tell quickly that this aircraft was not configured for leisure travelers”, they will have 10 mini suites with flat-bed seats, 20 fully flat business-class seats and 36 coach seats with extra legroom. There will be only 36 traditional coach seats.

Why so few economy seats? “Unlike other domestic U.S. routes, there is significant demand from customers who are willing to pay full price to sit in the first-class cabin.” says Vahidi. New York-Los Angeles is both the busiest long-haul U.S. route, at about 3.2 million passengers a year, and the most lucrative, at $1.43 billion in annual sales, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. First-class fares on that trip may be 10 times as much as in coach, based on prices on airline websites.

American’s transcontinental pre-flight perks include curbside greetings, dedicated check-in rooms, private elevators with direct access to the front of the security lines, and American’s Flagship Lounge. The flight itself will have fully lie-flat seats in First and Business Class (all-aisle access from every First Class seat) as well as Main Cabin Extra seating. There will be a total of 20 fully flat business seats with HD touchscreen and 10 first class suites.

Check out the rest of the article for a discussion on future Delta, United, Virgin America, and JetBlue plans for the JFK-LAX route. PS – Who knew that Virgin was #2 in terms of revenue on the route and that DL jumped in front of UA to #3? AA 32%, VX 21 %, DL 19%, UA 16%, and B6 11%.

Other AA Posts-
American Previews Upgraded Fleet Plans & Interiors – Steps It Up A319, A321, B737-800, and B777-300ER
AA Classes It Up – More New Pics of the 777-300ER
AA Further Steps-Up First & Business Class
AA’s New Look Unveiled – 1967 Livery Replaced
AA Livery Changes Possible Post-Merger as per SEC Filing & Doug Parker Comments
New AA Livery No Longer Definite? Plus Delta’s Advice for the New AA

Italian authorities have given the go-ahead for Emirates to proceed with their planned service between Milan Malpensa and JFK effective October 1st 2013. The route, which continues on to Dubai, will be operated using B777-300ER aircraft in addition. The flight will be in addition to the two existing daily A380 non-stops between JFK-DXB. The flight schedule will be as follows:

EK206 JFK-MXP 2220-1215 + 1 77W
EK205 MXP-JFK 1600-1900 77W

Emirates has already sent out an email to Skywards members offering double miles on the route “enough for an immediate reward on our partners, JetBlue and easyJet.”

What about redemptions? As mentioned in my last entry on the new route, the flights are still looking fantastic with great availability in first, business, and economy. This would truly be an easy way to get the entire family to Europe, if not for the lack of current EK JFK-MXP redemption opportunities. I normally recommend Alaska Mileage Plan, JAL Mileage Bank, and Korean Skypass for Emirates redemptions, but currently only one of these options is viable on the route if you’re not looking to continue on to Dubai. Korean does not allow for Emirates redemptions on JFK-MXP, nor does Alaska Mileage Plan (hopefully these will change soon). This leaves JAL as the only option, though the roundtrip pricing is very reasonable – 40K Economy, 65K Business, 100K First and currently no fuel surcharges being imposed on the route! Unfortunately, there’s no great way to accumulate JAL miles except via an SPG transfer. Of course, there’s the 5,000 SPG point bonus for every 20,000 transferred which brings the total SPG requirement down, but still requires quite a bit of SPG points. Most in the community already have an SPG personal and business AMEX, but if you don’t, you can earn enough for a free business ticket on the route (25,000 sign-up bonus for the personal and 25,000 sign-up bonus on the business card, plus the points for the $5,000 required spend on each card).

I’ll continue to update this post on overall award availability as well as any changes to Mileage Plan and Korean Skypass redemptions for this route.

Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express

Starpoints® bonus: earn up to 25,000 bonus points: 10,000 after your first purchase and another 15,000 after you spend $5,000 within the first 6 months of Cardmembership

• That’s enough for a weekend getaway to a Category 4 Hotel like the Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa, or six free nights at a Category 2 Hotel
• Earn up to 5 Starpoints® for each dollar of eligible purchases at participating SPG hotels and resorts – that’s 2 Starpoints for using the Card in addition to the Starpoints you earn as an SPG member. Earn 1 Starpoint for all other purchases.
• Free Hotel Nights: redeem Starpoints at over 1,100 hotels in nearly 100 countries worldwide – with no blackout dates
• Free Flights: redeem Starpoints on over 350 airlines with SPG Flights – with no blackout dates
• Get 5,000 bonus Starpoints after you transfer 20,000 Starpoints to a frequent flyer program with more than 30 airlines
• No limits on the number of Starpoints you can earn
• $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $65
• Terms and Restrictions apply.

Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express

• Starpoints® bonus: Earn up to 25,000 bonus points: 10,000 after your first purchase and another 15,000 after you spend $5,000 within the first 6 months of Cardmembership
• Redeem Starpoints® at over 1,100 hotels and resorts in nearly 100 countries and for flights on more than 350 airlines with SPG Flights – all with no blackout dates
• Earn up to 5 Starpoints® for each dollar of eligible purchases charged directly with hotels and resorts participating in the Starwood Preferred Guest® program
• Earn 1 Starpoint® for each dollar of eligible purchases
• $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $65
• Terms and limitations apply

Microsoft Business has a list of seven things never to say to flight attendants as compiled by Christopher Elliott:

1. Hey, what happened to the food?
2. Am I going to make my connection?
3. No wonder your airline is bankrupt.
4. I have a bad feeling about this flight.
5. If your airline goes out of business, what will happen to my miles?
6. I have a bomb in my bag.
7. Hey, stewardess!

See the full article for details as to why each of the above was included in the list.

Related -Ten Shocking Secrets of Flight Attendants..and other fun posts & pics
Related -What Do Flight Attendants Think of You…and your requests?

This is part six of an eight part trip report from my recent travels to Estonia and Finland. This report covers the recently renovated Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel in Helsinki, Finland.

• KLM Business Class B747-400 JFK – Amsterdam (AMS)
• KLM Crown Lounge AMS & Estonian Air Business CRJ900 Amsterdam (AMS) – Tallinn (TLL)
• Swissôtel Tallinn
• Tour of Tallinn
• Crossing the Frozen Baltic Sea – Ferry from Tallinn – Helsinki / Helsinki – Tallinn
• Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Helsinki
• Walking on Ice – Helsinki
• Tallinn (TLL) – Las Vegas (LAS) – Estonian Air / KLM / Delta

Booking – I planned this weekend trip from Tallinn last minute and the available rates for a standard room at the Radisson Blu Plaza were: €95.00 EUR non-refundable, €135.00 EUR refundable AAA, 44,000 Club Carlson points, or 10,000 Club Carlson points and €45.00 EUR. I decided to go with the €95.00 EUR rate as I was saving my Club Carlson points for a redemption at the May Fair hotel in London for the 2012 Olympics (50K points per night instead of €595.00 EUR).

Arrival & Check-In – The hotel was a short 10 minute taxi ride from the ferry terminal and was quite empty for a Friday night when I arrived. At just before 9pm, I was the only guest in the newly renovated lobby. As a Club Carlson Gold Elite member, I was told that I had been upgraded to a recently renovated Executive Business Class room. At the time of my visit, about half of the 302 rooms had completed their renovation (currently all rooms are renovated).

The Room – The room literally smelled brand new and everything was in pristine condition. I especially loved the Nordic look of the room and the extremely comfortable bed. The illuminated room numbers on the hallway floor, the ample lighting, mounted speakers, digital light controls, media input panels (by the bed and the desk), and the TV built-in to the bathroom mirror were also nice modern touches.

I was curious to see the standard and business class rooms as well as some of the non upgraded rooms (what a difference). The older rooms had hard beds, dirty carpeting, and just an altogether dingy feel.

The renovated standard and business class rooms were similar to the Executive Business Class room except they were a tad smaller. They too had new bedding and furniture and all the new gadgets including the built-in speakers, multiple media inputs, and built-in bathroom tvs.

Warning – Several of the standard rooms I viewed had NO desks. If you want a desk in your room, make sure you request an Executive or Business Executive room.

Amenities & Location – Location – The hotel has a stellar location, you are literally right in the center of the city, but yet the hotel is extremely quiet and located at the end of a dead-end block overlooking beautiful Kaisaniemi park. The park is gigantic and houses botanical gardens, ponds, sports fields, and in the summer is a major concert venue. Making a right out of the hotel lobby, the park is about a two minute walk away. Going the other way, the central railway station (inspiration for much of Gotham City architecture in the Batman movies) is next to the hotel as is the main bus station, underground, ports, ice skating rink, shopping, and restaurants. The airport is about a 30 minute drive from the hotel.

Amenities – The Radisson Blu includes free and fast internet and breakfast for all hotel guests. The breakfast was one of the best non-Asian property buffets I’ve had. It’s served at Kitzens Restaurant off the lobby and there is a huge selection of fruits, danishes, yogurts, multiple hot items, and made-to-order omelets. They also have multiple global newspapers and champagne which was a very nice touch.

Overall, I really enjoyed my stay at the Radisson Blu Plaza hotel and it was certainly worth the €95.00 EUR. If you plan to get some work done, make sure you request a room with a desk or are comfortable working from your bed or the lobby. Up next, the Helsinki winter experience!

A survey from from the Travel Leaders Group seeks to find “best practices” for airline etiquette as answered by other frequent travelers:

If you are seated in the middle seat on an airplane and the people on either side of you staked out the armrests, what would you do?
Say something directly to your seatmates. 27.9%
Call a flight attendant and let him/her handle the situation. 2.6%
Sit quietly and say nothing. 48.9%
Not sure. 20.6%

If the person in the airline seat in front of you invaded your personal space with an article of clothing and/or their hair so it was directly in front of you, what would you do?
Say something directly to the person. 68.9%
Call a flight attendant and let him/her handle the situation. 9.3%
Sit quietly and say nothing. 13.0%
Not sure. 8.8%

If the person in the airline seat in front of you reclined their seat so much that you were unable to lower you tray table or perhaps unable to open up a laptop, what would you do?
Say something directly to the person. 55.4%
Call a flight attendant and let him/her handle the situation. 21.8%
Sit quietly and say nothing. 15.1%
Not sure. 7.7%

If the person in the airline seat in front of you ignored crew member instructions to have their seat back upright for takeoff and/or landing, what would you do?
Say something directly to the person. 13.4%
Call a flight attendant and let him/her handle the situation. 28.1%
Sit quietly and say nothing. 50.1%
Not sure. 8.4%

If you were on a flight next to a person who insisted on trying to talk to you the entire flight, what would you do?
Use a book or other reading materials to try to limit the conversation. 38.1%
Put on headphones and use a book or other reading materials to limit conversation. 18.9%
Engage them in conversation for the whole flight. 12.2%
Specifically let that person know that you would prefer not to talk. 10.4%
Put on headphones to try to limit the conversation. 8.7%
Pretend to sleep to try to limit the conversation. 7.4%
Put on headphones and pretend to sleep. 4.3%

If you were on a flight with someone who talked so loudly that half the plane could hear them, what would you do?
Say something directly to the person. 14.4%
Call a flight attendant and let him/her handle the situation. 27.9%
Sit quietly and say nothing. 36.0%
Not sure. 21.7%

What would you do if it appeared parents of a screaming child aboard a plane were not making any attempt to comfort/control their child?
Say something directly to the person. 7.9%
Call a flight attendant and let him/her handle the situation. 46.7%
Sit quietly and say nothing. 30.6%
Not sure. 14.8%

Today, United Airlines resumed B787 service for the first time in four months with two flights, Houston (IAH) – Chicago (ORD) on ship 3903 and Houston (IAH) to Newark (EWR) on ship 3901. United plans to use the 787s exclusively on domestic routes before resuming international service on June 10th with the launch of Denver (DEN) – Tokyo (NRT) service. Existing routes will also see 787 service this summer including Houston-London, Los Angeles-Tokyo, Los Angeles-Shanghai and Houston-Lagos. United also reported this morning that four of its six 787s have been fixed, and that the remaining two aircraft will have battery modifications later in the week.

United tweeted along with pics of the relaunch, including one of Boeing CEO W. James McNerney, Jr. and United CEO Jeff Smisek buckled in and ready for take-off on Flight 1.

A truly interesting piece on a female Starwood employee working at the Le Méridien Al Aqah hotel in Dubai who had her drink spiked at the staff bar and the complete chaos that followed. Thanks to reader Dino for the link!

Dubai is being promoted as a luxury high-class paradise in the desert, but the reality is brutally different, as Australian Alicia Gali discovered. Gali took a job in the UAE with one of the world’s biggest hotel chains, Starwood. What happened next makes this story a must-watch for everyone travelling through the region.

Check out the full article from Sunday Night here.

Ted Reed of Forbes discusses American’s new boarding process and why it’s already failed at Virgin America:

In fact, Virgin America has already tried and abandoned American’s new process. “It is more efficient and you do get a lot of people on the aircraft more quickly,” said Virgin America CEO David Cush, in an interview. “But it’s difficult to police. You get into a debate about how big is something that fits under your seat.” Additionally, Cush said, early boarding passengers would sometimes glance up at all the empty bin space overhead and then place their carry-on in the bin. Virgin America dropped the process in 2011, after about half a year. “It may work for American,” Cush said. “I applaud them for trying different things. It didn’t seem to be an overwhelming hit for us.”

Check out the full article here.

Streaming music service Spotify recently commissioned psychologist Dr. Rebecca Spelman to create a playlist to calm listener nerves while flying. Spotify notes that Dr. Spellman found that breathing in time to harmonious songs with a low and steady tempo drastically lowers heart rate and blood pressure, which in turn reduces anxiety. A tempo of 60 BPM (beats per minute) was found to be the most soothing. The song closest to 60 BPM…Adele’s Someone Like You at 67 BPM. As per the study:

Travel anxiety is caused by irrational thoughts where the threat is exaggerated and inappropriate. Music that stimulates both the logical left and emotional right sides of the brain is said to stimulate the limbic system, which processes negative memories and emotions, which in turn helps people think in a more balanced, rational way suppressing anxiety.  Piano on The Beach by Liborio Conti works using this method of music therapy but must be listened to with headphones to be effective. Music which is harmonious and emotive is generally regarded as the best at achieving this type of stimulation, which induces Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR). This tried and tested method was originally developed for treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and is incredibly powerful at calming and relaxing the mind and body.

Perhaps not overly helpful for the road warriors and mileage runners, but this could be quite useful for anxious family members and friends…or perhaps you’ve recently had a scary experience of your own and now have a fear of flying.

See and listen to the full Spotify list here.

After two taxis, a border crossing, a smuggling tunnel, and four plus hours of travel, a bucket of KFC from Egypt makes its way to excited customers in Gaza. From The New York Times:

Formerly called Kentucky Fried Chicken, a KFC franchise opened in El Arish, just over Gaza’s southern border, in 2011, and in the West Bank city of Ramallah last year. That, along with ubiquitous television advertisements for KFC and other fast-food favorites, has given Gazans a hankering for Colonel Sanders’s secret recipe. “It’s our right to enjoy that taste the other people all over the world enjoy,” said the entrepreneur, Khalil Efrangi, 31, who started Yamama a few years ago with a fleet of motorbikes ferrying food from Gaza restaurants, the first such delivery service here.

Check out the full article here.

Courtesy NYT

From UA’s press release – United Airlines today announced the launch of the MileagePlus Small Business Network, the first U.S. travel loyalty program that enables businesses to earn and redeem miles. Participating businesses earn award miles by purchasing goods and services from more than a dozen of the program’s vendor partners, including leading providers of printing, shipping, credit card payment processing, office supplies and computing services.

United also today launched a bonus offer through which companies can obtain 1,000 bonus miles for enrolling in the MileagePlus Small Business Network and conducting transactions that earn at least 100 miles. Businesses may use their earned miles to purchase travel awards and upgrades, bid for experiences through the MileagePlus Headliners auction program and shop for merchandise, newspaper and magazine subscriptions and dining awards. Companies can also buy, transfer or gift their miles or donate miles to a MileagePlus charity partner.

Unfortunately, to receive the 1,000 bonus miles you’ll have to earn at least 100 miles with any of the below partners and none of their earning rates are all that spectacular. You’ll also need to earn those 100 miles by August 17, 2013. It’s quite a bit of work (and potential $) for only 1K miles but here are the current partners:

Additionally, this is a separate MileagePlus account and the miles earned will NOT accumulate in your personal MileagePlus account. However, it seems that the ability to transfer fee free to another account (perhaps your personal account) is coming soon!