United is set to become the US launch customer for expanded variants of the B787 Dreamliner and A350 long-haul jets. According, to Bloomberg, United “will modify a 2009 order to take 25 wide-body A350-1000s instead of the smaller -900 variant as once planned. United also will convert options for a couple dozen A350s and Dreamliners into firm orders, with the Boeing jets being the new 787-10X model. The -1000s seat 350 passengers in a typical three-class configuration, compared with 314 for the A350-900. The 787-10X will seat about 43 more people than the 250 to 290 passengers on the 787-9, Boeing has said.“  Full article here...

Fun fact – US Airways and Hawaiian are the only other US airlines with A350s on order.

Related

• A350 to Take First Flight

• Boeing to Build World’s Longest-Range Passenger Jet 

• Air rivalry intensifies as Airbus A350 makes first flight
• Boeing Set to Confirm Plans for Larger 787 Dreamliner

Are your credit cards relegated to the back of a drawer once the sign-up bonus posts? While your still in possession of those cards you acquired during your past few churns, why not put them to use and earn some additional miles or points? Remember, holding cards instead of canceling right away makes sense as you can use them as leverage in your next churn, offering to give up the card in exchange for a new card and a new bonus. I’m usually not a huge fan of the various dinning offers from Rewards Network, but their 2013 promos can get you some decent easy point payouts and they just increased their offers for UA and DL.

Priority Club/IHG Rewards – 2,013 points after $40 of spend on a single dine within 30 days of registration.
Delta – 1,500 miles after $40 of spend on a single dine within 30 days of registration.
American – 1,000 miles after $40 of spend on a single dine within 30 days of registration.
United – 1,500 miles after $40 of spend on a single dine within 30 days of registration.
US Airways – 1,000 miles after $40 of spend on a single dine within 30 days of registration.
Hilton – 1,000 points after $40 of spend on a single dine within 30 days of registration.
Alaska – 500 miles after $30 of spend on a single dine within 30 days of registration.

Each promotion is for a “new” profile, meaning a unique credit card (and sometimes email address) is required. Additionally, each of the promotions above requires you to complete a review in order to qualify for the bonus. The link to the review is emailed after your dine and is a simple multiple choice survey. The trick is finding a restaurant that you would dine at anyway.

United Airlines stands accused of allowing a male passenger to masturbate while sitting across from a 17 year-old female passenger last year. From TMZ:

The passenger, represented by Gloria Allred, claims a male passenger seated across the aisle from her exposed his penis to her during the flight … and masturbated. The passenger says she complained to a flight attendant multiple times — and the flight attendant did nothing to stop the man from continuing his behavior … she wasn’t moved, and the passenger wasn’t addressed in any way. The passenger says the man briefly stopped masturbating while the flight attendant was nearby, but quickly resumed once the flight attendant left.

See the full article for further details and exactly why she’s suing United and how they are responsible in her (or her attorney’s)opinion.

Courtesy TMZ

In case you missed it, United announced last week (via a press release that just so happened to coincide with Delta’s JFK T4 opening) that they now offer 180-degree flat-bed seats and personal on-demand entertainment in premium cabins on every scheduled, long-haul international flight from the New York area. United has outfitted 182 international aircraft with United Global First and United BusinessFirst cabins. As per the press release, United also offers the most flat-bed seats and the most extra-legroom economy seats from New York’s three major airports.

They also stressed that despite Delta’s T4 expansion, they continue to operate New York’s only major global gateway hub, the most convenient airline hub to Wall Street and Times Square and the only New York-area airport served directly by regional and national rail lines. Customers departing from or arriving at Newark Liberty can transit between the Newark Liberty International Airport rail station and United’s terminals within minutes. The rail station offers immediate access to New York Pennsylvania Station, New Jersey and southern New York State.

The New York battle wages on for DL & UA (…and AA & B6)! Convenience from the city to either JFK or EWR usually plays a key role in determining a preferred NYC carrier as well. Did you miss my initial review of Delta’s T4 expansion? I had a great time at the Delta JFK T4 opening last Friday. The extension (and especially the Sky Club) are beautiful. The first review includes my favorite things in the new T4 and some unexpected encounters with Richard Branson, Delta CEO – Richard Anderson, and KLM CEO – Peter Hartman. Check out the full Delta T4 review part one here. Part two coming later this week!

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

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.

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!

ScoreBig, an online ticket brokerage, is offering 1,000 bonus United MileagePlus miles on your first purchase of $30 or more in addition to the normal 5 miles you receive for every $1 spent on a concert or sporting event. ScoreBig works differently than most other ticket brokerage sites in that you submit an offer (up to 60% off) for the tickets that you are interested in and then receive instant notification as to whether that offer was accepted it or not. Alternatively, you can redeem MP miles for event tickets as well. You will have to enter your MP number and pin for the offer, but you can feel confident that the site is legit as your name and mileage balance will be displayed. Full details here.

The United Airlines 4,500 mile Allstate offer has returned after an investigation into whether the promotion was considered insurance rebating, a practice illegal in most states. The offer now is available in most states except California.

Earlier this year United formed a partnership with Allstate allowing members to earn 2,500 miles for switching auto insurance and another 2,000 miles for switching homeowners insurance. Unfortunately, no miles are earned simply for a quote with this offer. Prior to March, the process was extremely tedious in most states as you needed to call an agent to receive your quote and to process your miles if you decided to switch. Now, you can request the quote online and directly enter your MP information if your satisfied with their rates. For my family, the rates were approximately $23 more per month than GEICO for a similar policy, which led us to pass on the 2,5000 miles. However, my friend who lives in a neighboring state received a rate that was $1.34 cheaper than her current Progressive rate and she signed up for the deal. The 2,500 miles are no reason to switch your car insurance, however if you can save some money as well, the offer might be valuable.

On Friday, I’m heading out to Colorado Springs on a United flight for the first ever Boarding Area conference of BA (and other popular) bloggers – BAcon. While I have elite status (and won’t be checking any bags), a fellow traveler does not and will need to pack for the next few weeks for a continuing trip. The outbound won’t be a problem as I’ll be there and can check their bag for free, however they’ll be on their own for the return and I’ll be taking my first ever JetBlue flight back to New York (yes, first ever…I like my legacy status and miles but wanted to take advantage of this promo).

Now, the other traveler also has several upcoming flights out west on US Airways and United, but the flights won’t be enough to earn them status in either airline’s program (even via a challenge). This got me thinking about the Aegean Miles&Bonus program as they certainly will have enough flown mileage to pick up Blue status in Aegean’s program, allowing for a free checked bag on either carrier. Aegean has some of the easiest requirements for elite status – 4,000 miles for Blue and 20,000 for Gold…but it gets even better. Upon signing up for the program you receive 1,000 miles, bringing the requirement down to 3,000 for Blue and 19,000 for Gold. Better yet, once you reach Blue you have 12 months to earn the 16,000 miles for Gold – “Once you have collected 16,000 miles within one year from the date which you qualified to the Blue status, you will receive the Gold Card.” Of course, for any business or first itineraries, you’ll be earning bonus miles which count towards qualification. Icing on top…the status does not expire as long as you take one flight (on any Star Alliance carrier) every 36 months.

After checking out Gary’s post on the topic, I felt silly for not taking advantage of the BMI status match that Aegean was running last spring/summer in order to obtain (lifetime) Gold status. Aegean Gold status allows for star alliance lounge access, even on a fully domestic itinerary! Yes, that means entry is granted simply when flying United or US Airways within the US. So, I figured I might be a year late, but why not send the email to customer service and give the match a shot. I found my BMI Diamond Club Gold level membership card (which was a status match as well) and sent in the match request. Within 3 days, I received a response that I had been matched! Now, as Gary points out, Aegean clearly states that they can change the requirements and benefits of the program at any time…but for now I’m excited to test out my domestic lounge access. Unfortunately, while it seems that Aegean is still accepting BMI status match requests, there are no recent positive reports of matches from any other carriers. The have in the past matched status for other Star Alliance carriers who also ceased operations (Spanair). However, even Blue gets you the free checked bag if you’re not a frequent traveler.

Aegean Benefits

Blue:

• One free checked bag on any Star Alliance carrier.
• Priority standby and waitlisting on Star Alliance carriers.

Gold:

• Complimentary lounge access when traveling on any Star Alliance carrier, regardless of your ticketed class, including one guest.
• Extra baggage allowance & handling -Additional weight and/or pieces.
• Priority check-In & Priority Boarding
• Priority standby and waitlisting on Star Alliance carriers.

Full benefits for Blue and Gold here.

Have a college student at home or perhaps your taking some continuing education classes? United is offering $20 off one-way or $40 off round-trip for any flights departing the US and arriving in Europe this summer. Flights must be booked on StudentUniverse.com by 5/31/13.

In order to prove your eligibility you must provide two of the following:

Several co-workers have been able to register using their single continuing education class that’s being given at a local college. Teachers and professors are also eligible for sign-up. I’m not sure what fare class the tickets book into, though I’m sure it’s one of the lowest economy buckets.

PROMO CODE TERMS:
UAEUOW: The promotion code entitles you to a $20 discount on the purchase of one(1) one-way airline ticket at StudentUniverse.com. Valid only for flights on United Airlines departing from the United States and arriving in Europe. Offer not valid on hotels, activities, rail passes, insurance, car rentals or previously booked flights. Promotion Code is limited to a one-time use only per person. Only verified members are eligible to purchase. Coupons/Discounts cannot be combined with any other offer. Discount will not be applied to taxes and fees. Promotion code redemptions are limited and expire 5/31/13.

UAEURT: The promotion code entitles you to a $40 discount on the purchase of one(1) round-trip airline ticket at StudentUniverse.com. Valid only for flights on United Airlines departing from the United States and arriving in Europe. Offer not valid on hotels, activities, rail passes, insurance, car rentals or previously booked flights. Promotion Code is limited to a one-time use only per person. Only verified members are eligible to purchase. Coupons/Discounts cannot be combined with any other offer. Discount will not be applied to taxes and fees. Promotion code redemptions are limited and expire 5/31/13.