Posted by Seth on June 30, 2010 under frequent flyer, News, points | 
After a relatively quiet spring for frequent flyer points bonuses on travel, the summer is heating up quite nicely. There has been plenty of competition in the New York City – Chicago market, mostly started because Delta added shuttle service on the ORD-LGA route starting just a couple weeks back. And now, for some reason, Los Angeles has become a target for promotions as well, with JetBlue announcing a triple miles promo for non-stop flights from LAX.
There are only two routes covered by the latest promotion from JetBlue – New York’s JFK and Boston – but the promo is valid for all new purchases through October 31. Registration is required: https://trueblue.jetblue.com/web/trueblue/lax-triple.
I’ve been looking to book a flight out to LA for a wedding in October and the triple points – as well as the 34” pitch, free snacks and free LiveTV – might just be enough to swing my business that way, especially since I’m not going to get upgraded otherwise on that route for free and the price is right.
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Posted by Seth on June 30, 2010 under News |
Following a successful trial period a couple months ago, Continental Airlines has announced that they are introducing a number of premium cocktails on their domestic and Latin American flights. The drinks – Red Bull and Stirrings cocktail mixers – will be priced at $9 including alcohol or $3 for just the mixer in the economy cabin. The program goes into effect on July 1, 2010. The press release is not particularly clear how they will be treated in the first class cabin and there is plenty of speculation and debate on FlyerTalk about how that is going to play out.
I’ve had the Mojito mix that will be included on a Virgin America flight and they were decent enough. I’m not sure that they are $9 decent, but when they were included in the price of my ticket I was certainly happy to drink the entire available stock during my transcon flight. On the Virgin America flight they also came served in a shaker rather than just poured into a glass. That might be worth a little bit of a premium just for the kitsch factor.
This move shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, especially given the recent trial program and the announcement of Buy-on-Board meal service also starting later this fall.
UPDATE (30 June 13:50 EDT): Apparently the July issue of Continental Magazine is out and it indicates that the premium mixers will be a paid item in the forward cabin. That’s pretty bad form.
Posted by Seth on June 27, 2010 under Trip Reports |
The idea of talking with a local to get to know the feel for the town one is visiting is not a new one. When there are language differences those conversations can be a bit more difficult, as we experienced this week in Lerwick, Scotland, up in the Shetland Islands. Even with everyone theoretically speaking “English” there were plenty of issues having a chat with folks. Still, one of the best conversations we had was with the guy working the front desk at our hostel. Jim was incredibly personable and friendly, overly outgoing and – most importantly – was able to fill us in on some local happenings that we quite certainly would have otherwise missed.
He quite simply asked if we were going to be going to the boat burning the following night. I’m pretty sure that the only acceptable answer to that question is a resounding “yes.” It certainly was our answer.
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Posted by Seth on June 25, 2010 under Trip Reports |
“Mind the Gap” is perhaps one of the more iconic phrases in the history of mass transit. Say that line and many folks’ thoughts will immediately jump to the London Underground, as well they should. And yet, this week, it was nearly 36 hours from when we arrived in London to when we first set foot in an Underground station, and then only to make our way back out to Heathrow for our departure.
No, we didn’t take taxis all over town. Nor did we stay in one place. We actually saw a number of things during our visit. We reverted to the original mass transit means in town: the River Thames.
Sure, a day pass on the river boats was a bit more expensive (£12 for an adult) than a day pass on the Underground, but it was also a lot more fun. Rather than being confined to hot, crowded rail cars we were on boats with climate control and outdoor space. And, for us, the boats were also much more convenient to get where we wanted to go. From out hotel in the Southwark/Blackfriars area we rode up the river to the Tate Britain gallery for a bit of culture. After a quick breakfast at a nearby cafe we were back on the water headed east, to Greenwich.
There are two museums in Greenwich, the Royal Observatory and the National Maritime Museum. Both are worth a visit.
First stop for us was the Royal Observatory, also known as the place where the Prime Meridian passes through. There is a line marked in the courtyard and a sundial statue where folks were all taking photos (self included). There was also quite a collection of much less clichéd exhibits on the importance of the Royal Observatory and its history.
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Posted by Seth on June 24, 2010 under News |
The Toronto Port Authority has come up with a new allocation of landing slots at the City Centre airport. While the airport currently only sees service from Porter Air, Air Canada and Continental have expressed interest in operations at the facility and both will get their wish should the allocations hold.
Air Canada was allotted 30 slots at the airport and Continental received 16. Porter Air received 44. The two new entrants will need to negotiate with the Port Authority for gate and terminal space and other formal details prior to starting operations at the field. Additionally, Porter Air is likely to protest the assignments, having already noted in one response that historic usage should present them with 112 slots, more than the three now assignments combined. Considering that Porter Air uses the airport as a hub and serves several destinations, the 44 daily slots is quite unlikely to be sufficient for their needs.
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Posted by Seth on June 24, 2010 under Trip Reports |
I travel a decent amount, but apparently not particularly broadly. I thought my list of 40+ countries visited so far was pretty decent but with my most recent booking I’m also realizing that perhaps I’ve visited as many as I have because they have been relatively easy. And then along came a deal that I couldn’t say no to.
I needed to be in San Juan, Puerto Rico in mid-August. Airfare was running around $300ish round-trip. Not great but reasonable for the route. I was pretty close to booking that trip until I noticed that there was, perhaps, a similarly priced deal that would get me a ton more frequent flyer points. Instead of just flying to San Juan and back I’ll be flying in via San Francisco, Chicago, Brussels, Accra and Philadelphia.
Yeah, I’m going from New York City to Puerto Rico via Ghana.
This won’t be my first trip to Africa – I visited Egypt over Christmas last year – but it certainly will be the first trip into what I consider a “hard” country to visit. Among other things, the list of vaccinations required is pretty significant. Typhoid, Tetanus, Hepatitis A & B, Meningococcal Meningitis and – the big one – Yellow Fever. So on Tuesday I found myself hopping between clinics, getting vaccinated and giving blood to test antibody levels for some vaccines. I’m guessing that I’ll need a few more shots in a couple weeks when I get home, but the big one has been taken care of. I got my Yellow Fever vaccination and the certification card that will serve me for the next 10 years.
I’m not a huge fan of needles, but if this is what it takes for me to explore Ghana, Benin and Togo in August and other more adventurous destinations in the coming years, so be it. My obsession with travel is much, much stronger than my aversion to needles.
Tags: Accra, Belgium, Chicago, Egypt, Flying, frequent flyer, Ghana, New York, New York City, Philadelphia, points, Puerto Rico, San Francisco
Posted by Seth on June 23, 2010 under News |
SkyTeam, one of the three major global airline alliances, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this week with events in New York City. Included in the celebration were several announcements regarding new members as well as a press conference where Leo M. Van Wijk, the CEO of SkyTeam, spoke on both the history and the future of the alliance.
Van Wijk had a number of interesting comments about the history of SkyTeam, including its pre-cursor in the “Wings” alliance and the details of its recent growth from just a few carriers to the current 13. The alliance has grown over its 10 year history to now serving nearly 900 destinations across 169 countries with 13,000 flights. Not too shabby.
The numbers do not tell the whole story. In his prepared remarks Van Wijk noted that the alliance has a tremendous presence in North America and continental Europe, but that there are also regions where they are not so strong. Specifically, Latin America, India, Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific regions were acknowledged as needing better coverage. Van Wijk stated that the alliance was in conversations with several unnamed carriers in these regions to fill the gaps.
At the same time, however, Van Wijk made it clear that SkyTeam is not interested in growing to have as many members as possible. Rather, they are much more concerned about finding strategic partners who fill specific route coverage areas.
[W]e do not necessarily aim to be the biggest alliance, but we do strive to be the most effective, meaning that we want to offer our customers a global network based on complimentary [route networks] instead of overlap….
[O]ne of China’s leading airlines, China Eastern, yesterday signed an agreement to formally begin the joining process to SkyTeam…. And we intend to add more Asian carriers to our group, thus firmly positioning SkyTeam as THE alliance for Asia.
Certainly a noble goal, but with the limited number of unaffiliated carriers in the regions in question, adding new members will be difficult, especially should the alliance choose to only choose partners with limited overlap in the existing route plan that existing SkyTeam partners operate.
Another significant focus of the SkyTeam alliance in the immediate future is the effort to “Enrich the seamless SkyTeam experience. The alliance is working to improve service consistency across the partners and expects to be able to co-locate airline operations in six airports per year. This co-location will be just one part of the effort towards “intensifying the cooperation between our members,” and working “more effectively to deliver on the promise to our customers.”
The prepared remarks were interesting enough, but the more candid and revealing bits of the discussion came during Q&A portion of the event. Specifically the questions focused on the opportunities for SkyTeam to increase their coverage. Van WIjk did note that “[T]he greatest need – and the greatest challenge – is in Latin America.” Looking at the list of unaffiliated carriers in the LatAm region that challenge is quite real. There are very few opportunities there for growth without a major defection from a currently allied or committed carrier.
Van Wijk was also asked how SkyTeam plans to compete against Star Alliance considering the likelihood that Star Alliance is likely to son have the world’s largest carrier in the combined Continental-United Airlines behemoth. The response was quite simple and certainly in line with what one would expect of a CEO, if not a bit far-fetched:
[SkyTeam’s] global coverage certainly has some light spots compared to Star Alliance, but it is up to par.
Yes, there are certainly a large number of destinations served by the alliance, but connectivity between destinations in the lesser served regions is much more sparse and the number of routes with such limited connectivity is much higher than Star Alliance currently experiences. While overlapping route maps may prove to be somewhat less valuable to the individual carriers they are incredibly valuable to the customers that the alliance members must woo. Overlap will force competition on quality rather than scarcity. That improves the customer travel experience which will generate more business in a manner that is beneficial to all parties. Hopefully SkyTeam will realize this and alter their approach to growing the Alliance.
Posted by Seth on June 23, 2010 under Trip Reports |
When I booked our vacation trip to Scotland this summer I wasn’t paying too much attention to the FIFA World Cup schedule. And even if I was I probably wouldn’t have tried to reschedule just so I could watch the USA-Algeria game this morning. Still, it turns out that I’ll be flying across the Atlantic on the morning flight from Newark to London in about an hour, taking off right around when the matches are starting. And I really don’t want to wait until we land to find out the scores.
Continental Airlines doesn’t have OnAir or any other in-flight internet connectivity these days so that’s not going to be an option. So what to do? I’m hoping that the pilots will be amenable to my requests this morning for score updates. Looking at the flight logs from the past few days it appears that we’ll be getting right to the edge of radio coverage for Gander Center – the last station before we head out over the ocean – just about the same time that the matches are wrapping up. And England is playing Slovenia at the same time so there should be plenty of interested parties on board.
Here’s hoping!
Posted by Seth on June 21, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Yes, it was ridiculously hot outside. Yes, it was hazy. Yes, the smoke given off by the planes racing obscured the view a bit. But that didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the Red Bull Air Races in New York City very much at all. Sure, I am disappointed that the photos didn’t come out as well as I’d have liked, but it was still quite impressive to watch those pilots zipping around all afternoon, weaving through the gates and otherwise being very cool.
I watched from the Battery Park side, not the grandstands on the New Jersey side. There were also a few hundred folks taking advantage of the views from the water, the SI Ferry and numerous Circle Line and other ferry ships in the area.
It was definitely a show worth watching.
Posted by Seth on June 17, 2010 under frequent flyer, News, points |
Not simply content to be offering triple miles on their three Shuttle service routes, Delta has launched a new round of bonus miles promotions. Similar to the Shuttle promo these bonus miles are both regular reward miles AND Medallion Qualifying Miles, helping folks reach elite status more quickly. The promotion is somewhat limited – there are four cities involved right now – but the numbers are pretty good.
The four airports covered by the promotions are Pittsburgh, PA (PIT); St. Louis, MO (STL); Nashville, TN (BNA) and Raleigh-Durham, NC (RDU).
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Posted by Seth on June 17, 2010 under frequent flyer, News, points |
The news this morning that searching for Star Alliance rewards using the ANA website was no longer viable for most folks was shocking and more than a bit disappointing. The good news? Apparently the restriction actually isn’t quite as bad as was initially thought. Yes, the option is missing on the website for most folks right now but that appears to only be a UI issue. In other words the functionality is still there if you can get to the correct webpage. And I can.
Just a bit of tinkering this afternoon and I’ve whipped up a GreaseMonkey script that puts a link back on the main page for folks who are searching:
Nothing fancy, but pretty darn functional. Simply sign in to your ANA account and go to the AMC reward page here. Click on the link for an International Reward search and, assuming everything is actually working correctly, the link should show up on the top of your screen.
Every now and then you’ll get a Session Expired error with the link. Just start the search over and it should go away.
Make sure you’ve got GreaseMonkey installed and then grab the script here. And enjoy your reward travels.
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