June 2010
• Frontier Airlines is the name for the “new” airline which combines Frontier and Midwest (and which is owned by Republic). Frontier has new Stretch seats (see Dec. '09 news, right column), offering extra legroom in the front of their planes – rather similar to United’s Economy Plus. So far, we’re impressed with Frontier’s offerings. They’ve recently actually reduced some fees and added a few amenities (reserved seats at the cheapest fare class).
• The Chase Ink Plus Visa credit card might be a viable alternative to a United or Continental credit card (both of which have higher annual fees). The Ink Plus also adds a free annual Priority Pass lounge membership (including 2 free lounge visits) and the ability to transfer points 1:1 into “some of the industry’s leading frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs.”
• The always-informative and excellent World Art Calendar has been recently updated.
May 2010
• The big recent airline news is the proposed (assuming it clears U.S. regulatory hurdles) merger of Continental and United. Probably nothing much will happen until next year, but expect some changes. Both airlines are members of the Star Alliance, so there shouldn’t be much change in frequent-flyer award levels.
February 2010
• Despite the whining by the civil libertarians, full-body scanners for airport security are here. Of course, to us, the enhanced security measures are mostly political grandstanding. But we have no choice.
Breaking Travel News tells us that all passengers will need to submit to full-body scans at London Heathrow and Manchester airports, with roll-out of the security measure to all UK airports as soon as possible.
Needless to say, the scanners are also becoming more prevalent in the U.S.. Especially as they are being introduced, allow yourself still more time before your flight.
January 2010
• Might we see a re-emergence of the Diners Club credit card in the future? Bank of Montreal has acquired Diners Club from Citigroup, and one wonders if a strong, interested bank (BMO) might give the card a push in North America. The transaction is expected to close by the end of March 2010. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one.
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December 2009
• New U.S. Rules on Tarmac Delays. The U.S. Dept of Transportation has instituted rules basically requiring airlines to deplane passengers if a tarmac delay lasts more than 3 hours. Of course, there are a few exceptions, but this is a huge step in addressing the 8-hours-trapped-on-a-plane horror stories.
The DOT release also notes: “Carriers are required to provide adequate food and potable drinking water for passengers within two hours of the aircraft being delayed on the tarmac and to maintain operable lavatories....”
According to the DOT, this only applies to “...U.S. airlines operating domestic flights...” Still, this is great news for airline passengers. The ruling takes effect in 120 days – roughly late April 2010.
• Frontier Airline's new Stretch Seats. Republic Airways recently acquired both Frontier and Midwest (and they’re probably in the process of standardizing some aspects of those airlines). They’ve just announced a new “Stretch” service on Frontier flights.
Stretch consists of the first four rows on many of Frontier’s planes offering additional legroom (36”). This results in a two-tier Economy section – similar to United’s Economy Plus – where the extra seats don’t have any special amenities beyond legroom (although Frontier’s al-a-carte pricing does offer extra amenities depending on fare class selected).
The Stretch seats are available as a paid upgrade when checking in, or during booking if you choose Frontier’s top fare class. We’ve been big fans of United’s E+, and think this is a good enhancement for Frontier.
• Warning: Pay Your Rewards Cards On Time or Lose Points/Miles. We’ve discussed the benefits of frequent flyer and other reward credit cards on this site in the past, always stressing that reward cards only make sense if you always pay in full. Now, you better always pay on-time, too, or you’ll risk losing points/miles earned. An AP/Yahoo News article has details.
• Sadly, there are rumors that the Schwab Visa may not be currently offered. It is (was?) one of the best reward credit cards, offering 2% cash back on all purchases, and no foreign transaction fees. We have not received any notice of change in terms of our account, but there is no longer an application page on Schwab’s site. If you’re planning to use your card overseas, confirm with Schwab that the no-fee aspect is still in effect.
November 2009
• bmi Frequent Flyer Enhancements. UK airline bmi has come up with an interesting concept – Family Memberships (beginning Dec. 1) for frequent flyer miles. Many airlines allow you to buy miles; some allow you to transfer to another (family) member for a fee. British Airways has a similar Household Account. It’s worth noting that bmi frequently has excellent sign-up bonuses for new frequent flyer accounts. (The current sign-up bonus is only 1,000 miles, but we signed up a few years ago when there was a 9,000-mile bonus just for setting up an account. bmi’s website can be pretty cranky, so be patient.)
• Huge Mileage Bonus for British Air Credit Card. If you travel to Europe on British Air, you may have already seen the offer for 100,000 BA frequent flyer miles by signing up for a Chase Visa. This is the biggest promotional offer we've seen from any airline. Read the fine print, and sign up for a couple of trips to Europe. (Note that some commentators have said that BA adds hefty fees, and sometimes award availability is limited. Nonetheless....) Also remember that you can use your 100,000 miles on oneworld partner airlines, such as American, Qantas, LAN, JAL, and others. UPDATE: It appears this offer is no longer available as of Dec. 12.
• Continental Airlines has joined the Star alliance. Other Star members include Air Canada,
Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana, Austrian, bmi, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore, SWISS, TAP Portugal, THAI, United, US Airways, and several others.
For some U.S. travelers, Continental may prove to be an excellent alternative to United or US Air for accumulating frequent flyer miles. Remember, generally no matter what airline you fly in an alliance, you can put your flight miles into another airline’s program. Thus, instead of having 10,000 miles in United and 15,000 in bmi and 8,000 in ANA, you could have 33,000 in Continental (or another airline of your choice), a much better proposition for award ticket redemptions.
For international travelers, if you're flying a Star carrier, this also dramatically expands your U.S. air connection options, with one of Continental’s significant hubs being in New York (Newark).
October 2009
• It looks like British Airways has its head up its butt again. The airline has begun charging for advance seat assignment, but now that it’s in place one can’t book (or pay for) the seat online. Stupid. We never recommend booking with any airline that you can’t pre-select your seat. And that goes double if you have to pay for it. BA flyers: buyer beware.
• Lufthansa and JetBlue have formalized their codeshare agreement. You can now book (for example) a flight from Frankfurt to Austin, Texas, on Lufthansa’s website. The current list of 12 JetBlue cities in the codeshare arrangement can be found here.
September 2009
• U.S. airlines are slowly adding WiFi capability to planes. Currently, AirTran and Virgin America have WiFi on all aircraft; Delta and America are farthest along among the majors. A good current update is listed on The Cranky Flier.
• An updated calendar of U.S. art exhibits (and International ones, too) is maintained at World Art Exhibits.
July 2009
• Wine tourism is an international phenomena. Five wine regions (California, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, South Africa) have joined forces to create the New World Wine Alliance, to better compete against the European countries. We wish them luck, as they don’t even yet have a website.
• Every low-cost U.S. airline in the recent J.D. Power customer satisfaction ratings had higher scores than the best traditional carrier (which was Alaska Airlines). Read our complete story.
June 2009
• It shouldn't have any immediate impact on your travel plans, but Republic Airways will be acquiring two U.S. regional carriers — Frontier and Midwest.
• After writing recently about changes in credit card rewards, we thought we’d detail our two current favorite reward credit cards.
The Hilton American Express is one of the most generous hotel points programs. When we use points in lieu of payment, we generally feel we get about 3-6% rewards for our purchases, depending on spending category.
The Schwab Visa offers two significant advantages: It offers 2% cash rewards on all purchases, and it does not charge any foreign-currency conversion fees (nearly every other credit card charges about 3%)....
...continue reading the complete story
May 2009
•We’ve long been fans of pay-as-you go international SIM chips for GSM cell phones. The two basic types are single-country chips and multi-country international chips. Our experience has been good with single-country chips, and mixed with international chips.
Now, Telestial (one of the largest U.S. retailers of chips and phones) is offering a dual-number (U.S. and UK) international chip....
...continue reading the complete story
March 2009
• You can now follow our news and rambling opinions about travel (and other topics) on Twitter.
February 2009
• Despite the various credit cards we have – and have used all over the world – we’ve never had a Discover card. Discover cards are currently accepted in Canada, Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and China. Thus, they have been considered good cards for travel throughout much of the Americas.
The big benefit with Discover was that they never added the dreaded “foreign currency exchange fee” to transactions denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. All that is now changing. According to Discover’s new terms and conditions, the card will begin charging 2% beginning with billing periods ending after May 1, 2009.
January 2009
• King Tut Returns to the U.S.A.
There are two (apparently, and confusingly, separate) King Tut tours in the U.S. for 2009 and beyond.
“Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” is a return of the phenomenally successful tour from several years ago. It is currently at the Dallas Museum of Art until May 17, 2009. From there, it goes to San Francisco’s de Young Museum from June 27, 2009 through March 28, 2010. It is scheduled to go to one more yet-to-be-announced venue after that.
“Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs” is the second exhibition. It is currently at the Atlanta Civic Center until May 25, 2009, and it then moves to The Children's Museum of Indianapolis from June 29 through October 2009. (As a bonus, if you’re in Atlanta this spring, you can also see a small exhibition of the Chinese Terracotta Warriors at the Atlanta High Museum of Art until April 19, 2009.)
Travel News Archives - 2008, 2007, 2006
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