This is a first for me.
On this trip to the US, I’m attending my first FT event. It’s put on by one of the more experienced members of the UA forum.
There’s over 160 people attending (80 on the Saturday and 80 on the Sunday).
People flying into the Windy City to talk about all things frequent flyer-ish.
God I hope it doesn’t turn out to be an Amway meeting in disguise…
More later…
Next week, I’m heading to the US.
This is the only picture worth anything to me when I travel.
I haven’t paid for a business class fare in a long-time. My outbound upgrade cleared a week prior to departure and the return cleared a day ago, which is nearly 2-weeks prior. I used SWU (System Wide Upgrade) certificates for both the outbound and return.
Because UA are getting tougher on upgrades, I decided to try and different approach. I had a couple of options when I booked the ticket.
1. Book the cheapest Z class fare (which is business) – SGD$5500 to the West Coast (SFO)
2. Book the cheapest upgradeable fare available at the time (which was around SGD$1700) and probably have to wait until day of departure to find out if the upgrade was going to clear
3. Buy a B class fare (nearly full fare economy) and give myself close to the best possible chance. Cost SGD$2700. Which was $1000 more, but now I have a Business Class return ticket for half the cheapest possible Business Class I could have bought.
Which is what I did.
And if you want a comparison, most business class fares from Singapore to the West Coast are going to run SGD$8000 to SGD$10,000, depending on routing and carrier.
I’m working on a detailed post on how the upgrade process works on UA. Standby.
This never ceases to amaze me.
First off, if you’re any sort of road warrior, your plans will have come to grief at some point in your flying career. It’s only normal. And to be expected.
How you handle the “inconvenience” and the level of compensation you get is quite another thing.
If you want to get a glimpse into the insanity of human behaviour, head on over to FlyerTalk and start trawling around any of the airline forums and do a search for “never flying X airline again”, or “I was treated like a criminal” or “X airline ruined my life and as a result of our lost bags episode, my wife/best friend/gay lover ran off with a hamster”
Or something like that.
Here’s an example of what not to do. Reading this nearly made me lose the will to live. (more…)
This was so traumatic I don’t even know where to start.
I was in Korea this week. Booked into the Westin Chosun, Seoul. All pretty standard stuff. You know, the normal Asian trip.
Anyway, for those of you who haven’t been to Seoul, the Koreans have built a new airport. It’s a cracker. Regularly competes with Hong Kong and Singapore and according to Skytrax, Incheon has won best airport in the world for the past 6-years running.
Although I am a bit dubious about the fact that the majority of people who vote for these types of awards are always drunk British expats.
Or something like that.
I had the misfortune of travelling with my folks the other day.
As we were getting ready to head out the door, my mother turned to me and said.
“Are you wearing that on the plane…?”
“Yes” I said defiantly.
Then I remembered I was 43 and my heart sank, realising that my mother was still breaking my balls about what I was wearing.
She is of the opinion that if you dress well, then you will be upgraded to First from economy, be met at the airport by 3 virgins who will walk ahead of you sprinkling the ground with rose petals, have your bags carried for you by English butlers and be whisked off to a private room in the airport for VIP’s.
Or something like that.
Which is complete bullshit. I asked my mother if she had been drinking again that morning. She said something along the lines of no, but it wasn’t her fault that the cork fell out of the Chardonnay bottle when she was tidying up the fridge.
I kid. She doesn’t drink Chardonnay. (more…)
Some misinformed travel hack wrote an article today in my home town newspaper titled “Is Business Class Worth It?
If you need something to read while your sitting on the toilet tomorrow, print it off on bio-degradeable paper and when you have finished reading the important news, you can wipe your arse with his missive.
Or something like that.
What a load of pish!. Of course Business is worth it. The trick is not paying for it all the time. And if you do pay for it, ensuring you are paying the appropriate amount.
The travel hack goes on to confess that he’s embarrassed about “flying business” because he has some strange affiliation with business class and being a school bully. I’m not sure. I lost interest about half way through his article so maybe he was writing about the Jehovahs Witnesses or the upcoming election. I forget.
The only people who piss and moan about business class are the people stuck in economy.
Don’t get me wrong. If I can help it, and a client isn’t paying for it, I won’t pay full whack for it either. But I will work out the best chance of using an upgrade certificate. Or buying a more expensive economy fare which is upgradeable using points, or cash at the gate. Or a combination of both.
Or working out that in many cases, a RTW fare is cheaper in the long run. And much better value. Even in J. Or C. Or even D.
I certainly wouldn’t pay what Qantas charge to fly long-haul to the US or the UK. Smart travellers know that for what QF charge for premium economy, they can sit in business proper on another carrier.
Most road warriors I know couldn’t give a rats toss about the food, or the express lines, or the priority tags on their bags. They care about sleeping. And about finding a place to have a shower when it all goes pear shaped. And about being able to talk to airline staff who know what the hell is going on and who can fix the problem.
Sure, all the “other” perks are nice. But at the end of the day, some of us need to hit the ground running. And flying in the middle in most cases, and on most airlines, allows us to do just that.
I used to. A lot.
I stopped counting when I went past 14,000 tier credits.
That was on someone else’s nickel. But then I went to work form myself and I simply found Qantas way too expensive for anything long-haul.
Domestic is different. I’ll fly them all the time. Even if they are more expensive than Virgin Blue (which I detest). Domestic they win hands down. The lounges are unbeatable (globally) and they just work. Most of the time.
But internationally, they simply have fallen too far behind. To be fair, I have’t sat on a business class QF seat for a long, long time. And I am keen to try the new A380.
As far as airline relationships goes, my bond with EK has been more like a one night stand rather than a marriage. But I am seriously impressed.
Firstly, they’re one of the few airlines with money. And it shows. They’re aircraft are new. They have the world’s best IFE. And on the routes I fly (predominantly between Australia and Singapore), the aircraft have the latest fit-out. None of this regional J class configuration for me thanks.
My only gripe is that their frequent flyer program – Skywards, is limiting. Their top tier (Gold) only requires you to fly 50,000 tier miles. Silver is 25,000 and Blue is entry level.
50,000 tier/status miles on any other carrier would only get you mid-way (ie on UA and most of the other US carriers).
Emirates made a song and dance about how they had overhauled the Skywards program beginning 2010, with the introduction of Flex and Saver fares. Rumour has it that they are working on a 4th tier (ie Platinum), which is long overdue.
The EK passenger make up is probably more diverse that most other carriers. On one hand, and depending on the route you fly, you can find some very, very competitive fares. This brings out all the leisure travellers. Then, on the other hand, you have some seriously hard-core premium cabin passengers (ie out of DXB to the US).
On the routes I fly, I’m blessed because there’s not that many Silver or Gold members. And if you’re talking about Op-Ups (that elusive operational upgrade), then EK has been by far, the most generous carrier I have ever flown on.
I just wish EK would articulate their actual upgrade criteria…no one knows.
As far as the Real McCoy airline goes, EK are nearly here. I said nearly.
Because we’re based in Singapore, it means every second Christmas we have to make the trek to see the in-laws. In Michigan. In Winter. And with 2 kids. And a wife who packs like a teenager trying to get out of a moving car.
This past Christmas was going to be different. We were off to our first skiing holiday in Canada.
Wait till you hear what happened. (more…)
