Delta announces a huge order for an aircraft that Boeing has threatened not to...
After two or three years of rumors, Delta has used the Farnborough International Airshow to finally announce that it plans to throw Boeing a lifeline by ordering up to 130 of its 737 MAX aircraft. As with most aircraft orders that get announced at airshows, this order may or may not be fulfilled in the way that it's currently being presented but because this order involves the MAX 10, there's actually an outside chance that the order will not be fulfilled at all.
Qantas is removing its vaccination mandate for international travel
Towards the end of 2020, Qantas was one of the first airlines to introduce a rule that required all passengers to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Now, following the Australian government's decision to allow unvaccinated travelers to enter the country, Qantas has said that it will roll back its vaccination rule.
I got a good look at the new Virgin Atlantic Upper Class seat &...
Last night, I was fortunate enough to attend the unveiling of the new Virgin Atlantic Upper Class seat that will debut on the airline's new A330-900neo aircraft so, for once, I didn't have to rely on a press release to get a feel for what a new seat is going to offer.
2,500 bonus miles for checking in early with Etihad
In anticipation of a very busy July, Etihad has been trying to improve the check-in facilities that it offers at Abu Dhabi International airport and it has brought back a check-in option that we last saw back in December. This time, however, that check-in option also comes with a bonus offer.
Air Canada & Emirates announce a new partnership (reciprocal benefits on the way)
Air Canada and Emirates have announced a new 'strategic partnership' that the airlines say will create more options for customers when traveling on both of the carriers’ networks and which is expected to improve the customer experience for members of Aeroplan and Emirates Skywards.
Virgin Atlantic confirms that it will launch flights to Tampa
Following a few weeks of rumors, Virgin Atlantic has now confirmed that it plans to launch a new service between London Heathrow and Tampa later this year as it continues to grow its post-pandemic route network.
Singapore Airlines will add flights to Los Angeles & extend Vancouver service
Singapore Airlines has announced that it expects its SIA group capacity to reach 81% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year and to help with that aim, it has confirmed that it will be increasing its frequencies to Los Angeles and Paris and that it will be extending its Vancouver service into the winter season.
Star Alliance’s EVA Air will launch two new routes to Europe
As things stand, EVA Air offers flights from Taipei to just four European cities - Amsterdam, London, Paris, and Vienna - but following an announcement earlier today, two more cities will soon be added to that list.
SAS flies for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States
SAS, the Scandinavian airline, has been in financial turmoil for some time and had announced a plan to restructure its business earlier this year in an attempt to get its house in order. Now, however, with its pilots out on strike, the airline has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States.
Etihad is the first airline to restart non-stop service to Beijing
When Etihad flight EY888 landed in Beijing this morning at 05:25 (local time) it was a significant occasion. After all the turmoil that the past two years have thrown up, EY888 signaled the start of the first regular non-stop international passenger service to Beijing by a foreign carrier since the Chinese capital's authorities announced that services could resume.
Alert: 700 British Airways employees have voted to go on strike
With European airports already struggling with the increased demand in travel and with UK airports currently being hit particularly hard, it looks like things may get a lot worse for some passengers once the summer holidays are upon us.
Qatar Airways will reduce select services to support flights for the 2022 FIFA World...
This coming winter, Qatar is set to be the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup which will see tens of thousands of football (soccer) fans descending on the Middle Eastern state to support their national teams. For Qatar Airways, this represents a considerable challenge as it now has to work out how to transport all of these fans from and to their home countries.
Oman Air confirms that it will join the oneworld alliance…eventually
OK, I admit it. I didn't think that this would be a post that I'd find myself writing.
The rumors that Oman Air was looking to join the oneworld alliance have been going around for some time (they date back well before it was ever suggested that Alaska Airlines would join oneworld) and I never really thought anything would come of it.
JetBlue secures permanent London Heathrow slots & adds a new Gatwick flight
JetBlue has made a number of announcements today that see the airline firming up its position at London Heathrow, expanding the service that it offers between New York JFK and London Gatwick, and slightly improving its customers' ground experiences at London's two biggest airports.
Korean Air will restart its Las Vegas route next month
From 1 July, Korean Air will bring back services thrice-weekly services to Milan Malpensa, and Vienna, while from 10 July it will also start to operate three weekly flights between Seoul Incheon Airport and Las Vegas.
Etihad confirms its return to Heathrow Terminal 4
Like all the pre-pandemic residents of T4, Etihad had to move into temporary accommodation as the pandemic ran roughshod over the travel industry and demand for flights plummeted, but with Terminal 4 now scheduled to reopen next week, the carrier has confirmed that it will be shuttering its operations in Terminals 2 and 3 and heading back to its original home.
British Airways ends its ‘Book With Confidence’ policy
Like pretty much every major airline around the world, British Airways introduced a flexible cancellation policy shortly after the Covid pandemic started playing havoc with everyone's travel plans. The policy was designed to encourage travelers to make future bookings at a time when the travel environment was highly unstable so with the worst of the pandemic apparently now behind us, the airline has chosen this moment to roll back its 'Book With Confidence' policy and to go back to its historic fare rules.
Finnair is bringing its new Business & Premium Economy cabins to the United States
Back in February, Finnair surprised the world when it unveiled a new (and different) Business Class seat alongside a new Premium Economy Cabin. At the time, it was thought that until a significant number of Finnair's long-haul aircraft had been retrofitted with the new cabins, the new seats would be limited to the airline's Asia routes but as it turns out, that's not going to be the case.
Qantas doubles its flights between Melbourne and Los Angeles (the A380 is coming back!)
Following on from the announcement that Qantas will launch a new service between Melbourne and Dallas/Fort Worth later this year, we now have confirmation that the airline is about to double the number of flights that it offers between Melbourne and Los Angeles and that its A380 will be making a very welcome reappearance on this route later in the year.
Qantas announces a new route to Dallas/Fort Worth
Dallas/Fort Worth is the home of American Airlines - Qantas' transpacific partner - so it's a destination that can act as a gateway for Qantas flyers wanting to reach a myriad of other locations within the United States. That's why Qantas already operates flights between Sydney and Dallas and why the airline has now announced that it will also fly to Dallas from Melbourne.
Finnair’s delayed Dallas route will launch in 3 days
In the past year, we've seen Finnair placing more emphasis on the US market with the addition of new services to Miami, Los Angeles, and New York as well as the promise of a new service to Seattle from 1 June. The airline was also supposed to be launching flights between Helsinki and Dallas/Fort Worth in February but for reasons that Finnair never really clarified, that route was delayed.
American Airlines & JetBlue add more reciprocal elite benefits
Today, American Airlines and JetBlue have taken another step towards cementing their alliance (despite the fact that the DoJ is actively trying to break the alliance up) by announcing further reciprocal status benefits for their elite flyers and by confirming that customers flying with JetBlue will finally be allowed to use their Admirals Club memberships to access American's lounges.
Air New Zealand will finally launch its long awaited New York service this year
In what now seem like the carefree days before the pandemic and before yet another war took over our TV screens, Air New Zealand was set to launch one of the longest flights in the world between Auckland and New York. Then the world put up the closed sign and the plan was mothballed. Now, with New Zealand taking its first tentative steps towards reopening, the Auckland to New York route is back on the agenda and scheduled for later this year.
Air Canada will bring back flights to Brisbane & Auckland and increase flights to...
With Australia now open to vaccinated travelers and with New Zealand set to welcome vaccinated travelers from over 60 countries in early May, Air Canada has chosen this moment to announce that it's going to increase its services to the Southern Pacific starting from this northern hemisphere summer.
British Airways clarifies its face covering rules…sort of
A couple of days ago, British Airways announced that it would be dropping its rule that requires passengers to wear face coverings onboard all of its flights but then, 24 hours later, we heard that British Airways was telling staff that it was backtracking on that decision and that face coverings would continue to be required. It was hard to know what was going on. Now, finally, we have a bit more information.
Qatar Airways will bring back its service to London Gatwick
At the height of the pandemic, Qatar Airways was the largest airline in the world as it continued to operate a significant number of international routes as other airlines mothballed their fleets. The airline's Doha to London Gatwick route, however, didn't survive those dark days but in a sign that we're continuing on the road back to normality, Qatar Airways has confirmed that it will return to Gatwick this summer.
British Airways backtracks on face coverings policy (mask wearing still required)
48 hours ago, we first started to hear stories that British Airways was planning to remove its rule that requires passengers to wear face coverings on all flights. Less than 24 hours ago, British Airways announced that as of today, face coverings would only be required onboard flights where the relevant authority with jurisdiction over the flight requires masks to be worn. Now, a story has emerged which suggests that British Airways has had a change of heart.
American Airlines is moving more flights to Heathrow Terminal 5 (the British Airways terminal)
Just when you thought that American Airlines and British Airways couldn't get any closer to one another - they're both members of the oneworld alliance, they're both members of a transatlantic joint venture, and British Airways will soon be moving into American's home at JFK - American Airlines has announced that this summer season will see it operate a significant number of flights out of BA's terminal at London Heathrow.
Amex announces a new Centurion Lounge at Atlanta International Airport
Rumors of a new Centurion Lounge at Atlanta's primary airport have been doing the rounds for some time and Amex has even put out a few hints here and there, but it has taken until today for an official announcement to be put out - the Centurion Lounge at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will open in 2023.
Marriott announces plans for its first St. Regis property in the UK
It's been a bit of a UK centric day today on Traveling For Miles with confirmation of a new Hyatt Regency for London and the news that Qantas is bringing back the Perth - London route in July and the UK-related news continues here with an announcement from Marriott that it will open its first St. Regis property in the UK next year.
Qantas brings its A380 back to London & announces restart of the Perth –...
It's safe to say that Qantas has been one of the airlines worst hit by the chaos that the pandemic brought to world travel but with most of Australia now reopened to vaccinated travelers, it looks like the airline is getting things back to 'normal' as quickly as events allow.
Aer Lingus is restarting another US route tomorrow
In the past few months, I've written about Aer Lingus more than at any other point in the short life of this site but somehow, somewhere down the line, I appear to have missed the announcement that from tomorrow, Aer Lingus is heading back to the West Coast.
Confirmed: A new Hyatt Regency is coming to London this summer
Unofficially, we've known this for some time, but Hyatt has now finally put out an official statement confirming that it will open the Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars in the City of London later this year.
Delta will offer three new routes to Hawaii next winter
The current winter season may still have over a month left to run but Delta is already getting ready for winter 2022/23 by planning a number of new routes to Hawaii. Both Oahu and Maui will be seeing new services from Delta with the new routes originating in Atlanta, Detroit, and New York.
American Airlines will suspend 3 routes, delay 1 route and cut another
Late on Friday, a leaked American Airlines memo delivered the news that over the weekend, the airline was planning to suspend services on three of its international routes, to delay the launch of an international route it had promoted with quite a bit of fanfare, and to halve the number flights on another international route. It's unclear if all these updates have now been processed but these cuts are very real.
JetBlue’s newest route to Mexico has now launched
The JetBlue and American Airlines "Northeast Alliance" may still be facing a number of regulatory hurdles, but that doesn't appear to have slowed down the number of new routes and added route frequencies that we've seen JetBlue bring to fruition in the past year. The latest announcement sees the airline confirming that it has lauched its newest leisure route between New York JFK and Mexico's Pacific Coast.
British Airways announces a new service to New York
British Airways has announced plans to launch a new daily service between London Heathrow and Newark Liberty later this year as the airline continues to revive its long-haul network following two years in the doldrums.
United will resume its San Francisco – Melbourne route in May
United Airlines hasn't operated either of its routes between the United States and Melbourne since the pandemic put life on pause but in a move that appears to be aimed at getting a head start on Qantas, the airline has now scheduled the return of its route between San Francisco and Melbourne.
Alaska Airlines introduces a Flight Pass for California, Nevada & Arizona
Well, this is new! Alaska Airlines has announced that it is introducing a subscription-based product designed to allow frequent flyers to save as they use the airline to fly within California, Nevada, and Arizona. 'Flight Pass' is already live with subscriptions starting from $49 per month.
Iberia confirms two new routes to the United States & returns to San Francisco
Back in November, Iberia announced that it had plans to launch two new routes between Madrid and the United States from April 2022. The new routes were to serve Dallas and Washington D.C. but at the time of the original announcement no schedule information was provided and no firm start dates were offered up either. Today, that changed.
The new Emirates lounge dedicated to unaccompanied minors
In recent years, a number of airlines have stopped offering dedicated services for unaccompanied minors but Emirates appears to be bucking that trend with the announcement of a new Dubai lounge for the exclusive use of young passengers who are traveling solo.
Aer Lingus is resuming non-stop flights to Miami (Business Class awards available)
Aer Lingus has announced that it plans to restart non-stop flights between Dublin and Miami later this year and as long as this plan isn't upended by an unexpected turn of events courtesy of the coronavirus, this should be good news for fans of Avios who have been burned by the latest British Airways devaluation.
British Airways increases surcharges on most Business Class long-haul award bookings (ex. UK)
If you're a British Airways flyer based in the United States, the airline showed its disdain for your loyalty a little while ago when it increased the surcharges for award travel originating on this side of the pond without any notice. Now, in what appears to be BA's version of 'leveling up', the surcharges for Business Class award travel originating in the UK have also been increased without warning.
This is the new Finnair Premium Economy cabin
Earlier today I wrote about Finnair revealing an entirely new Business Class cabin but, arguably, the bigger news of the day was that Finnair has also said that it will be fitting a Premium Economy cabin to all of its long-haul aircraft for the first time in its history.
Alliance-wide upgrades coming to oneworld in 2022…apparently
We've been hearing rumors of alliance-wide upgrades coming to the oneworld alliance since well before the pandemic so the fact that these are being discussed isn't news. What *is* news is that we're now expecting to finally see these upgrade options become reality later this year...apparently.
United Airlines announces expanded Cape Town service (Business Class awards available)
After a long hiatus brought about by the pandemic, United Airlines restarted its route between Newark and Cape Town in December last year with the same 3x/week seasonal service that it used before the travel world closed down. Now and with passenger numbers clearly on the rise, United is keeping a promise it made in 2019 and expanding its service to the Cape.
Finnair unveils its new Business Class Cabin
Finnair has been teasing this for weeks, but today the teasing ended and the airline finally unveiled its new Business Class cabin, a reworked Economy Class cabin, and announced that it will be introducing a long-haul Premium Economy cabin for the first time in its history. This post will look a the new Business Class cabin while subsequent posts will explore the new Economy and Premium Economy cabins.
Alaska Airlines will expand & upgrade select lounges in Seattle & Portland
Alaska Airlines has just announced what it's calling "a significant, multi-million dollar renovation and expansion of [its] most popular Lounges" which will see select lounges in Seattle and Portland get a short-term makeover before, longer-term, they're moved to new locations within their respective airports.
American Airlines will add Doha to its route map but I have no idea...
American Airlines has announced that it plans to launch a new service between New York JFK and Doha from summer 2022 but despite the fact that I've had a few days to mull over this announcement, I'm still at a loss to explain what the airline is thinking. To me, it makes no sense at all.
British Airways will finally fly to Portland from next summer (and will restart another...
British Airways announced that it would be the first airline to operate a year-round direct flight from the UK to Portland, Oregon, almost exactly two years ago but because of a little thing called a coronavirus, the route never launched as planned. Now the route is back on the BA map and all things being equal, it will launch almost exactly two years late.
Finnair will launch yet another new US route in 2022
As far as its US network is concerned, it has been a big six months for Finnair. In July it announced a new service between Stockholm and Miami, in September it announced new routes from Stockholm to Los Angeles and New York, and in November it announced a new route between Helsinki and Dallas Fort Worth that's set to launch in February 2022. Now the airline has gone a step further and announced yet another new US Route which will launch in summer 2022.
Hilton has opened the first Warner Bros hotel in the world
Hilton has announced the opening of the WB Abu Dhabi which is the first Warner Bros. themed property in the world. The property has joined Hilton's Curio Collection and is located just steps away from Hilton's Doubletree and Warner Bros World and a very short walk from Waterworld on Abu Dhabi's Yas Island.
Lufthansa is introducing a ‘Buy Onboard’ menu on its long-haul routes
Lufthansa has today confirmed that it will be introducing a 'buy onboard' menu of snack options on its long-haul flights to mirror what it already offers in Economy Class on its short-haul routes. The airline has said that this will not impact the complimentary meals and drinks already offered in long-haul Economy Class and Premium Economy but will be offered to flyers as an additional option.
Emirates has scheduled its A380 to return to Melbourne
It wasn't long after we started seeing signs that Australia was starting to open up that Emirates scheduled an A380 to taker over its route to Sydney and now, in a further sign that airlines are increasingly confident that travel to Oz will be a lot more 'normal' in the near future, Emirates is set to return the A380 to Melbourne as well.
Emirates is bringing back the A380 to Bangkok
Pre-pandemic, Emirates often operated over 30 weekly flights between Dubai and Bangkok so it's a sign of the times that only 13 weekly flights are operating right now. Still, demand for travel to Bangkok is clearly picking up as Emirates is adding more flights to the Thai capital and bringing back the A380 on this route.
Emirates may finally upgrade its 777 Business Class cabins
This week's Dubai Air Show had already given us a couple of pieces of good news (here & here) when we heard Emirates confirm that it will upgrade over 100 of its aircraft with its new Premium Economy cabin, but a more important piece of news (for premium cabin flyers) that came out at the same time was the news that Emirates may finally upgrade its sub-par Business Class cabins.
United Airlines is set return to Singapore in January
We've had a lot of news from United Airlines in the past few weeks and between the new flights, new routes and route reboots we heard about a month ago and the 22 daily flights that the airline says it will operate to London next year, I failed to pick up on the fact that I hadn't seen United give more than a vague update on the longest route that it served before the pandemic - the route between San Francisco and Singapore.
Emirates will add its Premium Economy cabin to 100+ aircraft
Emirates has used this week's Dubai Airshow to announce that following the success that it has seen with the limited rollout of its new Premium Economy cabin, it is committing to installing the cabin on a further 105 aircraft starting next year.
Qatar Airways & JetBlue now offer reciprocal mileage earning
Earlier this year, Qatar Airways and JetBlue announced that their "strategic partnership" would be expanding with the airlines codesharing on more routes and with reciprocal loyalty program benefits on the way for Privilege Club and TrueBlue members. As of yesterday, one of those reciprocal benefits was finally delivered with JetBlue and Qatar Airways flyers now able to earn points/miles on both airlines.
British Airways will have four more US routes operating by early December
With the US borders once again open to travelers originating in the UK, British Airways hasn't been wasting any time as it moves to increase capacity and get transatlantic services restarted. We've already seen the airline bringing back its A380s to serve four of its US routes and now BA has confirmed that it will have four more US routes back online by early December.
Singapore Airlines unveils new 737 Business Class cabin
While yesterday saw Etihad unveiling its new A350 Business Class cabin, today has seen Singapore Airlines unveil the new Business Class cabin that it will be rolling out on its new 737-8 MAX aircraft in the coming weeks and that the airline is expected to retrofit to its existing MAX aircraft too.
Etihad unveils its new A350 Business Class seats in Dubai
The Dubai Airshow is currently in full swing and amidst a few impressive fly-bys and a lot of industry talk, a cabin that a lot of us have been waiting to see has made its first public appearance - the Etihad A350-1000 Business Class cabin has finally been unveiled.
These are the routes on which British Airways will fly its Airbus A380
With multiple airlines questioning the viability of their A380s once the scale of damage the pandemic was doing to the travel industry became apparent, there was a time not very long ago when it looked like Emirates may end up being the only airline operating the biggest commercial airliner we've ever seen. Fortunately, that's not going to be the case and after announcing that it will fly its A380 to Johannesburg in January, British Airways has now scheduled the 'Whale Jet' on multiple other routes.
United opens up bookings for its new Washington – Amman service (awards available)
October was a busy month for United Airlines from a route scheduling point of view with the airline announcing 22 daily flights to London and 10 new flights and five new destinations for Europe and the Middle East. One of those new destinations was Amman, Jordan, and today United's new route between Washington D.C and Amman finally went on sale.
Air France introduces a new route between the US and the Caribbean
It was back in August that Air France first mentioned that it would be adding a couple of new (and a little unusual) routes to its network and as the dates for those route launches approach, I thought that I'd follow up my earlier post on Air France's routes to the US with a reminder that we'll soon be able to use Air France to fly from the US (and Canada) to the Caribbean.
Virgin Atlantic reduces service and removes the A350 on its Los Angeles route in...
If you're booked to fly with Virgin Atlantic to Los Angeles this December it may be time to check your seat reservations, and if you're considering booking Virgin Atlantic Business Class for travel to/from Los Angeles in December, it may be time to consider other options because the airline will not be flying its A350 to LAX for a period of 31 days.
Air France brings back a US route and will offer up to 122 weekly...
With the United States having finally opened its borders to travelers originating in the Schengen Area, Air France has announced that it will ramp up its transatlantic operations to levels not seen since before the pandemic. The airline has confirmed that it will operate to 11 US destinations and will offer up to 122 weekly flights this winter season and that's great news for flyers.
Iberia announces two new US routes and brings back another
With the ban on travelers originating in the Schengen Area now lifted, Iberia has announced that it will launch two new routes to the United States from April 2022 and confirmed that its route between Madrid and San Francisco will be returning at the same time.
Alaska Airlines will launch a new service to Miami next year
Alaska Airlines has been busy announcing new routes for most of this year with Mexico, California, Montana, Chicago, and Austin all benefiting from the airline's expansion. Its latest service announcement is probably its biggest of the year with Alaska Airline confirming that it will return to Miami for the first time in over 10 years with a non-stop service between Seattle and Miami next year.
Hyatt completes the purchase of ALG Group (~100 new properties coming to the World...
It was back in August that Hyatt confirmed that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Apple Leisure Group for $2.7 billion and we were told to expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter of this year. Well, true to its word, Hyatt has now announced that the deal is done and that approximately 100 new properties have now been added to its portfolio.
Hawaiian Airlines will restart its Sydney Route next month
In the wake of Qantas starting to reboot a variety of long-haul routes and Singapore Airlines saying that it will operate Vaccinated Travel Lanes from Sydney and Melbourne, Hawaiian Airlines has confirmed that it will join the party and will bring back its Honolulu - Sydney service in mid-December.
All British Airways 777s will have the new Club Suite by the end of...
British Airways has issued an update on the progress that it's making with retrofitting its new Club Suite to its long-haul fleet and while the news out today is mostly good, some information that's missing from the update may point to a longer rollout timeframe than was originally envisioned.
JetBlue LaGuardia expansion starts this Sunday
It was back in April that JetBlue first told us that it was planning to leverage its new partnership with American Airlines to help it significantly increase its presence at New York's LaGuardia airport, and now the airline has confirmed that we'll start to see that expansion roll out from this weekend.
United Airlines announces 22 daily flights to London in 2022 (1 new route)
Yesterday, a low-key United Airlines teaser appeared to suggest that it would be announcing at least one new international route at 08:00 today to go alongside the 10 new flights and 5 new destinations that the airline announced on 14 October. Well, 08:00 ET has now passed and we now know what United's teaser was all about.
IHG Rewards extends elite statuses through January 2023
It was the last week of April 2020 when IHG announced that it would offer elite status extensions through January 2022 and now that Hilton (in September) and Marriott (yesterday) have both announced that members of their loyalty programs will continue to enjoy their elite statuses into 2023, IHG has followed suit.
Heads up: United Airlines will add yet more international routes
United Airlines launched a big teaser earlier this month which gave us all a lot of clues as to what new international routes the airline was planning to announce. Those new routes were promptly revealed just a day later but now United is suggesting that its news doesn't end there.
American Airlines extends elite statuses & allows a ‘double dip’ for status earning
Yesterday, the big talking point for American Airlines flyers was undoubtedly the news that American has completely reinvented how elite status is earned in the AAdvantage program. There were, however, a couple of other pieces of news that were put out at the same time that cover the current elite qualification period and the start of the next, and those pieces of news are covered here.
Huge News: American Airlines reinvents how elite status is earned
Today looks like it's a day for surprises. I didn't expect Marriott to announce the huge Bonvoy devaluation that we've seen, while the cataclysmic changes that I was expecting American Airlines to make to its awards charts never materialized. Instead, what American Airlines announced today was a wholesale change to how AAdvantage elite status is earned.
Burn Bonvoy Burn: Marriott moves to dynamic pricing and eliminates award charts
Today was supposed to be the day that American Airlines gutted its loyalty program for a second time (it didn't - more on that later) so while most of us were focusing heavily on AAdvantage and waiting for the hammer to fall, Marriott sneaked up on the outside and caught a lot of people by surprise when it dropped the biggest bomb of the day in announcing a massive change to the Bonvoy program.
Qantas has confirmed 12 international routes will return by January
With Victoria now joining New South Wales in saying said that it plans to open up to vaccinated visitors from 1 November with no quarantine requirements, and with the Australian government under increasing pressure to open up its borders to international travelers, Qantas is pushing forward with getting its global route network restored and it has now confirmed the international routes that it will start/restart in the coming months.
British Airways will codeshare with Kenya Airways (Avios & Tier Points earnings on the...
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Marriott has opened the Reykjavik EDITION
At the time of writing, there are just 11 EDITION properties around the world but Marriott has been promising us plenty more, and true to its word, it has now opened the doors to its newest EDITION property Reykjavik, Iceland.
Is Hyatt about to add a new Hyatt Regency in London?
A normally very reliable source has reported that an IHG property in the center of the City of London which has remained closed since the pandemic first brought life to a screeching halt, will reopen early next year. It won't, however, be reopening under its old name. Instead, it will reopen as a new Hyatt Regency.
This apparently pointless status match may not be quite as pointless as it seems
Alitalia, as an airline, may be officially dead, but its spirit is very much alive within the newest Italian flag carrier ITA Airways. Over the weekend, news emerged that ITA is offering an elite status match to just about anyone and on the face of things, this looks like a pretty pointless status match (I'll explain why in a moment). Having thought this offer though a bit more, however, I'm starting to think that it may have its uses.
Qantas brings forward the return of its Sydney – Los Angeles route
Qantas has said that following the announcement from New South Wales than it plans to open up to vaccinated visitors from 1 November and that vaccinated visitors will no longer need to quarantine, it will bring forward the relaunch of a couple of its key routes. Specifically, the Sydney - Los Angeles and the Sydney - London routes are two that will be coming back sooner than planned.
United Airlines announces 10 new flights and 5 new destinations for Summer 2022
After two days of teasers, United Airlines has now revealed that it plans, what it's calling, its largest transatlantic expansion in history with the launch of 10 new flights and the addition of 5 new destinations in the summer of 2022.
Marriott shares plans for eleven new St Regis Resorts by 2025
Marriott has announced that it has plans to nearly double the number of St. Regis Resorts in its portfolio by 2025. The hotelier has confirmed that it will add a total of eleven new resorts to its existing fifteen St Regis Resorts in the course of the next four years as it looks to expand its high-end offering.
American Airlines & JetBlue now offer reciprocal elite benefits (award bookings are on the...
American Airlines and JetBlue first announced their (slightly surprising) partnership back in July last year but other than offering members of each other’s loyalty programs the ability to earn their preferred currency when flying, so far the partnership has offered little in the way of reciprocal elite status benefits. Starting this today, however, that has all changed.
American Express has opened the London Heathrow Centurion Lounge
American Express has today announced that its long-awaited Centurion Lounge has finally opened at London Heathrow Airport. The lounge is located inside Terminal 3 and American Express has given us a brief look at what the lounge has to offer.
Hyatt unveils a new Unbound Collection property in Florence, Italy
In early September, Hyatt announced that it would be adding six new European properties to its portfolio with two of those properties opening their doors to guests as early as this month. The Tribune Hotel in Rome opened just a few days ago (with no fanfare at all) and now Hyatt has confirmed that the IL Tornabuoni Hotel in Florence is accepting bookings as well.
Aer Lingus is bringing back two of its routes to the United States
In anticipation of the Biden administration finally getting around to opening up travel to the United States the UK, Ireland, and the Schengen area (take your time Joe, no hurry), Aer Lingus has announced that it will be restarting two of its transatlantic routes to the US in the coming weeks.
Marriott Has Added 19 Autograph Collection Properties To Its All-Inclusive Portfolio
In February of this year, Marriott confirmed plans to add a number of Blue Diamond all-inclusive resorts to its Autograph Collection brand but, at the time, didn't actually say when the properties would be available to book on Marriott.com. Well, as of right now, 19 new all-inclusive properties are bookable with Bonvoy Points and/or cash.
British Airways Will Restart One Of Its Routes To California
As has been the case with most airlines, the pandemic caused British Airways to take an ax to large parts of its route network and even though a lot of those routes have been restored in recent months, the airline still isn't flying to all of the US destinations that it served before the coronavirus changed the world. Starting next month, however, one more route to California will be back in the airline's schedules.
Yet Another New Los Angeles Hyatt Will Charge A Destination Fee
The Shay, A Destination Hotel in Culver City, California, was originally slated to open in late summer 2020 but as with most hotel openings scheduled for 2020, that date was pushed back into 2021. The property is now set to open its doors on 1 November 2021 but unless you have top-tier Globalist status or you're planning to use World of Hyatt points, you probably shouldn't be in too much of a rush to visit.
Alaska Airlines Has Now Revealed Details of Its New Top-Tier Elite Status
At the very beginning of this year, Alaska Airlines announced that it would be creating a new top-tier elite status level for the 2022 qualification year but the airline wasn't forthcoming with any details of what the new status tier would offer or what the qualification requirements would be like. Now, with a little over three months to go before the 2022 qualification year begins, a lot has been revealed.
United Airlines Reschedules Its New Route To Africa
A little over a year ago, United Airlines announced that it planned to start offering a variety of new flights from Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington DC. One of those routes was to Lagos, Nigeria, and was scheduled to launch in late spring this year. For reasons that are all too obvious, that route never launched but now United says that it's ready to give it another try.
Finnair Announces Two New US Routes & Increases Service To Chicago
Following on from its July announcement of new routes from Stockholm to Bangkok, Phuket, and Miami, Finnair has now confirmed that it plans to launch two more US routes out of the Swedish capital and that it plans to turn what has traditionally been a transatlantic summer route into a route that's operated year-round.
KLM Has Suspended Three US Leisure Routes For Winter 2021/22
With the United States government continuing to show no interest in loosening restrictions on travelers originating in various European countries, we're now seeing some counties in Europe retaliating and imposing considerably stricter measures on travelers visiting from the United States. Unsurprisingly, this is now starting to lead to route suspensions.
Hyatt Announces Six New European Properties
Hyatt is back with another announcement featuring new properties that it will be adding to its portfolio and as has been the case in a number of the hotelier's recent statements, the new properties will all be located in Europe.
Hyatt Is Expanding Again – New Luxury Resorts Being Added In $2.7bn Purchase
Following rumors of a deal late last week, Sunday saw Hyatt confirm that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Apple Leisure Group, a luxury resort-management services, travel, and hospitality group for $2.7 billion.
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