// May 26th, 2010 // No Comments » // airplanes, frequent flyer
So I just stumbled onto this ABC News piece about Tom Stuker. He’s the guy George Clooney’s character in “Up In The Air” is partly based on. The piece is worth watching. I get a lot of what he says about feeling like royalty when he flies.
// February 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // airplanes, frequent flyer, lufthansa
I am a HUGE fan of Lufthansa, Germany’s main airline. I have flown it many times in the past. Sadly, Lufthansa crew are going on a 4 day strike, sure to disrupt major routes. But while I was reading about the strike, I found a promotion worth mentioning: Lufthansa is giving away 1,000,000 frequent flyer miles to the person who names its new A380 plane. By the way, that’s enough miles to fly around the world in first class twice! To find out more, click here.
// February 9th, 2010 // No Comments » // airplanes
Not pillow play..pillow pay. American Airlines will soon charge economy class domestic customers $8.00 for a pillow and blanket. (I hope its at least a goose down pillow!) It’s yet another way for the airline to make money in these tough economic times.
// February 3rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized, airplanes, frequent flyer, travel tips
A few months ago, I told you how US Airways was offering a 100% bonus on purchasing and/or gifting miles through its website. Why is this a big deal? Let me break it down to you like this. If you buy 50,000 points, you get another 50,000 points for free. And 100,000 points is enough for a business class ticket to Europe (if the reward seats are available.) Now, it’ll cost you roughly $1375 to buy those 50,000 points and get the 50,000 point bonus. But considering a business class ticket to Europe can run 4x that amount, I’d say its a good deal! (Just make sure the seats are there first.) Here’s the link to buy the miles. Your account must be open for at least 10 days so if you are interested, start by opening up a US Airways frequent flyer account. Remember: YOU DON’T HAVE TO FLY ON US AIRWAYS. YOU CAN USE YOUR POINTS TO FLY ON ANY OF THEIR PARTNERS: LUFTHANSA, SWISS INT’L, UNITED, ANA, SINGAPORE AND AIR NEW ZEALAND ARE JUST A FEW.
// January 20th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized, airplanes, australia, frequent flyer, qantas
I didn’t want to get off the plane. Seriously. Qantas’ A380 is a beautiful plane, and I was lucky enough to score 2 first class seats. Total cost? All my frequent flyer miles.
// January 18th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized, airplanes, antarctica, frequent flyer, just cool
Recently on a flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles aboard Qantas’ A380 flagship First service, I struck up a conversation with the gentleman sitting next to me. He told me had had flown a few years back on Qantas over Antarctica. Not only that, it was to welcome in the New Year. Today, Rod Unmack shares his pictures and story with us. This is one trip I want to take!!
My wife Melinda and I were to turn 40 at around the same time … we could have thrown a big party like everyone else, but this didn’t excite us – we really wanted to do something out of the ordinary, something extra special. Melinda had heard about the flights over Antarctica, which appealed to both of us, so we investigated further.
It was January 2006, and we decided, hang the expense, we’re only doing this once, let’s do this as best we can – but we had to be quick to successfully book first class Antarctica Flight tickets for New Years Eve 2006, at a price of $5,000 each. (Prices have gone up more since we travelled, they’re now $6,299 each).
So at 5:00pm on Sun 31st Dec 2006, we took off in an Airbus380 from Sydney for Antarctica …. a 13 hour flight in total – 4 hrs there, 5 hours sightseeing and 4 hours to come home. I had thought that when over Antarctica, we’d look at the snow on top of mountain for an hour or so, get a little bored of seeing the same thing, so enjoy the party atmosphere onboard the plane, occasionally looking out the window to view a landmark which had been pointed out. How wrong I was !!
What an experience, what an atmosphere – it all started with the great food and entertainment – from the 5 piece band who were on board and moving through the cabin.
After about 4 hours of flight, we saw our first Ice Bergs … what a sight. From this time on, viewing the Antarctica scenery can only described with one word … mesmerising. Everyone was glued to their little window for all the amazing views for the entire 5 hours we were flying over Antarctica.
We were very fortunate, the weather for our trip was some of the best weather for sight-seeing over Antarctica trips, which allowed us to take over 3 hundred great photos (a selection attached). The tour operators have someone who mounts three video cameras to fully capture the event, which is available to purchase. The plane flew at approx. 10,000ft, so with some of the mountainous landscape as high as 8,000ft, we were only 2,000ft above land at times … this is obvious in the pictures. The plane flew in a figure 8 pattern all over the terrain, so everyone can see every aspect of the scenery, nobody misses anything. It’s all very well run, in the economy section they have a very regimented seat swap procedure which occurs half-way – seats 1 and 4, and 2 & 3 swap.
One Meteorologist who worked on the Davis Station, was actually on board telling everybody about all the landscape we were flying over, and the conditions that would create this type of landscape. A Senior Antarctic research scientist was also on board talking to everyone and answering any questions asked, and the plane even crossed via radio to staff on the Mawson Station, who told us all about life on the station, what they were doing, what current conditions were … all fascinating.
It was interesting of course, that there is no life to see … nothing is moving whatsoever. It was interesting to fly over the French Station, and you can only see a tiny single hut on the ground … this tiny hut is approx. 50mtrs long, which gave you a indication of the scale of everything … it was huge.
After 5 hours of viewing the breathtaking scenery, we knew it was all coming to an end … the sun was dropping, the sky was getting darker and this when we saw the first bits of low laying fog covering the ground … we knew this was a very apt ending to an amazing experience. With only 3 hours till we got back to Sydney …. we all bedded down for some much needed sleep.
Oh yes, about half way travelling over Antarctica, we did welcome in the New Year with the customary songs and drinks, but no one really took their eye off Antarctica’s awe inspiring views.
A travel experience I recommend to everyone.
// January 5th, 2010 // No Comments » // airplanes, frequent flyer
Just how low are Jet Blue’s new fares for the New Year? $29 bucks each way depending on which city you are flying into and out of. Check out the complete list of Jet Blue fares by clicking here.
// December 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized, airplanes, frequent flyer, restaurants, travel tips
Did you know that you can hook your credit card up to something called the Rewards Network and earn frequent flyer miles every time you dine out (at participating restaurants?) It’s fast and free and easy. And if you are a foodie like me, you’ll see your mileage account balances going up, without even realizing you were dining at a participating restaurant. Example: I’ve got my United Visa card signed up to the United Dining network, so not only am i earning points by charging on the card, but i’m also earning points for having signed up with the dining network. And by ordering some sushi at a restaurant up the road, I earned points. You don’t need to have a frequent flyer earning credit card either. Any will do. And several airlines participate. Just click the link above to find out.
// December 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized, airplanes, europe
Imagine a time when you could score a round-trip ticket to Europe for under $400. I’m here to tell you that time is now! You have one day left (today) to book travel (thru March) on Lufthansa via this link to score awesome fares to Europe. Enjoy!
