In 2019 AccorHotels introduced a new loyalty program called ALL – ALL standing for Accor Live Limitless. I’m not quite sure what to think of the name from a branding standpoint, as it certainly doesn’t have any kind of a ring to it. Then again, neither does Hyatt’s WOW or Marriott’s Bonvoy, so it’s the world we live in.
Continue reading “Accor’s ALL Diamond Welcome Package”
I’m writing this post from beautiful Princeville Hawaii, on the island of Kuai. It’s been years since Susan and I have visited the island. Our daughter was attending college in Honolulu Hawaii up until early last year. Because she lived in Honolulu, that was our natural destination when ever we visited the islands. Our daughter is now a graduate of the University of Hawaii, Manoa and lives in San Diego working for a major U.S. airline. Now we have taken the time to re-visit Kuai and the above photo is of the Princeville Resort, what used to be the St. Regis Princeville, from the beach of Hanalei Bay. I had forgotten how beautiful this island is.
Continue reading “What’s going on with this blog?”
How many Chase Ultimate Rewards points do you transfer to Korean Air SkyPass. In my case that number came to 582,000 UR points. In case you haven’t heard, earlier this week the Chase Ultimate Rewards program will no longer have Korean Air SkyPass as a transfer partner after August 24th of this month.
I love flying the old Virgin America Airbus 319s and 320s first-class cabin. The large white leather recliner seats with 55 inches of pitch are incredibly roomy even in the 2×2 row spacing. The cabin is very private with purple tinted plexiglass barriers that separate the eight forward seats from the rest of the cabin.
Continue reading “Alaska Positioning Boeing 737s on SFO-JFK Transcontinental Flights”
This morning I woke up to a change in my Hyatt status that I wasn’t looking forward to; I downgraded to Explorists from Globalist. Globalist is the highest published elite level with Hyatt, were as Explorist is the second highest. The change came as no surprise, as Hyatt had made program changes over a year ago that increased the number of nights required to achieve their highest level. Before last year’s changes Hyatt required 25 stays to achieve the highest elite level (then called Diamond). Now 60 nights are required for Hyatt Globalist (the new name), which is much more difficult to accrue.
Continue reading “Dropping To Hyatt Explorist Level”
After passing through customs at the Seattle Airport, we used the airside train system to get to our departure gate, N15. Our final flight was Seattle to Sacramento on Alaska Airlines which I’ve reviewed in the past, and will not be reviewing again as nothing was new about this flight.
Continue reading “Alaska Airlines Lounge North Satellite Seattle”
During our visit to the Lufthansa Business Lounge, I took the opportunity to confirm our seating on the Boeing 747-400 aircraft for the trip home. Shortly after making our reservation, a few months earlier, I had confirmed our seats as 83 A, C and K on the upper deck. I wasn’t sure when we would have a chance to ride in the Queen of the Skies again, and I sure as heck wanted it to be on the upper deck. In speaking with the Lufthansa associate we had been moved to the lower deck in a middle 3 row configuration. I was truly disappointed.
I asked the associate if we could be moved, and fortunately good seats on the upper deck were still available. Feeling relieved, we accepted our updated seating assignments and boarding cards, and proceeded to gate Z52.
Continue reading “Lufthansa International Business Frankfurt to Seattle”
On arrival to the airport buses transport travelers to Terminal 1 Concourse A inside Schengen passport control. It’s the 2nd to the top level of the Terminal 1 area of the airport. From there you must go up a level to Concourse Z, the Non-Schengen passport area where international oversea flights depart from. I’m not entirely sure how we did this, as the terminal’s have poor signage and little in the way of passenger assistance. Just before entering Concourse Z, passengers clear a security check to confirm passports.
Once in concourse Z, the signage is a little better and within a few moments we had found the entrance to the Business Lounge. The entrance serves both the Business and Senator Lufthansa Lounges. The Senator Lounge is first class and Gold Star passengers, where, as the name suggests, the Business Lounge serves business class passengers. I’ve read both lounges are similar, but have no experience in the Senator Lounge to confirm this. After check in you ascend a tall escalator and enter directly into the Business Lounge.
Continue reading “Lufthansa Business Lounge – Frankfurt”
After visiting the SAS Business Lounge, we gathered our items and proceeded to Gate A17. I don’t get to travel in Europe near as much as I would like to. Flying on SAS out of Copenhagen was going to be enjoyable as I was looking forward to experiencing an airport in another country, and the different airlines that are present. Walking to gate A17 I frequently would stop and gaze at the different planes out on the tarmac. Before long we arrived at our gate and waited to board. It was relatively crowded, as we waited to board our flight.
Continue reading “SAS Intra-European Business Copenhagen to Frankfurt”
Our SAS flight was early in the morning at 7:05am, so we arrived to the Copenhagen airport by 4:30am. We were booked into intra-European business class, which for SAS means an upfront economy seat with the middle seat blocked. It also meant we could fortunately use the business class check-in counter. Even this early in the morning, that line was long and slow, and I noticed the economy line was worse. It took us 40 minutes to wait in line and then check in. The attitude by the SAS associates was cold and apathetic.
Continue reading “SAS Business Lounge Copenhagen”
by