While I didn’t have a full night at the airport, I knew that getting some proper rest during my layover was essential to maintaining my sanity. I was arriving at around 5PM from Santa Cruz de la Sierra in GOL’s 737 MAX premium economy, and was departing around 3AM to Panama City in Copa’s 737 MAX business class.

How was my experience? For my purposes, this property did the trick, since you can’t beat the convenience of an airside transit hotel. That being said, this is definitely one of the more basic airside transit hotels I’ve stayed at. With a longer layover, I’d probably prefer to stay at a hotel outside the terminal.

Booking TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Airport

My one night stay at TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport cost ~$150. I wouldn’t expect an airside transit hotel to get much cheaper than that, so I thought that was a fair rate. Of course I wasn’t fully maximizing it, though. While the hotel has day rates for those wishing to stay just several hours, those can’t be used overnight.

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Airport location

TRYP by Wyndham is located in Terminal 3 at Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport, which is the primary international terminal at the airport. I was arriving at Terminal 2 (where GOL operates out of), and the two terminals are connected airside.

Let me emphasize that this hotel is located airside, so you can only stay here if you have a departing international boarding pass for Terminal 2 or Terminal 3.

Upon landing from my GOL flight, I first had to clear security, and then followed the signage in the direction of Terminal 3, which required walking down a rather long corridor.

At the end of that walkway, the entrance to the hotel was located on the left.

If you’re coming from Terminal 3, the hotel is one level down from the main part of the terminal (on level one), and can be accessed via the same elevator that takes you to Terminal 2. The hotel is just minutes from virtually any departure gate in Terminal 3, so that convenience is hard to beat.

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Airport lobby & check-in

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport has a very basic lobby, with a couple of couches and a couple of chairs, plus a reception desk.

I was checked in by a friendly associate, and within about a minute, had a key to my room. To enter the area of the hotel with guest rooms, you first walk through the restaurant and bar area (more on that in a bit), and then there’s a door that can be opened with a key.

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Airport room

I wasn’t sure what to expect from TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport in terms of room quality or decor. I can’t say that the hallway connecting rooms felt terribly luxurious. I almost thought I was in a school or hospital, or something.

I was assigned room 103, located right near the entrance. The door had a sticker on it to indicate that it was sealed since being cleaned.

I’d describe the room decor as being pretty basic, almost feeling a bit like a nice college dorm, or something. The room had a king size bed, which was very hard. At least there were three pillows, which were plush, so that helped with getting comfortable.

The room also had a wall-mounted TV, plus a desk with a chair.

There was a coffee machine next to the bed, plus a couple of bottles of complimentary water.

The compact bathroom was back toward the entrance, and had a sink, toilet, and walk-in shower.

Toiletries were in individual containers, rather than in wall-mounted ones, which is rare nowadays.

The rooms have complimentary Wi-Fi, which I found to be pretty fast. Interestingly the rooms don’t have safes, though — that doesn’t bother me, but I know it matters more to others. There is apparently a safe box at reception, though. The room didn’t have windows, but that’s fair enough, given that the hotel is located inside a terminal.

All-in-all, I thought the room did the trick, and was clean. I didn’t love the decor or firmness of the mattress, though.

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Airport restaurant & bar

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport has a restaurant and bar area. The bar area has a few tables as well as some high-top seating, and is open daily from 8AM until 10:30PM. It has a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, plus a limited number of snacks.

On top of that, the hotel has a restaurant, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There’s no a la carte option, but rather everything is available from a buffet. Breakfast is served from 6AM until 10AM, lunch from 12PM until 3PM, and dinner from 6PM until 9:30PM. The restaurant maybe has a couple of dozen tables.

I decided to visit during dinner, which would ordinarily cost BRL 130 (~22 USD), including food and non-alcoholic drinks. However, I didn’t have to pay for that — this is actually a Priority Pass restaurant, so since I had an eligible Priority Pass membership, I could use that membership during my visit, and it covered the entire cost.

The buffet had a reasonably good selection, and I’ll let the pictures speak mostly for themselves.

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Airport amenities

Beyond the restaurant, TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport doesn’t have much in the way of amenities. There’s no gym or pool, or anything like that. The only other thing worth mentioning is that there’s a small outdoor courtyard. In theory this would be a nice place to just sit and enjoy the fresh air, but it seems to almost exclusively be used as a smoking lounge.

TRYP by Wyndham is a confusing brand

I’m not an expert on Wyndham’s various brands, and prior to this visit, I wasn’t really familiar with the TRYP by Wyndham brand. Based on my research, the brand has several dozen hotels around the world, and is described as a “unique, urban, lifestyle boutique brand,” that “embodies the local flavor, rhythm, and beat of cities around the world, offering guests a personal retreat at the heart of an amazing cosmopolitan experience.”

Maybe it’s just me, but that’s not really how I’d describe this property. In fairness, hotel branding is such a disaster across the industry nowadays, as the major hotel groups just want to grow their portfolio at any cost.

I just found this interesting because usually I’m very familiar with the brands I stay at. While staying at this property, my assumption was that TRYP by Wyndham was a brand that offered super basic accommodations without much flair. So you can imagine my confusion after actually researching the brand more closely.

Bottom line

TRYP by Wyndham is the best option if you’re looking to conveniently get some rest while airside at Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport. While this wasn’t the most luxurious transit hotel I’ve stayed at, I appreciated the location, the friendly service, the clean rooms, and the decent restaurant. Don’t expect much from the room design or amenities, but at the end of the day, this place is about getting some shuteye.

What do you make of TRYP by Wyndham Guarulhos Airport?

I was excited to finally fly with the airline. GOL doesn’t have a business class cabin, but does have a premium economy product, with is sort of comparable to intra-Europe business class.

So, what’s my take on GOL premium economy? Well, I have mixed feelings. I think premium economy can be worth the premium, and I was also impressed by the general professionalism of the airline, and the friendliness of the crew.

That being said, I was a bit disappointed that I ended up on a non-standard GOL 737 MAX, which didn’t have the typical interior, Wi-Fi, or streaming entertainment. While I’m not dying to fly with GOL again, I’d gladly give the airline another try if the schedule and price were right.

How I booked my GOL premium economy ticket

GOL has a partnership with American Airlines, so it’s possible to redeem AAdvantage miles for travel on GOL. That’s how I booked, and I paid 17,500 AAdvantage miles plus $94.20 in taxes and fees for the following flight:

9/24 G37717 Santa Cruz de la Sierra to Sao Paulo departing 1:00PM arriving 4:40PM

As a point of comparison, economy would’ve cost 12,500 miles, so I was only paying a premium of 5,000 miles. That’s not bad!

For those curious about cash pricing, the absolute lowest one-way all-in pricing in the market seems to be $163 in economy and $288 in premium economy. However, on most dates, economy is more expensive, while premium economy isn’t more expensive. For example, there are many days where economy costs $237, while premium economy costs $288. So I’d say the premium could very well be worth it.

GOL premium economy lounge access & boarding

GOL premium economy tickets include lounge access, but only to GOL lounges, located in Sao Paulo (GRU) and Rio de Janeiro (GIG). Since I was flying from an outstation, my ticket didn’t include lounge access. However, I used Priority Pass to access both The VIP Lounge and The Lounge VIP in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (VVI).

My flight was departing from gate five, with boarding scheduled for 12PM, one hour before departure. That’s an awfully early boarding time for a 737 flight, if you ask me. That is indeed when boarding began, with premium economy passengers being invited to board first.

GOL 737 MAX premium economy cabin & seats

I boarded the GOL Boeing 737 MAX 8 through the forward door, and was caught off guard by the interior. I was expecting black seats with orange trim, but instead I found that I was on a jet with light grey seats with blue trim. Huh?!

It quickly became apparent to me what had happened. I was flying on a five-year-old 737 MAX with the registration code PS-GPO. As it turns out, this jet had been built for China’s Donghai Arlines, but the airline ultimately didn’t take delivery of it. As a result, GOL acquired it, given that the airline was dealing with its own 737 MAX delivery delays. The airline didn’t end up updating the branding on the interior of the jet.

Like GOL’s standard 737 MAXs, this one had 186 seats, spread across 31 rows, in a 3-3 configuration.

On international flights, the first five rows of the aircraft are marketed as premium economy — I assigned myself seat 5A, the window seat on the left side in the fifth row. In addition to improved service, the main differences are that you have a blocked middle seat, and you also have a couple of extra inches of legroom.

I’m not the tallest guy in the word, but I certainly didn’t find the legroom to be particularly generous, so I’m curious how tight it would feel in the standard economy section.

The seat had a pretty standard tray table, which folded down from the seat in front.

The seat also had a USB-A charger, but that’s it. I found that to be pretty disappointing, since you’d hope there would be an AC or USB-C outlet.

Beyond that, I found the cabin to be quite modern and comfortable. It had the Boeing Signature Interior, with large overhead bins and mood lighting.

Each seat also had individual air nozzles and reading lights in the overhead console.

One thing I found noteworthy is how the bulkhead had an Air France-KLM placard. Air France-KLM has a very small stake in GOL, but then again, American has a bigger stake, but its logo doesn’t appear in the plane. Does anyone know why that is?

The only other point of differentiation with premium economy during boarding was that passengers were given water bottles.

Another thing worth pointing out is that GOL doesn’t have a curtain between premium economy and economy, so I imagine many passengers in economy don’t even realize that there’s a difference between the two cabins.

GOL 737 MAX premium economy entertainment & Wi-Fi

GOL Boeing 737 MAXs are supposed to have free streaming entertainment, free inflight messaging, and Wi-Fi available for purchase. The Wi-Fi packages are supposed to be as follows:

• Inflight texting (without pictures or videos) is supposed to be free
• Light internet browsing is supposed to cost BRL 25 (~4 USD) for one hour, or BRL 40 (~7 USD) for the entire flight
• Steaming internet is supposed to cost BRL 45 (~8 USD) for one hour, or BRL 58 (~10 USD) for the entire flight

Unfortunately since I was flying on a non-standard Boeing 737 MAX, it didn’t offer inflight connectivity. I know this is minor, but I really wish airlines would do a better job managing expectations in this regard.

I was expecting to be able to stay connected during the flight, so can’t airlines at least email customers pre-flight to let them know that some planned services won’t be available due to this?

GOL 737 MAX departure from Santa Cruz de la Sierra

My GOL flight was packed, with nearly every seat onboard being occupied (well, except the middles in premium economy). I’ve gotta say, the boarding process was oddly inefficient, even less so than in the United States, which is saying something.

It took around 50 minutes to complete boarding, and it wrapped up at 12:50PM, at which point we immediately began our pushback. Around the same time, the lead flight attendant added her welcome aboard, announcing the flight time of 2hr50min. The crew also performed a manual safety demonstration.

We started our short taxi to the runway at 12:55PM. Bolivia sure has some cool airplanes, as carrier EcoJet has a fleet of RJ85s and RJ100s… you don’t often see those!

Within 10 minutes we made it to the runway, following a Boliviana de Aviacion 737.

We were cleared for takeoff on runway 34 at 1:05PM.

I enjoyed the views out the window during our climb out, and the seatbelt sign was turned off around 10 minutes after takeoff.

Around 30 minutes after takeoff, the captain made his very friendly welcome aboard announcement, giving us lots of details about the flight.

GOL premium economy food, drinks, and service

What’s service like in GOL premium economy? It started on a high note. Just 15 minutes after takeoff, the lead flight attendant came through premium economy with a tray, offering each passenger either sparkling wine or apple juice.

As I always say, it’s a nice touch when the crew can get the first round of drinks out quickly after takeoff, and it’s an area where the crew definitely succeeded.

Then around 45 minutes after takeoff, the crew passed through premium economy to serve further drinks, as well as a snack. By the time they got to my row, there was no choice of snack (actually, I overheard that even those in row three didn’t have a choice).

So the only option was a mortadella and cheese sandwich, served with a chocolate dessert. For what it’s worth, I believe the other option was some sort of vegetarian sandwich. Drinks were also served, and they’re included in premium economy. I ordered a glass of sauvignon blanc, and it was served in proper glassware.

I very much enjoyed the dessert and wine, though I didn’t touch the sandwich. I know some people love mortadella, but it’s not for me.

I guess I should’ve chosen a seat further up. I realize this is probably even more popular in Brazil than elsewhere, though I always find it frustrating when airlines run out of the “safer” option. Billions of people don’t eat pork, including me (not for religious reasons, but just because pigs are super smart, so I view this as being similar to dogs in that way… I digress).

On the plus side, I have to recognize the lead flight attendant, who was exceptionally friendly and attentive. She’d engage with each passenger, and had great attention to detail. She also made several rounds through the cabin. Basically she’d just keep rolling the cart up and down the aisle until people no longer wanted anything.

After the main snack service, I decided to order a coffee. Unfortunately GOL doesn’t offer any sort of milk or creamer with coffee, so the only option is to put sugar in there. My seat mate recommended another type of coffee the airline served, which is super sugary. I’m not sure what exactly it was (it was described to me as “fat coffee”), but I figured I should give it a try.

I eventually found a happy medium, and ended up pouring some of the sugary and sweet coffee into the main coffee, which was a nice combination.

GOL 737 MAX premium economy lavatory

GOL has a lavatory at the front of the 737 MAX, which is the typical very tight lavatory you’ll find on most 737 MAXs.

Above I mentioned how there’s no curtain between premium economy and economy, and that also means that the lavatory isn’t reserved for premium economy customers. It sure would be nice if that were the case…

GOL 737 MAX arrival in Sao Paulo

I had a chat with my seat mate on the flight (I’m not usually a talker on planes, but he was an interesting Brazilian guy doing business in Bolivia). Before I knew it, we were preparing for our approach to Sao Paulo. At 4:10PM local time, the captain was back on the PA, and asked the crew to prepare for landing. It was a gorgeous afternoon, especially above the clouds.

Unfortunately our approach didn’t end up being very direct, and we did a bit of circling before we were cleared for the approach, due to congestion at the airport.

We ended up landing on runway 9R at 4:55PM.

From there we had a 10-minute taxi to our arrival stand, where we pulled in at 5:05PM, around 25 minutes behind schedule. Unfortunately we arrived at a remote stand, and had to take a bus to the terminal.

At least a remote stand affords great views of the exterior of a jet!

From there I headed to the airport’s transit hotel, TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport, where I’d be spending the evening and early morning, prior to my Copa 737 MAX business class flight to Panama City.

Bottom line

GOL’s 737 MAX premium economy is a generally pleasant experience. The price premium over economy is typically reasonable, whether paying with cash or points. You get a blocked middle seat, extra legroom, priority services, an inflight snack, unlimited drinks, and more attentive service. GOL is a reliable and professional airline, so I’d gladly fly the airline again.

There were two parts of the experience that disappointed me. First of all, I was flying on a 737 MAX intended for another carrier, so there was no Wi-Fi or entertainment, despite that being marketed as a perk. Furthermore, as someone who doesn’t eat pork, I didn’t like that this was the only snack option. Of course other people will feel differently, but I can only judge a flight based on my own preferences.

What’s your take on GOL’s 737 MAX premium economy?

There’s a lot to love about the $95 annual fee Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (review), including that the card is currently offering a great welcome bonus. One particularly compelling aspect of the card is that it’s the mid-range credit card with the best bonus categories, in my opinion.

In many ways the Citi Strata Premier Card is a competitor to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review). While there are pros and cons to both cards, a huge advantage of the Citi Strata Premier is the superior bonus categories. In this post I wanted to take a closer look at how those bonus categories work.

Citi Strata Premier Card 3x ThankYou points bonus categories

What makes the Citi Strata Premier Card lucrative long-term is that it offers 3x points in five different categories. The Citi Strata Premier offers 3x points on:

• Restaurants
• Gas stations & EV charging
• Supermarkets
• Airfare
• Hotels

How does Citi define each of these categories? In other words, specifically, which kinds of purchases qualify, and which don’t? Let’s go over each category below. I’d also like to mention that the card is ideal for purchases abroad, given that:

• The Citi Strata Premier has no foreign transaction fees
• The Citi Strata Premier bonus categories apply globally, rather than being US-centric

3x points on dining & restaurants

The Citi Strata Premier offers 3x points on dining and restaurant purchases, which generally include cafes, bars, lounges, fast food restaurants, takeout, and delivery.

You generally won’t earn bonus points for purchases made at bakeries, caterers, and restaurants in other establishments (like hotels, department stores, grocery stores, discount stores, convenience stores, and warehouse clubs).

That makes the Citi Strata Premier one of the best cards for dining and restaurant purchases.

3x points on gas stations & EV charging

The Citi Strata Premier offers 3x points on gas station and EV charging purchases. The gas station category typically includes gas and other gas station purchases, while the EV charging category includes most places where you can charge your car.

You generally won’t earn bonus points for gas and EV charging purchases at warehouse clubs, discount stores, department stores, convenience stores, or other merchants that aren’t classified as gas stations or EV charging.

That makes the Citi Strata Premier one of the best cards for gas station purchases.

3x points at supermarkets

The Citi Strata Premier offers 3x points at supermarkets.

You generally won’t earn bonus points for purchases made at general merchandise or discount stores, freezer or meat locker provisioners, dairy product stores, miscellaneous food and convenience stores, markets, drugstores, warehouse clubs, wholesale clubs, specialty vendors, bakeries, candy stores, nut stores, confectionary stories, and meal kit delivery services.

That makes the Citi Strata Premier one of the best cards for grocery and supermarket purchases.

3x points on airfare

The Citi Strata Premier offers 3x points on airfare. This includes all airfare purchased directly with airlines or through a travel agency. Not just ticket costs qualify, but generally, other fees associated with airline tickets as well.

That makes the Citi Strata Premier one of the best cards for airfare purchases.

3x points on hotels

The Citi Strata Premier offers 3x points on hotels. This includes hotels booked directly or through a travel agency. This also includes incidental purchases at hotels, and not just the room rate.

That makes the Citi Strata Premier one of the best cards for hotel purchases. Also keep in mind that the Citi Strata Premier offers a once annual $100 hotel credit, which can be applied toward a single hotel stay of $500+ when booking through the Citi Travel portal.

Citi Strata Premier Card 10x ThankYou points Citi Travel portal

In addition to the widely useful 3x points categories offered by the Citi Strata Premier Card, the card also offers 10x points on hotels, rental cars, and attractions, booked through the Citi Travel portal. Based on my valuation of points, that’s like a 17% return on that spending.

Now, it’s worth emphasizing that this won’t be for everyone. If you’re staying at a major hotel chain, you typically won’t earn points or receive elite perks on third party bookings. However, for someone who isn’t terribly brand loyal, or if you’re staying at an independent hotel, this could be very rewarding.

Maximize ThankYou points with Citi Double Cash Card

If you want to maximize the Citi ThankYou points you earn, you can’t beat having the Citi Strata Premier Card in conjunction with the no annual fee Citi Double Cash® Card (review). The card offers 2x points for everyday spending, making it one of the best cards for non-bonused spending.

It’s tough to beat the combination of the Citi Strata Premier Card and Citi Double Cash Card, so that you can earn 2-3x points on all purchases. The points earned on the Citi Double Cash are also more valuable if you have the card in conjunction with the Citi Strata Premier, since that allows you to transfer all points to the ThankYou airline and hotel partners.

The only catch is that the Citi Double Cash has foreign transaction fees, so I’d only recommend using it for domestic purchases.

Bottom line

The Citi Strata Premier Card offers incredibly well-rounded bonus categories, as you can earn triple points on gas and EV charging, at supermarkets, restaurant, airfare, and hotel purchases. When you add it all together, you can easily average multiple points per dollar spent, making this one of the most compelling mid-range cards out there.

Hopefully the above sheds some light on how each bonus category is defined, since it can sometimes get confusing to figure out which purchases qualify for each bonus category.

If you don’t yet have the Citi Strata Premier Card, this is a fantastic time to apply.

Basics of Korean Air’s plan to acquire Asiana Airlines

Shortly after the start of the pandemic, SkyTeam’s Korean Air announced plans to acquire Star Alliance’s Asiana Airlines, in a deal that’s valued at $1.6 billion. At the time, Korean Air was the world’s 18th largest airline, and the plan was for the combined airline to become the 10th largest in the world.

Here are the financial terms of the takeover that were announced at the time, which were complicated due to the ownership structures of the two companies:

• Korean Air planned to raise ~$2.25 billion via rights offerings
• Of that money, ~$1.35 billion would be spent to buy new shares to be sold to Asiana, and the balance would be spent on Asiana perpetual bonds
• Korean Development Bank, the main creditor of Asiana Airlines, would inject ~$722 million into Hanjin KAL, through a rights offering and convertible bonds; in other words, both former parent companies would still have a stake in the combined airline

In many ways, the merger at the time was inevitable due to the impacts of the pandemic. However, arguably there was long term merit to it beyond that.

The truth is that the financial situation at Korean Air and Asiana Airlines was problematic since long before the pandemic. South Korea has a population of around 50 million people, and the country has two full service airlines, making it one of the few countries of its size with two full service airlines.

That doesn’t even begin to address all the competition in South Korea from both foreign airlines and low cost carriers. The deal was probably particularly beneficial for Asiana, which had been on the brink of collapse following the start of the pandemic. In September 2020, the airline received a cash injection from creditors, after the previous largest shareholder pulled out of a sale.

This delayed merger should be finalized soon

As you’d expect, airline mergers don’t get approved overnight. When the merger was first announced, the plan was for the deal to be finalized by the second half of 2021, so the expectation was that it would take around a year.

Everything ended up being way more drawn out than that. The reason is because the deal needs approval from 14 different regulatory authorities, and this has been really slow to happen. There’s finally some major progress on that front, as the merger has now received the green light from 13 of 14 regulators.

At this point, the United States is the last remaining country that needs to approve the deal, and the expectation is that this will happen in the coming weeks, by the end of 2024. So while we don’t know exactly when the merger will happen, there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel.

In the process of getting approval from so many regulators, Korean Air and Asiana have had to make quite some concessions. This ranges from selling Asiana’s cargo business, to transferring routes to Europe to domestic competitor T’Way Air, and much more.

What to expect from the new Korean Air

With this merger close to being finalized, what should we expect from the combined airline? First of all, while the two brands will continue to operate separately for the time being, the long term plan is for Korean Air to be the surviving brand, and for Asiana to disappear.

For that matter, the two carriers also have low cost subsidiaries — Korean Air has Jin Air, while Asiana has Air Busan and Air Seoul. The plan is for Jin Air to absorb both Air Busan and Air Seoul, making that quite a large carrier. Jin Air will likely then be bigger than Korea’s two other major low cost carriers, Jeju Air and T’Way Air.

When it comes to commercial arrangements, Korean Air’s partnerships are expected to survive, and not Asiana’s. This means that the combined airline will be part of SkyTeam, and Asiana will leave Star Alliance. Keep in mind that Korean Air and Delta have a joint venture, and cooperate very closely.

So this merger is great news for Delta, given that Korean Air’s network out of Seoul Incheon will get even bigger, and Delta is big in funneling its Asia traffic through that airport (I’m so happy I can write something positive about Delta, so that there’s no meltdown in the comments section!).

When it comes to passenger fleets, Korean Air currently has a fleet of 135 aircraft, while Asiana has a fleet of 69 aircraft. Between the mainline fleets of the two airlines, there are currently A220-300s, A321s, A321neos, A330-300s, A350-900s, A380s, 737 MAX 8s, 737-800s, 737-900s, 747-8s, 777-200s, 777-300s, 787-9s, and 787-10s.

So as you can see, there’s a lot of complexity there. A couple of thoughts:

• Korean Air is undergoing quite the fleet modernization, as it’s currently taking delivery of A321neos, 737 MAX 8s, and 787-10s, and has A350-900s, A350-1000s, and 777-9s, on order
• For those of us who are fans of A380s and 747-8s, Korean Air’s plan is to retire A380s in the coming years, and keep the 747-8s until the early 2030s

Bottom line

Over four years ago, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines announced plans to merge, creating a new mega-airline. While this was initially supposed to happen within a year, there have been major delays due to regulatory approval. Fortunately this process seems to almost be complete, and the expectation is that the merger will be finalized this month.

This is good news for SkyTeam and bad news for Star Alliance, and probably bad news for consumers on the whole, given that a competitor is being eliminated. Then again, for a country of Korea’s size, two full service airlines may be a bit of an overkill.

It’s going to be really interesting to see how the integration between the two airlines works out, as it’s quite a project. Since Korean Air has a major fleet modernization planned, I imagine we’ll see older aircraft retired pretty aggressively in the coming years.

What do you make of Korean Air’s acquisition of Asiana?

There’s now an interesting update to this story, as the same traveler was removed from a flight for a second time. Let’s recap the details of the outbound flight, and then talk about what happened on the return.

Delta flight from New York to Paris had extra passenger

This incident happened on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, and involves Delta flight DL264 from New York (JFK) to Paris (CDG). The flight was operated by a Boeing 767-400 with the registration code N845MH.

At some point during the flight, flight attendants became suspicious, when they noticed one woman that kept moving between lavatories, and staying in them for a long time. As a result, the flight attendants notified the pilots.

After the 6hr49min flight, the plane landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport at around 11:45AM on Wednesday. Upon arriving at the gate, the captain made an announcement, asking all passengers to remain seated, as police boarded the plane:

“Folks, this is the captain, we are just waiting for the police to come on board. They may be here now and they directed us to keep everyone on the airplane until we sort out the extra passenger that’s on the plane.”

[image or embed]

— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) November 27, 2024 at 1:27 PM

Here’s the statement that Delta provided about the incident, confirming that the company is investigating what happened:

“Nothing is of greater importance than matters of safety and security. That’s why Delta is conducting an exhaustive investigation of what may have occurred and will work collaboratively with other aviation stakeholders and law enforcement to that end.”

Meanwhile here’s a statement provided by the TSA, confirming that a person managed to go through the security screening process without a boarding pass:

“TSA can confirm that an individual without a boarding pass completed the airport security screening without any prohibited items. The individual bypassed two identity verification and boarding status stations and was able to board the aircraft.”

57-year-old Russian woman was seeking asylum

When this incident first happened, there were lots of questions about who this woman was, and what her motives were for being on the flight:

• In many developing countries, we see people take drastic and dangerous measures to be a stowaway, in hopes of a better life; however, for flights from the United States, that’s usually not the motive
• Was it mental illness of some sort, and/or a game for the person? Some may remember the Bay Area’s “serial stowaway,” who obviously fit into this category

We’re now starting to learn more details. The stowaway on this flight was a 57-year-old woman who lives in the Philadelphia area. She’s a Russian national, but has a US Green Card. Upon landing in Paris, she requested asylum, though ultimately ended up being rejected. This was reportedly not her first time requesting asylum, as she had made a similar request in France years ago.

Traveler removed from return flight to US due to behavior

The traveler had spent three days in custody in France, at Charles de Gaulle Airport, given her (denied) request for asylum. On Saturday, November 30, 2024, she was supposed to be returned to the United States.

She was booked on DL265 back to New York, on a flight also operated by a Boeing 767-400, with the registration code N840MH. She was brought to the aircraft by authorities, but wasn’t going to be escorted back to the United States by police.

While she boarded the aircraft, she ended up being removed before departure, as she reportedly had a disruptive outburst, and refused to cooperate with the crew.

This must have been quite a messy situation, because the flight was scheduled to depart at 2:30PM, but only ended up taking off at 5:16PM, and it landed in New York over two hours behind schedule.

As of now, the woman remains in French custody. Presumably she’ll be returned to the United States, though the logistics of that remain to be seen.

Bottom line

Several days ago, a woman managed to board a Delta Boeing 767 from New York to Paris without a ticket. The crew eventually became suspicious, when they noticed her repeatedly moving between lavatories.

The Russian national with a US Green Card requested asylum upon landing in Paris, and it wasn’t her first time making such a request. She was ultimately denied, and a few days later, was put on a Delta flight back to the United States.

Unfortunately that wasn’t so straightforward, since she had an outburst on the return flight, and refused to cooperate with the crew. As a result, she was removed from the flight, and remains in French custody.

What do you make of this Delta stowaway incident?

Basics of the luxurious Cheval Blanc Seychelles

Cheval Blanc Seychelles has opened as of December 2024, as the sixth location of this boutique hotel group. For context, the Cheval Blanc hotel brand is owned by LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton), with five other locations, in Paris, the Maldives, St-Barts, St-Tropez, and Courchevel.

Cheval Blanc’s first African property is nestled along Mahe’s Anse Intendance beach, and is designed by architect Jean-Michel Gathy. This resort is in the space of the former Banyan Tree Seychelles, though most structures were torn down, so this is a new-build, for all practical purposes.

Cheval Blanc Seychelles has 52 villas, each featuring a private swimming pool and views of the beachfront, hillside, or tropical jungle. We’re not just talking about a plunge pool, as the private pools are 13 meters (~43 feet). Accommodations here are generously sized, and start at 220 square meters (~2,370 square feet), though presumably that includes outdoor space.

The property has several dining outlets, including Mizumi (an Asian restaurant), Vivamento (a pool-facing Italian restaurant), Sula (a Mediterranean beach club), and Le 1947 and Le White (the signature Cheval Blanc restaurant and bar). The resort also feature a Spa Cheval Blanc with Guerlain treatments, as well as a pool, fitness center, surf simulator, tennis courts, padel courts, and more.

For a property that has already opened, there are surprisingly few pictures of the finished product. Cheval Blanc does an amazing job with its property design, and spares no expenses in design, and I suspect this resort is no exception.

Cheval Blanc Seychelles rates & how to book

Unfortunately Cheval Blanc doesn’t belong to any major hotel group, so there are no practical ways to earn and redeem hotel loyalty points for stays here. That being said, it’s a unique luxury hotel brand that I like to keep tabs on.

What are rates like at Cheval Blanc Seychelles? As you’d expect, they vary seasonally (the Seychelles is most popular in winter), and rates seem to start at under $1,400 per night, before taxes and fees. Honestly, compared to so many other destinations nowadays, that’s not the most outrageous pricing, when you consider how large each of the accommodations is.

If you are going to book a Cheval Blanc property, I’d recommend doing so through a Virtuoso travel advisor. The rate through a Virtuoso travel advisor will be the same as you see directly online, but with the benefit of value-add perks like a room upgrade subject to availability, a hotel credit, and more (usually breakfast is an additional perk, but that’s included for all guests here).

The Seychelles hotel market is getting competitive

The Seychelles luxury hotel market keeps getting hotter, and in some ways, it’s becoming an interesting alternative to destinations like the Maldives:

• The Seychelles has a good number of luxury properties located on the island of Mahe, from the Four Seasons, to Mango House (Hilton LXR)
• Then the Seychelles has private island resorts, ranging from the Four Seasons Desroches Island, to the Waldorf Astoria Platte Island, to North Island Seychelles (Marriott Luxury Collection), to Six Senses Zil Pasyon (okay, that’s not a private island resort, but it is located on a different island)

Bottom line

Cheval Blanc Seychelles is now open. The 52-villa property is in the space of the former Banyan Tree, and is likely the best property in Mahe. All of the property’s villas are massive, with private pools that are a minimum of 13 meters. If you’re a fan of the Cheval Blanc brand, then this is definitely a property to keep an eye on.

What do you make of Cheval Blanc Seychelles?

In the past few years, Capital One has gotten into the airport lounge game. The opening of the first lounge coincided with the introduction of the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, which is an incredible premium credit card. That was followed by the Capital One Venture X Business, which is also extremely lucrative.

In this post I wanted to take a look at the state of the network of Capital One Lounges, and what we can expect.

Why is Capital One opening airport lounges?

Lounge access has become a popular perk for premium credit cards. Historically premium credit cards have offered a Priority Pass membership, providing access to a large collection of lounges.

However, the major card issuers have now taken it to the next level, and have started introducing their own lounges. We’ve seen the introduction of Amex Centurion Lounges, Chase Sapphire Lounges, and Capital One Lounges.

Which airports have Capital One Lounges?

Capital One has confirmed plans to open lounges at five airports, with three of the five being open so far. Furthermore, Capital One has also launched an airport restaurant concept, known as Capital One Landing, which I’ll also cover below.

I’d expect that over time many more airports will get lounges, but below are the basic details of all five Capital One Lounges that have been revealed so far.

Capital One Lounge Dallas Fort Worth Airport (DFW)

The Capital One Lounge Dallas Fort Worth Airport (DFW) opened in November 2021. The 10,000 square foot lounge is located in Terminal D near Gate 22.

Capital One Lounge Washington Dulles Airport (IAD)

The Capital One Lounge Washington Dulles Airport (IAD) opened in September 2023. The 8,500 square foot lounge is located near the security checkpoint (so not near any gates).

Capital One Lounge Denver Airport (DEN)

The Capital One Lounge Denver Airport (DEN) opened in November 2023. The 10,800 square foot lounge is located in Concourse A near Gate 34, on the mezzanine level.

Capital One Lounge Las Vegas Airport (LAS)

The Capital One Lounge Las Vegas (LAS) has been confirmed to be in the pipeline, but we don’t yet know the opening date. The 7,900 square foot lounge will be located at the center of Concourse D. The Clark County Board of Commissioners has approved the lease plan, and a Capital One spokesperson has confirmed the plans.

Capital One Lounge New York Airport (JFK)

The Capital One Lounge New York (JFK) will be 13,000 square feet, and will be located in Terminal 4. There’s no timeline yet for this lounge opening, so personally I’d expect it to open in 2026, or so, but that’s purely a guess on my part.

Capital One Landing (DCA & LGA)

In addition to the standard airport lounge offerings, Capital One also has the Capital One Landing concept. This opened as of November 2024 at Washington National (DCA), and is expected to open in late 2025 at New York LaGuardia (LGA).

This is a bit different than a traditional airport lounge, as it’s essentially a very nice restaurant that cardmembers have access to. It’s offered in partnership with Chef José Andrés, who designs Capital One Landing’s food and beverage menu, focusing on authentic, Spanish-style tapas.

This is a totally different concept than Capital One Lounges, and the access requirements are even different, so see my guide to Capital One Landing.

What are Capital One Lounges like?

I’ve had the chance to check out the Capital One Lounge DFW several times, and it’s simply phenomenal, among my favorite lounges in the United States. While there are some basic amenities you expect from lounges, Capital One takes it to the next level.

Among other things, here’s what you can expect from Capital One Lounge locations:

• A grab & go food selection, including sandwiches, salads, fruit, snacks, and more
• A proper in-lounge dining experience presented as small bites, with menus curated by local chefs, and healthy selections made from regionally sourced ingredients
• An excellent drink selection, including local beer, regional wine, craft cocktails, cold brew and lattes on tap, and much more
• All three lounges have private restrooms, while the lounges in Dallas and Denver also have shower suites
• The Dallas Lounge has a cycling and yoga room with Peloton bikes and resistance bands, as well as relaxation rooms with blankets, eye covers, and earplugs
• The Denver Lounge has relaxation rooms with blankets, eye covers, and earplugs, as well as private workstations that can be reserved
• All the lounges have outlets at every seat, plus free, high-speed Wi-Fi
• The lounges also generally have great service with friendly staff

You can read my full review of the Capital One Lounge DFW here.

Who can access Capital One Lounges?

Capital One Lounges can be accessed by the following people:

• Capital One Venture X (review) cardmembers can get unlimited access to Capital One Lounges, and can bring two guests with them for free, and can bring additional guests with them for $45 each; keep in mind that authorized users can be added to the card for free, and they get the same lounge access perks
• Capital One Venture X Business (review) cardmembers get unlimited access to Capital One Lounges, and can bring two guests with them for free, and can bring additional guests with them for $45 each; on the business version of the card, authorized users don’t get access
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review) and Capital One Spark Miles for Business (review) cardmembers receive two complimentary visits annually, with no complimentary guesting privileges (the passes could be used by the primary cardmember or authorized users, and can also be used for a guest who is present, meaning you could use two passes for you and a guest); however, this perk is only valid through the end of 2024, and is then being cut
• Kids under two can enter Capital One Lounges for free
• All others can enter Capital One Lounges for $90 per visit
• Even though Capital One Lounges are operated in partnership with Plaza Premium Group, there’s no access through other credit cards or lounge membership programs

Getting the Capital One Venture X Card for lounge access can be totally worth it. The card has a $395 annual fee, but offers a $300 annual travel credit and 10K bonus anniversary miles every year, so having the card should cost you very little if you’re going about it right. Furthermore, you’ll be able to add four authorized users to the card at no extra cost, and they’ll receive the same lounge access perks. That makes this the ideal card for families.

Are there access restrictions for Capital One Lounges?

Beyond the actual entry requirements for Capital One Lounges, there are a couple of further access restrictions to be aware of:

• You need a boarding pass for a departing flight in order to be able to access Capital One Lounges (so you can’t use them as arrivals lounges)
• You can only access Capital One Lounges within three hours of a flight’s scheduled departure; while it’s my understanding that this is the official rule, I’ve heard lots of reports that it’s not enforced

Is crowding an issue at Capital One Lounges?

Airport lounge crowding has generally become an issue, especially in the United States, given the growth in demand for premium leisure travel. So like any other lounges, you’ll find that Capital One Lounges may have crowding issues during peak periods.

For those situations, Capital One has a digital waitlist and capacity tracker. To access this feature, you’ll want to log into the Capital One mobile app, click on “Travel,” and then select “Lounges.” You’ll then want to search for the Capital One Lounge you plan to visit, and click on the lounge details page.

Once you’re on the page with the lounge details, you’ll see crowding levels, and if the lounge is busy, you’ll have access to the “Join waitlist” button, which will also indicate how long your estimated wait is. If you want to add yourself to the waitlist, you’ll have to enter your first name, phone number, and party size. You’ll then receive a text when it’s your turn.

What’s my take on Capital One Lounges?

I’m extremely impressed by what Capital One is doing with airport lounges, and the timing has been great as well, as it coincided with the launch of the Capital One Venture X Card. A couple of thoughts on Capital One Lounges so far:

• Admittedly it’s going to take Capital One a while to build up a network of lounges, so this could be extremely useful for those based out of an airport with a lounge, while it will be less useful for others
• Capital One is doing something unique here, and is introducing amenities we haven’t seen from other lounges, and I love that; from cold brew and lattes, to grab & go food, to Peloton bikes, Capital One put a lot of thought into these lounges

What other lounge access does the Venture X offer?

As a reminder, access to Capital One Lounges is only a small part of the lounge access perks offered by the Capital One Venture X Card. The card also offers a Priority Pass membership, giving you access to 1,300+ lounges around the world. You can bring up to two guests with you at no additional cost

On the personal version of the card, these benefits apply not just for the primary cardmember, but also for the up to four authorized users you can add to your card at no extra cost.

Bottom line

Capital One has gotten into the airport lounge game, with the introduction of the Capital One Venture X Card and Capital One Venture X Business. The Capital One Lounges at DEN, DFW, and IAD, are already open. We can expect lounges at LAS and JFK to open at some point in the future, and we’re also seeing the expansion of the Capital One Landing concept, which is pretty awesome.

Capital One has taken a different approach toward lounge design, and I can’t wait to see the portfolio grow. Capital One Lounges have unique features you won’t find in other lounges, ranging from a grab & go food selection, to cold brew on tap, to a workout room.

What do you make of the Capital One Lounges at airports? Will you be picking up the Venture X Card or Venture X Business?

However, I also recognize that a lot of people prefer to earn cash back for their credit card spending. That’s totally fair, since cash back gives you lots more flexibility. Just as with travel rewards cards, it’s important to make sure you’re getting as much value as possible. In this post I wanted to take a look at the most lucrative cash back personal and business credit cards.

Best personal cash back cards December 2024

There are several excellent cash back personal credit cards, whether you’re looking to maximize your return on everyday spending, dining, groceries, or a variety of other categories. Let’s go over what I consider to be the best cash back personal credit cards.

Best cash back card with no annual fee

If you’re looking for a simple cash back card with no annual fee, it’s tough to beat the Citi Double Cash® Card. The card offers 1% cash back when you make a purchase, and 1% cash back when you pay for that purchase (in the form of ThankYou points, but they can easily be cashed out).

It’s also a Mastercard, which has great acceptance with merchants. If you’re not earning at least two cents back on every dollar spent (after paying your bill), you’re not doing it right.

Learn more about the Citi Double Cash, apply for the Citi Double Cash.

Best cash back cards with effort (and money)

The Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card is potentially incredibly lucrative. The $95 annual fee card offers 2x points (effectively 2% cash back) on dining and travel, and 1.5x points (1.5% cash back) on all other purchases.

However, if you have at least $100,000 with Bank of America or a Merrill investment account, you qualify for the Platinum Honors tier, offering a 75% rewards bonus. That means you could be earning up to 3.5% cash back on dining and travel, and 2.625% cash back on all other purchases. That could be huge, but it does require effort. The card also offers a $100 annual airline credit, making it easier to justify the annual fee.

Learn more about the Bank of America Premium Rewards card, apply for the Bank of America Premium Rewards card.

There’s another card that fits into this category, though. The US Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card has no annual fee, and offers unlimited 2% cash back on all eligible purchases. What’s exciting is that the card potentially gets way more rewarding than that. That’s because you can get a better return if you have a US Bank Smartly Savings account, plus average daily combined qualifying balance in a US Bank deposit, trust, or investment account:

• Earn 2.5% cash back on spending if you have a qualifying balance of $5,000-49,999
• Earn 3% cash back on spending if you have a qualifying balance of $50,000-99,999
• Earn 4% cash back on spending if you have a qualifying balance of $100,000+

This is potentially pretty compelling, though there are some catches to be aware of.

Learn more about the US Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card, apply for the US Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card.

Best cash back card for dining

The no annual fee Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card offers 3% cash back on dining, groceries (excluding superstores like Walmart and Target), entertainment, and popular streaming services, all with no foreign transaction fees.

I consider this to be the best no annual fee cash back card for dining, especially when you consider that you can even use the card for purchases abroad without paying fees. This is an underrated and well-rounded card, and it’s one that I personally have.

Read a review of the Capital One Savor, apply for the Capital One Savor.

Best cash back card for groceries

The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express is simply an incredible card if you spend a lot at U.S. supermarkets. The card has a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95 annual fee (Rates & Fees), and offers 6% cash back on the first $6,000 spent every year at U.S. supermarkets (1% cash back after that). That’s an unbeatable return.

Read a review of the Amex Blue Cash Preferred, apply for the Amex Blue Cash Preferred.

Best cash back card offering 5% back each quarter

The no annual fee Chase Freedom Flex^SM Credit Card offers 5% back in rotating quarterly categories, on up to $1,500 worth of spending each quarter. Maximizing this can be an easy way to rack up cash back. For example, we sometimes see bonuses on things like restaurants, gas stations, hotels, Amazon, PayPal, and more.

Read a review of the Chase Freedom Flex, apply for the Chase Freedom Flex.

Best business cash back cards December 2024

There are some rewarding business credit cards that also offer a generous cash back rewards structure, though there aren’t quite as many with good bonus categories. Let me share what I consider to be the best cash back business credit cards.

Best cash back card with no annual fee

The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card is a no annual fee card (Rates & Fees) that offers 2% cash back on the first $50,000 spent every calendar year (1% cash back after that). You won’t find a much better return for everyday spending on a no annual fee card.

Learn more about the Amex Blue Business Cash, apply for the Amex Blue Business Cash.

Best cash back card for big spenders

The Capital One Spark Cash Plus is a pretty unbeatable card for businesses that spend a lot in non-bonused categories. The $150 annual fee card offers unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase with no foreign transaction fees.

On top of that, you’ll receive a $150 cash back reward if you spend $150,000 or more on the card in an anniversary year. For a business that spends a lot, this is a solid option.

Learn more about the Capital One Spark Cash Plus, apply for the Capital One Spark Cash Plus.

Best cash back card for big transactions

The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card is arguably the best cash back card for businesses that spend a lot, especially in big transactions. The $195 annual fee card offers unlimited 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more, and unlimited 2% cash back on all other eligible purchases, all with no foreign transaction fees. Earning 2.5% cash back is pretty unheard of.

Learn more about the Chase Ink Premier, apply for the Chase Ink Premier.

Best cash back card offering up to 5% back

While a bit more niche, the no annual fee Ink Business Cash® Credit Card offers 5% cash back on the first $25,000 of combined purchases per cardmember year on office supply stores, internet, cable TV, mobile phones, and landlines. The card also offers 2% cash back on the first $25,000 of combined purchases per cardmember year on restaurants and gas stations. This is an exceptional card, in my opinion.

Learn more about the Chase Ink Cash, apply for the Chase Ink Cash.

Bottom line

There are plenty of great cash back credit cards out there, and the best option for you will depend on the categories in which you spend the most.

If you want to keep things simple and want a no annual fee personal card, you can’t go wrong with the Citi Double Cash for everyday spending, and the Capital One Savor for dining, groceries, and no foreign transaction fees.

For businesses that don’t spend that much, I think the 2% cash back on the first $50,000 spent with the Amex Blue Business Cash is great. Alternatively, the Capital One Spark Cash Plus and Chase Ink Premier are ideal for businesses that spend a lot.

What’s your favorite cash back credit card?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express (Rates & Fees), and The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card (Rates & Fees).

On the points & travel front, Lufthansa’s takeover of ITA Airways received final approval, Hong Kong Airport’s new three runway system went live, SAS announced it would add Seoul Incheon flights, Nuuk Airport in Greenland welcomed its first jet service, and more.

With that out of the way, here’s a recap of this week on the blog:

Delta flight attendants fail breathalyzer test in Amsterdam

The Netherlands is known for conducting random breathalyzer tests of airline crews, as the country also has some of the stricter rules out there around crews drinking. For example, while many countries don’t allow airline crews to drink within eight hours of flying, the Netherlands requires crews not to drink within 10 hours (and this supersedes whatever policies individual airlines have).

On Friday, November 29, 2024, a routine alcohol inspection was conducted at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS). Of the 445 breathalyzer tests that were performed between 7AM and 10AM, a total of three crew members failed, including two crew members on a single Delta flight.

Specifically, the flight impacted was Delta flight DL49, scheduled to operate to New York Kennedy Airport (JFK), as first reported by @xJonNYC. Despite the two crew members not being able to fly, the airline was still able to operate the flight, just with more limited service. The flight was even on schedule.

And on the 29th, 2 FAs were pulled off duty from DL49 to JFK

— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) November 29, 2024 at 5:20 PM

One flight attendant had a shockingly high blood alcohol level

The Netherlands ordinarily requires airline crews to have a blood alcohol level of under 0.02. As a point of comparison, the legal limit for driving in the United States is typically 0.08, so the limit is one-quarter of what it would be to drive.

How high were the blood alcohol levels of these two flight attendants? According to NL Times (thanks to @Jim__Douglas for flagging this), a male Delta flight attendant had a blood alcohol level of 0.024, so he was just over the legal limit. Then a female Delta flight attendant had a blood alcohol level of 0.143. That is outrageously high, more than seven times the legal limit for airline crews, and even nearly double the limit for driving in the United States.

Assuming the test was accurate, I just can’t wrap my head around that. This woman must’ve been visibly intoxicated, no? One would hope that her fellow crew members would encourage her to not fly, and to call in sick, or whatever, because this is just so beyond reckless.

For what it’s worth, this flight was scheduled to depart at 10:45AM, so it wasn’t a 6AM flight, or something. Was the flight attendant just out partying till the wee hours of the night? Was she drinking heavily right before the flight? Or how could that happen? I hope she gets the help she need so that she can make more responsible decisions in the future.

In addition to probably facing serious repercussions at work (including possibly losing their jobs), the flight attendants are also being fined. The flight attendant with the lower blood alcohol level was fined 275 euro, while the flight attendant with the higher blood alcohol level was fined 1,900 euro, the highest penalty allowed.

What’s pretty wild is that the third crew member who failed a breathalyzer (working for another, unnamed airline) had a blood alcohol level of 0.13, which is also very high.

Honestly, these results sure make you think that maybe these tests should be conducted more consistently globally. It’s irresponsible to be at all over the legal limit, but there’s a major difference between 0.024 and 0.13+. The fact that two flight attendants were between six and eight times over the legal limit is pretty awful.

Bottom line

Two Delta flight attendants who were supposed to work a flight from Amsterdam to New York ended up being removed, after they failed a breathalyzer test at the airport. One flight attendant had a blood alcohol level of 0.024, just over the legal limit. But the other flight attendant had a blood alcohol level of 0.143, more than seven times over the limit.

Are you surprised that two flight attendants were so far over the limit during these breathalyzer tests?

Thailand expects Category 1 FAA rating soon

Back in the day, Thai Airways used to fly nonstop from Bangkok (BKK) to both Los Angeles (LAX) and New York (JFK) using Airbus A340-500s. These ultra long haul flights ended up being canceled because they lost money, and we haven’t seen any nonstop flights between the two countries since 2015.

Unrelated, in late 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted a safety audit of the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), and found deficiencies in oversight. As a result, the country’s safety rating was downgraded from a Category 1 to a Category 2, preventing airlines from Thailand from adding nonstop flights to the United States.

For background, with the International Convention of Civil Aviation, every country is responsible for the oversight of its own air carriers. Of course once in a while there also need to be audits to ensure that regulators are doing their jobs correctly.

The FAA conducts the International Aviation Safety Assessment Program (IASA). The assessment is intended to determine if the relevant civil aviation authorities provide oversight to carriers that are in line with international standards. That’s why Thailand’s rating was downgraded back in 2015. Note that just because a country’s safety rating is demoted doesn’t at all suggest the airlines from that country are unsafe. It just suggests there’s a lack of oversight from regulatory authorities.

For the past many years, Thailand has been working to regain its Category 1 rating, and there’s now a positive update. Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister has stated that the country has made significant progress in regaining its Category 1 rating, and expects that to happen by February 2025. Goodness, this sure has taken some time, but it’s good news.

Will we see nonstop flights between Thailand and the United States?

The Bangkok Post suggests that because Thailand’s FAA rating will be upgraded to a Category 1, we’ll see the resumption of nonstop flights between the countries. However, I don’t see anything specifically suggesting that will be the case. So let’s talk about that for a second.

Currently the only nonstop flight between North America and Bangkok is on Air Canada, as the airline launched a seasonal route in late 2022. That has returned for a couple of years now, so that suggests the route is performing reasonably well (then again, there are limited places you can profitably fly wide bodies in winter).

I think it’s safe to assume that if a US airline were to fly to Bangkok, it would be United Airlines, since it’s by far the most global US carrier, especially in Asia. That being said, despite United’s creative expansion, we haven’t seen new service to Thailand.

I wouldn’t necessarily expect that to change. Then again, with The White Lotus Season 3 coming out soon, and being filmed in Thailand, maybe we’ll suddenly see a huge increase in demand for travel to the country from the United States. I wouldn’t be shocked if United added a winter seasonal route to the country, like Air Canada.

Beyond that, it seems most likely that Thai Airways would be the airline flying between Thailand and the United States. Admittedly Thai Airways is a bit of a mess at times, and has struggled with profitability. However, at the moment, the airline is in full-on expansion mode.

Unlike in the past, I could potentially see merit to Thai Airways flying to the United States:

• Planes have become much more fuel efficient than back in the day, so the economics of ultra long haul flying work better than in the past
• Thai Airways is owned by the government, so this route could largely be about increasing inbound tourism to Thailand
• Thai Airways has big expansion plans, and has 45 Boeing 787-9s on order

So I do think we’ll eventually see Thai Airways fly to the United States, though I question the timeline. Thai Airways is only expected to get its new 787s starting in 2027. The airline could make the service work with some existing planes, though it would have to come at the expense of some other routes.

For now we’ll mark this as “developing.”

Bottom line

Thailand believes that it will soon regain its Category 1 rating with the FAA, which would allow Thai Airways to resume nonstop flights to the United States. While getting a better rating from a safety audit is good news regardless, it remains to be seen if we actually see nonstop flights launch between the two countries.

Travel to Thailand is of course heavily leisure oriented, but then again, premium leisure seems to be pretty lucrative nowadays, even in long haul markets.

Do you think we’ll see the resumption of nonstop flights between Thailand and the United States?

The Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® offers an excellent welcome bonus, can help you earn elite status, is anecdotally easy to be approved for, and is a card that many people haven’t applied for in the past, and are therefore eligible for.

In this post, I wanted to share nine reasons you should consider applying for this card, assuming you don’t have it already. For a more detailed look at the card, check out my review of the Citi AAdvantage Business Card. Let’s get right into it, in no particular order…

Earn 75,000 AAdvantage bonus miles

The Citi AAdvantage Business Card is currently offering a limited time welcome bonus of 75,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after spending $5,000 within the first five months. I value AAdvantage miles at 1.5 cents each, so to me, that bonus is worth $1,125.

That’s a lot of miles, potentially enough for a one-way long haul business class ticket in many markets, including to Europe, Asia, the Middle East, India, etc.

My favorite use of AAdvantage miles is for travel on Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, given their excellent premium cabin products. class products. For example, you could even redeem AAdvantage miles for Etihad’s A380 First Class Apartments, which is one of the world’s best first class experiences.

$99 annual fee waived the first year

While the Citi AAdvantage Business Card has a reasonable $99 annual fee, it’s waived for the first 12 months, so this is a card you can “try before you buy.” It’s hard to beat the combination of a waived annual fee for the first year and a great welcome bonus.

Earn AAdvantage elite status with spending

Nowadays American AAdvantage elite status is earned using Loyalty Points, meaning that credit card spending can help you earn status, and also counts toward Loyalty Point Rewards. Every eligible dollar spent on this card will earn you one Loyalty Point.

As a reminder, here are the current requirements to earn AAdvantage elite status:

• AAdvantage Gold status requires 40,000 Loyalty Points
• AAdvantage Platinum status requires 75,000 Loyalty Points
• AAdvantage Platinum Pro status requires 125,000 Loyalty Points
• AAdvantage Executive Platinum status requires 200,000 Loyalty Points

While this isn’t how I’d recommend going about it, spending $200,000 on the Citi AAdvantage Business Card would earn you top-tier Executive Platinum status. You can also take a hybrid approach, and earn status partly through credit card spending, and partly through travel and other activity, which is what I’d recommend.

AAdvantage Business program benefits

AAdvantage Business is American’s free small business rewards program, which can earn you one bonus Loyalty Point and one bonus AAdvantage mile per eligible dollar spent on American.

The good news is that if you have the Citi AAdvantage Business Card, you get full participation in this program without needing a minimum number of travelers or minimum amount of revenue. Otherwise you need at least five unique travelers who have credited flights to the account, totaling at least $5,000 in revenue over the course of a year. That’s a great advantage that will allow many people to participate in the program.

The card doesn’t count toward 5/24

If you want to apply for Chase credit cards, it’s important to be aware of the 5/24 rule. With this, you often won’t be approved for a Chase card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months.

However, only certain cards count toward that limit. Most business credit card applications, including Citi business card applications, don’t count toward it. This is because these cards don’t show on your personal credit report in the same way personal cards do. If you want a great credit card but don’t want to increase your count toward 5/24, this is a reason to pick up this card.

Non-restrictive eligibility requirements

Card issuers have a variety of eligibility restrictions when it comes to getting approved for cards. This card has among the less restrictive rules. Specifically, here are the terms for the Citi AAdvantage Business Card:

American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select account in the past 48 months.

You’re not eligible for this card if you’ve received a new cardmember bonus on this exact card in the past 48 months. However, having any of the Citi AAdvantage personal cards doesn’t prevent you from getting the bonus on this card. That’s great, since it means lots of people should be eligible for the bonus.

Anecdotally easy card approval

Of course we never actually know the underwriting standards of card issuers, though anecdotally many OMAAT readers have reported that the Citi AAdvantage Business Card is one of the easier business credit cards to be approved for. This of course assumes that you have good or excellent credit.

If you’re someone who has struggled to get approved for Chase cards (for example) in the past, maybe it could be worth giving a Citi business credit card like this a try.

First checked bag fee on American

Just for having the Citi AAdvantage Business Card you receive a first checked bag free on domestic American Airlines flights. You don’t actually have to pay with the card to use this perk, but rather the AAdvantage number of the primary cardmember just has to be on the reservation. This benefit also applies for up to four additional passengers traveling on the same itinerary.

American usually charges $40 one-way per checked bag, for a total of $80 roundtrip. So if you had four companions, you’re looking at savings of up to $400 on a roundtrip ticket.

Preferred boarding on American

Just for having the Citi AAdvantage Business Card you receive preferred boarding on American Airlines flights. This allows you to board with Group 5 — while that’s not priority boarding, it should put you in an early enough boarding group that you don’t have issues with finding overhead bin space, which is something that many value.

You don’t actually have to pay with the card to use this perk, but rather the AAdvantage number of the primary cardmember just has to be on the reservation.

Bottom line

The Citi AAdvantage Business Card is offering a great welcome bonus with the annual fee waived the first year. On top of that, this is a card that many people don’t have and are eligible for, which will make it all the more interesting. 75,000 AAdvantage miles can get you well on the way to some awesome premium travel experiences.

With American AAdvantage’s Loyalty Points system, spending on this card also counts toward elite status, which is a big incentive to spend money on AAdvantage cards.

If you want to learn more about the Citi AAdvantage Business Card or apply, follow this link.

Many travelers may be familiar with Capital One Lounges, which is the card issuer’s airport lounge network, with locations in Dallas (DFW), Denver (DEN), and Washington (IAD). However, the issuer also recently launched an exciting new concept for cardmembers, intended to be an alternative to the traditional airport lounge.

With the first location having recently opened, I wanted to take an in-depth look at this concept, and talk about what exactly it is, where the locations are, and how you can access these spaces.

Capital One’s airport dining lounges with José Andrés

Over the years we’ve seen airport lounges evolve quite a bit in the United States, especially as lounge access has become an increasingly common perk offered by premium credit cards, with lounge networks like Amex Centurion Lounges and Chase Sapphire Lounges.

The Capital One Landing concept is intended to complement the existing network of Capital One Lounges. As it’s described, it’s a way of rethinking the travel and lounge experience. It’s a chef-driven, culinary-focused concept, intended to bring an elevated experience to the heart of the terminal.

The concept is offered in partnership with Chef José Andrés, who designs Capital One Landing’s food and beverage menu, focusing on authentic, Spanish-style tapas. To put it as simply as possible, think of Capital One Landing as being a great airport restaurant that select cardmembers have access to.

We recently saw the first Capital One Landing location open, so we know exactly what to expect. The facility is at Washington National Airport and looks beautiful, about as nice as airport restaurants get.

When you arrive at the lounge, you’ll be assigned a specific table, and guests can then select made-to-order small plates and beverages via a QR code, which will be delivered directly to their seats. All food and drinks with this concept are included. To give you a sense of what to expect, below is the lunch and dinner menu, plus the drinks menu.

In addition to the main part of the facility, Capital One Landing also has On The Fly, which is open to the public. Think of it as an airport grab & go concept, with food and drinks for purchase. The nice thing is that eligible premium cardmembers get 50% off.

Here’s what Chef José Andrés had to say about this concept:

“Travel is a huge part of my life, and food is deeply linked to the travel experience. It’s the best way to learn about a place and its people. But as someone who spends a lot of time in airports, many times I find myself wanting more. When Capital One came to us with the idea of creating a new kind of dining experience, our team immediately started to think of the Spanish tapas way of eating with the bounty of American farms and traditions – the very best of both countries. We cannot wait to share these new Capital One Landings with the people of the world!”

Capital One Landing locations

The Capital One Landing concept is primarily intended for metropolitan airports where shorter stays are the norm, in order to meet the needs of different kinds of travelers. Many travelers at these kinds of airports may appreciate the ability to grab a quick bite prior to a flight, rather than wanting to lounge around for hours.

Currently, Capital One Landing has one location at Washington National Airport (DCA), with a further location planned for New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA).

Capital One Landing Washington National (DCA)

The first Capital One Landing location opened at Washington National Airport as of November 2024. This is a 5,500 square foot facility, with seating for 90 guests. It’s located in Terminal 2, right off the National Hall, near Concourse D. The main part of the Capital One Landing space is open daily from 6AM until 9PM. There are power outlets at every seat, high speed Wi-Fi, and luggage nooks.

Capital One Landing New York LaGuardia (LGA)

The second Capital One Landing location is expected to be at New York LaGuardia Airport, and is projected to open in late 2025, so we’ll have to be patient a little while longer. This facility is expected to be 10,700 square feet, and will be located in one of the skybridges in Terminal B. This is an indoor/outdoor concept, with views of the NYC skyline and airfield.

Capital One Landing access requirements

Who can access Capital One Landing locations? This concept is primarily intended for those with the Capital One Venture X (review) or Capital One Venture X Business (review), who receive complimentary access on a space available basis. Cardmembers can bring one guest for free, and additional guests for $45 each.

On top of that, those with the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review) or Capital One Spark Miles for Business (review) can purchase access to the Capital One Landing for $45 per person.

Meanwhile others can purchase access to the concept for $90 per person. The cost in all cases is the same for kids, except those under two, who can access the space for free with an adult. 

The Capital One Landing facilities can be accessed up to three hours before a departing flight, or if you’re connecting, can be accessed earlier than that.

As a reminder, these access requirements are specifically for the main part of the lounge, as the On the Fly section is open to the public, with all items available for purchase.

Capital One Landing reservations system

Lounge crowding has become a major issue in the United States, given the number of people with premium credit cards. How is Capital One addressing that with the Capital One Landing concept?

For one, reservations are allowed for the Capital One Landing between one day and six months of a desired visit. There’s a 15-minute grace period, at which point tables will be given away. You can make as many reservations as you’d like, and there’s no penalty if you miss your reservation.

However, not all tables are made available for reservations, so that there’s plenty of room for walk-ins. The Capital One Landing is available for everyone else on a first come, first served basis. In situations where the space is at capacity, digital waitlisting is possible, as is the case at Capital One Lounges.

My take on the Capital One Landing concept

Personally I think what Capital One is doing here is brilliant. With lounge crowding having become such an issue, it’s often not actually fun to linger in lounges for an extended period of time. Rather you might just want to grab something to eat, and then sit somewhere quieter. Many airport lounges have become overcrowded cafeterias.

In that sense I really love this concept, since you can enjoy a good meal, even if you don’t have much time. This is a smart evolution of the traditional lounge concept.

We’ve of course seen Priority Pass restaurants become popular in recent years, where those with a Priority Pass membership can get a certain dollar credit toward food and drinks at restaurants. The catch is that the restaurants generally aren’t great.

Capital One Landing really seems about as good as airport restaurants could get, so what a treat it is to be able to enjoy this with a credit card. I think it’s safe to say that this is the best food you can access at an airport with a standard, premium credit card.

Bottom line

The new Capital One Landing concept is unique, as the card issuer is opening airport facilities in partnership with Chef José Andrés. Instead of enjoying cubed cheese and cheap chardonnay in an airport lounge, you can enjoy Spanish-style tapas and cocktails in more of a restaurant-style environment.

This concept is now available at DCA, and should open at LGA in late 2025. I can’t wait to check this out. I’m just sad about the limited footprint, especially since I don’t often travel through DCA.

What do you make of the Capital One Landing concept?

In the spring of 2023, we learned how Lufthansa Group intended to buy a major stake in ITA Airways. However, actually closing the deal has taken a long time, both due to the need for regulatory approval, and due to some disagreements between Lufthansa Group and the Italian government.

Well, there’s now a significant update — the European Commission has issued the last approvals needed for this deal, and the transaction should close in early 2025.

EU approves Lufthansa’s ITA Airways investment

Lufthansa Group is acquiring a 41% stake in ITA Airways for a capital contribution of €325 million, and the transaction will close in very early 2025. This agreement also gives Lufthansa the right to acquire the remaining shares of ITA Airways at a later date, and the plan is for that to happen, until Lufthansa owns 100% of the airline. It’s expected that the entire transaction could cost over €800 million.

In order to get this deal approved, the airlines had to agree to some concessions. The biggest compromise is that Lufthansa and ITA Airways have to give up slots at Milan Linate Airport (LIN) to competitors, because otherwise the airlines would be too dominant there. For example, EasyJet has already announced that it’s setting up a base at the airport, and ITA Airways will even have to wet lease planes to EasyJet to make this happen.

Furthermore, Lufthansa and ITA Airways are responsible for ensuring there’s more competition out of Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO), in particular to hubs of Star Alliance carriers in North America.

Here’s how Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr describes this takeover:

“The approval from Brussels is excellent news for ITA Airways and Lufthansa and especially for all passengers flying to and from Italy. We look forward to welcoming ITA Airways and its outstanding employees as a new member of our airline family very soon. The decision is also a clear signal for strong air traffic in Europe, which can successfully assert itself in global competition.”

“The acquisition of ITA Airways strengthens the internationalization of the Lufthansa Group. We offer our guests a significantly greater choice of connections and destinations, and with the 5-star hub in Rome we are also extending our premium offering and better connecting strategic future markets south of the equator to our network. Despite the comprehensive and far-reaching concessions, the investment in ITA Airways strengthens the Lufthansa Group’s position in global competition. We will make ITA Airways a strong and successful part of our company and thus secure its future as an international airline and strong brand. ITA Airways will support us in further expanding our position as Number One in Europe.”

ITA Airways will become a Lufthansa Group airline

So, what’s Lufthansa’s plan for ITA Airways? Upon closing of the transaction in early 2025, ITA Airways is expected to immediately start cooperating with Lufthansa Group on a commercial and operational level, to benefit from group synergies.

The plan is for ITA Airways to become the fifth network carrier in Lufthansa Group’s multi-brand and multi-hub system, complementing Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, and Brussels (and on top of that, Lufthansa Group has some further subsidiaries). Furthermore, ITA Airways plans to use Miles & More as its frequent flyer program (replacing ITA Volare), and also plans to join the Star Alliance.

Lufthansa Group managed to negotiate that ITA Airways can join the Star Alliance transatlantic joint venture, allowing the Italian carrier to coordinate routes, schedules, and fares, with Air Canada, Lufthansa, SWISS, United, etc.

Italy is Lufthansa Group’s most important market outside the group’s home base countries and the United States, which is why this acquisition is so important to Lufthansa Group.

My take on Lufthansa’s ITA Airways investment

Where do we even begin here? First of all, let me acknowledge that I can appreciate how Italy is an important market for Lufthansa, and how investing in ITA Airways is the easiest way that Lufthansa can considerably grow market share there.

Historically Lufthansa’s biggest challenge in Italy has been competing with SkyTeam, between Alitalia and Air France-KLM. Alitalia belonged to SkyTeam, and ITA Airways has joined the SkyTeam alliance as well. With ITA Airways having cooperated with Air France-KLM and Delta, Lufthansa struggled to grow beyond its current position, especially for long haul service.

So this investment by Lufthansa largely seems to be about poaching market share in Italy from competitors. Lufthansa has an uphill battle with making this investment work. Alitalia had been losing a lot of money for a very long time.

However, things are looking a bit better at ITA Airways. While the airline lost €486 million in its first year of operation (2022), the airline made a profit of €70 million in its second year of operation (2023), which is nothing short of a miracle for an Italian network carrier.

With that in mind, a few thoughts and questions:

• I’m curious what this means for Air Dolomiti, which is another Italian airline that Lufthansa already owns; will Air Dolomiti be merged into ITA Airways, or will it continue to operate independently?
• Even with Lufthansa initially only owning a minority stake in the airline, hopefully Lufthansa is put in charge of day-to-day operations, or else I could see co-owning the airline with the Italian government being challenging
• While Italy is a huge tourist destination, it’s a tough market for a global network carrier; the country doesn’t have great geography for transatlantic connections to Western Europe, Italy is more of a leisure-oriented destination, competition on short haul flights from ultra low cost carriers is fierce, etc.
• I am excited about ITA Airways joining Star Alliance, since this should be good in terms of award options (generally Star Alliance is better with partner awards than SkyTeam)
• Carsten Spohr is going to have an absolute ball with labor relations at ITA Airways, methinks!

Bottom line

Lufthansa Group has officially gotten the green light to acquire a 41% stake in Italy’s ITA Airways from the Italian government. The plan is for Lufthansa to eventually take full control of the airline.

The deal should be complete in early 2025, at which point ITA Airways will fully become a Lufthansa Group airline, will join Star Alliance and the Star Alliance transatlantic joint venture, and will even adopt Miles & More as its frequent flyer program.

What do you make of Lufthansa Group investing in ITA Airways?

Thai Airways updating former Thai Smile Airbus A320s

As I’ve already written about, Thai Airways has eliminated its low cost subsidiary, Thai Smile, as of early 2024. Specifically, Thai Smile has been merged into Thai Airways’ mainline operations, as clearly the cost savings of running an ultra low cost carrier didn’t outweigh the downsides.

While Thai Airways might not always offer the same low fares that Thai Smile offered, this is otherwise great news, as it creates a more seamless experience.

The catch is that the passenger experience on the former Thai Smile planes doesn’t really match what you’ll find in the mainline Thai Airways fleet. These aircraft are equipped with 168-174 seats, and just feature premium economy and economy, with premium economy consisting of economy seats with blocked middles.

Thai Airways has plans to change this, though. As of January 2025, Thai Airways intends to gradually reconfigure all of its A320s with new, standardized cabins:

• Thai Airways A320s will be reconfigured to feature 156 seats, including 12 business class seats and 144 economy class seats
• Business class seats will be in a 2-2 configuration, featuring 38″ of pitch and 5″ of recline, comparable to what you might find in domestic first class within the United States
• Thai Airways will also install Wi-Fi on its A320s

This will give Thai Airways a lot more flexibility

Not only is it great to see plans to update these planes from a passenger experience standpoint, but this will also allow Thai Airways to better optimize its fleet planning. Thai Airways now has a fleet of 20 Airbus A320s, all from Thai Smile.

When Thai Smile was still in operation, Thai Airways only had wide body aircraft in its mainline fleet. Once these planes have more premium interiors, Thai Airways will be able to fly these aircraft to all kinds of destinations, including premium ones, where it’s important for the airline to have high frequencies.

So fleet planning decisions will no longer be made based on whether a market is premium or not, but rather will be based on flying an aircraft that matches the demand for a market. I’d say that’s a win-win for both the airline and consumers.

In fairness, though, this plane will still offer a lackluster experience compared to what you’ll find on Thai Airways’ wide body aircraft, which mostly feature flat beds. It’s a shame that the carrier didn’t elect to install flat beds on the A320s, in an efficient configuration.

Bottom line

As of 2025, Thai Airways will reconfigure its fleet of Airbus A320s. The airline will add all new interiors, including a proper business class cabin, plus Wi-Fi. These are all planes that previously flew for low cost subsidiary Thai Smile. Now that they’re in the mainline fleet, it makes sense for Thai Airways to update them, so the airline can offer an experience more in line with what people would expect.

With new interiors, I expect we’ll also see an expansion to the types of routes these planes fly.

What’s your take on Thai Airways’ plans to update A320s?

Delta has a customer satisfaction problem

While Delta is often thought of as the most premium airline in the United States, it seems that a lot of the carrier’s premium customers aren’t very happy. Specifically, Delta has seen a sharp decline in its net promoter score (NPS) among Delta One passengers traveling across the Atlantic.

For those not familiar with NPS, this is a measure of the percentage of customers who are promoters minus the percent of customers who are detractors. The carrier’s NPS for transatlantic business class dropped sharply from 2019 to 2023, and while it has started to improve marginally in 2024, the airline still has a long way to go.

It’s obviously not great when you have a significant increase in the number of customers who wouldn’t recommend an experience, compared to those who would.

Delta has lofty goal with its NPS, and hopes to get that number to 60 (from a low of under 33 in 2023). That’s super high, so how does Delta plan to accomplish that?

This part I THINK i have right: The reason for all this is that Delta's transatlantic business class NPS scores have fallen notably vs. prepandemic. NPS down 28% – was even worse in 2023 (I think I have that right)

— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) November 29, 2024 at 4:50 PM

How Delta will improve its business class experience

Delta is undertaking an aggressive project between now and the end of 2026 to improve its business class experience, and this includes a variety of initiatives. Here are some of the changes that Delta plans to make in the next couple of years (some of these are already underway):

• Continuing to open Delta One Lounges; they’re already open in New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX), and should open in Boston (BOS) and Seattle (SEA) in the next several months
• Continuing to expand the Missoni partnership, including introducing Missoni eye masks, slippers, and socks
• Upgrading catering, as the airline is currently transitioning to DO&CO catering out of New York, and plans to continue expanding that
• Rolling out free Wi-Fi on long haul flights, which is a project that should be completed in 2025
• Elevating bedding, including expanding the number of flights with mattress pads, and adding a cuddle pillow
• Improving the presentation of meals, including upgrading tray linens and service ware
• Upgrading beverage offerings, including a new champagne partnership
• Expanding the ability to pre-order meals
• Improving the quality of headsets
• Beginning dedicated flight attendant training for business class
• Rolling out “basic” business class, with “good, better, best” pricing tiers
• Improving the quality of seats, including taking delivery of Airbus A350-1000s, updating the cabins of Airbus A330-300s, and updating cabins with Delta’s new branding

Of course let me emphasize that this all remains subject to change, and airlines change their budgets for various things all the time, based on market conditions, strategy shifts, etc.

DL: Delta's 'good/better/best' unbundling of business class that Glen Hauenstein talked about at Investor Day is planned for 2026

— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) November 29, 2024 at 4:46 PM

Can Delta offer a best-in-class business class?

To Delta’s credit, a lot of these changes are genuinely positive, and frankly, long overdue. The way I see it:

• The biggest improvement we’re seeing is the opening of Delta One Lounges, as Delta’s competitors have offered premium international lounges for years, while Delta hasn’t
• Free Wi-Fi is also a positive innovation, but up until now has caused frustration for many international travelers, as the Wi-Fi transition isn’t seamless
• I’ve seen a lot of negative reports regarding Delta’s catering in business class (though in fairness, the food was quite decent on my recent Delta One flight), so improving food and drinks will certainly make people happy
• I’d say the other changes are fairly minor, but add up, like an extra pillow, a mattress pad, etc.

But if you ask me, Delta’s single biggest issue across the Atlantic is something that the airline hasn’t even addressed. This is simply that Delta’s wide body fleet is super uncompetitive when it comes to business class seats, especially across the Atlantic:

• American exclusively flies 777s and 787s across the Atlantic, and at least all the seats have direct aisle access and are reasonably comfortable
• United has great consistency with its Polaris business class seats, with the only poor experience across the Atlantic being on 757s

Meanwhile on Delta, the A350-900s and A330-900neos are nice. The A330s are a bit outdated, but at least there are reverse herringbone seats, and there are plans to update them. But the real issue is Delta’s 767s, and in particular, the 767-300ERs. Delta’s 767-300ERs have the worst international business class product of any major US airline, by far (I’m not including United’s high density 777-200ERs, which primarily fly domestically).

Worst of all, Delta has no plans to improve that. Yes, those planes will eventually be retired, but for the coming years, customers will continue to find themselves in these seats. While the 767-400ERs have refreshed cabins, the seats are still super tight.

So if you ask me, the single biggest thing standing in the way of a higher NPS is Delta’s actual hard product that so many passengers experience.

Bottom line

Delta has seen customer satisfaction in business class decrease significantly, so the airline now wants to invest in order to reverse that trend. Between now and the end of 2026, we’ll see Delta make all kinds of product investments, ranging from new bedding, to better food and drinks, to new flight attendant training. Only time will tell if this leads to a best-in-class experience, though…

What do you make of Delta’s plans, and do you think the carrier can be best-in-class?

Delta A330-300s will likely get new business class & more

As reported by @xJonNYC, Delta has plans to upgrade the interiors of its Airbus A330-300s, starting later in 2026. Delta has a rather varied (and outdated) wide body fleet. While the Airbus A350-900s and Airbus A330-900neos offer a pretty nice experience, the rest of the fleet is more of a mixed bag.

Delta has a fleet of 31 Airbus A330-300s, which are an average of around 16 years old. These planes don’t have the newest interiors, and in particular, have pretty outdated reverse herringbone seats in business class (which is marketed as Delta One).

While Delta hasn’t revealed exactly what will change about the interiors of these planes, I think it’s safe to assume that the aircraft will get new business class seats, especially since the jets are nowhere close to retirement. For what it’s worth, Delta reportedly doesn’t have any immediate plans to upgrade its Airbus A330-200s, which are even older, and are approaching an average age of 20 years.

These retrofits are expected to start shortly after Delta starts taking delivery of Airbus A350-1000s, which are going to be Delta’s new flagship aircraft.

Delta last updated the interiors of its A330-300s a few years back, when the airline added a premium economy cabin (marketed as Premium Select). For other cabins we also saw some mild refreshes, though no changes to the “bones” of seats.

What new business class product could Delta introduce?

As of now we can only speculate as to what kind of a new business class product Delta will introduce on its A330-300s. My assumption would be that at a minimum, Delta will install the same Delta One Suites you’ll find on the A330-900neo. This is essentially a customized version of the Vantage XL seat with doors.

Delta is also expected to introduce a new Delta One Suite on the A350-1000, better than the Delta One Suite on the A350-900. However, I wouldn’t necessarily assume that this would also be installed on the A330-300, since the narrower fuselage may limit the ability to introduce a similar cabin.

Bottom line

Delta intends to update the interiors of its fleet of 31 Airbus A330-300s. However, we’ll have to be patient, as this project won’t start until late 2026, and we also don’t know the full details. I’d assume the planes will at least get the Delta One Suites found on A330-900neos, and perhaps even something better than that. I look forward to learning more details.

What do you make of Delta’s plans to retrofit Airbus A330-300s?

Online shopping portals can be a great way to pick up bonus points for purchases you’d make anyway. Just for following a specific link, you can earn bonus points or cash back in addition to the rewards you’d earn for credit card spending.

Rakuten is my favorite online shopping portal, given that you can earn Amex Membership Rewards points with it at a favorable rate. For a limited time, Rakuten has brought back its best-ever bonus for new members. I wanted to post a reminder of this, as this is the ideal time to register, if you haven’t done so yet (and I know a lot of people are doing online shopping right now).

This is an incredible deal, so if you’re not yet a Rakuten member, signing up is truly a no-brainer, even if you’re not someone who usually uses online shopping portals.

Sign-up for Rakuten with $40 bonus

Through Sunday, December 8, 2024, Rakuten is offering a generous elevated refer-a-friend bonus. Specifically, if you refer a friend to Rakuten and they spend $40, then both the person referring and the person being referred receive $40 (you’ll want to make sure that the link you use shows that bonus, since not all members may be able to refer others with this offer).

This is a very good deal:

• Rakuten is giving out $80 total for a $40 purchase
• For the person being referred, they’re essentially getting a $40 credit on a $40 purchase — that’s like $40 of “free” spending!
• There are easy ways to unlock the $40 bonus, including simply purchasing a $40 gift card (this is so easy — you can pick up a $40 gift card with a variety of retailers, and then you’ll receive $40 in cash)
• You can then refer friends and family members, and earn an unlimited number of referral bonuses (OMAAT readers are welcome to leave their referral links in the comments section below)
• Long term you can potentially get even more value with Rakuten, as rewards can be converted into Amex points

Convert Rakuten cash back into Amex points

The reason that Rakuten is my favorite shopping portal is because Rakuten rewards can be converted into Amex Membership Rewards points.

This can be done at the rate of one cent per point. Personally I value Membership Rewards points at 1.7 cents each. To me that increases the value of the rewards by 70%. For those wondering why I value Amex points so much more, it’s because of all the ways there are to redeem the points for first & business class international travel, while getting outsized value.

The ability to earn Amex points with Rakuten is a game changer for me when it comes to online shopping portals. See this post for everything you need to know about earning Amex points with Rakuten, as you just need to adjust one easy setting in your account.

Bottom line

Rakuten is my favorite online shopping portal, and the company is currently offering its best-ever new member bonus. Through December 8, 2024, there’s a $40 referral bonus to both the person referring and the person being referred. This is a great bonus, and it’s exclusively available if you’re referred by another member.

Since only a $40 purchase is required, that’s like getting $40 worth of stuff more or less for free. Then long term you can even earn Amex Membership Rewards points in place of cash back, which I value significantly more.

If you don’t yet have a Rakuten account, this is the time to sign up.

While I’ve written a detailed review of the Capital One Venture X Business, in this post I wanted to share 11 reasons that this business card should be in your wallet. While the $395 annual fee might sound high at first, the perks and return on spending more than justify it, in my opinion.

With that out of the way, here are some reasons you should consider applying for this card, in no particular order…

Welcome bonus of 150,000 Capital One miles

The Capital One Venture X Business is offering a welcome bonus of 150,000 Capital One bonus miles after spending $30,000 within the first three months.

Personally I value Capital One miles at 1.7 cents each, so to me, 150,000 Capital One miles are worth $2,550, which is huge. Admittedly the spending requirement is big, but so is the bonus.

Note that eligibility for this card is unrelated to any other Capital One card, with the exception of the Capital One Spark Cash Plus (review). Read my guide to getting approved for the Venture X Business.

Card doesn’t report to personal credit

Assuming your account remains in good standing, the Capital One Venture X Business shouldn’t report to your personal credit, at least based on the reports that I’ve seen (and my own personal experience). For example, if you’re trying to stay under Chase’s 5/24 limit, then applying for this business card shouldn’t count toward that.

2x Capital One miles on everyday spending

The Capital One Venture X Business offers unlimited 2x miles on all purchases, making this one of the best cards for everyday spending. I value Capital One miles at 1.7 cents each, so to me that’s the equivalent of a 3.4% return on everyday spending.

In addition to earning 2x miles on all purchases, the card also offers some bonuses when booking through Capital One Travel, which is Capital One’s travel portal (as you may have guessed based on the name):

• Earn 10x miles for rental cars and hotels
• Earn 5x miles for flights

Best of all, the card has no foreign transaction fees for all purchases.

No preset spending limit

The Capital One Venture X Business has no preset spending limit, meaning that the card adapts to your needs based on your spending behavior, payment history, credit profile, and other factors.

Many small businesses feel constrained by the traditional credit limits you’ll find on cards, which make it tough to pay for large purchases by card. This is much less of an issue on cards without a preset spending limit.

A flexible & valuable mileage currency

Capital One miles offer great flexibility. For one, you can redeem Capital One miles for one cent each toward virtually any travel purchase by “covering travel purchases” through the rewards dashboard on your card. This is awesome, because it allows you to book travel however you want, and then apply miles as statement credits after the fact.

Since the Capital One Venture X Business offers a minimum of 2x miles per dollar spent, that means you’re earning at least two cents back on the dollar. You can use this toward the cost of a flight, a rental car, or a stay at a hotel, without having to worry about blackout dates, limited availability, etc.

However, there’s a way to get even more value, if you’re willing to put in the work. My preference is to transfer miles to Capital One’s airline & hotel partners, as you can transfer miles at a 1:1 ratio to over a dozen programs. As is the case with all major transferable points currencies, this allows you to get way outsized value, especially when redeeming for first & business class travel.

$300 annual Capital One Travel credit

The Capital One Venture X Business offers a $300 credit for Capital One Travel every cardmember year (including the first year), which can be used for flights, hotels, rental cars, etc. Personally my strategy is to just book a $300+ flight through the portal every year, and that’s an easy way to recoup the full value of that.

As mentioned above, the card has a $395 annual fee, but that $300 credit alone should easily offset more than 75% of that fee, which is awesome. So while the card’s annual fee might seem high on the surface, it shouldn’t really be costing anyone all that much to hold onto.

10,000 Capital One bonus miles on anniversary

Not only does the Capital One Venture X Business offer a $300 credit every cardmember year, but it also offers 10,000 miles on your account anniversary every year (starting on your first anniversary).

Personally I value those 10,000 miles at ~$170. Even if you valued the 10,000 miles at $100, I’d say that between the $300 Capital One Travel credit and $100 worth of travel with Capital One miles, that more than covers your annual fee right there. That makes this one of the cheapest premium cards to hold onto.

Priority Pass membership with guests

The Capital One Venture X Business offers a Priority Pass membership for the primary card member. This can be used to access the world’s largest network of airport lounges, with 1,300+ locations around the world. You can bring up to two guests with you into lounges at no extra cost.

Capital One Lounge access

The Capital One Venture X Business offers access to Capital One Lounges for the primary card member. Currently there are locations in Dallas Fort Worth (DFW), Washington Dulles (IAD), and Denver (DEN).

Capital One Lounges are fantastic, with cold brew on tap, grab and go food, and more amenities. I rank these among the best lounges in the United States. If you frequently travel through an airport with a Capital One Lounge, I’d consider this to be a valuable perk.

Capital One Landing access

The Capital One Venture X Business offers access to the new Capital One Landing concept, with the first location having now opened in Washington (DCA). Cardmembers can even bring one guest in with them for free.

This is a twist on the traditional airport lounge concept. Think of this as almost being like an airport restaurant, with complimentary food and drinks. Capital One Landing is offered in partnership with Chef José Andrés, and you can expect a tapas-style dining experience, plus an extensive drink selection.

Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit

The Capital One Venture X Business offers a TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit once every four years. Just charge the enrollment fee to your card, and it will automatically be reimbursed. Even if you already have Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, you can always use this for someone else, as long as your card is used to pay.

Bottom line

The Capital One Venture X Business is a compelling card that many small business owners should consider. The card has a $395 annual fee, but for that you get a $300 annual Capital One Travel credit and 10,000 anniversary bonus miles, which should offset the annual fee for savvy consumers.

Then you’re left with a card offering a minimum of 2x Capital One miles on all purchases with no preset spending limit, a Priority Pass membership with restaurant credits, Capital One Lounge access, Capital One Landing access, and more.

When you add the excellent welcome bonus to the equation, picking up this card is a no-brainer, in my opinion.

Hong Kong’s third runway project finally complete

On November 28, 2024, Hong Kong Airport’s three-runway system was finally commissioned, marking a new milestone in Hong Kong’s aviation development. This project wasn’t cheap, and cost 141.5 billion HKD (18.1 billion USD). However, it was completed on schedule and within budget, which is pretty rare for airport projects.

Historically Hong Kong had two parallel runways, though in 2016 we saw construction started on a third parallel runway, intended to greatly expand the airport’s capacity for arriving and departing flights. Construction on the third runway, located in the north part of the airport, was actually completed in late 2022.

However, once that project was complete, work had to be performed on the center runway, including leveling the runway pavement to tie in with connecting taxiways, constructing new runway entry and exit taxiways, building new wraparound taxiways at both ends of the runway, and more. The work on the center runway has now been completed.

This means that for the first time, all three runways can be used at the same time. These are runways 7L/25R, 7C/25C, and 7R/25L (the number stands for the runway’s heading with a zero missing, and then the “L” stands for left, the “C” stands for center, and the “R” stands for right).

Here’s how Hong Kong Airport Authority Chairman Fred Lam describes this development:

“The 3RS will significantly enhance the overall capacity of the airport, further expanding our extensive air traffic network and consolidating our position as an international aviation hub. The commissioning of the 3RS will provide impetus for the Airport City development and support Hong Kong’s economic growth. Leveraging Hong Kong’s unique strengths, the Airport City will be a world-leading new landmark, attracting visitors from all around the world and driving Hong Kong’s economic development.”

How Hong Kong Airport’s capacity will increase

We’re going to gradually see capacity at Hong Kong Airport increase. That makes sense, when you consider that you can’t just greatly increase airport capacity overnight — we’re still seeing terminal construction projects at the airport, plus existing airlines can only slowly ramp up capacity.

For that matter, Hong Kong’s passenger numbers haven’t even recovered to pre-pandemic levels, so the airline has had a setback of at least five years in terms of growth.

The goal is that by 2035, Hong Kong Airport will increase its annual passenger capacity to 120 million (from 80 million) and increase annual cargo capacity to 10 million tons (from five million tons). Furthermore, the total number of airplane movements with the third runway can increase from 69 per hour to 102 per hour, so that a roughly 48% increase.

I’m a huge fan of Hong Kong Airport, and it’s one of my favorite airports in the world. It’s also an airport that keeps improving, from terminal expansion, to runway expansion, to cool avgeek features, like the amazing Sky Bridge. So I’m very much rooting for the airport and for Hong Kong.

Admittedly Hong Kong has changed quite a bit over the past decade. While I think Mainland China getting more involved hasn’t been great for Hong Kong’s reputation as a free business hub, we have seen a greater focus on the concept of the Greater Bay Area, where people take ferries to Hong Kong, and then fly from there. I imagine that’s where much of the increased demand for the airport will come from.

Bottom line

Hong Kong Airport’s three-runway system is finally live, meaning the airport finally has three operational runways. In the long run, this will allow cargo capacity to double, passenger capacity to increase by 50%, and the number of hourly takeoffs and landings to increase by nearly 50%. We’ve been watching this project happen for nearly a decade, so it’s super exciting to see it finally complete.

What do you make of Hong Kong completing work to get three runways operational?

What we know so far about Hungary Airlines

An interesting Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was announced at the China International Supply Chain Expo on Wednesday, November 27, 2024. A signing ceremony took place between Hungary Airlines Chairman Duan Bo and Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group Global Sales VP Gao Sixiang, for the future purchase of up to 100 Boeing 737 MAXs.

Never heard of Hungary Airlines? Well, you’re not alone, and you know about as much as I do. Let me emphasize that details are very limited regarding this potential order. This is just an MoU, and an order hasn’t actually been finalized, so it remains to be seen how many of those 100 orders could be firm rather than options, and also when deliveries would start.

The airline would be based in Hungary but backed by Chinese investors, with the goal of operating passenger service between Europe and China, via the hub in Budapest (BUD). The company’s goal is to become a global carrier, though details beyond that are limited. It would appear that the idea is to largely offer one-stop service between Europe and China, via Budapest.

I can’t really make sense of this airline… at all

Okay, so let me start with what I can make sense of. Relations between China and Hungary are growing increasingly closer, because… well the country’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, is quite a guy, or something. So I can understand in theory why Chinese investors would be interested in increasing air service between the countries, and why they’d want to invest in Hungary.

However, that’s about the extent to which I can make sense of this:

• EU airlines can’t have more than 49% foreign ownership, so who are the Hungarian investors involved here, or how would that 51%+ local stake happen?
• If the goal is to fly between Budapest and China, the 737 MAX doesn’t seem like the right jet; yes, you can make it to the west of China, but that’s about it
• With international demand for travel to and from China recovering so slowly post-pandemic, you’d think there would be plenty of options to increase service to Europe on existing Chinese carriers, if the demand were there

Hungary hasn’t had a national carrier since Malév Hungarian Airlines, which ceased operations in 2012. The airline was forced to cease operations after an EU court made the decision that the airline received unlawful government support, which put the carrier out of business.

Wizz Air is based in Hungary, but is hardly a national carrier, in terms of its network. Instead, it just operates low cost flights primarily across Europe, and has other bases as well. Ryanair also has a substantial presence in Budapest.

Bottom line

Chinese investors want to launch a new Hungary-based airline, which will operate flights between Europe and China with Boeing 737 MAXs. There’s not a whole lot here that makes sense, though I’m curious to see how this evolves.

What do you make of these plans for Hungary Airlines?

Hong Kong Airlines resuming intercontinental flights

Hong Kong Airlines is currently a regional carrier, primarily operating flights within Asia. The airline plans to change that as of early 2025, though:

• As of January 17, 2025, Hong Kong Airlines plans to operate 4x weekly flights between Hong Kong (HKG) and Gold Coast, Australia (OOL)
• As of January 18, 2025, Hong Kong Airlines plans to operate 2x weekly flights between Hong Kong (HKG) and Vancouver, Canada (YVR)

The airline states that this is a strategic move that signifies the airline’s transformation from a regional carrier to one with a global route network. Hong Kong Airlines will use Airbus A330s for this route, so the 6,392-mile Vancouver service is sort of pushing the range of this aircraft.

What’s interesting is that several months ago, Hong Kong Airlines CEO Jeff Sun Jianfeng stated in an interview with Bloomberg that the airline wanted to acquire at least three secondhand Boeing 787s, in order to resume long haul service. The airline had reportedly been targeting Los Angeles (LAX), Seattle (SEA), Toronto (YYZ), and Vancouver (YVR).

So now we’re seeing the airline restart North America service with A330s, though not much else in North America (aside from Seattle) is within range with that aircraft.

For some background on Hong Kong Airlines, the carrier currently has a fleet of 23 Airbus planes, comprised of A320 and A330-family aircraft, which have in recent years been used for flights within Asia. However, the airline used to be much bigger… well, briefly.

In 2017, the company began a huge expansion push, whereby the airline took delivery of Airbus A350s, with the goal of becoming a truly global airline. The airline ended up launching flights to the United States, including to Los Angeles and San Francisco. I even had the chance to review Hong Kong Airlines’ A350 business class.

Well, that service lasted for all of a couple of years, and by early 2020, the carrier ended all long haul flights, and dumped its A350s.

Hong Kong Airlines had been hemorrhaging money on long haul flights. It also didn’t help that Hong Kong Airlines’ parent company, HNA Group, wasn’t exactly in a good financial spot either.

For many months, the airline was teetering on the brink of liquidation, to the point that it couldn’t even pay its staff during some periods. Fortunately the airline managed to restructure, and has shrunk back into profitability. The airline has gone from having over 50 planes, to now having fewer than half as many.

Does Hong Kong Airlines’ strategy make sense?

Is there any merit to Hong Kong Airlines relaunching long haul flights, when that effort nearly ran the airline out of business several years back?

I’m generally skeptical, given how poorly this worked out the first time around. It’s notoriously difficult to make money on long haul flying, especially when you’re not the dominant business airline, with the bulk of corporate contracts.

Hong Kong Airlines will struggle to get high yield business travelers, since the airline just won’t have the schedule, frequencies, or existing relationships, of Cathay Pacific. For example, Cathay Pacific flies twice daily to Vancouver, while Hong Kong Airlines will fly twice weekly.

Making money on these kinds of routes off leisure travelers, especially as a non-preferred airline, isn’t going to be easy. We’re back to seeing sub-$700 roundtrip fares from the United States to Hong Kong, and that’s not going to make airlines any money.

Now, Asia is in a weird spot when it comes to aviation, given the extent to which Mainland China’s international travel demand just hasn’t recovered. This is a blessing and curse for airlines, since airlines from Mainland China are operating much smaller international schedules than pre-pandemic.

It means that a lot of travelers from Mainland China are routing through other hubs. At the same time, there also just aren’t as many of them.

To Hong Kong Airlines’ credit, starting with A330s is at least low risk. The airline isn’t having to acquire any new jets to operate this service, and costs are also lower than flying brand new A350s. So I don’t think this will be some smashing success, though perhaps the airline will do okay with A330s, and it’s at least a low risk way to dabble in long haul flying.

Bottom line

Hong Kong Airlines is planning on resuming long haul flights. As of January 2025, the airline will operate flights to Vancouver and Gold Coast with existing A330s. There had been talk about the possibility of acquiring secondhand 787s, though nothing has come of that as of now.

I’m curious to see how this works out. More competition is a good thing, though I can’t imagine yields will be great on these flights.

What do you make of Hong Kong Airlines’ long haul growth plans?

Qatar Airways’ creative request to boost Australia flights

A couple of months ago, it was announced that Qatar Airways intends to buy a 25% stake in Virgin Australia. While there are presumably many reasons that Qatar Airways was interested in this investment, the airline seemed to have one primary motivation — getting access to more of the Australian market.

The Australian government takes a rather protectionist approach with airlines based in the country. This has meant that Qatar Airways has been greatly limited in terms of the number of flights it can operate to Australia.

The bilateral agreement between Australia and Qatar only allows airlines from Qatar (in other words, Qatar Airways) to operate 28 weekly flights to Australia’s four main airports. In theory airlines from Australia could also operate 28 weekly flights to Qatar, but no Australian carrier has been interested in flying to the country… until now.

This is where Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia devised a brilliant plan:

• Virgin Australia will resume long haul flights, flying from various Australian airports to Doha, taking up those 28 bilateral slots on the Australian side
• However, Virgin Australia doesn’t have long haul aircraft, so the plan is that Qatar Airways will wet lease these planes to Virgin Australia
• In other words, this is a strategy to allow Qatar Airways to double its flights to Australia; these Virgin Australia flights will have a Virgin Australia flight number, but will operate with Qatar Airways aircraft, crews, etc.

Regulators have approved this arrangement, sort of

I was curious if regulators would approve this arrangement, given the extent to which they’ve historically protected Australian carriers, and particularly Qantas. Furthermore, there’s no denying that Qatar Airways is sort of exploiting a loophole here, in order to exceed the artificially low limit on flights between the countries.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has just granted interim authorization for this plan:

• As of June 2025, Virgin Australia will start flying daily from Brisbane (BNE), Melbourne (MEL), and Sydney (SYD), to Doha (DOH)
• As of November 2025, Virgin Australia will start flying daily from Perth (PER) to Doha (DOH)

Let me once again emphasize that when we talk about Virgin Australia “flying” these routes, the only thing Virgin Australia will have to do with this is the marketing of the flight. Everything else will be typical of Qatar Airways.

So as you can see, a year from now Qatar Airways will basically have twice as many flights to Australia as it does now, with half of them being marketed by Virgin Australia.

Here’s how ACCC Deputy Chair Keogh describes this development:

”We consider that granting interim authorisation now will allow Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia the lead time to undertake the necessary planning discussions, marketing, selling and system alignment in preparation for Virgin Australia to commence flying the new services by June 2025.”

It’s worth noting that it’s still possible that final regulatory approval won’t be granted, in which case customers who have booked on these services would be protected:

“Affected customers will be given the option of a refund or re-accommodation on a suitable alternative flight at no additional charge and would not be out of pocket for any reasonably foreseeable costs if these proposed new services ultimately don’t get approved.”

“Having this court-enforceable undertaking that protects customers was important to our decision to allow Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways to start selling tickets now.”

Bottom line

The Australian government has tentatively given permission for Qatar Airways to greatly expand its service between Doha and Australia, by allowing Virgin Australia to market these long haul flights.

Currently Qatar Airways is limited to 28 weekly flights between Doha and Australia’s four main airports. Soon Qatar Airways will be able to also use the 28 weekly flights that Australian carriers can operate between the two countries, by having Virgin Australia market flights.

I’m happy to see this being tentatively approved, as it’s great for consumers. This will lead to increased competition, especially given how dominant Emirates and Qantas are with their current partnership.

What do you make of Qatar Airways doubling flights to Australia?

Malaysia Airlines has 20 Airbus A330neos on order

In August 2022, Malaysia Airlines placed an order for 20 Airbus A330-900neo aircraft, with 10 of the planes being purchased directly from Airbus, and 10 being leased from Dublin-based Avolon. The Kuala Lumpur-based airline has today taken delivery of its very first of these jets, with the registration code 9M-MNG. The expectation is that they’ll all join the company’s fleet by 2028.

Prior to taking delivery of the latest generation Airbus A330neo, Malaysia Airlines had a fleet of 20 A330s, including seven A330-200s and 13 A330-300s. These planes are an average of around 14 years old, and the plan is for A330neo aircraft to progressively replace these.

We can expect to see Malaysia Airlines operate the A330neo on flights within Asia, as well as on flights to the South Pacific and the Middle East.

For context, the A330neo has both the -800neo and -900neo variants:

• The A330-800neo has a standard three-cabin capacity of 257, while the A330-900neo has a standard three-cabin capacity of 287
• The A330-800neo has a range of 7,506nm, while the A330-900neo has a range of 6,550nm

The A330-900neo has been much more popular with airlines than the A330-800neo, and has seen exponentially more orders. So it’s not surprising to see Malaysia Airlines go with that jet.

What to expect onboard Malaysia Airlines’ A330neos

Malaysia Airlines is equipping its Airbus A330-900neos with 297 seats. This includes 28 fully flat business class seats with direct aisle access, plus 269 economy class seats.

In business class, Malaysia Airlines is offering reverse herringbone seats with doors. Specifically, the airline has selected the Collins Aerospace Elevation product, which is essentially a rebranding of the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond product. This is the same product you’ll find in British Airways’ Club Suites, as well as in Etihad’s A350 business class. As you can see, the cabin looks nice, though the finishes seem quite generic.

This is an exciting new product for the airline, and represents quite an improvement over Malaysia Airlines’ old business class. The A330neo will also have Wi-Fi, plus all the features you expect on a new aircraft, like larger overhead bins.

How the A330neo fits into Malaysia Airlines’ fleet

Malaysia Airlines should have a pretty young fleet in the coming years. Before the A330neo, Malaysia Airlines’ fleet consisted of:

• Seven Airbus A350, which are an average of seven years old
• 20 Airbus A330s, which are an average of 14 years old
• 46 Boeing 737s, which are an average of 11 years old (these planes are in the process of being refurbished); there are a handful of 737 MAXs among those

Malaysia Airlines used to have six Airbus A380s, but the airline retired those years back.

When it comes to fleet renewal:

• Malaysia Airlines is going to replace A330ceos with A330neos
• Malaysia Airlines has started taking delivery of the 50 Boeing 737 MAXs it has on order, which are progressively replacing existing 737s

A fleet of A350s, A330neos, and 737 MAXs, sounds pretty modern to me. Now, I’m not sure this addresses Malaysia Airlines’ profitability issues and financial struggles over the years, but that’s a whole different story.

Bottom line

In 2022, Malaysia Airlines placed an order for 20 Airbus A330-900neos, which have now started to be delivered to the airline. The plan is for these to replace existing A330s, offering better fuel efficiency and passenger experience. We can expect to see this plane flying within Asia, as well as to the South Pacific and the Middle East.

I’m looking forward to flying on this jet, especially given the new onboard product the airline is offering!

What do you make of Malaysia Airlines’ fleet refresh with the A330neo?

Promotion on purchased Flying Blue miles

Through 11:59PM CET on Thursday, December 19, 2024, the Air France-KLM Flying Blue program is offering a promotion on purchased miles. The accounts I manage all show a discount of up to 45%, which you can unlock as long as you buy at least 24,000 miles in one transaction. It’s possible that different accounts may be targeted for different bonuses, as you do have to log into your Flying Blue account to see what your offer is.

How much does it cost to buy Flying Blue miles?

Ordinarily you can buy Flying Blue miles for as little as 3.05 cents each (in USD), before any discounts or bonuses (the cost per mile is lowest if you buy lots of miles). If you maxed out the promotion and purchased 100,000 Flying Blue miles, you’d receive a total of 100,000 miles at a cost of $1,677.50, which is a rate of 1.68 cents per mile.

Historically Flying Blue has typically offered a 100% bonus on purchased points during a promotion, which is an opportunity to buy points for 1.53 cents each. However, it has been some time since we’ve seen such an offer, and the last three promotions have been for a 70% bonus, a 40% discount, and a 45% discount. So perhaps the 100% bonus is no longer the norm.

How many Flying Blue miles can you purchase?

Those without status in the Flying Blue program are limited to purchasing at most 100,000 Flying Blue miles per calendar year before any bonuses. Elite members can purchase an unlimited number of miles, though there may be limits on how many bonus miles can be earned during promotions.

Which credit card should you buy Flying Blue miles with?

Flying Blue mileage purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as an airfare purchase for the purposes of credit card spending. Therefore I’d recommend using a card on which you’re trying to reach minimum spending, or otherwise, a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending.

In this case the best option is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review), which offers 2x miles and has no foreign transaction fees. Usually the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review) or Citi Double Cash® Card (review) would also be good options for maximizing everyday spending, but the cards have foreign transaction fees, so wouldn’t be a good option in this case.

See this post for more on which credit cards are best for buying points.

Is buying Flying Blue miles worth it?

The Air France-KLM Flying Blue program has dynamic award pricing, though has more consistency in pricing than in the past. Generally speaking, saver level transatlantic business class awards cost 50,000 miles one-way, which is great.

The way I view it, the big selling point of the Flying Blue program is that Air France and KLM make more award seats available to members of the Flying Blue program than to members of partner airline frequent flyer programs. Furthermore, nowadays Flying Blue allows free stopovers on awards, which is an awesome feature.

If you’re looking to book a transatlantic award ticket, especially in business class, it’s hard to beat the value proposition of booking through Flying Blue. Not only is there a good amount of availability, but both Air France and KLM offer solid transatlantic business class products (read my review of KLM’s 787 business class, read my review of Air France’s A350 business class). I use Flying Blue miles a lot, and consistently get great value with them.

What are good uses of Flying Blue miles?

As mentioned above, my preferred use of Flying Blue miles is for travel in business class on Air France or KLM across the Atlantic. Currently business class awards across the Atlantic start at 50,000 miles one-way, which is an amazing deal.

When you combine the overall value and availability for transatlantic business class flights, Flying Blue miles are pretty tough to beat, in my opinion.

While there are some other niche redemptions available with Flying Blue miles, I think this is where the most value lies.

Does Flying Blue have fuel surcharges on award tickets?

Flying Blue does have carrier imposed surcharges (often referred to as fuel surcharges) on award tickets, though they’re mild in comparison to what you’d pay for a British Airways business class award, for example. Expect Flying Blue carrier imposed surcharges to generally be around $200 one-way for a transatlantic business class award (and then taxes and fees are in addition to that, but you’d pay that with any airline).

On what airlines can you redeem Flying Blue miles?

As you can see above, personally I think there’s the most value to be had when redeeming directly on Air France & KLM. Beyond that, Flying Blue miles can also be redeemed on a variety of other airlines:

• Air France & KLM are in SkyTeam, so you can redeem miles on all SkyTeam partners; however, I generally find SkyTeam isn’t as good as oneworld or Star Alliance when it comes to reciprocal award space
• Flying Blue has some unique airline partnerships outside of SkyTeam, including with airlines like Aircalin and Etihad
• Flying Blue also allows first class redemptions on select partners, including China Eastern and Garuda Indonesia

How much are Flying Blue miles worth?

Everyone will value mileage currencies differently, but personally I value Flying Blue miles at ~1.3 cents each. However, I tend to value points pretty conservatively, and there are many ways to get way more value from Flying Blue miles than that.

Do Flying Blue miles expire?

Flying Blue miles expire if you have no qualifying flight or credit card activity in your account for 24 months. You can extend the expiration of miles by crediting any eligible flights to Flying Blue, having Flying Blue elite status, or by having a co-branded Flying Blue credit card.

Note that buying points directly from Flying Blue, or transferring them from a Flying Blue transfer partner, wouldn’t extend the expiration of the miles.

What other ways can you earn Flying Blue miles?

While buying Flying Blue miles could represent a great deal, keep in mind that there are lots of other ways to earn Flying Blue miles. Most significantly, Flying Blue is transfer partners with American Express Membership Rewards, Brex, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou, and Marriott Bonvoy. As you can see, there are lots of ways to acquire points with the program through other currencies.

Bottom line

Air France-KLM Flying Blue is offering a promotion on purchased miles, giving members the opportunity to buy miles with up to a 45% discount. This is an opportunity to acquire miles for 1.68 cents each.

While not as good as the 100% bonus we’ve seen in the past, this is still better than the two most recent offers we saw, and there are plenty of situations where this could represent a good value. There is lots of merit to Flying Blue, especially for transatlantic business class redemptions, where award pricing is generally reasonable and availability is good.

The only thing I’d remind people of is that there are lots of ways to earn Flying Blue miles, so outright buying them won’t be necessary for a lot of people.

Do you plan on purchasing Flying Blue miles with a 45% discount?