Tagged With "Star Clippers"
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Re: United's Award Chart: Premium Award Cost Goes UP
I've seen a lot of "award creep" in my days, and I think there's more to come. A "mile" is worth less and less all the time. It's clear that airline miles aren't worth banking for any period of time. Use them when it's logical to do so. They likely will be worth less in the near future. Thanks for the link, PHeymont.
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Re: United's Award Chart: Premium Award Cost Goes UP
Not sure I agree with the "burn 'em" philosophy. At the premium class end, there's certainly been a lot of creep, but not so much in coach, which is more price-sensitive, even for awards. True, summer awards to Europe have generally gone from 50K to 60K, but on the other hand, off-season at American went DOWN to 40K--and with the flexibility of taking one-way awards and combining them in interesting ways...it's actually a better situation. Also, there are some card-linked sales on flight...
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Re: United's Award Chart: Premium Award Cost Goes UP
I think you'll find reward trips from the Western USA are harder to get for European travel than from the East coast. But if your schedule is flexible, you could be lucky.
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Re: United's Award Chart: Premium Award Cost Goes UP
I think for premium travel,it makes sense. It has always surprised me that premium travel is so much cheaper from a frequent flier perspective (2:1) vs economy than when you actually buy the ticket. Just as a side note, aeroplan has recently reduced miles required on some of their reward charts as well.
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Re: United's Award Chart: Premium Award Cost Goes UP
John's point about the ratio between the two tiers is interesting (we looked at that a little in a forum post this week on value of miles). My guess--and it's just that--is that the same kind of yield-management used to set prices has taken a look at this and is carefully balancing loyalty vs. burn... I can't really compare East vs West availability personally; my school schedules have defined when I can travel well enough that I'm able to start hunting tickets 330 days out, when the...
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Re: United, Air China sign up new codeshares
Good to hear. I just took an Air China flight and the airline has some good points for the longf distance budget traveler, like free meals and free video options.
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Re: Mediation for AA/US Airways Merger
This case seems very peculiar to me. I have never understood why what is acceptable for some large airlines - Delta and United - is considered unfair competition for others. The airlines have been growing and merging since the Pan Am Clipper days. Why is this transaction any different ?
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Re: "New AA" Details Dates for Alliance, Loyalty Change-overs
Thanks for the update. It's already been useful. I have a few thousand USAir miles, not a lot but still enough to not let lapse. I've been making the occasional purchase of gifts through their site to keep them alive. After reading the article and the miles merge date I just bought my mother's gift through the AA site instead, the better to see them added to the bigger pile sooner. Thanks!
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United's Award Chart: Premium Award Cost Goes UP
United Airlines has released a new award chart that bumps up the miles required for nearly all business and first-class awards, and (for the first time) makes flights on its Star Alliance partner airlines cost more miles than on United. Details HERE
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Road Trip, More Day 2: Point Cabrillo Light Station
Not quite recovered from the long drive the day before, and having just walked a couple of miles around the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden, had I realized the extent of the hike required to get to and from the the lighthouse at Point...
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Viking: How to have snow on your summer cruise
Every year the cruise-ship companies find new ways to amuse and refresh passengers—mini-amusement parks, sky-diving, Broadway shows and more—but now Viking has trumped the others by adding snow to its new ocean cruisers, starting with...
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August 13, 2017: The Milky Way
A beautiful photograph of a prairie night sky is our featured Pic of the Day, from Pierre Renault.
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BART wants a fast lane to security
San Francisco area's transit system has an idea to speed up travel and reward those who leave their cars and Ubers home.
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Panama's Copa adds SFO, links to 55 Latin America cities
Panama's Copa Airlines is adding San Francisco as its 12th U.S. destination, connecting California to its "Hub of the Americas" in Panama City. From there, Copa's 737s fly to 55 cities in Latin America. San Francisco is a strategic move; Copa...
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Cruise News: the biggest and the other biggest
There's news this week about two "biggest" ships. One is the Allure of the Seas, biggest cruise liner afloat, and the other is a ship under construction, but so far without a name that will be the largest square-rigger sailing ship ever built. Royal...
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Win a ticket on a 'Star Wars Battlefront Bus'
EA is giving away a return ticket Sydney to Melbourne on a Star Wars Battlefront Bus to the gaming festival PAX in Melbourne for 10 separate winners and their guests. The competition will run from September 10th- 9:00am to...
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Gumbo's Pic of the Day, October 3, 2015: The World's Fastest Indian
One of the world's most respected motorcycle brands is the Indian , produced in Springfield, Mass from 1901 to 1953. While the company made popular and fast bikes, it went broke and shuttered its production line. The brand was...
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Aquatic Creatures at the Sea Life Kansas City Aquarium
Join Samantha on a deep dive into the underwater world at a great aquarium.
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"New AA" Details Dates for Alliance, Loyalty Change-overs
Now the American Airlines and USAir have closed their merger, they've begun rolling out more details of the merger planning. Scott Kirby, who was USAir president and is now president of AA, announced dates for joint operations, for aligning loyalty...
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New York Harbor: View from a Tugboat
As travelers, we like to poke around in cities and look for the less-seen sights—but it’s easy to forget we have them at home, too. New York from the water is an example. In this century, we New Yorkers tend to forget how important...
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Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Sept. 18, 2013: Sailing the Seas in NY Harbor
The clipper ship Clipper City passes the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges in New York’s East River. Clipper City carries passengers on harbor cruises, leaving from the South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan. The South Street Seaport...
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Star Alliance: Round-the-World in a Fare Daze
Well, not really, but Star Alliance (includes United, Lufthansa and more) has revised its pricing for round-the-world fares so that there are now 14 different categories, spread over three classes. The big news is that for economy (7 fares) there are...
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Gold Country, California: The North Star Saturday Market
Every Saturday morning, from April to November, residents of Grass Valley and nearby communities make their way to North Star House where the largest of the 3 terrific Nevada County Grower’s Markets is held on spacious grounds adjacent...
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Star Alliance creates themed Round-the-World fares
Star Alliance, whose members include United, Lufthansa, Air Canada and more, has created a series of themed Round-the-World fares.
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Rome's new broom aims to sweep clean
Rome's new administration takes a leaf from the old administrator and promises to have the city cleaned up within a month.
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The Bay Area by "Clipper"
PortMoresby turns misfortune into adventure when, after almost 6 decades of dependence on her car, discovers public transportation from one end of San Francisco Bay to the other.
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San Francisco's de Young Museum
PortMoresby has a good look at the de Young Museum's most recent incarnation in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
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Gran Canaria, Spain
George G escapes the gray cool winter weather of Germany and visits the lovely, sunny and warm Canary Islands.
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United Feels Mideast Heat, May Buy 777x
United has said it's thinking about the Boeing 777x, a 400+ seat version of Boeing's biggest 2-engine plane to compete with Mideast-based airlines that just ordered 225 of them. United's Star Alliance partner, Lufthansa, is also buying some. ...
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Ice Star Wars Opens Tomorrow in Liège, Belgium
Photo from Ice Star Wars Facebook Page This year International Ice Sculpture...
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Stormtroopers (and Wookies and Jedis) invade Barcelona
Barcelona loves parades and the world seems to love Star Wars−especially this year, with a new movie opening just before Christmas. Put that all together, and you've got Barcelona's annual Star Wars parade, bigger than ever. This...
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Star Alliance adds junior partners to extend its network
Star Alliance has begun to extend its reach to more places by inviting a select group of smaller and low-cost carriers to its network as "Connecting Partners." First to join is South Africa's Mango Airlines. The carriers to be added are "friends of the family" that already work with Star Alliance's 28 existing members. In many cases, they may even be subsidiaries of Star carriers, such as Lufthansa's Germanwings. Star Alliance CEO Mark Schwab's statement spoke of convergence between the...
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Want to binge on Star Wars? Fly Emirates
All six Star Wars movies will be available inflight on Emirates, starting January 2016.
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Star Wars uses The Force on Airlines
This is the weekend that no one can escape news about Star Wars; it's all the media, social and otherwise—and TravelGumbo is no exception. Since we're a travel site, that's the focus of our round-up. Last month we reported on Air France's plan to premiere the new movie, The Force Awakens on Paris trans-Atlantic flights Thursday night, just as the film was opening in major cities. The special trip with the tiny-screen film included tickets to a giant-screen showing in Paris the next...
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Star Wars Woodland fight scene to be tourist attraction
Puzzlewood to become major tourist site after being featured in latest Star Wars.
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Best Travel Day ever for Star Wars fans!
Disney cruises has inaugurated its first Star Wars Day at Sea -- the perfect escape for the Star Wars fan in your life!
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Groundbreaking for NYC's 'new' LaGuardia
LaGuardia, one of the nation's busiest but most outmoded airports, is finally on its way to a massive make-over.
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Re: Star Wars World Premiere: Now boarding at gate...
Good promotional idea for Air France, and there will surely be some people who get on those flights just to see the premier. But the idea of seeing a Star Wars movie on a 6 inch screen does little to excite me. I'll wait for big screen release, thanks!
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Re: Star Wars World Premiere: Now boarding at gate...
I'm sure that for only a few thousand more, you can get upgraded to a first-class screen....
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September 10, 2020: USS Enterprise, Vulcan
DrFumblefinger visits this copy of the Starship Enterprise, situated in the Badlands town of Vulcan, Alberta.
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Re: The Final Frontier—a visit to Vulcan.
What a fun post!! I've visited Metropolis, Illinois, but I never knew about Vulcan!!
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The Final Frontier—a visit to Vulcan.
DrFumblefinger visits the small town of Vulcan, Alberta, a town that has morphed into the "Star Trek Capital of Canada".
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Planters in Vulcan, Alberta
DrFumblefinger enjoyed seeing these old prairie grain elevator style birdhouses scattered in planters around the town of Vulcan.
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Three Stories about Cannery Row
Cannery Row today, an upscale mall in Monterey, gives little hint of the other stories that have shaped the area.
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Best in Class at America's Car Museum
One of the country's largest car museums has quite a few samples of the most elegant cars ever built.
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A Glimpse of Maritime Greenwich
London's Borough of Greenwich has a full slate of attractions that have put it high on PHeymont's next-trip bucket list.