Airline policies often baffle me. The carry-on luggage restrictions are mind-boggling, to say the least. There are no standards and each airline sets their own rules. I was reminded of this a few weeks ago. I was in a mall and walked by a House of Samsonite store. Inside the store were signs showing luggage dimensions and weights for a few airlines. I found the signs helpful, but also realized they were obviously incomplete for those of us who travel a lot and use a broad variety of airlines.
Is one of your mottos, “Waste Not Want Not”? For sure, this is one of mine. One of my friends has this saying embroidered and hanging in her kitchen. It was given to her by her beloved mother-in-law, so it’s really special. And when I’m in her kitchen, it always gets me thinking… especially this past week. Turns out, I had two United Club passes expiring on July 31. I wasn’t going to use them. I asked everyone I knew if they could use them. Nope. Grant did the same. No luck. I had this nagging “Waste Not Want Not” feeling and today the inspiration for what to do with them came to me. I would do a random act of kindness and, at the same time, take myself on a nice walk. I would go down to the San Diego Airport (SAN) and walk up to people by the United Airlines counter and see who could use them.
This could be fun!
I arrived at the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa mid-week in September. The resort is situated on prime beach front real estate and the views are fabulous. 8,000 SPG points were offered for attending a promotional review of their timeshare presentation, so that was a nice bonus as well.
I could have done a separate review of United First Class, but it wasn’t all that spectacular. Sure the seats are wider and there was food service in first that presumably coach did not get, but the seats were not lie-flat. United did have 120V electricity outlets on each seat, which was nice. The first flight from Denver to San Francisco had WiFi, but there was no entertainment system. The flight from San Francisco to Honolulu did not have WiFi and the DirecTV entertainment system went offline soon after leaving the airport, but movies were still available. Despite this being a fairly long First Class flight, one doesn’t get United Club lounge access unless you have a membership or Star Alliance Gold status from any carrier but United.
Domestic United First Class
Hi everyone! Sorry I missed an update last week – I was in New York City for the weekend and was a little swamped. Here’s all the news that caught my eye over the past two weeks:
Airlines + Miles
Aeromexico is starting new flights from Mexico City to Seattle and Portland, and adding new Mexican destinations from Atlanta and Los Angeles. [Travel Codex]
Alaska Airlines added Helsinki-based Finnair as a Mileage Plan partner. [Alaska Airlines]
I bought one of the first tickets on Alaska Airlines’ new service from San Francisco to Mexico City, scheduled to begin August 8. [Travel with Grant]
American Airlines now offers a full refund within 24 hours of purchase if a flight is booked at least 2 days before departure (previously it was 7 days). [Travel Codex]
Earlier this morning, Gary at View from the Wing wrote: LEAKED: United Bringing Ice Cream Sundaes Back to International Business Class (in Paper Bowls). This post came at the perfect time since I just had a first hand experience with this. Here’s what happened.
On my United flight from Rome (FCO) to San Francisco (SFO), I flew United first class. My cousin was experiencing this level of service for the first time, and I got her all excited about United’s ice cream sundaes. In fact, we skipped the cheese offerings, to have room for our sundaes. The flight attendant came around with the dessert cart, but I knew something was missing.
I saw some very unappetizing macaroons and a dixie cup of ice cream. What, no sundaes?? Or course I asked her about this, and she gave me some strange answer about the bowls not working well. What the heck does a “bowl not working well” even mean? Can’t they find bowls that know how to work??
