Qantas has announced an increase in capacity on its Melbourne – Hong Kong route, which will see a reconfigured Boeing 747 operating the route 3 times per week from April 2016. The reconfigured 747 features the same basic product that is found in the Qantas A380 aircraft. The reconfigured 747 aircraft have a three class layout, consisting of 364 seats: 58 Business, 36 Premium Economy and 270 Economy. This compares to the existing A333 aircraft which only have a business and economy cabin. The result of this is somehat increased business seat availabilty, as well as the introduction of Premium…
Author: Mark B
The big news overnight was the annuncement that Marriott has agreed to buy Starwood, in a deal worth over $17 billion dollars (AUD). The deal will result in the largets hotel company in the world, and will be managing over 5,500 hotels across 100 countries. The deal is currenty expected to close in mid-2016, and will see a company that has 30 different hotel brands created. From the Starwood side, there is an extensive family of brands including Sheraton, Westin, W, St Regis and Le Méridien. At present, there has been no announcement on whether the new Marriott will keep…
The American Express Essential card is an entry level credit card. Boasting a $0 annual fee, the card comes with a variety of benefits, in addition to participating in the Membership Rewards ‘Gateway’ program. It is probably worth noting that the card appears to be designed for the mainstream consumer. While the card is a useful free card for point collectors, other American Express cards may be better for the hard core collector. Membership Rewards Gateway This is, after all, a blog about collecting points for travel, so this is the angle I will first look at with this new…
Qantas has announced that it will be shutting down its Bangkok international business lounge in Bangkok this weekend. The change to take effect from Sunday, will see passengers directed to the CIP lounge. In an email send to affected passengers, Qantas wrote: An update on lounge access in Bangkok From this Sunday 15 November you can enjoy access to the CIP Lounge, in place of the Qantas Lounge, when you next travel from Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on Qantas. This new access will take effect from Sunday when the Qantas Bangkok Lounge will cease operations. The main flight affected by…
After quite a lengthy break, American Airlines has announced that it will be returning to New Zealand. A new service, operating between Los Angeles and Auckland will begin in June 2016, and will be operated by Boeing 787 aircraft. While a start date for the service has not yet been announced, the timetable for the services are as follows: LAX-AKL Starting June 2016 Departs LAX at 10:45 p.m. Arrives at AKL at 6:35 a.m., two days later AKL-LAX Starting June 2016 Departs AKL at 1:20 p.m. Arrives at LAX at 6:30 a.m., the same day The announcement comes as part…
[Update] Qantas has announced that the Perth-Singapore service will go daily on a year round basis as from December 1st 2015. The additional services will operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays, increasing the year round service from 5 per week to 7 per week. Qantas had previously announced that the service would operate daily over the summer months, with seasonal services being added to the timetable. The latest announcement makes the additional service permanent. [Previous] There have been rumours circulating for several months, and now its official – Qantas is set to resume flights between Perth and Singapore. At this stage,…
[Update] Following a storm of protest on social media, Citibank is now in the process of reversing the change in the transfer rates to Velocity and Krisflyer. In messages being sent to customers today, Citibank has confirmed that the transfer rates that were in effect on 31 October will be restored. At this point, it is not clear how long the process of updating the Citibank website will take, but it is likely to take a few days. [Previous] Citibank has, without notice, reduced the transfer rate that points in the Citibank Reward program can be converted to Velocity or…
Malaysia Airlines has revealed details of the business class product that it will be installing in its Airbus A330 fleet. The upgrade will begin from April 2016, and Malaysia Airlines have indicated that the aircraft will be used for services between Malaysia and Australia, and other parts of Asia. The upgrade is expected to be completed by September 2016. The spacious fully lie-flat seats will replace the current A330’s angled flat beds. The room comes at a cost, and the seat count of the business cabin will reduce from the current 36 seats down to 27 seats. The configuration is…
Woolworths has confirmed that it is removing the earning of Qantas Frequent Flyer Points from its Rewards program. The Everyday Rewards Program in its current form, is to be replaced by Woolworths Rewards which will offer the chance to earn ‘Woolworths Dollars’ which can then be used as a discount at the cash register, The removal of Qantas Points will remove a couple of streams of Points earning opportunities. Firstly, the standard one Qantas Point that is earned for each dollar over $30 in a transaction, and any associated bonus points that may be offered. The Second stream to go…
Qantas has advised that it is set to change the way the number of Qantas Points earned while flying on partner airlines, such as its oneWorld partners, is calculated. In addition, there will be some adjusments to the way that Status Credits are calculated. Broadly speaking, the changes bring airline partner earning into the same structure as that being used for Qantas and Jetstar earning. That is, for the most part, Qantas will provide tables for earning based largely on the geographical regions that you are flying between, rather than basing points earn on distance. As it stands today, the…