Natural Springs

Swimming With The Fishes. Athens & Paris For Dollars A Day

November 21, 2015By Edward Pizzarello0 Comments

Welcome to my multi-part review of our summer vacation. We spent 12 days abroad, predominately in Athens and Paris. We did squeeze in about half a day in Amsterdam before heading home. While I’m writing the series, I’m happy to answer any questions you have ahead of time. We traveled in mid-July, so right in the middle of the Athens financial crisis. Here’s most of what I expect to cover, including links to posts I’ve already completed: Planning Our Summer Vacation! British Airways First and Business Class Lounges at Philadelphia […]

Did Southwest Airlines Mechanics “Repair” Their Way to a New Contract?

For this first time I can recall, things have gotten truly ugly with Southwest Airlines and one of their unions. As the mechanics union and management work towards what could be a new agreement, it’s worth asking whether both sides met in the middle or the union got the better end of the deal. At the same time, it’s also worth asking if the unions’ actions are worth risking Southwest Airlines’ enviable culture.

Google Flights Will Now Tell You If Your Flight Is A Good Deal

It’s been quiet this week around here. Apologies for that. It was a crazy week of work commitments followed by two of my favorite days of the year, the start of March Madness. I’ve been keeping up on the travel world and have plenty of stories I need to tell. Hoping to get caught up on those soon. Google Flights is a pretty powerful tool for the casual traveler and the road warrior. When Google got into the flight business, I wasn’t sure what to expect. They bought one of […]

DEAL: $1,500 Round-Trip in British Airways’ Brand New Business Class!

In case you missed it, British Airways released information on their brand new business class product this week. The product looks wonderful. Much has been written about British Airways business class by my fellow bloggers and how much they don’t like the current version. I’ve traveled in it many times and actually don’t have an issue with it. That being said, the new product looks lovely. You can see a more in-depth write-up on it on God Save the Points. Now, bear with me for a minute, since I’m […]

Talking About Paine (Field, That Is)

Just a bit more on the nicest airport in the United Status. Hope you enjoy!

AirBnb Fighting With Cities, Leaving Customers In The Middle

Airbnb is fighting cities in multiple areas of the world on new regulations. Along the way, some customers are getting caught in the middle.

I Flew Frontier, Saved $400 And Didn’t Die. My Frontier Airlines Review

Those low-cost carriers always have very appetizing fare sales. Who wouldn’t want to pay $20 to fly somewhere? But, what does $20 really buy you? I found out exactly what Frontier does (and doesn’t) offer customers on my first flight with them recently.

How To Use New Metro Silver Line To Get Between Dulles and Reagan National Airports

People talk about how bad the traffic is in places like Los Angeles with plenty of adjectives. And, it is quite bad. But, the traffic in DC is what I refer to as “stealthy bad”. It doesn’t get the same press that LA traffic does, but a trip that normally takes an hour can easily turn into a 3-hour ordeal. With visiting dignitaries, protests and construction as variables, weather can also wreak havoc on a system that consistently backs up during rush hour. For those of us that live in […]

A Summary Of United Airlines Global Services Benefits

As travel has gotten more stressful the benefits of elite status are even more valuable. In some cases, what used to be free for everyone is now only free for those customers that fly most frequently. I value my American Airlines Executive Platinum status more highly than any status I’ve earned, including 1K service with United Airlines. However, Global Services is another matter. For those not aware, Global Services is an invitation-only status level that United bestows on their best customers. What defines a best customer? Well, United doesn’t list […]

Update: American Airlines Variable Choice Plus Pricing A Feature, Not A Bug

I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with the original announcement that American Airlines was creating bundled pricing that included change fees at a lower apparent cost. Things got a little better when American also announced they were expanding the timeframe you could request a same day change to your flight. And, then things started to get a bit screwy. It started with just one flight I couldn’t get to price right with Choice Plus as an add-on. But, then I did a bit more digging and found out […]

Is Foursquare Dead?

Venture Beat doesn’t think so, and I’m not 100% sure they’re wrong. But, before I discuss the article, a little background on why someone allergic to social media like me became a Foursquare nut. A few years ago, a company called TopGuest came up with this concept where you could earn airline miles and hotel points for checking in at various places on Foursquare. I can’t say I thought it was a terribly good business model, but they convinced a bunch of hotel chains to hand out miles for this. […]