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United Airlines’ New Basic Economy Fares Are Worse Than Expected (And Delta)

November 15, 2016By Edward Pizzarello11 Comments

United Airlines has announced the parameters for their new basic economy fares. It’s a stark change from what customers get now. It’s also more punitive than I expected.

More Cheap Flights to Hong Kong, Swimming At The Airport And Marriott/SPG Merger Tips!

The Best of the Rest is my effort to summarize all the travel stories that interested me on a daily basis. I don’t have time to write about them in length, but picked some of the best below. It’s a shortcut to find out what’s going on without reading dozens of travel blogs to get the best info.

Hyatt Appears To Have Abandoned Their Test Of Charging For Breakfast At Hyatt Place

The test to charge for breakfast at Hyatt Place seems to have failed for now.

Oscar Munoz Takes A Stand His Employees Should Respect

Oscar Munoz takes a stand for his employees in a recent Q&A meeting. It’s great to see him standing behind his employees, regardless of how you or I might feel about the politics of the situation.

Have I Lost My Mind, Or Is It The Airlines?

Is a really expensive one-way award flight from Philadelphia to Orlando in economy class a glitch or a really painful new reality?

Qatar Airways Business Class Review Doha-DFW

Wrapping up my crazy trip to Djibouti, I got the chance to try out Qatar Airways’ business class product on a 15-hour flight.

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. […]

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 […]

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.

Clarity On Restriction of American Airlines Ticket Sales in Argentina

There seems to be some clarity on exactly how American Airlines will handle restrictions for ticket sales in Argentina. I received the following information that was sent by American Airlines to ticket agents today: Argentina Point of Sale Restrictions September 26, 2014 American Airlines has implemented sales restrictions for Argentina point-of-sale on our flights to/from Buenos Aires (EZE), Argentina. These sales restrictions do not apply to point-of-sale outside of Argentina. Reservations can still be made or ticketed for travel on American and American codeshare (AA*/OA) flights for departures prior to: […]