Virgin America Eliminates Award Fuel Surcharges On Virgin Australia

Virgin America Elevate is an interesting frequent flyer program given that's it's a hybrid between being revenue based and zone based on the redemption side.

In other words, when you redeem Virgin America Elevate points for travel on Virgin America, the number of points required is directly correlated to the cash cost of a ticket. However, if you're redeeming points for travel on a partner airline, they have an award chart.

One of Virgin America's airline partners is Virgin Australia, which is the airline with the most saver level business class award space between the US and Australia. The only "catch" when it comes to redeeming Elevate points on Virgin Australia is that they've imposed huge fuel surcharges. For example, a roundtrip business class award between Los Angeles and Sydney has cost about ~$850 in taxes and carrier imposes surcharges.

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from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/virgin-america-eliminates-award-fuel-surcharges-on-virgin-australia/

Disney monorail cab for sale on eBay

Christopher Nowak bought a monorail car from Walt Disney World dreaming of the day he might use it to drive his kids to school. But plans change.

from CNN.com - Travel http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/21/travel/disney-monorail-ebay-feat/index.html

What is ‘Minimum Connection Time’..?

Reader Jon Parent asks, I am looking to fly [Boston – Fairbanks] on [American] in June. I found availability for [Boston-Anchorage] only at first saver. However, when I search [Anchorage-Fairbanks], I find business availability as well at the perfect time. I am wondering why [the award search website] doesn’t display all of the segments [to […]

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from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/what-is-minimum-connection-time/

How Do Different Credit Cards Define “Travel?”

Admittedly I spend a larger percentage of my income on travel than most others, given that I basically live in hotels and on planes. Fortunately there are several credit cards that offer bonus points for travel purchases, which takes just a bit of the sting out of some travel purchases. After all, the more you spend, the more points you earn. ;)

What's interesting, however, is that each card defines travel in a different way.

So I figured I'd look at four of the most popular "flexible" travel credit cards, and how they each define travel differently. This includes the:

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from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/how-do-different-credit-cards-define-travel/

This Week In Travel – Episode 185

This week’s guests are Dave Bouskill & Deb Corbeil from ThePlanetD.com. News TSA officers attacked with machete and wasp spray at New Orleans airport Ryanair is not flying to North America Egypt requires a visa, Indonesia gets rid of their visa requirement. Picks Jen – tixchart.com Dave – Sky Safari App Deb – Canva.com Gary [...]



from Everything Everywhere Travel Blog http://everything-everywhere.com/2015/03/22/this-week-in-travel-episode-185/

9 magical lost letter stories

The ocean's not just for sharks and pirates. It's also a place for amazing, old-timey messages in bottles.



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/notebook/lost-letters-magical-9-stories-bring-serious-feels/

Don’t be fooled a sexy six-figure salary – you’ll pay the price

from Elliott http://elliott.org/advice-you-can-take/dont-be-fooled-a-sexy-six-figure-salary-youll-pay-the-price/

An Extreme Way To Express Your Displeasure With Pilots On Strike…

Lufthansa pilots have staged 15 walkouts in the past year, in their never-ending negotiation over cost cutting and early retirement. The situation is getting so bad that Lufthansa's CEO joked that he would hire Akbar Al Baker to negotiate with the pilot union on his behalf.

Well, Lufthansa just finished up their latest four day walkout, and it seems like some of their ground staff weren't so pleased about having to rebook hundreds of passengers due to cancellations. One person decided to take it upon themselves to send the pilots of LH493 (Vancouver to Frankfurt) the following note through ACARS:

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from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/an-extreme-way-to-express-your-displeasure-with-pilots-on-strike/

How to Get By All Over the World Without Foreign Language Skills

Reader TJ asked, Are most people who follow these blogs fluent in several languages? I only know English and would like to know if I could travel comfortably on my own to Asian and European countries even though I don’t speak the native languages. Here’s what it’s like when I travel: My language skills are […]

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from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/how-to-get-by-all-over-the-world-without-foreign-language-skills/

How I’m Flying Home From The Maldives

As most of you probably know about by now, I’m soon headed to the Maldives, despite not really having a great reason to do so. The planning process has been an adventure, to put it mildly, from figuring out the flights to deciding whether or not to upgrade at the Park Hyatt.

Another thing I've been trying to figure out is how to fly home after my trip. The Maldives is close to Colombo, Sri Lanka, which has some of the best premium cabin fares in the world. So I figured I'd just book a paid ticket home, given what a great value it represents.

As I posted about a couple of weeks back, I was originally trying to decide between flying Qatar Airways business class and Kuwait Airlines business class.

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from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/how-im-flying-home-from-the-maldives/

How to Earn Miles for Paying Taxes — Without Getting Killed by the Fees

I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, […]

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from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/how-to-earn-miles-for-paying-taxes-without-getting-killed-by-the-fees/

Success Story: The Reunion of La Famiglia Italiana!

Over the years, we’ve had many readers share their success stories with us. Folks for whom traveling domestically once a year was a luxury are now traveling the world with just a few credit card sign-up bonuses. And the best part? They are sharing their stories with us and others who benefit from knowing that […]



from Frugal Travel Guy http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2015/03/success-story-the-reunion-of-la-famiglia-italiana.html

Flying over the Lindis Pass

Getting a little higher I know that title sounds like a little recreational drug use, and maybe it does, but really it’s talking about this quadcopter shot! I got this one with the DJI Inspire, and I pretty much went straight up, maybe about 100 meters or so. But I find the perspective to be […]



from Stuck in Customs http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2015/03/22/flying-over-the-lindis-pass/

Are airlines about to charge your kids more?

from Elliott http://elliott.org/the-navigator/are-airlines-about-to-charge-your-kids-more/

American Airlines Ends Inflight Duty Free

Apparently American Airlines has ceased selling onboard duty free. Delta dropped duty free last summer. It was characterized in media as a dispute over contract details with their outsource provider, the same company I believe which American worked with (DFASS Group). Duty free is said to be a $3 billion industry, although that strikes me […]

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from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/03/21/american-airlines-ends-inflight-duty-free/