Review: Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse New York JFK

I had a commitment in New York City until around 5:30PM, so only made it to JFK at around 6:30PM, less than two hours before departure.

Singapore Airlines flies out of Terminal 4, and by the time I checked in I seemed to be the only person at the counter, as everyone else had already checked in.

The agent was friendly and issued my boarding pass in less than a minute, and also issued me an invitation to the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse, which is the lounge that Singapore Airlines uses for Suites Class passengers at JFK (they use the Wingtips Lounge for business class passengers).

The worst part about Kennedy has to be the security lines. As a Suites Class passenger I could just use the "standard" priority security line, where there was about a 20 minute queue. Add in the fact that I couldn't use Pre-Check, and it wasn't my most enjoyable security experience of the year.

The post Review: Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse New York JFK appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/11/21/review-virgin-atlantic-clubhouse-new-york-jfk/

Personal Journeys: What I Discovered by Visiting Every Disney Park

From Tokyo to Paris, California to Hong Kong, I hit all 13 stops on that magical circuit. Here’s what I saw and learned along the way.

















from NYT > Travel http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/642561/s/40b798ce/sc/10/l/0L0Snytimes0N0C20A140C110C230Ctravel0Cwhat0Ei0Ediscovered0Eby0Evisiting0Eevery0Edisney0Epark0Bhtml0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm

What travelers hate the most about their travel apps during holidays

Testing specialists Soasta have delivered another Holiday Traveler Behavior Study, outlining the areas of peak frustration for mobile travelers. The survey was ...



from Tnooz http://www.tnooz.com/article/travelers-hate-travel-apps/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=travelers-hate-travel-apps

Strategies to Combat Revenue-Based Mileage Programs

The Wall Street Journal recently published an intriguing article about how frequent flyers are looking for loopholes to maximize miles earning when Delta and United’s revenue-based rewards programs go into effect on January 1, 2015 and March 1, 2015, respectively. The article first explains the situation business-school professor Garold Lantz, a frequent traveler to Asian […]



from Frugal Travel Guy http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2014/11/strategies-to-combat-revenue-based-mileage-programs.html

Chase Sapphire Preferred Changes Confirmed, Still the Best Personal Card on the Market

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, […]

The post Chase Sapphire Preferred Changes Confirmed, Still the Best Personal Card on the Market appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/11/21/chase-sapphire-preferred-changes-confirmed-still-best-personal-card-market/

Why Aren’t There Nicer Seats To Hawaii?

A common award request PointsPros receives is for trips to Hawaii, which has seen insane growth over the past few years with Alaska’s (the airline, not the state ;) ) expansion from the West Coast. Quite often people are looking for the best product to Hawaii, and really want a lie-flat seat.

Why aren’t there more lie-flat seats to Hawaii?

If airlines had their way, there would be no lie-flat seats offered to Hawaii. They’d probably fly sardine cans if they could. It’s a leisure market, and fares and service reflect that. A sub-six hour flight on United from Newark to London serves a meal in Economy, while an eleven hour flight from Newark to Honolulu only offers meals for purchase. A little ridiculous in my book, but that’s what the market dictates.

The post Why Aren’t There Nicer Seats To Hawaii? appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/11/21/why-arent-there-nicer-seats-to-hawaii/

Points as cash: How to do a better job protecting loyalty accounts

The early November hack of an unknown number of members’ rewards in Hilton’s HHonors™ program was a wake-up call to the travel ...



from Tnooz http://www.tnooz.com/article/points-cash-better-job-protecting-loyalty-accounts/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=points-cash-better-job-protecting-loyalty-accounts

Just Back: Shenandoah National Park

National Geographic Traveler Features Editor Amy Alipio (on Twitter @amytravels and on Instagram @amyalipio) recently returned from a family day trip at Shenandoah National Park, one of the crown jewels of America's East Coast. Here are some of the high points of her trip in her own words.



from Intelligent Travel http://intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com/2014/11/21/just-back-shenandoah-national-park/

How Delta Is Marketing The 2015 SkyMiles Program

As most of you probably know by now, Delta will be radically altering their frequent flyer program in 2015, whereby they'll begin awarding miles based on how much you spend on your ticket as opposed to how many miles you fly.

Maybe this is old news, but reader Jon passed along a picture he took of the advertisement he saw on the seatback TV on a Delta flight.

"Who says a dollar doesn't go as far as it used to? Up to 75,000 miles per trip with the new 2015 SkyMiles program."

The post How Delta Is Marketing The 2015 SkyMiles Program appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/11/21/delta-marketing-2015-skymiles-program/

Lives: Rules of Engagement

At an Israeli detention center, a secret agenda comes to light.

















from NYT > Travel http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/642561/s/40b67375/sc/7/l/0L0Snytimes0N0C20A140C110C230Cmagazine0Crules0Eof0Eengagement0Bhtml0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm

Emirates Offering Aggressive Status Match Opportunity

Emirates has a lot of Airbus A380s. Those are big planes, with a lot of seats, and they need to send them somewhere. Like Dallas. Emirates wasn’t selling the bulk of their premium seats when they were flying a Boeing 777 on the route. Now they have even more premium seats. And they’re facing competition […]

The post Emirates Offering Aggressive Status Match Opportunity appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/11/21/emirates-offering-aggressive-status-match-opportunity/

The geometry of everyday life

Photographer shoots series of eerie symmetries captured from above

from CNN.com - Travel http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/20/travel/gallery/bernhard-lang-aerial-photography/index.html

Venice to ban wheeled suitcases

Venice has for years battled against rising waters. Now it's facing a new threat -- wheeled suitcases.

from CNN.com - Travel http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/21/travel/italy-venice-wheeled-suitcases/index.html

Things Pacific NW peeps hear a lot

From the Pacific Northwest? You've likely heard these conversation starters a million times.



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/life/7-things-people-say-hear-youre-pacific-northwest/

Trunkster Zipperless Luggage — Thoughts?

Last month I posted about Bluesmart, the world's first (self proclaimed) "smart" luggage. What made it so "smart?" It came with a digitally controlled lock, location tracking, trip data tracking, a battery charger, built-in scale, etc.

They went the route of crowd sourcing to fund the idea, and did remarkably well -- their goal was to raise $50,000, though they raised over a million dollars. Yow!

Call me a traditional, if you'd like, but I just don't "get it." Location tracking and trip data tracking? Why would I need that for my carry-on? And while a battery charger and built-in scale sound nice in theory, presumably they also add weight to a carry-on, and for me one of the most important things about a carry-on is that it's lightweight. But clearly a lot of people disagree with me.

Well, it looks like the "smart" luggage industry is quickly expanding, as a new bag called Trunkster is in development. Here's a video about it:

The post Trunkster Zipperless Luggage — Thoughts? appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/11/21/trunkster-zipperless-luggage-thoughts/