Keep Spending American Miles

March 21 is the last day of American's current award chart. Prices will jump, especially on premium cabin overseas travel. The longer you wait, the fewer seats will be available.

US Airways' Management is Making Their Mark

Starbucks Rewards Points Inflation

Buying a Starbucks will be less rewarding in April because the Starbucks Rewards program is changing the currency accumulation and redemption math. If your average order is less than $5, then you lose out.

Starbucks Served On Alaska Airlines Not Impacted

Happy Friday

It's a great day to fly!

I Had A Long Delay at ORD and Took Photos for You

Grounded Photo

Still grounded this month.

No Aircraft in my February

United Airlines 787-900 Business Class Seat

I flew United Airlines' new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from Denver to Houston to start a mileage run last month. I had seat 4A, but row 4 is missing a window, so my window seat was extra claustrophobic.  The business class seats are traditional Continental style, all angled, 2x2x2, and front facing.  There is no first class on United's 787's.  On my 2 hour flight, I was able to notice the seat needed more padding, very Continental again, so it would be difficult on a long flight to Asia.

Seat Upright

Reclined Seat

Flat Bed Position

10 Wide in Coach on 777's

The 777 aircraft hasn't grown any wider since it's launch in 1995, but an extra seat in each row has been wedged in. United Airlines was the first 777 operator and had 9 wide seating in coach. Airlines have since increased seating density and now I'm wary of booking a 777 if it isn't not 9 across. Rumor has it that United wants to go 10 wide with their 777-300's on order. This will make me miss the 747 even more; the cabin is 25 in wider than the 777 and has 10 wide seating.

SWISS Wants Less Room in Coach

SWISS is showing off their new 777-300ER in emails, but I was disappointed to see they were 10 wide in coach. Interestingly, there was no premium economy seating.

Funny Flights

Super Bowl 50 was actually played in San Jose, not San Francisco like the B-roll coming back from commercials suggested. The two cities aren't far apart, but the Broncos chose to fly out of SJC rather than SFO. This lead to some interesting flights from SFO (United's hub and a widebody base) to SJC (United narrow body outpost) to support charter flights after the game.

From FlightAware.com