Happy Sunday to all of our travel friends, both near and far! Here are some articles we’ve read from other bloggers (and other sources) that we think you may like, as well, so we’re passing them along.
- On Miles For Family, Nancy describes her dilemma while trying to book a trip to see a sporting event with her 16-year-old son. Points can get you flights and hotels, but ticket prices for special events can throw a wrench into the best-laid plans. We’ve put together a few tips about how to use points to attend concerts, but they can be applied when traveling out of town for any special event.
- Seth writes on Paxex.aero about how American Airlines is looking to pick up the slots for flights to Havana, Cuba that were just given away by JetBlue. The current U.S. policy has drastically changed the business model for flying to Cuba. I wrote that even when there were fewer restrictions, the airlines had their plans for Cuba all wrong. It appears that of all the U.S. airlines, the one that seems to be doing O.K. is American, with their approach of focusing on flights from Miami to Havana.
- No Mas Coach had an interesting take on how not to book tickets to fly on Etihad’s A380. They looked at a different website review and used that as their basis to critique how the reviewer paid for the flights. I usually am in favor of spending your points but I have to agree with No Mas Coach, as I don’t see any normal person spending points the way this article suggests.
- Award booking services are a great service for people who don’t know how to use their points effectively. I used them when I got started and when I saw what was possible, it opened up a world of new opportunities. On View From The Wing, Gary writes about what it’s like to run a booking service and how he’s not able, or in one case not willing, to fulfill every request he gets.
- In the “Not all news is bad” category, Nick from Frequent Miler writes about how American Airlines has removed its $75 close-in booking fee from award tickets. While almost everyone views this as a positive change, the skeptics are waiting to see what other changes American has planned that will nullify its value.
- One Mile at a Time reports that there’s going to be an attraction that makes you feel as if you’re on a plane while it crashes. Think about that. Someone has created a simulator to replicate what it’s like to be in a plane crash. Why? We already have people who are so afraid of flying that they need to go to a simulated flight just so they can get on a plane. I don’t know why this would be appealing to anyone but I guess some people will go on this just to see what it’s like. For me, this is a hard pass.
- Shawn from Miles to Memories visited the new American Dream mall in New Jersey. His article leads me to question if a mall is a mall if it doesn’t have any stores? His review reminded me of our trip to Nara Dreamland amusement park, where half the rides were closed or just missing.
- The Points of Life got to visit the Wingtips lounge at JFK Airport. I was interested to see if the lounge had changed any from our visit there last year. While most things seemed to be the same, I was glad to see that they do eventually remove the garbage and cleaning supplies from the guest areas.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary