United Launches Denver to Panama City Service

Earlier this week, United announced brand new daily, non-stop service from Denver to Panama City (PTY).  Outside of Mexico and Canada, the route to Tokyo (NRT) was the only international route United was serving from Denver so this is exciting news.

City and economic development officials have been working on this route for a long time.  Panama City has been on our list for several years and we've almost pulled the trigger (previous United options would have routed through Houston) on a trip a few times so this is an exciting development. The route will be served by a 737-700 with 118 seats - 12 in United First and 106 in Economy.  There will be 40 E+ seats so 52 of the 106 are "premium" seats.  This will also be a great way to get from Denver to other South American destinations as Star Alliance partner connects to over 30 cities from Panama City.

The is expected to begin November 2nd after receiving government approval.  As a reminder, round trip saver award tickets go for 35,000 miles in Economy and 60,000 in First.  I haven't seen the flight times yet but this route clocks in at about 6h30m so I would expect at least one direction to be a redeye.

This is a great development for Denver and United and I hope to try this route in 2015!

Help Lucky Fly The Etihad Residences

If you've been reading this blog you know that I am a huge One Mile at a Time fanboy.  Ben (aka Lucky) has the best content, posts the most often, writes the best trip reports, etc... in this genre.

If you're read the news this week, you've probably seen that Etihad (based out of Abu Dhabi) has launched an uber first class product called "The Residences."  The product is essentially a flying apartment with three rooms (sitting, bedroom, bathroom) and a private butler in 125 square feet on their brand spanking new A380.  They will be launching the product later this year on their Abu Dhabi - London route.

Etihad Residences Sitting Area

Ben has flown first class on all of the current (and future via booked travel) A380 aircraft operators with the exception of Etihad.  There isn't currently a way to fly the Eithad besides paying cold, hard cash.  And it's expensive.  More than $20,000 USD!

So Lucky has started a kickstarter campaign to see if he can raise the money to review this product.  There are a few different levels of support ranging from $5 to $500.  I am in for $50 because I really want to read this review.  Support him if you feel so inclined. 

Great Article on Premium Seat Design

The New Yorker has a really great article on the design process for premium cabin aircraft seats.  It is pretty amazing that flat bed seats have only been around for ~20 years.  Also that onboard, personal televisions can cost upwards of $1,000 per screen per inch.  Enjoy!

Air New Zealand Unveils 787-9

Last week, Air New Zealand unveiled their brand new 787-9 Dreamliner (new version, the current version flying is the 787-8).  They released an awesome video (embedded below) showcasing the prep, painting and rollout of the plane.  If you like planes, you will like this video.  I don't have any plans to fly Air New Zealand although I would like to fly the 787-9 which United just started flying direct from LAX to Melbourne!

Love the black livery.  Thanks to Lucky for the tip!

Airline Soft & Hard Product Overview

It took me awhile to grasp the concept that airlines actually offer two distinct but bundled products.  Meaning they're different but you can't really get one without the other.  Understanding the differences amongst airlines is especially important when evaluating premium cabin options.  In advance of my post on flying Sinagpore Airlines First Class, I thought it would be helpful to detail the differences.

The first is the hard product.  The actual plane.  The seat that you sit in when you fly and the associated in-flight entertainment system.  The configuration of seating.  The lavatories.  The physical lounge you relax in prior to boarding.  The onboard amenities (i.e. Emirates Shower).

The soft product is the service, the wine, the food, the pajamas, the amenity kit, the food in the lounge, etc...Just because an airline has a great hard product, doesn't mean the soft product will match up (and vice versa).

Singapore Airlines Private Room Breakfast

Singapore Airlines is often regarded as one of the world's best airlines.  In coach, business and first class.  Both the hard and soft product are outstanding.  Before departure, the lounge (The Private Room) os exceptional.  In first class, the seat is wide and roomy.  The wines are top notch.  The service is polished and polite.  The food is unreal.  The pajamas and blankets are Givenchy.

You'll have to wait a few more days for the actual review.  To get ready, you can read previous posts in the series here, here, and here.

Denver Hotel Market is HOT

HotelChatter has a great post out today on 6 new hotels being built in Denver.  I figured I'd pass along since so many readers live in Denver/visit often.  I can actually see two of these projects (The Crawford and the unnamed Kimpton project) from my office window.

Crawford Hotel Denver Room

The Crawford is being built in Denver's historic Union Station and is set to open in July.  Really exciting stuff for Denver!

Delta Frequent Flier Program Changes

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last few weeks, you probably have heard about the changes Delta recently rolled out to their frequent flier program effective next year.  The just of the changes involves migrating from awarding miles based on miles flown to awarding miles based on spend.  So the best customers (from an elite status perspective) will be customers that spend the most on their tickets even if they don't fly the most miles (think business people paying full fare for premium cabins).

This is called a revenue based frequent flier program and for non-elite members, earning rates have essentially been cut in half.  For elite members, earning rates (on an average priced ticket) will be cut by nearly 50%.

I'm not an expert on the Delta SkyMiles program so I'm going to leave it up to The Points Guy and One Mile at a Time who posted extensively on the subject over the last couple of weeks.  If you are a Delta flyer and want more details on the changes, definitely check out these posts.

At the end of the day, frequent flier programs in the US are moving towards revenue based programs. United instated minimum spend requirements starting in 2014 and I wouldn't be surprised to see them continue to chip away at the value of the program.  Once the American/USAir merger is complete, they will likely make a similar move.

All that said, frequent flier programs offer tremendous value and many of you will earn your miles through credit card spend, bonuses, online shopping and other non-flying related activities.  My flying has declined for several years in a row yet I've been able to rack up many millions of miles through non-flying activities.  And doing so has paid for multiple long haul premium cabin trips per years.  So the future of these programs remain bright...behavior just needs to evolve to meet the new industry reality.

Thoughts on MH370

I debated yesterday on whether to post anything related to Malaysian Airlines flight 370, the Boeing 777-200 that went missing on Friday.  I woke up several times last night thinking about the incident and found myself checking my phone to see if there was any news on the cause, location of the plane, etc...this morning I decided I need to write something about it.

I'm not an aviation expert but I do understand that this situation (modern jetliner goes missing) is highly unusual.  An accident of this magnitude with this type of aircraft would also be highly unusual given the impeccable safety record of the Boeing 777 series.  But until we know more actual facts on what happened, theories and rumors are just pure speculation.

The specifics surrounding the disappearance of MH 370 are LOST like.  The track of the plane put it over the Gulf of Thailand which is heavily populated with fishing boats and also fairly close to land.  The fact that no traces of the plane have been located over 48 hours into the search is disturbing and disheartening.

I can't even imagine the grief that the friends and families of the passengers and crew must be experiencing when all they can really do at this point is hope for the best.  At the end of the day, flying enables us to reach far away places and explore them which enriches our lives.  Flying is incredibly safe and I won't change my flying/traveling habits because of an incident like this.  But it does put things into perspective and the next credit card, mistake fare or premium cabin trip really doesn't matter in the scheme of things.

My thoughts go out to the passengers, crew, their friends and families and I hope the search turns up some evidence of the aircraft very soon.

London Edition in the NYT

Given my review this morning...there was a really timely piece about the London Edition in the New York Times over the weekend.  It's a great summary of the hotel, the partnership between Ian Shrager and Marriott, and the way the hotel market (specifically the luxury/boutique) is changing. 

It will be interesting to see how Marriott continues to evolve this brand (and others) with so much competition...especially from Starwood.  I'm looking forward to staying at the new hotels in the pipeline.