This year I branched off into a new form of travel: cruises. After promising never to go on a cruise after COVID-19, I found myself trying out Virgin Voyages and fell in love. I took four total cruises this year and already have more planned for 2024. This meant less … Read more
Alaska Airlines today announced plans to acquire Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion. According to the company, the two brands will remain (at least for now). The corporate headquarters will remain in Seattle. HawaiianMiles will likely be folded into Alaska’s Mileage Plan, with Hawaiian become part of the oneworld alliance. A … Read more
After my Virgin Voyage, I needed to get back to Seattle. I was able to us Alaska Airlines miles to book a one way ticket from Nice, France to Dublin and then Dublin on to Seattle. The Nice to Dublin flight was in Economy (no Business Class offered) and the … Read more
Condor A330neo Business Class SEA-FRA Condor has a new Business Class that I’ve been looking forward to experiencing. For a relatively small, leisure airline, I was impressed with the product. It shouldn’t be compared to Qatar or Cathay Pacific, but it absolutely holds its own against British, American, or most … Read more
Flight Attendants Body Cams on Alaska Airlines? I was on a Friday night flight from Seattle to Las Vegas recently. Out of the hundreds of flights each week, I would guess this flight has the highest probability of having disruptive passengers (Friday night + alcohol + Vegas). One of the … Read more
2022 Year in Miles 2022 was the year of “revenge travel” after 2+ years of Covid shutdowns. Warnings of a system not ready for the pre-pandemic levels of travel came to fruition for some. My international summer travel ended up reasonably successful and without too much chaos. I was able … Read more
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Explained – 2022 Update A lot has changed since I wrote my first version of this post in 2016. Alaska Airlines purchased Virgin America and increased their network especially in California. The airline joined the oneworld alliance, giving Mileage Plan members access to additional partners … Read more
2021 Year in Miles 2021 was the year when travel began to transition back to normalcy after the Covid pandemic. I attended a conference in Las Vegas in July where no one was wearing masks. Later in the summer things reverted back with the Delta variant, but it was nice … Read more
Fire on Alaska Airlines Flight 751 Reports are coming in tonight that there was a fire in the cargo hold passenger cabin of an Alaska Airlines plane at Seatac, confirmed to be flight 751. The flight was scheduled from New Orleans to Seattle, landing at Seatac at 8:42pm where it was … Read more
Alaska Airlines adds flights to Belize Today Alaska Airlines announced details of their new service to Belize City. Belize becomes the 5th country that Alaska serves (USA, Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica); though in 2017 Alaska flew to Cuba and in the 1990’s Alaska flew to Russia. Starting in November … Read more
Do Alaska Airline MVP Gold Elites get access to Alaska Lounges en route to Costa Rica? With all the excitement of Alaska Airlines joining oneworld today, one of the changes I am most looking forward to is access to oneworld lounges around the world. Currently I am an Alaska Airlines … Read more
2020 Year In Miles I think everyone agrees 2020 was the worst year in a long time. Especially for those of us that like to travel. It was the first time in many years that I didn’t leave the USA. Instead I did a cross country train trip followed by … Read more
Alaska Airlines Lowers Elite Status Requirements Alaska Airlines is joining oneworld on March 31, 2021. Some, including me, were worried that there would be disruptions to what makes Mileage Plan fantastic. I think that COVID prevented Alaska from making any changes that could be viewed as negative. This is not … Read more
Alaska Airlines adds Qatar Airlines as a Mileage Plan Partner Alaska Airlines is joining oneworld on March 31, 2021. So it is no surprise that in the future you will be able to earn Alaska Mileage Plan miles when flying Qatar Airways, a oneworld member. What is a bit of … Read more
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Status Extension for COVID19 Today Alaska Airlines announced their extension for Mileage Plan elite status due to the COVID19 Corona Virus pandemic. United and Delta have already released their plans. Read all about Alaska Airlines here. Here are the major take aways: Mileage Plan Status: Current … Read more