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Keith T

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Everything posted by Keith T

  1. Updating... New additions in bold. Updated: oneworld: American Airlines (including American Eagle) British Airways Cathay Pacific Airways Dragon Air Finnair Iberia Japan Airlines Malev Hungarian Qantas (including QantasLink and Jetconnect) Star Alliance: Air New Zealand (including ZEAL320) ANA Deutsch Lufthansa AG Singapore Airlines Swiss International Airlines Thai Airways United Airlines US Airways SkyTeam: Air France Aitalia Continental Airlines Czech Airlines Delta KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Unaligned: Aer Lingus Air Asia Emirates Malaysia Airlines Virgin Blue Now defunct: Ansett BMED - now bmi GB Airways - now Easyjet Impulse Lauda Air Swissair
  2. I was booked on the ZRH-SIN flight in Dec. There goes my 2nd attempt to fly LX long haul..... But bmi DC has rebooked me on LH via FRA... cool Flounges. Could've done LX to BKK of course, but then I'd have to connect to TG to MEL (who I'm trying to avoid on long hauls after some wildly inconsistent experiences). LX seems to be culling flights left, right and centre! Some ORD flights have also been affected. I hear ya. It used to be so easy tagging on a short trip to SIN on the side in between a longer trip to Thailand. With this decrease in competition, prices on the full service carriers are inevitably going to rise. I usually fly CX on this sector anyway, but I do miss the choice we used to have when there was also AY, and LX if I wanted *A miles.
  3. Whilst the employee that filmed the incident should be counselled, I think it is absolutely ridiculous that they'd compensate someone for behaving like an id*ot due to her own negligence.
  4. Haven't thought of much for 2009, except maybe to get my diamond club miles balance down to zero before it changes over to LH Miles & Less...
  5. Find me an alliance that contains members who hate each other more than CX and QF!
  6. QF+MH merger or some other form of tie up to happen, and oneworld membership for MH.
  7. QF is a bigger airline than BA in terms of market capitalisation, so they've asked for more than 50% of the combined entity. Similarly I hear that the QF/MH talks were quite advanced but stalled when MH wanted 50/50 of the merged airline.
  8. I missed the roast goose question earlier - without a doubt you have to check out Yung Kee on Wellington St (around the corner from Lan Kwai Fong). Yes there's a paying lounge near where the TG/UA/VS lounges are. Simply take the train towards gates 33-80 after you past passport control. Can't remember what it's called but there are big advertisements about the place everywhere. yeadrian: The "liver frying drinking trysts" are the only reason why I visit HKG. HKG's nightlife is one of the best if not the best in Asia. The music scene is pretty dull, all R&B and top 40 stuff but they do have great DJs occassionally (they had that dude who plays at The Ivy in London when I was at club 97 last week) and the Fillipino live bands in places like Insomnia and Dusk Till Dawn are a hoot. Pity I lived there when I was only a kid so couldn't partake in it even though we lived just around the corner halfway up that big escalator in Central (well, it's really a series of escalators).
  9. Skip the hotel. Spend the day shopping in the city (escape the madness of Nathan Rd and shop in trendy and upscale Elements Mall at Kowloon station instead), have dim sum at Lei Garden, dinner at Pearl on the Peak, and exploring the nightlife all evening (start at the W Living Room for some cocktails, Felix at the Peninsula for more cocktails as well as a great place to check out the HK Island skyline light show, head to Lan Kwai Fong, then Dusk Till Dawn in Wan Chai or Bass with new found drinking buddies). Back to the airport 2 hrs before departure, have a shower in the lounge and fall asleep onboard. That's my approach for HKG overnights ever since I've found booking a hotel room for just a shower before heading to the airport far too expensive. If you want a hotel room though, the W Hong Kong is right next to Kowloon station. They now have a v good value promo HKD1650 till end of Jan, otherwise it normally costs about HKD3550 which is the usual cost for 5* in HKG but superb value for something like the W. You can check out my last TR which has some pics of the W.
  10. QF/BA talks have collapsed: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle5363067.ece
  11. There ought to be MH through fares to other European cities via interline or codeshare agreements, for not much more than the fare to the gateway city. You could fly MH into LHR and add on BD flights to other parts of the UK for instance as there's a MH/BD codeshare. Out of FRA I'd be surprised if there isn't an interline agreement between MH and LH. Most IATA fares can be interlined with one another. Exception being DL, which bizarrely excluded a lot of non-Skyteam carriers from combining/interlining in the latest filing of their fares. So you couldn't for instance fly BA or LH to ATL and throw in a domestic flight by DL on the same ticket not even if you pay for the DL flight as an add on. Conversely you can't also include intra Europe segments on BA when DL is the major international carrier. Oops OT...
  12. Agree with you on BA cattle truck. Even if i can earn AAdvantage miles on BA between US-UK, I'd still fly AA if i have to fly whY for the better seats. Only reason I'd fly BA is the New Generation Club World seats, and the extremely good value World Traveller's Plus fares. Otherwise it's QF all the way for me, especially with a consistently good to excellent yet down to earth and casual crew, a menu and wine list which promotes premier Australian produce. LH F is also a commendable class act with quite possibly the most diverse wine list I've ever seen but sadly J is worlds apart - thankfully i've yet to experience LH's infamously poor whY product. SQ might have a good hard product but I found their food and wine lists to be rather staid and pedestrian in F and J, and the crew generally overly formal though dependable and efficient (just don't ask them for anything "out of the ordinary"). Of course when you use LH F and QF as benchmarks you end up having too high a standard. Have flown MH a few times and have found them pretty good. The crew is more casual and not overly formal or subservient like on a lot of other Asian carriers. But alas this points tart has to wait till they join OW.
  13. Personally I'm more interested in a QF/MH than a QF/BA. I can't for the life of me see what kind of benefit QF and BA will both derive from a merger over and above their existing JSA arrangements. To comply with the Qantas Sale Act, any merger will just be an extension and formalisation of their JSA anyway. QF/MH... now that's a different beast. If it brings MH into OW I'd be absolutely ecstatic.
  14. Careful now... there're lots of airbus fans around who'd defend the airbuses like you've just insulted their mothers.
  15. Couldn't have said it better myself. This is not about democracy - holding your own country hostage and others at the mercy of your own whims and ambitions is hardly democratic - more like mob rule. Clearly it's nothing more than a cynical attempt by the elites and royalists of the country to seize power from the masses and replace the system with appointed bureaucrats.
  16. Ah... gotcha. I find PH NV a tad too acidic, though most adequate as a breakfast champagne.
  17. Have they downgraded the champagne from Bollinger to Piper Heidsieck NV?
  18. The last line sounds interesting... like the QF/BA JSA. Perhaps a 3 way JSA on the roo route? It'd be a v potent combination against competition from the likes of SQ/TG/CX and the Middle Eastern carriers. I bet you'd see Virgin (both Atlantic and Blue) lobby their lungs out against this. It's fun to speculate...
  19. Qantas has in the past (2001) held talks with MAS with the view of a JV and bringing MAS into oneworld. So such talks are not entirely unsurprising. Note that Qantas did not "badmouth" MAS - it was the Qantas unions who weren't happy with the airline's decision to send maintenance offshore. All a power play really. Media reports have also suggested that similar talks have been held with SQ and Cathay.
  20. Oops... I posted in the OW thread before I saw this thread...
  21. BA in merger talks with Qantas. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/02/business/air.php BA has also released an official statement on bashares.com
  22. Doing a random search, per Sabre you can do MEL-EZE return for USD1276 base fare in Economy. And this is a H fare, a rather high sub class. I dread to see what the yields are!
  23. I am not sure. Sometimes it's possible to go via a third program like AMEX. But you'll lose a lot of value along the way so it's generally not worth it. Didn't take advantage (no pun intended) of the BA 50% off sale? It'd be a great deal if you redeemed in J/F on that deal. If you don't mind flying AA from the US to UK, AAdvantage is MUCH better value than BAEC. You can also go via Canada, Mexico or the Carribean if you really want to fly BA, but i find AA a better option in whY, and quite competitive in C and F. Looking in March this is what I got for NYC-KUL return on Sabre: 03MAR DEPARTURE DATE-----LAST DAY TO PURCHASE 24FEB/2359 BASE FARE TAXES TOTAL 1- USD980.00 429.40XT USD1409.40ADT XT 30.80US 5.50YC 7.00XY 5.00XA 2.50AY 14.10MY 360.00YQ 4.50XF 980.00 429.40 1409.40TTL ADT-01 HLAP7US NYC QR X/DOH QR KUL490.00HLAP7US QR X/DOH QR NYC490.00HLAP7US NUC980.00END ROE1.00 XFJFK4.5 NON END/NON REF/CHANGE FEE APPLIES/ VALID ON QR ONLY VALIDATING CARRIER - QR 1 QR 84H 03MAR T*JFKDOH SS1 1035P 710P 04MAR W /DCQR /E 2 QR 624H 05MAR Q DOHKUL*SS1 115A 150P /DCQR /E 3 QR 625H 20MAR F*KULDOH SS1 230A 520A /DCQR /E 4 QR 83H 20MAR F DOHJFK*SS1 820A 300P /DCQR /E NB long connection in DOH on the outbound.
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