Window Seats - From 9 to 4

Good luck grabbing a window seat for your flight. The Boeing 787 has only four windows for the flight deck, the older MD-80 has nine. Just an interesting comparison for Friday.

4 Flight Deck Windows on the 787

9 Flight Deck Windows on the MD-80

Last Flight of a Lufthansa 737-300

Lufthansa Cargo today posted a link to their flight radar map showing all the Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo flights in air.  I clicked on a few flights and then found LH9924 from Bangor to Tulsa.  This is the final flight for the aircraft D-ABXY because Lufthansa sends their old 737's there to be scrapped.  It's sad to see an aircraft's final flight after years of faithful service.  I flew a Lufthansa 737-300 last year from FRA to GVA and the aircraft felt up to the task.  Sorry to see this one go.

Last Flight For This Lufthansa 737-300

Frontier Moves to A La Carte Pricing

Frontier was sold last year to the company that turned around Spirit Airlines and then sold it for large pile of money.  Frontier’s parent company seems to be trying that model again by making Frontier into a new Spirit.  They will still not offer perks to people buying tickets purchased anywhere but flyfrontier.com, but now those tickets come with less.  The full fare Classic Plus is unchanged and now there is only one other option, Economy.  The Economy ticket price includes your flight and one personal item that will fit under the seat. Then, you pay for the add-on choices you want, such as:  1st Checked bag – from $20 (just $15 if you join Frontier’s Discount Den), Carry-on bag – from $25 (just $20 if you join Frontier’s Discount Den), 2nd Checked bag – from $30, Ability to choose your seat starting at $3 on every flight.

Frontier Moving Closer to Ultra Low Cost Status

Frontier's Discount Den (sounds like Spirit’s $9 Fare Club): Together with these changes, we are introducing Frontier's Discount Den, a club whose members can receive discount fees on bags and access to ongoing promotional savings opportunities. Frontier's Discount Den members save $5 off their carry-on at time of booking and $5 off their first checked bag at check-in. Membership is free through June 2015 for all EarlyReturns® members, so sign up today. Then, log in to your EarlyReturns account to start saving!

US Airways A319 In American Airlines Colors

I spotted my first US Airways plane in American Airlines paint.  N809AW was in the US Airways fleet (AW stands for America West, the airline that took over US Airways and now American), but recently received a fresh coat of paint.  US Airways is making very fast progress.

US Airways A319 Now In American Paint

Do You Have 5 to 30 Million Dollars?

Four Seasons would like to invite the very rich, but not super rich to take a trip around the world with them on a chartered 757. The $30M mark is when people start contemplating buying a jet (Embraer Phenom 100 or HondaJet for starters) or joining a fractional ownership program (NetJets). So the target market here is couples that can easily afford the $119,000 a person cost, but not quite pay to go private and avoid other people while completely controlling their itinerary. It looks like a decent itinerary, but there are a few stops I could miss, so I won't be going.  Each ticket includes a Rimowa Salsa Deluxe Hybrid Cabin Multiwheel suitcase, a $695 value; so there's lasting value to the trip.

757 Take Off

Earn Airline Miles With Bing Rewards

Bing Rewards now earns now lets you earn airline miles.  Assuming you are a gold Bing member, it's easy and warns you discounted awards, you can earn 100 miles for 385 points.  A $5 gift card to Amazon or Starbucks is 475 points, so you are buying points at about 4c per mile.  That's too expensive for me, but it could be useful to top up an account or reset an expiration date.

Earn American Miles on Bing

Redeem your credits and get 100 points/miles for your favorite frequent flyer, hotel or retail loyalty program. Participating programs include American Airlines AAdvantage®, Frontier Airlines EarlyReturns®, Hawaiian Airlines® HawaiianMiles®, Icelandair Saga Club, IHG® Rewards Club, LifeMiles, My BestBuy™ Rewards, SVM FuelCircle, US Airways® Dividend Miles® and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

US Airways Paint Updates

US Airways is quickly updating the paint on their aircraft to the new American scheme.  It'll happen quickly so enjoy their good looking planes while you can. There are still AirTran and old United schemes flying around, but US Airways updates much faster.

Soon to be Repainted