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The British Airways Oneworld Multi-Carrier Reward

The British Airways frequent flyer program can be very useful when redeeming Avios for short-haul flights, including Qantas domestic flights around Australia. But British Airways Executive Club redemptions are notoriously expensive on long-haul routes, especially in Business and First Class. If you want to redeem Avios for something other than a short-haul flight, though, you’re … Continued

27 Sep 2019 British Airways Points Inspiration

Air New Zealand 777 Premium Economy Review (Auckland-Sydney)

Air New Zealand flies 5 times per day between Auckland and Sydney. Four of these daily flights are on wide-body aircraft featuring Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class. In this review, we check out Air New Zealand’s Boeing 777 Premium Economy Class across the Tasman. Flight Details Flight number NZ101 Route Auckland (AKL) to Sydney … Continued

27 Sep 2019 Flight Reviews

Qantas Completes First A380 Cabin Refresh

Qantas’ first refurbished Airbus A380 is set to return to service next Monday with a brand new interior. The airline is currently in the process of upgrading its A380s with brand new Business and Premium Economy seats, and refreshed First Class and Economy seats. VH-OQK (named John and Reginald Duigan) is the first Qantas A380 … Continued

26 Sep 2019 Qantas

New Beijing Daxing Airport Opens

Beijing’s huge new airport, Daxing International Airport (IATA code: PKX), has now opened to passenger flights. Nicknamed “starfish” after the terminal’s distinctive shape, Daxing International Airport has the largest terminal building in the world. There are four runways and construction of the airport took five years. The airport is designed to handle 72 million passengers … Continued

26 Sep 2019 Airports & Lounges

Virgin Australia to Fly to Haneda, Partner with ANA

Virgin Australia plans to commence daily flights to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and launch a new partnership with Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA). Based in Japan, ANA has a 5-star Skytrax rating and is a member of Star Alliance. Subject to regulatory approvals, Virgin would commence daily flights from Brisbane to Haneda from 29 March 2020 using … Continued

25 Sep 2019 Virgin Australia

Jetstar Abandons Regional New Zealand, China

Low-cost carrier Jetstar will axe all regional routes within New Zealand, with the last flights to operate on 30 November 2019. Although Jetstar has announced that this is currently only a “proposal”, the airline is already offering refunds to customers that booked a regional New Zealand domestic flight for travel from December 2019. Tickets beyond … Continued

25 Sep 2019 Jetstar

600,000 Stranded as Thomas Cook Collapses

600,000 Thomas Cook customers are now stranded overseas after the UK-based travel company filed for insolvency yesterday. Around a quarter of these passengers are British holidaymakers. The 178-year-old company operates airlines, resorts, hotels and cruises, and specialises in selling Europeans package holidays to sunny destinations. The Thomas Cook Group owns Thomas Cook Airlines, as well … Continued

24 Sep 2019 Other Airlines

The Trans-Tasman Airline Battle

Almost a year ago, Air New Zealand spectacularly ended its long-term partnership with Virgin Australia. Following the end of October 2018, the two airlines once again became competitors on trans-Tasman flights while Air New Zealand got into bed with Virgin’s rival, Qantas. Looking back, it seems the divorce has worked out much better for Air … Continued

23 Sep 2019 Air New Zealand

Lufthansa Celebrates Oktoberfest in Most German Way Possible

Oktoberfest is on again in Munich, and German airline Lufthansa is really getting into the spirit again this year! This year, Lufthansa will operate flights where the entire cabin crew will dress up in traditional Bavarian Lederhosen and Dirndls, including two A380 flights from Munich to Beijing and Los Angeles. These flights will be LH722 (MUC-PEK) … Continued

22 Sep 2019 Other Airlines

Podcast #20: Are Loyalty Programs a Scam?

The ACCC recently released a damning draft report into Australian loyalty schemes, calling out practices that it says may shock consumers and putting loyalty program operators on notice. In Episode 20 of the AFF on AIR podcast, Matt chats to airline loyalty and data expert Mark Ross-Smith about the ACCC’s findings and recommendations. This interview … Continued

21 Sep 2019 AFF on Air Podcast

Are Loyalty Programs a Scam? – AIR020

  The ACCC recently released a damning draft report into Australian loyalty schemes, calling out practices that it says may shock consumers and putting loyalty program operators on notice. In this episode, Matt chats to airline loyalty and data expert Mark Ross-Smith about the ACCC’s findings and recommendations. This interview covers topics including data privacy, … Continued

21 Sep 2019 AFF on Air (blubrry)

Virgin Axes Samsung In-Flight Entertainment Tablets

Virgin Australia is axing its Samsung in-flight entertainment tablets in Business Class on domestic and short-haul international flights. From 30 September 2019, Virgin says that it will no longer load Samsung Galaxy tablets for Business Class guests on its Boeing 737 aircraft. Instead, passengers can stream entertainment to their own devices via the Virgin Australia … Continued

21 Sep 2019 Virgin Australia