Kinglobjaw's Blog

Archive for April, 2009

New blog rule I plan to follow based on user feedback- no more airport codes alone in a post. It seems as though certain readers are not an airline/aviation “geek” to my degree. From now on, I will only use airport codes as tags, but I will write the full city name in the actual post. I’m also thinking of adding an airport code lookup widget on the right panel of the blog and/or on Kinglobjaw.com. Just wanted to let you know.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

While certain members on Airliners.net reported seeing United flights scheduled between Pittsbugh-Los Angeles and Pittsburgh- San Fransisco, I’ve been silently, yet decidedly calling it BS! Maybe I was scared? I thought, surely this will mean one thing- US Airways will drop both routes it so desperately promised to retain.

Turns out it might be true. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran the article today. Looking at USAirways.com (both the old and Beta sites) I don’t see any flights on August 18, 2009, but I do see some in Sepetember and December of 2009. Maybe they haven’t zero’ed them out yet!

Anyway, if US Airways goes through with the pull out, it will only mean one thing- now more non hub/focus city routes out of Pittsburgh on mainline. The only non hub/focus city flying from Pittsburgh will be done by US Airways Express partner Trans States Airlines to Hartford/Springfield, Raleigh/Durham and St. Louis. I’m willing to bet those three cities will be soon cut as well. The nonstop to Las Vegas is also questionable, as Las Vegas’s status as a hub as US Airways is heading in Pittsburgh’s direction- more flight cuts. Then again one of the FA’s on my KOA flight last week did say FA’s were told some LAS flying would be added back.

I’m flying to Los Angeles in July, so I’m thinking of creating a routing to somehow make it on the Pittsburgh to Los Angeles flight. This would be to honor the last direct Pittsburgh service.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

I’ve waited for this day for years!

I just had the pleasure of using the new USAirways.com, which technically, is still a beta website. Both the old and new versions of the website will still be on for a few more months, as select customers will test the new site’s functionality. If the new website generates an error, you can still head back to the older version to try to complete your task. Good planning and thinking on US Airways’ part.

Personally, I find the new site catchy and easy on the eyes, but at the same time, well organized. While the site is slow, I’ve found a lot of the added features beneficial and time saving for customers.

I understand this is for select users, but I’ve included a link that “might” allow you to preview the new site for yourself, https://membership.usairways.com/Manage/AccountSummary.aspx. Try it in FireFox before Internet Explorer! That did the trick for me.

All of the reseravtions I made over the phone and on other websites, I was able to see after logging in. If I were to be too lazy to log in, I could still acess my PNRs by inputing my flight number or dividend miles number and last name without having to remember the PNR.

The award booking calendar is well organized and it took just one search to find saver Envoy tickets to TLV (Tel Aviv, Israel) using my Dividend Miles.

The homepage lets me do the four basic things (book flights, check-in, manage reservations and check flight status) without having to use links for more options.

I don’t have photoshop on my Dell Mini 9, so you’ll have to wait before I get back from my trip to see some screenshots. Who knows, maybe by then you’ll get to see the site for yourself!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

I’ve also found the new Hawaiian themed meals to be a much needed upgrade from the previous flights. Kudos to US Airways for this change!

Finally, KOA has no gates, which is what I love! I just love air stairs!

Kinglobjaw says Aloha from Kona, Hawaii!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Just got in to PHX on US180 from ORD. Aside from breakfast, I slept through most of the flight. To follow my weight loss ”regime” I took the fruit plate instead of the tasty, yet guilt tripping omelette. Glad I did.

Anyway, my Kona flight leaves from A13, so I’m staying in the lower A concourse US Club, which is the club with that horrible storm damage that took place here in August 2008.

The furniture here looks very nice and modern, but it did get crowded around 7AM. Now, it’s empty as majority of the folks left to SNA- Orange County, CA. Just looked up the flight, it’s US652, a 757 as usual!

More to come later, so stay tuned!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

A recent discussion on Airliners.net about US Airways’ presence at Chicago- O’Hare got me thinking; how will the airlines and airport authority handle Delta’s move to Terminal 2 to join merger partner Northwest.

I know that Continental will be moving to Terminal 1 to join United, so the the lounge operated together by Northwest and Continental will become a Delta SkyClub. I assume, Delta will prefer to pick up additional ‘E’ gates instead of moving to the F councourse . This makes sense due to the proximity of the lounge.

Since US Airways uses two (at times three) ‘E’ gates, this will surely cause trouble and limitations for Delta. The combined US Airways and America West need more gate space than what pre-merger US Airways had. I’m also sure US Airways would welcome an opportunity to consolidate gates into one specific concourse as walking from ‘E’ to ‘F’ or vice versa is a bit of a schleep!

I’ve been thinking about this for a few weeks and I think it would be best for Air Canada to move to the E concourse, so United Express can operate out of Air Canada’s gates. That would free up F6 and F12 so US could use it permanently instead of sharing it with United Express.

Also, what would happen with Delta’s ‘L’ gates? From what I’ve heard, American Airlines would try to pick up most of them, but couldn’t JetBlue relocate from ‘E’ to the ‘L’ area to make room for Delta?

With the O’Hare’s largest carriers cutting back on flights, it does make sense to consolidate gate space and allow for those who are still operating at maximum capacity to ‘move about freely’. No pun intended.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Two hours ago, I mentioned that I renewed my US Airways Club membership and took advantage of a lucrative offer of 1,500 preferred qualifying miles. Just wanted to let you know I got my receipt and shortly after that my 1,500 preferred miles posted to my Dividend Miles account.

Very fast! It seems to me that every day something is improved in US Airways’ systems. Shopping Mall purchases post quicker than last year, car rentals post in days rather than weeks. A big thumbs up to US Airways!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Just got off the phone with an US Airways Club agent to renew my annual membership. Since I wasn’t flying in March or early April of this year, I waited until today to renew. My membership is now valid through April 16, 2010. Same price as last year, $315 + no tax for basic Club membership. Was a pretty long hold until I got an agent (usually they pick up right away- very convenient 1-800-828-8522 with no menu tree, an agent picks up), so maybe a flurry of new members with the two added renewal promotions (either 2 months extra for free or 1,500 preferred qualifying miles, I chose the latter). Both promotions expire July 1, 2009. RNW15 is the code you use for 1,500 preferred qualifying miles which I blogged about a few weeks ago.

As usual, I asked them to email me a receipt and a printout of my membership just incase they want to card me (by card I mean, Club card, not driver’s license/ID). That actually happened to me once in a US Airways Club in PHX. Luckily I had the printout. Was promised card would arrive within 3-4 weeks.

While I connect in PHX next week, I will try out the re-opened lower ‘A’ gates Club (above A7/A9) which was severly damaged during a thunderstorm back in August 2008. Apparently they have brand new furniture in the Club. Anyway, here’s evidence of the damage. When I spoke to the Club agent a few days after the incident, I was told someone could have been seriously injured. Apparently, just seconds before the impact, a snob had to be repeatedly told to move to a different seating area away from the windows. After multiple pleadings, the agent yelled “Move away from the windows, NOW!” to which the passenger finally obliged. Literally seconds later, a big blow came in from outside and the result was this:

Something's Coming! US Airways A7/A9 Club in PHX damaged after August 2008 thunderstorm

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Back in late February, I mentioned that RewardTV offers free AA, Delta and Northwest miles during certain “Shopping Sprees”. On March 4, 2009, I was able to make it in front of my computer at the specified time and I “bought” the 1,000 miles using my RewardTV points. It takes up to 8 weeks (though sometimes no more than 4) to get the reward in the mail and I just received my reward today!

You basically get a paper certificate with a personal code which you input on http://www.depositAAmiles.com. The neat thing is you have over 6 months to request the miles so if you don’t do a lot of activity, you can wait it out and claim the miles right before the certificate expires to further extend your mileage expiration date! Although certificate rules require you to be the one who claim the miles, you can deposit them for anyone since the certificate doesn’t specify a name, email, account # or any personal information. An educated guess- I believe the same is true with the Delta and Northwest mileage certificates. Here are some pictures of the certificate’s front and back side. (Notice the RewardTV sticker proving that you can get free miles from RewardTV)

The mileage offers on RewardTV are by far the best free prizes. Since all the other shopping sprees offer $5 or $10 gift cards to great stores nonetheless, 1,000 miles at either American Airlines, Delta or Northwest is a much better choice!

Front of the certificate

Back of the certificate- all the terms and conditions are listed

Thanks RewardTV. Keep ‘em coming! I promise to announce all RewardTV shoping sprees that give away miles on this blog, so stay tuned. Would be nice if they also did hotel points.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

I was just going through today’s when I got a call from a Sarah M. from the US Airways Marketing Dept at US Airways Tempe Headquarters. US Airways normally doesn’t call me and my caller ID displayed ‘PRIVATE’ so I have to admit I was afraid of scam at first. I wasn’t asked any private information, but Sarah actually confirmed the emails on the account so I knew I was in friendly “skies”.

The call was actually for my Mom, but since I handle all of our frequent flyer/stayer/reward accounts, Sarah was nice enough to discuss the matter with me. Apparently my Mom is a heavy spender with US Airways and Barclays MasterCard and was gifted two Fall Out Boy concert tickets. Since the concert takes place in Chicago, I guess our location had something to do with this selection.

Personally, I’m not a fan of their music and my Mom doesn’t even know who they are (when I mentioned we got 2 tickets to Fall Out Boy she asked me what city is nicknamed this way?). I’m going to email Sarah and ask if we can “trade” the tickets for some Dividend Miles, or maybe I can remove our names from the tickets and give them away to some of the my blog readers. (In exchange for lifetime loyalty to US Airways, of course!) If I do get to give them out to blog readers, I’ll post more details aside from the May 11, 2009 date.

Very nice surprise from US Airways.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark