I love Singapore Airlines (SQ). The very first 747-400 I flew on was on their route from LA to SIN, and I will never forget that experience. Though the bulk of my family was in coach, my grandparents were in business class and I remember seeing just how much care the flight crew took of preparing those seats. The thing that surprised me was that they took just as much care of those of us in economy!
Singapore Airlines has always had a stellar soft product (the experience), and their hard product (the tangible) has never been far behind. They have recently redesigned their premium economy and it looks phenomenal. To commemorate it, they have also released a sale for their premium economy product to Singapore from New York, LA, or San Francisco. For only $1,150, pre-taxes, you can experience it in person! If I had the time and spare change, I know I would be taking advantage of this. You can experience this new layout on their Airbus A380, Airbus A350, and Boeing 777–300ER aircraft.
If you would like to see more images of the premium economy hard product, head on over to ThePointsGuy.com – one of their contributors had a chance to experience it and they have me sold. I also look forward to seeing more reviews of Premium Economy products as they are a lot more accessible to the general public than Business or First Class products.
Update: Some additional information has been made available thanks to PointMetoThePlane on BoardingArea. Looks like you can use them together!
DoctorOfCredit, one of my favorite sites for impartial deals and financial advice in general, recently posted about a deal offered by Visa Signature for certain members of the Hilton family of hotels. It is the combination of two offers from Visa that might stack for some pretty awesome results!
The details can be found at the Visa Signature landing page for the deal, but at a high level, you receive a free night for a stay of two or more consecutive nights at a participating hotel (Waldorf Astoria, Hilton Conrad, or Curio – a full list can be found on the DoctorOfCredit website and the Visa Signature page). Additionally, you receive Hilton-lite benefits which are quite nice:
Room Upgrade, if available
Complimentary Wi-Fi
Complimentary continental breakfast daily
Late check-out, if available
Daily $25 food-and-beverage credit
The part where it gets kind of silly is when you combine it with a second offer from Visa Signature where you receive a $75 gift card! Granted, they might not let you apply both deals (they link to one another on Visa’s website, but they both say can’t be combined – only way to know for sure is to call and try), but a free night with premium perks is hard to beat. On top of this, the current Hilton promotion is for double points, which means faster free nights down the road. Be sure to add your number to the reservation when making the booking.
Delta is currently running a promotion where you can save anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 miles per award ticket to Hawaii. Note that there is a separate booking option for Delta One than First Class, since it is possible to get lie-flat seats on certain routes! Also keep in mind that while you can receive complimentary Medallion upgrades from Economy to Comfort+ or First Class, you can’t to Delta One.
If you have any travel planned within the travel period, give it a gander! You can see the full details on the promotion website.
Though once codeshare partners, Delta and Alaska have been getting progressively aggressive in their battle for territory. Seattle is one of Alaska Air’s biggest cities, and and serves as a great routing city for Delta to cities in Asia. Since 2014, however, there has been a widening rift between the two.
There are currently two promotions available to flyers in Seattle, though one is available only to those not currently belonging to the SkyMiles program. You need to be living in Washington state to take advantage of these, though.
The first offers a starting 5,000 miles just for joining, and then doubles your earnings for the duration of the program (November 30th). If you complete two round-trip flights in that time, you get Gold Medallion Status through January 2017.
Hello, new members!
Meanwhile, 12status is a program that rewards fans of the Seattle Seahawks that are also SkyMiles members. You can see all that this entails at their website, but suffice it to say, it is quite compelling! Just be sure to do the first promotion first, as it offers quite a nice starting bonus (and double miles through the end of November).
Earning ratesPerks!One last perk…
Meanwhile, Alaska responded with a fantasy football driven miles program. Each passing yard added to Russel Wilson’s stats for the season equates to 100 miles to “the pot”. At the end of the season, three individuals will be selected at random to split it. The nice thing here is that you don’t have to be a resident of Washington state to participate!
While it’s unlikely that Alaska will be kicked out of their home airport (especially now that they are acquiring Virgin America to solidify their West-coast presence), competition is always good from a consumer’s standpoint! Who are you rooting for?
American Express offers are one of my favorite perks for having one of their credit cards. Two very handy offers showed up for me today – be sure to check your cards to see if they are available for you as well!
I’ve also received offers to Asics ($20 back for a purchase of $100 or more), Dropbox ($25 back of a purchase of $50 or more), Hulu ($25 back after spending $25), and more.
If you have any travel coming up – save some money! 😉
Starwood Preferred Guest’s quarterly promotion (“More for You”) has become active. You have to register before November 30th, and you will earn extra points for stays between September 12th and December 18th.
You can find a list of participating properties on the promotion website, as well as the FAQ.
More for You
Earning is straightforward: you get a multiplier based on the length of your stay and if it crosses into the weekend. One catch is that Sunday nights do not count as weekend nights; only Friday and Saturday nights will cause a 3x multiplier to be applied.
This weekend, I had the opportunity to fly on Delta’s new A321 from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, and being the AvGeek that I am, I took advantage of it! (My first A321 experience, no less; doubly exciting!)
I was already flying to Boston with my girlfriend, so for my return, I routed through Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale before returning to Raleigh (yay segments!). The full route can be seen below. Thanks to my status with Delta, I was confirmed for First Class for all five flights. 😀
Conveniently labeled!Longest member of the narrow-body A3xx familyOne of the CFM56-5B powering the A321
Airbus does have plans for both “neo” (New Engine Operation) and “LR” (Long Range) variants. The A321neo had its first flight in February of this year, but the long range variant will not be delivered until 2019. This variant will allow ranges of up to 4,000 nautical miles, however.
Interior
Delta was focused on customer comfort with the A321 interior, and it shows. More images are available from Delta’s website with information on the new storage option from Airbus. My favorite feature? Working air vents. It is a pet-peeve of mine from Delta’s 737-900ER (and some of their refit 757s), so I was excited to have actual airflow! It’s particularly important in the South, where it gets well above 90°F in the Summer.
Roomy!None of that low-flow nonsense!110V Plugs and 5V USB
With 5 rows of First Class and another 5 rows of Comfort+ seating, there is a fair amount of space available. First Class seats are 21 inches wide while others are 18 inches. There is a 3 inch difference between each of the three classes: 30-31 for Economy, 34 for Comfort+, and 37 for First.
The in-flight-entertainment console was surprisingly intelligent, which was a pleasant surprise. I was able to skip through a movie by dragging my finger across (instead of fighting with fast-forward and rewind), and was able to pinch-to-zoom on the map!
IFE Greeting
Auto-rotate optionPinch to zoom!
Overall, this plane excels in all the areas a flyer would look for, offering a quiet and quick ride to your destination. I look forward to the A321 being introduced to other routes!
Fort Lauderdale
When I stopped by the SkyClub at Fort Lauderdale, I knew my flight to Detroit was delayed — Delta both emailed and texted me with this. However, the agent checking me in noted this and rebooked me on an earlier option so that I would be sure to make my connecting flight from Detroit to Raleigh. Additionally, she asked for descriptions of my checked luggage and made sure all three pieces would be transferred to my new flight. She really went above and beyond, there — though I’ve been rebooked like this before, I’ve never had an agent make sure my luggage was moved over. This degree of customer care is why I stay loyal to Delta.
AirCanada Rouge A321
Though this post is about Delta, as I got situated on my flight from Fort Lauderdale to Detroit, I noticed we were docked next to another A321! This one operated by AirCanada’s Rouge service.
AirCanada Rouge A321!Sans glare.Close-up of the Rouge A321
