If the arrival side of the ‘new’ Velana International Airport (MLE) is about relief (see Part 1 here), the departure side is where Terminal 1 genuinely starts to feel like a modern international aviation hub.

Say goodbye to the soul-crushing check-in queues of the legacy terminal where passengers used to spill out onto the curbside pavement in the stifling Maldivian heat. Heading back out through Terminal 1 transforms the end of your trip from a logistical headache into a smooth, air-conditioned send-off.

A Check-In Journey

Approaching the new terminal by road (or boat) sets a different tone, with sweeping structural lines and a sleek, contemporary façade that looks like sand, shells, and waves. When you step inside, the vast scale of the departures hall opens up beneath soaring white wave-patterned ceilings and huge glass walls that filter in natural light.

With 47 check-in desks now available, lines move significantly faster than they used to. Once you clear security and make your way airside, the journey through the terminal feels bright and deliberate:

• The Duty-Free Tunnel: One of the most striking visual features of the new departure concourse is the glowing, high-tech blue digital tunnel leading you directly into the main retail and duty-free areas. It gives off major futuristic airport vibes. (I’d give it a ‘Yowzers!’ if I could.)
• Other Services & Gates: There are ample amenities in the new terminal, like a dining area with food for purchase (local and international chains), a prayer room, smoking room, currency exchange, room for nursing mothers, ample clean public restrooms, etc. At the time, there were gates A1-8 (actual jet-bridges), and B1-3 (buses). Ideally, you get lucky and get to experience the new gates!
• Local Identity: Unlike generic airport architecture anywhere in the world, Terminal 1 peppers in thoughtful Maldivian design elements — including minimalist wall maps outlining the island atolls and regional boutique displays showcasing local craftsmanship right alongside high-end retail. (Personally, I’m a huge fan of the boutique ‘Authentic Maldives,’ which sells these relatively affordable — USD 55 when I was there — yet stylish necklaces, including manta rays and sea turtles with different colors. Kind of nice to collect a new one for each visit to the country, or to gift them to others. Just an idea. *wink*)

The Koveli Lounge: A Massive Upgrade (With A Catch)

If you are flying business or first class — or hold qualifying elite status with carriers like Qatar Airways (oneworld Sapphire/Emerald), Emirates (Gold/Platinum), Virgin Atlantic (SkyTeam Elite Plus), or Singapore Airlines (Star Alliance Gold) — your departure will likely route you to the new Koveli Lounge, located airside near Gate A4. Just a YMMV note here, as airlines treat status and access differently.

Compared to the Leeli Lounge of the old terminal, Koveli is simply stunning:

• The Space: Spanning over 1,200 square meters, the lounge offers plenty of breathing room with modern seating, dedicated quiet areas, a kids’ play zone, international outlet adapters, and relatively stable Wi-Fi.
• The Showers: Prepping for an overnight journey across multiple time zones, the somewhat small shower suites are refreshing after a humid transfer day from your resort. (Better than the lack of a shower at Leeli before.)
• Slight Catch: Still, I’d manage your expectations. First, it is not currently a Priority Pass lounge, so while there are fewer crowds, it’s ‘not great, not terrible’ if that was your only way in there. Second, due to local regulations and customs, there is no alcohol, so celebratory end-of-trip cocktails will have to wait for later. Finally, the food did not look that appetizing to me, so I held off. Perhaps, after a week of delicious seafood in the Maldives, you can wait until the meal on your flight. Then again, as I like to say, ‘you do you.’ Bah!

Bottom Line

Leaving paradise used to be universally painful, mostly because the old MLE airport infrastructure felt like it was stuck half a century behind the world-class resorts it served. Terminal 1 finally bridges that gap.

Between the spacious check-in flow, the modern airside design, and a proper contract lounge like Koveli, the administrative bookend of a Maldives vacation is no longer something to dread.

The catch is, spending requirements to earn credit card bonuses can vary massively. Some bonuses require making a single purchase, while others may require spending tens of thousands of dollars. For some people, achieving a credit card spending requirement can be challenging. So in this post, I’d like to share some general tips for unlocking the spending requirements on credit cards with (relative) ease.

How to boost your credit card spending, earn bonuses

Okay, admittedly there’s no magic to boosting your credit card spending, and the most obvious thing you can do is to simply shift all your everyday spending to a particular card. Still, I figured I’d share how I’d go about planning credit card applications and approaching minimum spending requirements, plus some creative ways to boost your spending potential.

If you’re experienced in miles & points, then all of these tips will probably be obvious. However, for newbies, hopefully there’s at least something a little useful. With that in mind, here are some thoughts, in no particular order…

Time your credit card applications strategically

While you absolutely can apply for multiple credit cards in a day, I always recommend timing your applications carefully in terms of ensuring that you can complete a minimum spending requirement.

One reason to space out credit card applications is so that you can consistently be working toward a spending requirement. Similarly, if you know you have big purchases coming up, you might want to pick up a few cards prior to that, so that you can knock out multiple spending requirements easily.

Credit card minimum spending requirements to unlock bonuses vary massively, so this strategy would be very different if you have a $1,000 minimum spending requirement, rather than a $30,000 spending requirement, for example. Beyond welcome bonuses, the same principle applies when deciding on the best credit cards for large purchases.

Don’t overspend just to reach a spending requirement

Credit cards can unlock incredible rewards that otherwise might not be accessible. However, always use credit cards responsibly, and don’t “waste” money just to be able to reach a minimum spending requirement.

Now, I think there’s potentially merit to prepaying some expenses in order to unlock a bonus, assuming you are in a position to do that, and the opportunity cost of the money isn’t too high (there are savings accounts offering high interest rates).

But still, just as you generally shouldn’t finance charges on credit cards, you also don’t want to waste money just to earn credit card bonuses.

Pay your taxes by credit card when possible

The single way that I generate the most points from my credit card spending is by paying my taxes by credit card. For those of us who are self-employed or who are in a position to pay quarterly taxes by credit card, this is an amazing opportunity. You can pay taxes for a fee of under 2%, and earn great rewards in return. I find this to be worthwhile even if you’re not going for a minimum spending requirement.

If you’re a homeowner, you can often also pay your property taxes by credit card for a fee, and that could be well worth it. Even if the fee is in the range of 2-3%, this could make a lot of sense if it would help you unlock a credit card bonus that you couldn’t otherwise qualify for.

Pre-pay recurring expenses (insurance, utilities, etc.)

Admittedly this will depend on your specific situation, but many people don’t realize that it’s possible to pay things like insurance and utilities by credit card. Not only can you often pay them by credit card, but you can even pre-pay these expenses, and in some cases, can even get a discount for paying in advance.

For example, a while back I was in a bind to complete a minimum spending requirement, so I pre-paid some health insurance premiums for a few months.

Buy gift cards for businesses you frequent

If you’re struggling to come up with other ways to reach a spending requirement, then there’s merit to buying gift cards, whether it’s for your local supermarket, gas station, or favorite restaurant.

Heck, nowadays I’d say there’s even another good strategy. With airlines not having change fees on most kinds of tickets, you could buy a ticket with an airline you fly frequently, and then bank that credit toward future flights. With most airlines, you typically have at least a year to use a credit. If you’re a frequent flyer with a particular airline, I’d consider that money to basically be good as cash.

Pay your rent or mortgage by credit card

In most cases it might not be possible to pay rent or a mortgage directly by credit card. While this is an area where Bilt is innovative, it’s not the only way you can use these large expenses to generate credit card spending.

There are also bill pay services like Plastiq, which let you pay many kinds of bills by credit card for a fee, and then they’ll send a check or wire on your behalf, and charge to your credit card. There are often terms and restrictions associated with this, so it’s something you’ll want to look into more closely if interested.

Add authorized users, ask others for help

There’s no shame in asking others for help sometimes, and I think reaching a credit card minimum spending requirement is a perfectly okay area to ask people you’re close to for help. 😉 You can approach this in a couple of ways.

For one, you can always add family members or close friends as authorized users, and their purchases will count toward your minimum spending requirement on a credit card (of course you’re also on the hook for the bill). Beyond that, if you’re going to dinner or planning something else with friends that’s costly, see if they’ll let you put the purchase on your card, and then they can pay you back via Venmo, or in some other way.

Bottom line

Credit card welcome bonuses are some of the best way to rack up miles & points quickly. In some cases, the spending requirements can be significant, though the rewards can be equally big.

If you struggle to reach credit card minimum spending requirements under normal circumstances, I recommend applying for cards around the time that you know you’ll have big expenses. Even beyond that, there are plenty of ways to boost your spending, from paying taxes by credit card, to buying gift cards for businesses you frequent.

Just be responsible, and don’t spend more money in the long run than you’d otherwise spend…

What’s your approach to reaching big credit card minimum spending requirements?

They share nearly every feature except one: the Blue Business Plus earns 2x Membership Rewards points, while the Blue Business Cash earns 2% cash back. Both have no annual fee, both cap that bonus rate at the first $50,000 in spending per calendar year (then you earn 1x points or 1% cash back), and both come with the standard set of Amex business card perks.

Because neither card has an annual fee, the “is it worth it” question is essentially trivial for both, as there’s not really much downside to getting either card. The more useful question is the one this post is actually built around: which one should you get?

Link: Learn more about The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express or The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card

What both Amex Blue Business cards offer for August 2026

Before getting into what makes the two cards different, here’s the shared foundation that applies to both the Amex Blue Business Plus and the Amex Blue Business Cash:

• No annual fee on either card (Rates & Fees) (Rates & Fees), with no extra cost for adding authorized users
• 2x/2% earning on the first $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1x/1% thereafter — same cap, same drop-off, same “in any category” simplicity (the cards just denominate that earning differently)
• A welcome offer worth claiming — the Blue Business Plus offers 15,000 Membership Rewards® points after spending $3,000 in eligible purchases within the first three months; the Blue Business Cash offers a $250 statement credit after the same $3,000 in three months
• Intro APR on purchases for 12 months from account opening, on both cards — useful if you have a large business expense to pay down over time, with the standard caveat to clear it before the variable APR kicks in
• Expanded buying power — both cards let you spend above your credit limit on a pre-approved basis, a useful feature for businesses with occasional large expenses that’s specific to Amex business cards
• Access to Amex Offers — targeted savings and bonus points promotions across major retailers, hotel groups, and airlines that have saved me hundreds of dollars a year and are one of the more underrated reasons to hold any Amex card
• 2.7% foreign transaction fees on both — these aren’t cards to use abroad; route foreign spending to a no foreign transaction fee card instead

On eligibility, both cards follow the standard Amex business card rules: you can typically be approved for at most two Amex cards in a 90-day period, and you can have at most five Amex credit cards at any one time (not counting charge cards or hybrid cards). One genuinely useful quirk for points strategists is that applying for an Amex business card doesn’t count toward Chase’s 5/24 limit, so picking up either of these cards won’t materially impact your future approval odds at Chase.

Amex Blue Business Plus: who it’s actually for

The Amex Blue Business Plus is the version that earns 2x Membership Rewards points on the first $50,000 spent per calendar year (then 1x points thereafter). I value Membership Rewards points at 1.7 cents each, which makes the effective return on the bonus 3.4% — exceptional for a card with no annual fee.

The structural point that makes the Blue Business Plus more than just a high-earning everyday card: Membership Rewards points can be transferred to Amex airline and hotel partners. There aren’t any other no annual fee Amex cards that are open to new cardmembers that get you enrolled in the “full” Membership Rewards program. That makes it one of the most valuable “permanent wallet” cards in the Amex ecosystem, because:

• It anchors your Membership Rewards balance even if you eventually cancel premium cards like the Amex Platinum or Amex Gold — the points stay yours, and you can keep earning at 2x
• It accelerates your earning if you do hold a hub card — 2x in any category up to $50K is genuinely set-it-and-forget-it, and stacks alongside the bonus categories on the Amex Gold or Amex Platinum
• If your business spending doesn’t cleanly fit the rotating bonus categories on the Amex Business Gold (which is category-flexible but more complex) or the perks-driven Amex Business Platinum, the Blue Business Plus is the cleanest way to earn Membership Rewards points on the broadest possible base of business spending

The major caveat is the $50,000 cap. On spending above that threshold within a calendar year, you drop to 1x points — at which point a different card (more on alternatives below) becomes the better choice. For most small businesses, $50K is well above what they’d put on a single card, so the cap isn’t binding. For heavier spenders, it’s a real ceiling worth planning around.

Personally, I’ve had the Amex Blue Business Plus for around a decade at this point. However, at the moment it’s not a card that I’m spending a lot on. That’s because I’ve shifted most of my non-bonused spending to the Bilt Palladium Card (learn more), given that it also offers 2x points, but with no caps, and you also earn 4% Bilt Cash spending. Admittedly, though, I’m putting business spending on a personal card, and then reimbursing myself.

Amex Blue Business Cash: who it’s actually for

The Amex Blue Business Cash is the version that earns 2% cash back on the first $50,000 in purchases per calendar year (then 1% cash back thereafter), automatically credited to your statement each billing cycle. There’s no points conversion, no transfer partners, and no learning curve — this is just straight cash back.

The case for the Blue Business Cash over the Blue Business Plus comes down to three primary situations:

• You explicitly don’t want to manage a points balance. Some small business owners just want simple, predictable rewards they can apply against the statement. That’s a perfectly valid preference, and the Cash delivers on it without any of the complexity that comes with redeeming points through transfer partners.
• You’re not actually good at redeeming Amex points. Transferable points currencies can unlock all kinds of amazing redemption values, especially for premium cabin travel. The thing is, there’s a huge learning curve to getting good at redeeming points. I’d imagine a majority of Amex cardmembers redeem their points sub-optimally, and many even use them for gift cards or statement credits, earning well under a cent per point. If you’re one of those people, you should get the Blue Business Cash rather than the Blue Business Plus.
• Your business needs cash-flow predictability. A statement credit hitting every billing cycle is more useful for cash management than a points balance that has to be redeemed later.

2% cash back on the first $50,000 is a solid floor for any no annual fee business card (Rates & Fees), and for someone in any of the three situations above, the Blue Business Cash is the right pick. Personally, I have a strong preference for earning 2x Membership Rewards points rather than 2% cash back — but that preference assumes you’re set up to actually get more than one cent of value per point, which not everyone is.

Amex Blue Business Plus vs. Cash: which one I’d actually pick

Here’s the head-to-head on the Amex Blue Business Plus vs. the Amex Blue Business Cash, with the framing I’d use to decide:

• Get the Blue Business Plus if you value Membership Rewards points, and are good at redeeming them. It’s definitely possible to get way over one cent of value per point if you know what you’re doing, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, you may get significantly less value than that.
• Get the Blue Business Cash if you don’t want to deal with points redemptions, or you’d value the cash flow predictability of a statement credit over the value of points. 2% cash back is a defensible floor, and there’s no friction to using it.
• Consider both if you’re a heavier business spender and want to double up your bonus earning headroom — Amex allows you to hold both cards, so you’d effectively get the 2x/2% rate on the first $100,000 per calendar year combined, rather than just $50,000 on one. This is niche but real for the right business.

My position is that for the typical OMAAT reader — someone optimizing for travel rewards and likely already in the Amex points ecosystem — the Blue Business Plus is the obvious pick, and the Blue Business Cash is a backup option for the specific cases above. The Plus is one of the few cards I’d say almost anyone who is eligible should consider holding.

Where both cards fall short

To be fair to both the Amex Blue Business Plus and Amex Blue Business Cash, here are some of the caveats that apply to each:

• The $50,000 calendar year cap. Above that threshold, you’re earning 1x or 1% on additional spending, which isn’t competitive — the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (learn more) at 1.5x points flat, the Capital One Venture X Business (learn more) at 2x miles flat, or the American Express® Business Gold Card (learn more) for category aligned spend, all become more attractive once you hit the cap on either Blue Business card
• Amex acceptance is narrower than Visa or Mastercard, particularly internationally and at smaller U.S. merchants. Combined with the 2.7% foreign transaction fees, these are emphatically not your travel card — keep them for domestic, non-bonused business spending only.
• Neither is a “premium” card. “Plus” in the name might suggest something elevated, but these are entry-level cards — they don’t compete with the Amex Business Gold for bonus-category earning, or the Amex Business Platinum for perks. Treat them as foundational, not flagship.

Bottom line

The Amex Blue Business cards are two of the easiest “worth it” calls in the business card market — both have no annual fee, both earn 2x points or 2% cash back on the first $50,000 in calendar year purchases, and both come with the Amex business card perks that make them genuinely useful long term holds. The choice between them really is just about whether you’d rather earn Membership Rewards points or cash back.

• Amex Blue Business Plus: the right pick if you’re in (or plan to be in) the Membership Rewards ecosystem. Earning 2x points on $50K per year of spending, with transfer partner access, makes it one of the most valuable no annual fee cards in the Amex lineup, and one of the few cards I’d recommend almost anyone eligible should hold.
• Amex Blue Business Cash: the right pick if you specifically prefer cash back, don’t have a hub card, or want statement credit simplicity over points optionality. 2% cash back on $50K per year of spending with no complexity is hard to argue against for the cashback-first business owner.

Personally, I hold the Blue Business Plus and have for years, since I value Amex points at well over a cent each. However, in fairness, it’s not a card I’m actually putting much spending on nowadays, just due to the other cards I have (which do have annual fees).

If you have an Amex Blue Business card, which version do you have, and how has it performed for your spending?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Rates & Fees), and The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card (Rates & Fees).

Park Hyatt Comporta, Portugal, opening 2029

Hyatt and Portuguese real estate developer Coporgest have entered into an agreement for the development, branding, and operation, of Park Hyatt Comporta and Park Hyatt Comporta Residences, expected to open in 2029.

This will be the first Park Hyatt property in Portugal, with Comporta being a coastal destination in the Alentejo region, within an hour drive of Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS).

Park Hyatt Comporta is currently proposed to include 58 guest rooms and suites, along with six two-bedroom villas and 22 residences, which will be fully serviced, with access to all the amenities and services of the resort.

Current plans also encompass swimming pools, a wellness space with a fitness center and padel court, a kids club, and a collection of restaurants. The hotel will be adjacent to the Troia Golf Course, and a 20-minute ride from four other courses.

It’s worth noting that within the wider Comporta Beach Resort complex, a further 31 villas and 49 apartments will form the Luxury Beach Residents by Corporgest, and those will be marketed and operated by Coporgest. These will be available for private ownership, with owners benefiting from the services and amenities of the Park Hyatt.

This looks like a pretty nice new Park Hyatt!

As of now I don’t have terribly strong opinions on this resort. Portugal is a beautiful country with a lot to offer, though I’m not usually a huge fan of these resort and home ownership complexes with golf courses and all that fun stuff. It reminds me a bit of the Park Hyatt Marrakech, which is also in a larger complex with a golf course… these aren’t really “destination” resorts.

Personally I wouldn’t count on this project opening anywhere close to on schedule. When we’re talking about projects a few years out, don’t be surprised if there are major delays, or if the project even gets rebranded before opening.

I’ve historically been a big fan of the Park Hyatt brand, but there’s no denying that it’s losing steam in terms of growth and quality. It just seems that unlike with brands like Waldorf Astoria, so much of the Park Hyatt expansion as of late falls short of what you’d expect from a “flagship” brand, like the Park Hyatt London River Thames (which is nice, but has a location that leaves a lot to be desired).

In terms of upcoming properties, we have the Park Hyatt Riviera Maya (which will be all-inclusive, oddly), the Park Hyatt Vancouver (a conversion of an existing hotel), the Park Hyatt Phu Quoc (which has been delayed by eons), the Park Hyatt Mexico City (which I look forward to), and the Park Hyatt Taormina (it’s cool to get a Park Hyatt in Sicily, but the location isn’t good).

Bottom line

The newest location for the Park Hyatt brand has just been announced, and we can expect a property to open in Comporta, Portugal, in 2029. This will be part of a larger beach project, which will include a bunch of residences, some of which will be Park Hyatt branded (while others won’t be).

I’m always happy to see luxury points hotel brands expanding. I look forward to learning more details, because there’s not much as of now…

What do you make of plans for Portugal’s first Park Hyatt?

Details of United’s long haul route expansion for 2027

United Airlines has just announced its long haul route expansion for 2027, which the airline is describing as its largest expansion in history. With this, we’re seeing the airline add service to 10 all-new destinations, eight of which aren’t served by any US airlines. On top of that, the airline is adding four new routes to existing long haul destinations.

The reason we’re seeing such a big expansion this year is because United is taking delivery of a lot of new long haul aircraft. Specifically, the airline is taking delivery of Airbus A321XLRs, which are long haul, narrow body planes, opening up plenty of new markets.

The airline is also taking delivery of new Boeing 787-9s in an ultra premium configuration — while these won’t directly be used for new routes, the idea is that they’ll free up wide body planes to operate other routes.

Here’s how Patrick Quayle, United’s brilliant SVP of Global Network Planning and Alliances, describes this expansion:

“We aim to have a destination on our route map for every traveler, at every stage of their lives. Whether it’s a business trip, a dream honeymoon, a bucket-list adventure, or a trip home to see family, we’re making the world feel smaller and connecting cultures at a scale no other airline in the world can match. We’ve added flights to nearly 60 new international cities in the last decade, building a global network with the breadth and reach to set travel trends and inspire even the most discerning travelers to discover somewhere new. When someone visits our website or app to start planning a trip, they’ll be amazed by where United can take them.”

Since United always makes a game of launching new routes, below is the trailer that United released yesterday about the new routes.

Meanwhile below is the follow-up video today, coinciding with the announcement.

United adds service to 10 new international destinations

The most exciting part of this expansion is that United will add flights to 10 all-new international destinations in Europe and Asia, eight of which aren’t served by any other US airlines. Below is a chart showing the routes, when they’ll launch, their frequencies, and the aircraft types.

United adds routes to four existing international destinations

Beyond 10 fully new destinations, United will also add four new routes to existing destinations. Below is a chart showing the routes, when they’ll launch, their frequencies, and the aircraft types.

My take on United’s huge international expansion

Every time you think United can’t top itself in terms of route announcements, the airline manages to do so. No, there might not be any truly shocking destinations on the list (like Greenland or Mongolia), but this is just such an impressive expansion in terms of the breadth and depth of United’s long haul network. Adding 10 new international destinations over the course of just over two months is unbelievable.

What are my takes on the specific route additions?

• It’s very cool to see United adding yet another city in Japan, as the carrier’s Asia route network really is unrivaled among US carriers
• I think the least surprising Europe additions are those in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, given general travel trends; meanwhile I find the Ljubljana and Luxembourg additions to be a little more surprising
• I imagine the Los Angeles to Osaka route is largely driven by trying to compete with Delta, as it grows its presence in Southern California, especially across the Pacific
• It’s always nice to see more long haul service out of Denver, especially to a non-joint venture hub
• I’m delighted to see United actually using the A321XLR in the way its intended — to add service to new destinations that probably wouldn’t work with wide bodies — rather than just introducing smaller planes on existing routes

Bottom line

United Airlines has unveiled the details of its 2027 international expansion. With this, we’ll see the airline add flights to 10 new destinations in Asia and Europe, with five of the routes being operated by the new Airbus A321XLR. On top of that, the airline will add four new routes to existing destinations, in Asia and Europe.

As usual, United’s network impresses. It’s amazing how the airline already has such a robust route network, but keeps growing.

What do you make of United’s international expansion?

Air Côte d’Ivoire offers first class from Abidjan to Paris

For a bit of background, Air Côte d’Ivoire is the national airline of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. The carrier’s wide body fleet consists of two Airbus A330-900neo aircraft, which fly between Abidjan (ABJ) and Paris (CDG).

These planes are in a super premium four cabin configuration, with just 242 seats. This includes four first class seats, 44 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 173 economy seats.

As I noted when the airline took delivery of the plane, in terms of quality, first class looks more like a “business class plus.” That’s because there’s not even a curtain between first class and business class (then again, the same is true on Starlux, and that doesn’t stop the airline).

Heck, if you check out the carrier’s 3D tour of the A330-900neo cabin and look at the front row of seats, you’ll see them described as “BC+ Suite,” which sure sounds to me like “business class plus suite,” perhaps a real reflection of the quality of the product.

Anyway, Air Côte d’Ivoire is the first airline in years to introduce an international first class product, and that certainly intrigues me. What interests me even more is that even though this product has been in service for nearly a year, there’s almost nothing about it online.

The airline has a webpage about its “La First” first class product, and it contains very little information about what actually sets it apart from business class (other than a very high carry-on allowance), despite the huge price premium.

It’s possible I’m missing something, but I don’t think I’ve seen a single report online from anyone who has flown the product. And I’m not just talking about “reviewers,” but also just a random person who flew the product posting a few pictures of their experience on social media. Well, I’m excluding the below video published by the airline, with a politician flying in first class…

What’s the actual experience like? Is there a special first class ground experience? Is the inflight service actually hugely elevated? Is there better champagne and caviar, or is this (as a certain drama king would say) “a scam?”

What’s the best way to fly Air Côte d’Ivoire first class?

In late 2025, I had a couple of extra days in Paris, and I posed the question of whether I should spend a fortune flying Air Côte d’Ivoire, with one direction in first class and one direction in business class. I ultimately decided against the side trip, since it just didn’t seem like it was worth the money.

I’ve had a change of heart in the meantime, and what’s because I’m a bit of a completionist. I’ve reviewed nearly every first class product in the world, with the exception of the cabins on Starlux Airlines and Air Côte d’Ivoire.

While both have been on my radar, there has been no practical way to actually fly them, short of paying a very expensive cash fare. Fortunately in the case of Starlux, that recently changed, as the carrier’s loyalty program has started selling points, so that’s a way to fly first class for roughly half of the retail cost (assuming there are no further sales).

So I plan to fly Starlux imminently, and that leaves just one first class product in the world that I haven’t reviewed. Even if it costs me a pretty penny, at this point I feel like I should just rip the band-aid off and do it. It would make me (to my knowledge) the first person to fly every first class product in the world… or at least to document it, and that would be pretty cool.

But still, I want to get as good of a deal as possible, so I’m trying to figure out the best way to do that.

However, I’m finding that Air Côte d’Ivoire has unusually straightforward pricing, in the sense that there aren’t many opportunities to position to another city to get a better deal. Pricing is pretty similar whether originating in Paris or Abidjan, and roundtrip fares are more affordable than one-ways.

Often there’s an opportunity to book one direction in first class or business class and one direction in economy (so that you can just throw away the return), but that’s not even an option here, at least not in a way that’s useful. If you select a first class or business class fare on the outbound, the cheapest economy fare can no longer be paired with that, and you end up having to pay an economy fare that’s close to the business class fare.

The premium for first class over business class on Air Côte d’Ivoire is also huge, despite it being questionable how much better it actually is.

For example, if you’re originating in Paris and are flying to Abidjan roundtrip, you’ll find the fares below

However, if you select first class on the outbound, you can’t simply mix & match fares, as the business class fare suddenly becomes more expensive. So you’re looking at over €7,000 for a roundtrip first class ticket, or over €6,000 for one way in first class and one way in business class. Ouch.

If you reverse the trip and originate in Abidjan, you’ll find virtually identical fares. Meanwhile if you fly one-way from Paris to Abidjan, you’ll find fares of over €6,000 in first class.

Meanwhile if you originate in Dakar and fly to Paris, you’re still looking at a fare of over €5,600.

With the complexity of airline pricing, I have to imagine that there’s some trick that I’m missing here. But maybe not, given how small the carrier’s network is?

Has anyone found any good fares that include a segment in Air Côte d’Ivoire first class? Are travel agents somehow able to ticket first class in one direction and economy in the other direction, while combining lower fare classes? Alternatively, does anyone know if the airline offers paid upgrades from business class to first class at check-in? Or is there some other creative option I’m missing?

One thing is for sure — first class demand certainly isn’t robust. Looking at flights from Abidjan to Paris on Air Côte d’Ivoire, below are the dates where all four first class seats are still for sale. As you can see, over the course of two months, there are a total of five days where a single seat has been sold (or at least blocked… who knows whether it’s being paid for, or just blocked for government officials, or whatever).

Bottom line

Air Côte d’Ivoire has now been flying to Paris for nearly a year, using its new Airbus A330-900neos. The planes feature four first class seats, making this the first airline in many years to introduce an international first class product.

I’m very close to having flown every first class product in the world, and in the coming weeks, this will be the only first class I haven’t flown. Therefore in the interest of being a completionist, I’m determined to fly this product, even if it costs me, since I think it would be pretty cool to be one of the only people out there to have flown every first class in the world.

For that matter, I’m utterly intrigued by the existence of this product, given the lack of firsthand experiences. Airline products don’t get much more mysterious than this.

What do you make of Air Côte d’Ivoire first class? Any tricks I’m missing, or reviews that have been published that I missed?

What is Priority Pass?

Priority Pass is the world’s largest independent network of airport lounges, with over 1,900 airport lounges and experiences around the world.

Think of Priority Pass as almost being like a lounge access broker. Priority Pass doesn’t operate lounges itself, but rather the business model is to sell lounge memberships to travelers (either directly or through credit cards), and then in turn, pay lounges for admitting members.

It goes without saying that not all airport lounges participate in Priority Pass. For example, in the United States, no American Admirals Clubs, Delta Sky Clubs, or United Clubs, participate in Priority Pass. That’s because they’d view joining Priority Pass as cannibalizing their own business of selling lounge memberships, getting people to pursue elite status, etc.

For the lounges that do participate in Priority Pass, the individual lounges are being paid by Priority Pass every time a member visits.

How do you get a Priority Pass membership?

You can either purchase a Priority Pass™ membership directly, or get one through a premium credit card (with the latter being a much better value). Let’s take a look at the details of those two options.

Buy a Priority Pass membership directly

Priority Pass has three types of memberships you can purchase. Which membership makes most sense for you depends on how often you plan on visiting lounges. The Priority Pass™ membership options include the following:

• A Standard membership costs $99 per year; this doesn’t include any lounge visits, but rather you have to pay $35 per visit
• A Standard Plus membership costs $329 per year; this includes 10 lounge visits per year, and then you have to pay $35 per subsequent visit
• A Prestige membership costs $469 per year; this includes unlimited lounge visits

In all cases, taking a guest into a lounge will cost an extra $35 per person per visit.

As you can see, you’ll be paying around $470 per year for a membership that gets you unlimited lounge visits. This is a bit cheaper than the lounge memberships that most of the major US airlines sell directly, for example. However, airline lounge memberships don’t get you access to Priority Pass lounges, and a Priority Pass™ membership doesn’t get you access to most airline membership lounges.

Get Priority Pass access with a credit card

The much more economical way to get a Priority Pass™ membership is to pick up a premium credit card that offers this as a perk. There are plenty of popular cards that can provide access to participating Priority Pass™ lounges, ranging from the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (learn more), to the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (learn more), to the American Express Platinum Card® (learn more) (Enrollment required).

All of these memberships allow unlimited visits, though guesting policies vary. It’s kind of astonishing how much more lucrative the credit card route is.

As an example of why this is a better value (if you’re eligible for such a card), let’s take a look at the Capital One Venture X. The card has a $395 annual fee (less than the Prestige Priority Pass™ membership cost) and offers:

• Access to participating Priority Pass™ lounges for the primary cardmember
• All kinds of additional benefits, including a $300 annual travel credit and 10,000 anniversary bonus miles

Personally I value the $300 travel credit and 10,000 anniversary bonus miles at more than the $395 annual fee, and view it as Capital One just throwing in a access to participating Priority Pass™ lounges for free. 😉

One important restriction to be aware of is that Priority Pass™ access through most American Express, Capital One, and Chase cards, don’t get you credits at Priority Pass restaurants, as well as some other Priority Pass experiences. So if that’s important to you, you’ll want to pursue lounge access through other means.

How much is a Priority Pass membership worth?

There’s no good way to develop an objective valuation of a Priority Pass™ membership, given that it’s entirely dependent on how often you use it. To state the obvious, a Priority Pass™ membership is worth how many times you use participating lounges, multiplied by how much you value each visit.

What complicates things further is that it’s not just a question of how often you’d use airport lounges, but rather how often you’d specifically use Priority Pass lounges:

• If you’re traveling in international first & business class, or have airline elite status, you may get lounge access anyway
• Some of us find it worthwhile to get a lounge membership with a specific airline we frequently travel with; for example, I have the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (learn more), which offers an Admirals Club membership for the primary cardmember

Even beyond that, there’s so much variability in terms of the value of a particular lounge visit:

• If you have a three hour connection and you can spend that time in a Priority Pass lounge, that provides real value; meanwhile if you show up at the airport five minutes before boarding starts, there might not even be a point in visiting a lounge
• There’s the question of how much value you get from lounge visits for those situations where you actually use Priority Pass locations; there’s huge variance in terms of the quality of airport lounges — some are hardly worth visiting, some are awesome, and most are somewhere in between
• Especially in the United States, Priority Pass lounge crowding can be a huge issue, with some being frustratingly full to the point that I’d rather sit in the terminal, or sometimes even having a waitlist to get in; all the credit cards that give us access to easy Priority Pass™ memberships are a double-edged sword, I suppose

I will say that for a frequent traveler who doesn’t otherwise have lounge access, even outright paying for a membership with unlimited visits could make sense (assuming you don’t have access to credit cards that offer a membership).

As someone with oneworld Emerald status, SkyTeam Elite Plus status, and an American Admirals Club membership, who typically in flies first & business class, here’s where I see value with Priority Pass:

• Priority Pass comes in handy a fair bit in Canada and Mexico when flying a US airline, since US airlines often don’t have lounges at airports there, and don’t otherwise provide contract lounge access to premium passengers
• In Europe I’ll sometimes fly ultra low cost carriers given their nonstop networks, and in those situations, it’s useful to still have lounge access
• Sometimes I just appreciate the alternative lounges that Priority Pass gives me access to; for example, when flying SAS business class from Copenhagen to Miami, I far preferred the Eventyr Lounge (through Priority Pass) compared to the SAS Lounge (which my ticket got me access to)

If I had to put a number to it, I’d say that for my personal usage patterns, I probably value a Priority Pass™ membership at around $200-300 per year.

At least that’s what I’d probably pay in cash for a membership. Fortunately I don’t actually have to put much thought into that, since I have multiple Priority Pass™ memberships through several credit cards, so it costs me nothing extra.

The good news is that most of the credits cards that offer Priority Pass™ memberships also offer access to their own credit card lounge networks, which are often far superior. This includes Amex Centurion Lounges, Capital One Lounges, and Chase Sapphire Lounges, all of which are top notch.

Bottom line

The value of a Priority Pass™ membership will vary significantly depending on the type of traveler you are. If you do want a Priority Pass™ membership, however, you’re almost always going to be better off getting one through a credit card. There are some premium cards that are so valuable that you might not even have to account for the cost of the Priority Pass™ membership with your card annual fee.

Personally I value a Priority Pass™ membership at somewhere around $200 to $300 per year, though everyone will no doubt have a different valuation based on their usage patterns.

What’s your take on the value of Priority Pass, and how much would you pay for a membership?

Modified American Flagship Dining concept unveiled

For years, American has had Flagship First Dining, which are facilities inside select Flagship Lounges. The idea is that this offers an a la carte dining experience for those traveling in international or premium transcontinental first class.

American is currently in the process of eliminating “premium” first class — Boeing 777-300ERs are being reconfigured without first class, while Airbus A321XLRs (without first class) are replacing A321Ts. So there has been a big question as to what American would do with these facilities going forward. Would they just close, or what? Well, it’s much better than that.

As of September 15, 2026, Flagship First Dining will simply become Flagship Dining, and the idea is that this will be open to all Flagship Business passengers traveling on qualifying long haul international, transcontinental, and Hawaii flights.

In other words, if you have access to a Flagship Lounge on account of your American business class ticket, you’re also eligible for Flagship Dining, on a space available basis. However, if you have Flagship Lounge access on account of elite status, or through traveling on a partner airline, you wouldn’t have access to this facility.

American notes how guests interested in dining should check in with the host team inside the Flagship Lounge upon arrival. If a table is immediately available, guests will be seated at that time. If all tables are occupied, guests may be added to an electronic waitlist and will be notified when their table is ready.

Currently you’ll find these facilities inside the Flagship Lounges in Dallas (DFW) and Miami (MIA). The location in Los Angeles (LAX) has been closed for years, but will reopen in late 2026.

I would expect that demand will greatly exceed supply, especially during peak hours. However, the same is true for the a la carte dining in United Polaris Lounges and (to a lesser extent) at some Delta One Lounges. This is really a great way for American to become more competitive with Delta and United. I’m really, really impressed, and this seems like a sincere effort to improve the premium experience.

American Flagship Dining will offer four-course menus

Launching alongside the expanded dining facility access will be an all-new four-course Flagship Dining menu. The airline promotes that “the seasonal offerings blend regional flavors, thoughtfully sourced ingredients and refined culinary techniques to create an elevated dining experience inspired by some of the world’s most celebrated restaurants.”

American is sharing some of the dishes that will be on offer, including a Texas pear and burrata salad…

…roasted purple cauliflower steak…

…mesquite-grilled beef filet…

…the Flagship Burger…

…a California artisan board…

…and churro bread pudding.

In addition to that, American is introducing a wine and chocolate pairing, featuring KHK Wines and K+M Extravirgin Chocolate. Chef Thomas Keller, who co-founded K+M Extravirgin Chocolate with Italian olive oil producer Armando Manni and is a founding ambassador in KHK Wines, curated the pairing.

Bottom line

There has long been the question of what the future will hold for American Flagship First Dining, given that the airline is eliminating “premium” first class. The answer is the most customer friendly version imaginable. As of September 15, 2026, Flagship First Dining will become Flagship Dining, and will open up to business class passengers who get Flagship Lounge access.

This means American will offer proper a la carte dining in its business class lounges, increasingly matching the competition. What an awesome change from American!

What do you make of the evolved Flagship Dining concept?

JetBlue’s lounges are branded as BlueHouse, and the first location opened at New York Kennedy (JFK) in late 2025. There’s now an exciting update, as the next location is expected to open at Boston Logan (BOS) later this week, and we have all the details. To go along with that, the airline has also announced expanded access to its lounges.

Basics of JetBlue’s new lounge at Boston Logan Airport

The JetBlue BlueHouse Boston is expected to open to the public at 5AM on Thursday, August 27, 2026 (credit to JonNYC for flagging that the opening is imminent). The new lounge, located across from gate C25, is roughly 12,000 square feet, so it’s bigger than the BlueHouse New York, which is around 9,000 square feet.

The lounge has a completely different look and feel than what you’ll find in New York, so that it matches the city. The lounge has dedicated spaces to play, work, dine, and lounge, including a central bar and dining room.

JetBlue promotes the following Boston-inspired features in the lounge:

• The Neighborhood Bar, which is the social heart of the lounge, featuring a “Nantucket Blue” wood-slatted ceiling, warm copper finishes, and a custom lighting feature inspired by Boston’s iconic beacon
• The Dugout, a game room that gives a nod to Boston’s sports culture, featuring artifacts and memorabilia from local partners
• The Candy Closet, a hidden sweet spot stocked by Madeleine’s Candy Shop, where customers can fill custom-designed, carry-on candy bags
• The Library Workspace, a quieter work area with tables and lamps modeled after the historic Boston Public Library, complemented by private rooms for calls and virtual meetings
• A Richard Scarry Original, an exclusive-to-JetBlue mural featuring recognizable characters and scenes from Boston-born author and illustrator Richard Scarry’s Busy World, including an adapted illustration featuring a JetBlue aircraft

In terms of food & drinks, the lounge boasts locally inspired hot, plated food, like North Shore roast beef sliders or crab and shrimp rolls. There are also craft beverage offerings, including cocktails developed by beverage director Jackson Cannon of Boston cocktail bar Equal Measure, specialty brewed coffee and espresso from George Howell Coffee, a curated selection of New England craft beers from The Publick House, and carry-on sweets from Madeleine’s Candy Shop.

This seems significantly elevated over what’s available in the New York lounge, which primarily has grab & go food.

Here’s how JetBlue President Marty St. George describes the new lounge:

“BlueHouse Boston brings our customers a new way to experience the thoughtful hospitality and elevated amenities they’ve come to expect from JetBlue, both on the ground and in the air. We’re excited to extend that experience to more customers, while being thoughtful about access so our lounges remain comfortable, welcoming spaces where customers can truly relax and enjoy their time before a flight. In Boston, we’ve created a space that feels distinctly JetBlue and celebrates the city and greater New England.”

Between this and JetBlue soon rolling out its BlueFirst first class, things are looking up for JetBlue in terms of passenger experience. The financial situation is a different story, though.

With this lounge soon opening, that wraps up the confirmed aspects of JetBlue’s lounge network. We know that JetBlue is looking at opening a lounge in Fort Lauderdale (FLL), but there’s nothing firm there yet, so I wouldn’t expect an opening there in the next year or two.

JetBlue expands BlueHouse access to domestic Mint tickets

With the opening of the second JetBlue BlueHouse lounge, the airline is also expanding access to its lounges. Specifically, the airline will begin allowing domestic Mint passengers into these lounges as well, while originally, this was limited to transatlantic Mint passengers. That’s a great competitive move.

There’s a catch, though. In the coming weeks, JetBlue will introduce Mint Basic fares, which are new fares with fewer inclusions, as they won’t include lounge access or complimentary seat assignments. So in order to get BlueHouse access, guests will need to book either a Mint or Mint Flex fare.

BlueHouse access is also available on a complimentary basis to Mosaic 4 members, as well as those with the JetBlue Premier Card. On top of that, select travelers can buy access to these lounges, and you can find the full rules below.

Bottom line

The JetBlue BlueHouse Boston is opening on August 27, 2026, and is the second lounge from the carrier, after the one in New York. The new lounge is roughly 12,000 square feet, so it’s bigger than the New York location. The design looks awesome, and it seems like this lounge also has a more substantial food selection than the other location.

With this lounge opening, we’re also seeing BlueHouse access expanded, as it’ll start to be open to domestic Mint passengers. The catch is that basic Mint fares will be introduced, and those won’t include lounge access across the board.

What do you make of the new JetBlue BlueHouse Boston?

The truth is that back in the day, I used to go out of my way to fly on inaugural flights, though I don’t anymore. Still, I have a bit of experience with them.

The basics of airline inaugural flights

Airlines sometimes operate inaugural flights. I think the concept is pretty straightforward. “Inaugural” means “first,” so these are the first flights by some metric. The metric can vary, so you’ll find several types of inaugural flights:

• There are inaugural flights for a particular route, whereby the airline is operating a route for the first time (or perhaps resuming a particular route after a long absence); for example, in 2024, Etihad recently launched Abu Dhabi to Boston flights
• There are inaugural flights for a particular aircraft; it could be that an airline is operating its first passenger flight with a particular aircraft, or it could be that the airline is operating an aircraft to a particular destination for the first time; for example, Emirates often celebrates when it flies an A380 to a new destination for the first time
• There are inaugural flights for a particular passenger experience, whereby the airline has maybe introduced a new first or business class, or something, and is celebrating that for the first time; for example, in 2025 SWISS operated its first route with SWISS Senses cabins

Airlines will generally try to make inaugural flights special, as an extension of their marketing efforts. Not only is this intended to impress passengers, but often there will be media invited to inaugural flights (either onboard or just at the gate), so the bigger deal an airline makes about an inaugural, the more attention it gets.

It goes without saying that not all inaugural flights are created equal. For example, years ago I was on the first-ever commercial Airbus A350 flight on Qatar Airways, which was a massive celebration for both the airline and aircraft manufacturer. That’s going to have a bit more fanfare than a new route launched by Breeze Airways, given that the airline has launched a countless number of those over the years.

How airlines make inaugural flights special

If you book an inaugural flight, what should you expect to be different about this compared to a standard flight? The first thing to keep in mind is that a vast majority of passengers on inaugural flights are just booking those flights coincidentally, and probably don’t even realize they’re on an inaugural. So while there are some hardcore geeks who book these flights, that level of excitement isn’t necessarily shared by all passengers.

Here’s my general experience with what’s different about inaugural flights (let me again emphasize that there’s a huge disparity in terms of the effort that airlines put into this):

• Often inaugural flights have a gate party prior to departure, with drinks, snacks, trinkets, and sometimes entertainment and/or speeches, depending on the destination or culture
• Often inaugural flights will have some sort of souvenirs onboard for each passenger; this could include a goodie bag, a first flight certificate, or something of the sort
• Often airlines will roster special crews on inaugural flights, so you can expect that service will often be especially good
• It’s not uncommon for executives from the airline to be onboard inaugural flights, or depending on the route, for local political leaders to at least be at the gate for a speech
• Inaugural flights may get special water cannon salutes on arrival or departure, to commemorate the special occasion

For what it’s worth, you’ll typically find a celebration in both “directions” for an inaugural, and it’s 50/50 as to which direction gets more fanfare.

I’ve been on inaugural flights with no one “special” onboard, and I’ve also been on flights with a lot of “special” people onboard. For example, when Qatar Airways operated the world’s first A350 flight, both the (now former) CEO of Qatar Airways and the CEO of Airbus were onboard.

Generally I’d go into an inaugural flight not expecting a whole lot, and then just be pleasantly surprised if there is something special.

Why I’m conflicted on inaugural flights

Back in the day, I’d consistently seek out inaugural flights, and would get quite a thrill out of taking them. After all, I’m a huge aviation geek, and there’s something really exciting about taking a “historic” flight for that airline, whatever it might be.

However, over the years, I’ve started to mostly avoid these flights. That’s not because I find them any less exciting, but rather because they don’t give you the “real” experience offered by the airline. When I take long haul flights, I always try to review them, and my goal is to get as unbiased of an experience as possible.

With that in mind, I’d much rather take a new flight a few days after it launches, rather than the inaugural. The reality is that the inaugural largely just doesn’t give you the real experience. After all, it’s very much a celebratory occasion, so the service flow can be different than usual.

While you’d think that inaugural flights would typically have impeccable service, that’s often not my experience. When there are airline executives onboard, I often find that the crew simply fawns over them, while providing subpar service to other passengers.

And while some passengers might theoretically like the idea of flying with executives from the airline, that’s not something that I particularly care for. While there’s huge variance, in some cases I’ve found them to be rather standoff-ish, which is a bit surprising, and defeats the point of their presence, in my opinion.

But the reason I mainly avoid inaugural flights nowadays is the same reason I almost never attend travel media events — you’re not getting the “real” experience, and I’d rather visit somewhere on my own terms.

Bottom line

Airlines operate all kinds of inaugural flights, whether it’s the first flight for a particular airport, airplane, or product. If you’re an aviation geek, these flights can be super fun, given the special festivities.

Airlines take vastly different approaches to inaugural flights, as you’d expect, based on the significance of new service. In some cases the inaugural flights can be a huge production, while in other cases there might just be some Costco cupcakes in the gate area.

Have you ever been on an inaugural flight? If not, would you be interested in taking one?

Having visited the Maldives ‘a few times’ over the years—whether you take a luxury yacht to/from Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi, a TransMaldivian seaplane ride to/from the St. Regis Maldives Vommuli, or a speedboat then a domestic Maldivian Dash-8 flight to/from the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa—there is one truth every points and miles traveler has learned to dread: the old Velana International Airport (MLE).

Welp, not anymore. As Ben chronicled here, the new Terminal 1 is finally open. Thankfully, it was worth the wait. The transformation at MLE is truly night and day. I had the chance to go through the new facility earlier this year; here is a firsthand look at how the ‘new’ airport handles the arrival side of the journey.

International Arrivals: Vastly Improved

For anyone who remembers landing at the old MLE (officially re-named ‘Terminal 2,’ now handling domestic flight traffic), the arrival process used to mean sweating through your clothes on a remote stand, taking the steps down to a packed bus, and eventually shuffling through a suffocating, overcrowded arrivals hall. Some things remain the same (like the heat and humidity), though, many positive changes are in order.

• Jet Bridges (If You’re Lucky): Terminal 1 introduces the airport’s very first actual jet bridges (ooh lala); allegedly, there are 7 currently operational, with plans for 12 to 15 total once fully completed. Because the new MLE is still opening in phases, your aircraft may still be directed to a remote stand. For those who get lucky (wink), walking straight from the cabin into a cool, modern terminal is a major upgrade. IYKYK.

• Immigration & Customs: Once inside, you’ll experience the new immigration arrivals hall. While the physical infrastructure is vastly improved, the bottleneck hasn’t vanished—during peak arrival banks, you can still expect to spend some real time clearing customs and collecting bags. Use that spare time to enjoy the beautiful modern conveyor belts, local artwork, and brand-new restrooms.

• A Note on the Maldives Travel Declaration: IMUGA—the Maldives traveler declaration form—remains a required step for arrivals, though the departure declaration was thankfully dropped a while back.

• Transfers: Emerging into the modern Arrivals Hall, things are far more organized than before. Resort representatives and seaplane company booths are all consolidated inside now (sweet, sweet air conditioning, ahh). Most visitors will be whisked away to either the also-new Noovilu Seaplane Terminal, the domestic terminal (Terminal 2), or a speedboat/yacht transfer coordinated by your resort. (Alternatively, you could cross the Sinamalé Bridge for a quick tour of Malé, but… you probably will just want to get to your overwater bungalow. Eh, you do you.)

Background: How We Got Here

To truly appreciate why Terminal 1 is such a monumental shift, it helps to look at the scale of what came before it. The legacy international terminal—built in 1981—was originally designed to handle just 1.5 million passengers a year. In reality, it was routinely forced to process upwards of four million travelers, funneling guests through a severely strained, half-century-old facility.

The fix was a decade-long saga. First launched under a master plan backed by international development funds, the new terminal project weathered multiple presidential administrations, pandemic setbacks, and years of missed deadlines before finally opening its doors on July 26, 2025.

Spanning over 70,000 square meters, the facility triples the airport’s capacity to handle up to 7.5 million passengers annually, introducing 47 check-in desks, 20 outbound immigration counters, an automated high-speed baggage system, and those long-overdue jet bridges.

Bottom Line

The Maldives has long been a crown jewel for points and miles enthusiasts chasing aspirational luxury. Until recently, Velana International Airport was the painful administrative bookend that ruined an otherwise pristine vacation on the way in.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where I cover the departure experience through Terminal 1—including a look inside the brand-new Koveli Lounge!

A New York-based Delta flight attendant’s crazy commute

A flight attendant named Princilla has a YouTube channel about her life and career, as she’s a flight attendant at Delta (for the record, she wears her Delta uniform in the video, though just identifies herself as working for a major airline).

Anyway, she uploaded a 15-minute video about how she lives in Accra, Ghana (ACC), but is based in New York (JFK), and she has been commuting for around a month. You can find the video here (unfortunately it’s blocked from being embedded).

Flight attendants can absolutely live somewhere different than where they’re based, and they can even commute on a space available basis for very little money. It’s fascinating to see how her commute works, though, as she explains it in great detail.

For what it’s worth, Princilla was initially based in Seattle, which is also where she lived at the time. But she recently made the decision to move back to Ghana, and at the same time, transferred bases to New York.

For one, she’s still very junior, so she has little control over her schedule, and often ends up on reserve (in other words, she’s assigned a trip when there are irregular operations, or when other flight attendants call in sick). In these situations, she’s on reserve for six straight days, and needs to be in New York, at her base.

Delta’s policy is that commuting flight attendants need to leave enough of a buffer with their commute so that there are two flights that would get them to their base in time to report, meaning she typically has to commute from Accra to New York two days before she’s on duty.

In terms of the cost of this, she estimates that she spends close to $1,100-1,200 per month related to commuting expenses:

• When she non-revs between Accra and New York, she has to pay over $250 in taxes and fees; those are all government fees, and most of those are charged by Ghana and not the United States
• Initially her plan was to commute four times per month, but she has so far been commuting twice per month, which makes this a bit easier
• She then has a “crash pad” in New York (essentially an apartment shared with a bunch of flight attendants, who all use it only a little), where she spends at most six days per month, and that costs $375 per month
• She then spends around $250 per month on transportation to and from her crash pad

Admittedly the cost of living is lower in Accra than in New York, so I imagine that balances out with some savings as well.

I do have to say, aspects of her narrative seem a bit much to me. For example, she wishes that her airline “at least” had positive space commuting, even if it’s just once per month. For those not familiar, “positive space” would mean that she’s offered a guaranteed seat on her commuting flight, rather than being on standby, subject to availability.

Her argument is that airlines advertise that you can live anywhere in the world, and yet she feels like they have to “jump through hoops and struggle” to actually commute. Well, I mean, that’s one of the trade-offs. You want Delta to forgo revenue and not sell a seat, so that someone who chooses to live elsewhere can commute? That strikes me as being bad for business.

She also hopes that the fees she has to pay for flights are revised down or eliminated altogether, because she points out that domestic commuting costs nothing. I mean, I get it, but these are literally the government taxes and fees related to immigration, airport expenses, etc. There’s no margin for the airline on that. If you book a Delta SkyMiles award on the same route, you’d pay $268 roundtrip, in addition to the taxes and fees.

How uncommon is this long of a commute?

The concept of airline employees (pilots and flight attendants) commuting between continents is rare, but definitely not unheard of. I know of some pilots at major US airlines who live in Europe, Asia, and even Australia, who commute to their bases in the mainland United States.

The thing is, this flight attendant has several disadvantages compared to some of the other commuters I know:

• She doesn’t have much seniority, so she has limited control over her schedule; for example, if you’re a senior United captain and can always bid on the route between San Francisco and Singapore, you could work that route just three times per month and max out your hours, which is super efficient, since you’d have 20+ free days per month
• Accra is a tricky market to commute from, with just one daily flight to New York; for example, if you commute from London to New York, there are a couple of dozen nonstop flights per day you can get on, so you wouldn’t need to leave nearly as much of a buffer
• If you’re a low-seniority flight attendant, your commuting cost as a percentage of your income is quite high; close to $15K in commuting expenses per year is a lot more if you make $40-50K per year, rather than if you’re a senior captain making $400K per year

So anyway, the long haul commuting definitely isn’t unheard of, but her conditions — the exact market she commutes from, her lack of seniority, etc. — make this setup particularly brutal, as I see it. I’m curious if she maintains this in the long run, because I can only imagine the fatigue this causes.

This is also all a different kind of commute than that AirAsia employee who commutes to work daily by plane, as she lives in Penang and works in Kuala Lumpur. I don’t think there’s anyone who commutes by plane with a higher frequency than she does!

Bottom line

A junior Delta flight attendant lives in Accra, Ghana, but is based in New York, so she commutes multiple times per month for work. One of the benefits of being a flight attendant or pilot is that you can typically commute at no cost, or a very low cost, giving you a lot of lifestyle flexibility. However, commuting between continents definitely complicates things.

This Delta flight attendant has now been doing this for a month… I’m curious for how long she keeps this pattern going, because it can’t be easy on the body.

What do you make of this commuting Delta flight attendant?

In recent years, United has made a game of allowing the public to guess new routes, and I sure enjoy playing along. Here’s the latest example of that, as the airline is planning a big route announcement tomorrow.

United announcing new international routes on Tuesday

At 7AM ET on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, United will be announcing new routes that will launch at some point in 2027. United has posted a 94-second video on social media, described as a “trailer” for “The Cabin: Destination Decoded.” This is essentially framed as a game show of sorts, where contestants have to find clues to guess the new destinations… how fun!

Separately, United’s awesome SVP of Global Network Planning and Alliances, Patrick Quayle, posted a video on his Instagram page, where he’s promising that “it’s going to be a big one this year.”

I have to give United credit for consistently having unique videos about route announcements that engage people. Just as an example, below is the video from last year.

What new global routes will United introduce?

For some context, United usually has two big route announcements per year, as it relates to long haul flights. Typically in the fall, United announces new transatlantic flying for summer, while in the spring, United announces new long haul flying for winter.

The fall announcement is bigger than the spring announcement, given the seasonality of flying. What’s interesting is that this year, United is making the announcement several weeks earlier than in the past — heck, it’s still summer, and isn’t even the fall. It’s also beating both American and Delta to the typical fall announcement.

It’s hard to imagine how much more United could grow, given how massive its network is already. However, we should actually see a good amount of long haul growth:

• I imagine a major aspect of this announcement will be new Airbus A321XLR routes, a recent addition to United’s fleet; this plane will primarily fly to Europe, so expect some new markets there, and also expect the A321XLR to replace wide bodies in some markets
• United is also taking delivery of a good number of new Boeing 787-9s in an ultra premium configuration, so while those will almost certainly be used primarily for existing routes, this will open up 777s and 787s to operate other routes

Make of this what you will, but an X user put together a great list of possible new routes, just based on demand numbers, aircraft range, etc., and I’d say those are probably some great guesses.

Now, on to the actual clues in the video… this is trickier than in years past when it comes to “decoding” the routes, in my opinion. I’m still trying to come up with my predictions based on the video, and if I come up with anything, I’ll be sure to update this post. I trust that collectively OMAAT readers will be able to draw some conclusions based on the above, so please do chime in with your take!

Bottom line

United Airlines is teasing new routes that will be announced tomorrow. The clue video comes in the form of a competition style show, where contestants are supposed to “decode” the new routes, based on some clues. It’s anyone’s guess what United will add, though we should see a good number of new routes, thanks to the number of A321XLRs and 787-9s joining the fleet, with routes likely launching ahead of or during the summer 2027 season.

What routes do you think United will announce?

United’s spare Boeing 737 MAX 10 flat bed seats

United currently has 167 Boeing 737 MAX 10 aircraft on order. This is the largest variant of the 737 MAX, and the plane has faced massive certification delays. While the initial plan was for the plane to enter service in 2020, United now expects to take delivery of its first 737 MAX 10 in 2027, so that’s around seven years behind schedule.

When United first ordered the 737 MAX 10, the plan was for a subfleet of these aircraft to be used as the new primary aircraft for premium, transcontinental flights. The plane has amazing per-seat economics, but doesn’t have the range of something like the Airbus A321XLR, so this is the perfect plane for operating a premium configuration on transcontinental routes.

However, with massive certification delays on these planes, United stopped waiting around, and went with what was a sure bet. The airline started taking delivery of Airbus A321neos. While most of these are in a standard configuration, United plans to equip a subfleet of these planes in a three cabin layout, with flat bed business class, premium economy, and economy, and they’ll be known as “Coastliners.” These are separate from the A321XLRs that will be used for long haul flights.

These Coastliner A321neos are taking over the routes that the 737 MAX 10 was supposed to serve, so what’s the plan now? The 737 MAX 10 still has great economics, so will be an ideal plane for high demand domestic routes.

But that gets us to an issue United has, as reported by CNBC’s Leslie Josephs. United reportedly has hundreds of flat bed business class seats in storage, which were intended for the 737 MAX 10. Seats are typically ordered separately from aircraft, and the airline sourced those based on the initial 737 MAX 10 entry into service timeline, which obviously was way off.

As United CEO Scott Kirby reportedly explained, “we got a bunch of lie-flat seats that we don’t know what to do with,” and “they don’t fit on other airplanes.” The airline reportedly hasn’t reached a final decision as to what to actually do with these seats.

What could United do with these spare business class seats?

Flat bed business class seats are shockingly expensive to manufacture, so I imagine United has eight figures worth of these seats ready to go. Realistically, what could United actually do with these seats, since they’re not going on the A321neo? As I see it, there are only two ways this could play out — either United uses the seats, or it doesn’t.

If United isn’t going to use the seats, can it at least sell them to another airline, sell them back to the manufacturer, get some sort of a claim against Boeing, or something along those lines? I dunno. I imagine the airline would rather not just dump them in the trash and get nothing for them.

But I think the bigger question is if there’s a creative way that United could use these seats to achieve a competitive advantage. United has in general done a great job getting creative with its products and services, and it’s something the airline prides itself in.

Could United find value in having premium configured 737 MAX 10s for anything other than premium transcontinental flights, since it has the seats anyway? Some of these ideas are really farfetched, though a few concepts come to mind:

• Could United start regularly operating 737 MAX 10s with flat beds in some domestic markets that haven’t historically been premium transconinental ones, especially where there’s a lot of competition? We’re talking flights like Chicago to Los Angeles and San Francisco (where the airline is competing against American), maybe flights between Atlanta and San Francisco (just to mess with Delta), etc.
• Could United use 737 MAX 10s to operate some short haul international flights where the range of the A321XLR isn’t needed, but where there could still be value to having flat beds, like some routes from Houston to Latin America?
• Could United use these seats to create some all-business class 737 MAX 10s, and then use them for charters, for certain routes where premium cabin demand is through the roof, etc.? It seems unlikely, but I’m just throwing otu all the possible scenarios…

As I see it, the biggest issue is that there’s value in scaling a fleet, so if United did want more narrow body planes with flat beds, it would be smart to just expand the A321neo Coastliner fleet, and use that as needed. Essentially having a subfleet of three kinds of narrow body planes with flat beds isn’t terribly efficient.

Then again, I have to imagine that United executives hate the thought of just “wasting” a bunch of premium seats that they could in theory do something with…

Bottom line

United Airlines has a unique problem, as it has hundreds of flat bed business class seats in storage, which were intended for the Boeing 737 MAX 10. The plan was initially for this plane to be used for premium transcontinental flights, but with certification of the plane delayed by around seven years, United pivoted.

The airline now plans to use Airbus A321neos for its premium transcontinental flights, as they’ll have a special “Coastliner” configuration. It seems like United plans to just use these 737 MAX 10s in high capacity domestic markets with a standard layout, but that doesn’t change that the airline has a lot of seats in storage that it’s trying to figure out what to do with. Could United get creative somehow? We’ll see…

How do you see this playing out for United?

American deserves huge credit for its AAdvantage program, and I’d argue it’s one of the main areas where the airline has a competitive advantage over Delta and United. For that matter, I think AAdvantage leadership has generally done a good job trying to preserve the value of the program, to the best of their ability.

However, as time has gone on, I can’t help but feel like AAdvantage miles have become less valuable, and it’s arguably not even the carrier’s fault. I’d like to talk a bit about that trend, and also discuss what’s perhaps the new sweet spot of redemptions.

The American AAdvantage partner award availability problem

American AAdvantage continues to deserve credit for publishing an award chart for travel on partner airlines, and for offering excellent redemption rates for first and business class travel on partner airlines on long haul flights.

The issue is, American’s partner airlines keep restricting award availability, and it makes it increasingly difficult to actually extract value. Let me be clear, this is in no way American’s fault, as the airline doesn’t have control over the award availability that other airlines release, though it definitely does impact the value of miles:

• Qatar Airways used to release a ton of business class award space to partner programs, but that has changed massively over the years; at this point most availability is limited to Privilege Club members, and even there the number of award seats is limited
• Etihad Airways first class and business class awards have equally been restricted, and at this point you can at best hope for award seats at the last minute
• Cathay Pacific first class and business class awards on long haul flights through partner programs are virtually non-existent nowadays
• Japan Airlines first class and business class awards through partner programs are like winning the lottery nowadays, and actually finding long haul award space to and from the United States isn’t easy

What I struggle with is that if you can actually find award availability, the redemption values are incredible. The question is just how useful the availability actually is. Like, want to fly from Abu Dhabi to Tokyo tonight in Etihad’s A380 first class? It’s available for 50,000 miles. That’s basically a gift… if that route is at all useful to you.

Want to fly from Bangkok to Tokyo in a couple of days in Japan Airlines’ 777 first class? That’s available for 40,000 miles, which is an incredible deal.

But again, it gets at redemptions that are aspirational because of the products, vs. ones that are actually useful in getting members to and from where they need to go.

What about other partner award redemptions? Yes, there’s a fair bit of British Airways award space, but that comes with huge carrier imposed surcharges. You’ll also find a smattering of award seats on carriers like Aer Lingus, Finnair, Iberia, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, etc., but again, availability to and from the United States often leaves a lot to be desired.

The point is that virtually every one of the redemptions that has historically made AAdvantage miles so valuable has gone from something that’s relatively attainable, to something that’s more like winning a lottery. Again, none of this is American’s fault — it all just reflects the changing industry dynamics, and the way airlines have changed how they release award space.

Historically I’ve valued AAdvantage miles at 1.5 cents each, though I am wondering if it might be time to adjust that down slightly, to reflect all these updates?

AAdvantage now shines for redemptions on American metal

It’s not as shiny or glamorous as long haul premium cabin awards, but AAdvantage deserves credit for having reasonably priced award tickets for travel on American metal. This is particularly true domestically and for short haul international flights, but also for long haul international flights. As I see it:

• On balance, American has better domestic economy and first class award pricing than Delta and United
• Even when there’s not saver award availability, American’s dynamic award pricing on long haul flights tends to be more attractive than that of Delta and United, on average

The issue is twofold:

• When American does have saver award space, you’ll still typically get better value redeeming Alaska Atmos Rewards points; American has started cutting off partner award space six days before departure, which limits the usefulness of this for last minute tickets
• American’s actual long haul route network is quite limited, so that’s useful if you want to travel to Seoul, Shanghai, or Tokyo (for example), but this is where American’s huge long haul network gap compared to carriers like United is really felt

In a separate post, I covered how MileagePlus miles are becoming more valuable, simply for redemptions on United metal, given how that space has otherwise been restricted. But the key advantage that United has over American is its network, as it’s so much more global. Of course if you’re redeeming to El Paso or Grand Cayman or Lima, it’s a different story. But if you’re trying to get to Cape Town, or Nice, or Tahiti, or Singapore, there’s a pretty obvious winner.

Bottom line

American AAdvantage is in my opinion the best of the “big three” frequent flyer programs, and I’m a fan of the value offered. I think AAdvantage leadership is doing a good job on balance doing what they can to make the program rewarding and lucrative.

Historically, the great value with AAdvantage miles has been the attractive redemption rates for travel on partner airlines. However, the general industry trend is that we’re increasingly seeing airlines limit partner award availability, and I’d argue that has hit AAdvantage especially hard.

Want to fly out of the US in a premium cabin on Cathay Pacific, Etihad Airways, Japan Airlines, or Qatar Airways? Well, it at times almost feels like buying a lottery ticket, while back in the day, it wasn’t difficult at all.

With these changes, I’d argue that nowadays the best use of AAdvantage miles is for partner awards that don’t even touch the United States (where availability is often better), or otherwise for awards on American metal.

What do you make of this trend with AAdvantage miles, and how do you think their value has changed over the years?

Going back several years, I had largely written off MileagePlus as a useful program on the redemption front — the airline made the same award space available to partner programs as it did to its own members, all while constantly devaluing miles.

However, it sure seems like the tides have turned — not because United has actually made MileagePlus miles better, but because the airline has changed how it releases award space, and I imagine it’s driving the kind of behavior the airline is hoping. I’d like to discuss that in a bit more detail in this post, because it’s a take I’ve also been hearing from plenty of others in the OMAAT community.

United’s punitive award changes make MileagePlus miles more valuable

I’d say the past year or so has been pretty transformative for the value of United MileagePlus miles. Back in the day, United released most of the same saver level long haul business class award space to members of partner frequent flyer programs as it did to MileagePlus members.

This of course created lots of arbitrage opportunities for booking United award tickets, since you’d typically find the best award rates by booking through a partner program, rather than through MileagePlus. However, United has made major changes to this system:

• First, United stopped releasing a vast majority of Polaris business class awards to partner frequent flyer programs, so they’re now limited primarily to MileagePlus members
• At the same time, United award pricing through frequent flyer programs other than MileagePlus increasingly became dynamic, clearly because United is trying to drive business to its own MileagePlus program, and avoid arbitrage opportunities with redemptions
• The airline took it a step further by making most reasonably priced award space available exclusively to those with MileagePlus elite status, and/or those with a co-branded MileagePlus credit card, further encouraging profitable behavior

The way I view it, United hasn’t actually directly made MileagePlus miles more valuable. I mean, we’ve seen endless devaluations to partner award redemption rates, and it’s not like awards on United metal are materially cheaper than they used to be. But United has instead made MileagePlus miles more valuable through a combination of being more punitive, and based on general industry trends:

• While United might not have the world’s best inflight product, the airline is by far the most global of the “big three” US carriers, and actually flies where many people want to go, and where people aspirationally want to redeem their miles to
• Therefore there’s value in having access to that route network for premium cabin redemptions, and if you want that, you need to go through MileagePlus
• The general reductions we’ve seen to award availability and award pricing across programs makes this award space more valuable as well, since pickings are slimmer than in the past; for example, you can’t even redeem partner miles for Lufthansa first class anymore

While I absolutely hate this trend as someone who loves to maximize miles and create multi-partner award tickets, there’s no denying that United’s changes actually align with the goals that airlines have for their frequent flyer programs — United doesn’t mind members getting a good deal, as long as they’re “invested” enough in the airline, through elite status and/or a co-branded credit card.

I also have to acknowledge that this is a sentiment that’s increasingly reflected by those in the OMAAT community — over and over I hear people say that they find United miles more valuable than in the past, and that just comes down to changes intended to encourage a certain type of behavior.

How much are United MileagePlus miles now worth?

I publish my valuation of loyalty program points currencies, though I always acknowledge that this is subjective, and that there’s no right or wrong way to go about it. I try to be balanced in my valuation of various currencies, and also try to be conservative, so that people don’t hoard their points too much. I also take a relative rather than absolute approach to valuing these currencies, as I’ll explain in a bit.

Back in 2023, United MileagePlus devalued a lot of its partner award redemption rates, and I lowered my valuation of MileagePlus miles from 1.3 cents to 1.1 cents each. As a point of comparison, I value Delta SkyMiles at 1.1 cents each, and American AAdvantage miles at 1.5 cents each.

Some might say that was a harsh valuation, but my logic was as follows:

• There were few redemptions, including for travel on United flights, where MileagePlus actually offered the best redemption values, so that limited situations where earning the currency made a lot of sense
• While we often rag on Delta SkyMiles for the lack of value you get with high end redemptions, SkyMiles also has the highest “floor value” of mileage currencies among the “big three,” given the ability to redeem them toward the revenue cost of a flight at a decent rate
• Partner award redemptions had largely been devalued to the point that they were 20-50% higher than booking through other programs (with some exceptions, like the good value of redeeming MileagePlus miles to Africa)

Anyway, I think it’s probably time to reassess the value of MileagePlus miles, and increase my valuation. Some may say “well wait a second, if the redemption value of the miles hasn’t actually increased, how can you increase the valuation?”

This gets at how I value miles on a relative basis, rather than on an absolute basis. You see, I don’t play this BS game people have, where they claim “I redeemed 60K miles for a $9K ticket, so I got 15 cents of value per mile.”

There are many issues with that logic. For one, using inflated one-way revenue ticket costs to determine the value of an award is just bad math. Beyond that, though, I like to value miles based on what I would reasonably pay for that ticket, rather than the retail cost (and this is why I say everyone should have their own value of miles, since we all value these things differently).

I guess to put it simply, if someone claims they’re getting 15 cents of value per mile, does that mean they’d be willing to buy miles for 10 cents each? Something tells me the answer is “no.” So my valuation of miles comes from a rough analysis on how much I’d be willing to pay to acquire miles, while acknowledging that there are lots of factors.

There has always been value in getting access to United’s long haul route network for premium cabin awards. But the reality is that you now need a different mileage currency than in the past to unlock those seats, and that has to be accounted for in the valuation.

So I’m curious, how much should we now value United MileagePlus miles? I’m tempted to say they’re worth around 1.3-1.4 cents each (I try to be conservative with my valuation), but I’d love to hear what others think, before officially updating my valuation.

I hate to “reward” programs for making what amounts to punitive changes, but I also have to be realistic about the reality of things. I think United is playing this all in a very smart way, given the goal of increasing loyalty program revenue.

Bottom line

In absolute terms, we’ve seen the value of MileagePlus miles devalued significantly in recent years, in the sense that the program has increased redemption rates, particularly for travel on partner airlines.

But over the past year or so, United has particularly been trying to make the MileagePlus program more valuable and engaging, and that has come in the form of making award space more costly and less available when booking through partner programs.

Nowadays MileagePlus really offers value if you have elite status or a co-branded credit card, because that’s what’s needed to unlock premium cabin award seats on the airline at a reasonable cost. It has gotten to the point where if you want to redeem for long haul premium cabin award seats on United, MileagePlus miles are the currency you need.

The reality is that you want access to United long haul awards, given the carrier’s massive global route network, plus how much harder it keeps getting to find premium cabin award seats through other programs.

So personally I think my valuation of MileagePlus miles has gone from around 1.1 cents each, to around 1.3-1.4 cents each. While I don’t like it, this is one of those cases where a program being punitive toward others has legitimately increased the value of miles… at least as I see it.

What do you make of the evolving value of United MileagePlus miles?

Citi ThankYou offering 25% LHW transfer bonus

Between August 23 and September 19, 2026, the Citi ThankYou program in the United States is offering a 25% bonus on points transfers to Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club.

Ordinarily points transfer at a 5:1 ratio, while through this promotion you’d instead get a 4:1 ratio (in increments of 1,000:250).

This promotion is being offered on Citi’s end (in the United States), and is hard coded into the transfer ratio, meaning you should see the bonus at the time that you make the transfer. You can take advantage of this offer an unlimited number of times. Transfers from Citi to Leading Hotels of the World are generally instant.

There are several great cards earning Citi ThankYou points, including the Citi Strata Premier® Card (learn more) and Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (learn more), and it’s easy to combine points between the cards.

Should you transfer Citi points to Leaders Club?

Many people understandably might not be familiar with Leading Hotels of the World or Leaders Club, so let’s talk about that. Leading Hotels of the World is a collection of independent luxury hotels, with over 400 properties in 80 countries around the globe. Chances are that you’re familiar with some of LHW’s properties, even if you didn’t know they were associated with the group.

You should think of Leading Hotels of the World as more of a hotel marketing group than as a single hotel group. LHW doesn’t manage its hotels, but rather markets a group of otherwise independent luxury hotels. As a matter of fact, many properties of smaller hotel groups, like Rocco Forte, etc., belong to LHW.

Think of Leading Hotels of the World as being along the lines of Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH), which Hilton Honors has a partnership with. I would say that on balance LHW properties are a bit higher end than SLH properties, as LHW has some truly iconic properties, like the Ritz Paris.

What is award pricing like with Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club? Pricing is dynamic, and you can search award costs by logging into your account and then going through the booking process.

Let me note that what’s really cool about this partnership is that you can redeem at some independent luxury hotels that you can’t otherwise currently efficiently book with transferable points.

Based on just about all the hotels that I’ve searched, each Leaders Club point gets you about eight cents (in USD) toward the cost of a hotel stay. So when you factor in the 4:1 transfer ratio from Citi ThankYou to Leaders Club (with the 25% bonus), that means you’re getting around 2.0 cents of value per ThankYou point.

That’s excellent, so if you’d redeem at one of these properties, that could be a great opportunity. Just make sure you do your own research before transferring any points.

Let me emphasize that the value per point is in comparison to what LHW would otherwise charge, and in some cases you might find better rates elsewhere. Furthermore, these luxury hotels almost all belong to programs like Virtuoso, so you are giving up some perks (like a property credit) by booking this way. At least belonging to LHW’s program gives you perks like complimentary breakfast, a room upgrade subject to availability, and more.

Bottom line

At the moment you can receive a 25% bonus when you transfer Citi ThankYou points to Leading Hotels of the World Leader’s Club. Leading Hotels of the World has a revenue based program, whereby each point can be redeemed for a certain amount toward a luxury hotel stay.

In some cases, this promotion will be an opportunity to redeem points for around 2.0 cents each toward a hotel stay, which could be a good use of points (assuming you’d otherwise pay the cash to stay at one of these properties).

Do you plan on taking advantage of this Citi ThankYou to LHW transfer bonus?

My current hotel loyalty program strategy

There are four hotel loyalty programs I’m pretty actively engaged in, so let me share my overall thoughts on them, roughly in order:

• World of Hyatt is my all around favorite hotel loyalty program; I have lifetime Globalist status, so technically I don’t have to worry about requalifying, if I don’t want to (though there’s still an incentive to do so)
• Marriott Bonvoy is my backup program, even though I’ve earned Ambassador status with the program; beyond that, I have lifetime Platinum status, and I always earn at least 50 elite nights per year in the program in order to get access to the Choice Benefits program, and that’s easy enough to do since I have both the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (learn more) and Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (learn more), earning me 40 elite nights per year
• I love Hilton Honors thanks to the incredible Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (learn more), which earns me Diamond status for as long as I have the card; Hilton’s luxury portfolio has also been growing nicely in recent years
• IHG One Rewards is my very last backup chain; the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (learn more) earns me Platinum status for as long as I have the card; I stay at IHG properties when I have a certificate to redeem, or when the location is the best

World of Hyatt Globalist benefits

With the above out of the way, Hyatt has some things working for and against it. In particular, Hyatt’s footprint isn’t nearly as large as that of Hilton, IHG, or Marriott (it has been growing impressively, though I wish that weren’t so focused on all-inclusives). However, Hyatt has a very compelling loyalty program, to the point that I think it’s worth pursuing top tier status with the program.

What I appreciate about Hyatt is the emphasis placed on consistently delivering benefits. While no loyalty program is perfect (especially when you consider that hotels are mostly individually owned), Hyatt does the best job in this regard, in my opinion.

So, why do I like World of Hyatt Globalist status so much?

Unlimited complimentary suite upgrades

World of Hyatt offers Globalist members unlimited suite upgrades subject to availability. At this point, World of Hyatt is the only hotel loyalty program that offers top tier elite members suite upgrades subject to availability, rather than simply at the discretion of the hotel.

While execution isn’t perfect, I’ve found that Hyatt is the most consistent of any hotel group when it comes to delivering suite upgrades for members. That’s to say that most Hyatt properties make an effort to proactively upgrade Globalist members as much as possible.

Of course it’s important to be realistic. Some hotels don’t have many suites, some hotels get a lot of Globalist members, and some hotels have a lot of paid demand for suites. Don’t expect that you’ll receive a complimentary suite upgrade at the Andaz Maui or Park Hyatt Kyoto, for example. Meanwhile at some other properties, suite upgrades for Globalist members are a near sure bet.

The ability to earn suite upgrade awards

The area where Hyatt’s upgrade policy really shines is with the suite upgrade awards that are offered as part of the Milestone Rewards program. With Milestone Rewards, you can select different perks in 10 night increments. A Globalist member earning 60 elite nights per year could select five suite upgrade awards.

Each suite upgrade award can be used to confirm a suite upgrade at the time of booking for a stay of up to seven consecutive nights.

The reason I love this benefit so much is because it allows me to upgrade those stays that matter the most to me, where I really value a suite. There’s not another major hotel loyalty program that offers suite upgrades at the time of booking with so few limitations.

The ability to earn Guest of Honor awards

Also as part of the Milestone Rewards program, World of Hyatt offers members Guest of Honor awards. With this benefit, eligible members can gift Globalist perks to others. Each Guest of Honor award is valid for a stay of up to seven nights, and can be used on a cash or award stay.

Best of all, for each Guest of Honor stay that you gift to someone else, you’ll automatically receive one extra elite night toward status, which is an awesome benefit.

Anyone who spends a lot of time on the road wants their family to travel comfortably as well, which is why I love this perk so much. I use this all the time when traveling with family and friends, and when I’m looking to book multiple rooms.

Best of all, Guest of Honor awards aren’t even the only rewards that you can gift others. You can also earn club access awards, which can be used to grant lounge access to friends and family, regardless of whether or not they’re traveling with you.

The best status breakfast benefit

As far as I’m concerned, Hyatt offers the best top tier elite breakfast benefit of any hotel group, given that full breakfast is offered at all hotels, including gratuity. To compare that to my two backup hotel groups, Marriott has excluded brands, while Hilton offers continental breakfast or a food & beverage credit.

With Hyatt you get access to the club lounge when there is one. For those hotels without a club lounge you get a full, hot breakfast in the restaurant. The way this is executed varies by hotel. At some hotels you have access to the buffet, at other hotels you can get room service, and at other hotels you can order anything off the menu.

Guaranteed 4PM check-out

Globalist members receive guaranteed 4PM check-out. This benefit is subject to availability at resorts, but it’s guaranteed at other hotels. A benefit is most valuable when guaranteed, so being able to stay four to five hours beyond the typical check-out time is great. Marriott offers this as well, while Hilton only offers it for its uber top tier Diamond Reserve status, and IHG doesn’t guarantee it at all.

Waived resort fees on all stays

Resort fees (or destination fees, or facility fees) are one of the most annoying trends in the hotel industry. We’ve seen these added at so many hotels. The good thing is that as a Hyatt Globalist member you never have to worry about these, as you’re exempt from them, regardless of whether on a cash or points booking. World of Hyatt is the only loyalty program to waive these fees for elites on all stays.

Waived parking fees on award stays

For those cases where you do redeem points, Globalist members don’t have to pay for on-property parking. This even applies if you’re parking in New York or San Francisco, where it might otherwise cost $50+. While I don’t use this benefit much, when I do, it saves me a lot of money.

Sometimes this is also the deciding factor for me when trying to choose between paying cash or redeeming points for a stay. World of Hyatt is the only program offering a perk like this.

Two free night awards annually

For earning 60 elite nights in a year (which is ordinarily required for Globalist status) you receive two free night awards annually:

• You get a Category 1-4 free night award when you pass 30 elite nights
• You get a Category 1-7 free night award when you pass 60 elite nights

Stays at those hotels could cost up to 25,000 and 55,000 points, respectively, so that’s potentially a value of up to 80,000 points per year.

The ability to transfer points from Bilt & Chase

Globalist status comes with so many great perks, but one of the issues is often that you wish you had more points you could redeem so you could enjoy these perks.

The good news is that World of Hyatt is a Bilt Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner, so you have several additional ways of earning points. For example, you can transfer points from:

• The Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (learn more), which offers 4x points on air and hotel booked directly, and 3x points on dining
• The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (learn more), which offers 3x points on the first $150,000 spent annually on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable and phone services, and advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines
• The Bilt Palladium Card (learn more) (Rates & Fees), which offers 2x points on everyday spending
• The Bilt Obsidian Card (learn more) (Rates & Fees), which offers 3x points on the choice of dining or groceries (dining is uncapped, groceries is capped at $25K of spending per year), and 2x points on travel

The way I see it, World of Hyatt is the only hotel program that allows efficient transfers from major transferable points currencies (where you don’t lose a lot of value in the process). There’s something to be said for that, because the same isn’t true for Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, etc.

The one caveat I should note is that transfers from Chase are only 1:1 (rather than 4:3) if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve card, whether personal or business.

Combine points between Hyatt accounts

While this isn’t specifically a Globalist benefit, one other great thing about World of Hyatt is how easily you can combine points between accounts.

Sometimes you don’t have enough points for a redemption, and in those cases you have the opportunity to transfer an unlimited number of points to another member at no cost. There are two restrictions to be aware of, though:

• You can only transfer points to another member “in order to have a sufficient number of points to redeem a particular award”
• You can only combine points (regardless of whether you’re sending or receiving) once every 30 days

The Hyatt Privé program

While not limited to Globalist members, this is something that adds significant value to my Hyatt stays, and which makes me choose Hyatt over competitors. With the Hyatt Privé program you can receive extra perks when booking select Hyatt properties through an eligible travel agent.

In many cases this gets me a confirmed upgrade at booking, a $100 credit, and more.

What I don’t love about World of Hyatt

The above are the biggest reasons I love World of Hyatt Globalist status, though let me also share a few of the things I don’t love about the program:

• Actual points earning rates for hotels are ordinarily pretty weak — as a Globalist member you earn 6.5x points per dollar spent, which isn’t that great (I value Hyatt points at ~1.5 cents each, so that’s like a return of just under 10%); the recent award chart devaluation also didn’t help with the value of points
• While Hyatt has made huge strides when it comes to its global footprint, especially with luxury properties, Hyatt still can’t compete with the sheer number of properties belonging to Hilton, IHG, and Marriott, and Hyatt’s focus lately overwhelmingly seems to be on all-inclusive resorts, which don’t appeal to me as much
• As Hyatt has grown, I think the loyalty program isn’t quite as good as it used to be with preventing hotels from playing games with award availability, upgrades, etc.

World of Hyatt’s credit cards

There are lots of great hotel credit cards out there, and Hyatt has two of those — specifically, the World of Hyatt Credit Card (learn more) and World of Hyatt Business Credit Card (learn more).

While there are some great aspects to the business card, personally I think it’s the personal card that shines, given that it has a lower annual fee, offers an anniversary free night certificate, offers elite nights just for being a cardmember (without spending), and more. The good news is that both cards make it easier to earn Globalist status. You could even earn Globalist status entirely through credit card spending, if you wanted to (though that’s not what I’d recommend doing).

Personally, I think the ideal strategy is to earn Globalist status through a combination of credit card spending and actual stays. After all, if you’re not actually staying at Hyatts much, what’s the point of earning status?

Earning Globalist status with Hyatt’s credit cards

World of Hyatt requires 60 elite nights to earn Globalist status. Even award stays count toward status, so it’s awesome that redeeming points will get you closer to Globalist status.

Fortunately Hyatt’s credit cards can help you earn elite nights:

• With the World of Hyatt Credit Card you receive five elite nights toward status annually just for having the card, plus an additional two elite nights for every $5,000 you spend on the card
• With the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card you receive five elite nights toward status for every $10,000 spent on the card in a calendar year

This means that if you wanted to, you could spend your way all the way to Globalist status, through a combination of the elite nights earned on both cards. In reality I don’t recommend completely doing that. Rather I think some combination of credit card spending and actual stays is the best strategy.

Bottom line

I find World of Hyatt Globalist status to be the most compelling top tier hotel status out there. To me that comes down to the program offering strong perks to begin with, and on top of that, doing a better job than competitors with delivering on what’s promised.

I appreciate that Globalist members get a full breakfast (including tip), guaranteed late check-out, waived resort fees, waived parking fees on award stays, etc. Personally I don’t count on complimentary suite upgrades (even though Hyatt has the best policy in that regard), but that’s the beauty of confirmed suite upgrades, which let you lock in a suite upgrade for the stays that matter most to you.

Of course, I understand for a lot of people it’s just not practical to be loyal to Hyatt, given the group’s relatively small global footprint, though a lot of progress has been made there in recent years.

What do you consider to be the most valuable top tier hotel status?

Many airport lounges have a crowding issue

Back in the day, airport lounges were marketed as an oasis of calm, and as somewhere you could go to get away from the hustle and bustle of the terminal. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for the entrance to airport lounges to look more like nightclubs, with lines out the door.

Admittedly there are many factors that impact crowding levels:

• Generally you’ll find that Priority Pass and credit card lounges (like Amex Centurion Lounges, Chase Sapphire Lounges, and Capital One Lounges) are the most crowded, followed by membership lounges (like American Admirals Clubs and United Clubs), followed by business class lounges, followed by first class lounges
• There are also geographic differences, based on where in the world you are; crowding is a big issue in the United States, while it’s not as consistently an issue in other parts of the globe (though often still is a problem)

For example, at my home airport of Miami, it’s common to see a line out the door for the Turkish Airlines Lounge in the afternoons, which belongs to Priority Pass and is also used for Star Alliance airlines.

Meanwhile I’ve certainly used other Priority Pass lounges across the globe — like the Eventyr Lounge Copenhagen — where I basically had the place to myself.

In the United States, Delta Sky Clubs are probably most notorious for their crowding issues, to the point that the airline has two queues to even enter the lounge, with a priority entry option for select passengers. This would’ve been inconceivable a decade ago.

Why many airport lounges are so crowded

Historically, many have thought of airport lounges as being for business travelers. Even well over six years after the start of the pandemic, business travel still hasn’t fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels, in terms of the percentage of traffic it makes up. Despite that, airport lounges are busier than ever before.

The way I view it, there are a variety of factors that have contributed to this. Let me share what I think they are, roughly in the order in which they’re leading to the crowding levels.

Premium credit cards have become incredibly popular

The popularity of premium credit cards that offer lounge access have exploded over the years. A decade ago, it was mostly baby boomers who had premium credit cards. However, these cards have become much more mainstream in recent years. Not only are younger users maximizing the perks more, but they’re probably also more frequent travelers on balance.

For that matter, the value proposition of premium credit cards has improved significantly over the years. Going back well over a decade, the Amex Platinum Card was basically the only premium card on the market. Now we have the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Capital One Venture X, both of which offer Priority Pass™ memberships, with a great overall value proposition.

You don’t have to be “rich” anymore to have a premium credit card, so airport lounge access has really been democratized, and I’d say that’s good overall. For that matter, psychologically I feel like those with premium credit cards also show up to airports earlier, so they can justify the annual fees on their cards, and enjoy “free” food and drinks.

Airport lounge capacity hasn’t kept up with demand

The first factor to consider is that total passenger capacity around the globe has increased massively over the years, from both legacy and ultra low cost carriers. In many parts of the world, it’s just not practical to hugely expand terminals, and as a result, we’re finding more and more passengers crowded into the same terminals.

Many airlines and airport lounge operators want to greatly increase their lounge footprint, but there’s only so much available space. For that matter, keep in mind that airports are essentially shopping malls with jet bridges, and the way airports are monetized is largely through duty free stores, restaurants, etc.

The point is, most airports are built with profit maximization, rather than passenger experience, in mind. It’s the same reason some airports are ditching moving walkways.

Premium leisure & blended travel is all the rage

Despite the fact that business travel is still down compared to pre-pandemic, that doesn’t mean that premium cabin demand is down. Quite to the contrary, premium cabin demand has been at an all-time high in recent years, and there’s seemingly no sign of that trend changing. There are many things contributing to this, including that many people would rather spend more money on experiences rather than material goods.

We’re also seeing a lot more blended travel, whereby people have the flexibility to work from anywhere, or have the flexibility to combine business and leisure travel. This makes people much more likely to arrive at the airport a bit early and enjoy a lounge experience, especially if they can work from anywhere.

Air travel is being monetized more efficiently

If given the choice of being in an empty lounge or a full lounge, I think anyone would choose an empty lounge. That’s only logical, right?

The thing is, lounges take up expensive real estate in terminals. Lounge operators — whether it’s an airline, a credit card company, or an independent airport lounge group — want to get as much of a “return” out of that as they can, and that’s logical:

• Independent lounge operators are typically paid per visit, so of course they have an incentive to have lounges be as full as possible
• Credit card lounges want to maximize goodwill among cardmembers to keep people engaged in the ecosystem
• Lounges specifically for first and business class passengers are a bit different, since they’re still a cost center, though we have seen many airlines increase their premium cabin footprint over the years, without lounge capacity increasingly proportionally

The entire air travel ecosystem is monetized much better than it was one or two decades ago, and that’s why airlines are in a more stable situation. As they view it, the busier the lounges, the better.

Of course the risk is that you get to the point where lounges are so full that they detract from the experience, and people no longer want access. While I do think that’s a potential concern, I seem to be in the minority in feeling that way. After all, we continue to see lines out the doors for many lounges, so clearly people see value in this.

How I approach airport lounge access & crowding

Everyone is looking for different things from an airport lounge. Some people want peace and quiet. Some want fast Wi-Fi. Some want food and drinks. Personally my lounge habits have changed quite a bit over the years.

Here’s how I generally approach the value of airport lounge access based on crowding levels:

• For me, the single most important thing about a lounge is that it’s reasonably quiet
• If I’m just taking a basic domestic trip in the United States, I’m not really looking to eat or drink all that much; I don’t really drink alcohol when traveling domestically, and the lounge food isn’t usually much to get excited about
• In the United States, I do still really enjoy Capital One Lounges and Chase Sapphire Lounges, even if they are busy, as they have some features that I really appreciate, like great coffee
• If I’m traveling internationally, there are still some amazing first and business class lounges, even if they are busy, and they’re worth visiting

More often than not, when I’m traveling domestically, I’d rather just seek out a gate area that looks like the below, where I have relative quiet, and can connect to the airport’s Wi-Fi. I just don’t bother going out of my way to sit in a crowded lounge.

It’s one of the reasons I quite like the increasing trend toward grab & go lounges, where those with lounge access can just pick up a drink or snack, rather than lounging around, and then find a quiet place in the terminal to sit.

Bottom line

Airport lounges have become increasingly crowded in recent years, especially in the United States. This is due to a combination of factors — the increasing popularity of premium credit cards, the higher demand for premium air travel, and airport lounge capacity just not keeping up with the increase in demand.

While there are still lots of amazing lounges, personally I often skip the typical, run-of-the-mill Priority Pass lounge in the United States. I’d rather sit in a quiet gate area with Wi-Fi, lots of natural light, and with no one nearby.

Where do you stand on airport lounge crowding? Have your lounge usage patterns changed as a result of crowding?

What are fifth freedom flights?

In the context of commercial aviation, a fifth freedom flight is one where an airline from one country flies between two other countries, with the right to transport passengers between them. These kinds of flights aren’t allowed in all cases, but rather have to be part of an air services agreement between countries (or part of a larger aviation treaty).

I’ll share more routes below, but just to give one example, Emirates operates a flight from Dubai to Milan to New York, so the flight between Milan and New York would be a fifth freedom flight. Why? Because an airline from the United Arab Emirates is operating a flight between Italy and the United States, and the airline can even sell tickets for travel between New York and Milan.

If an airline simply stops in an extra country to refuel, or if the airline doesn’t have the right to pick up or drop off passengers in a country, then it wouldn’t be considered a fifth freedom flight.

Why do airlines operate fifth freedom flights?

There are a few reasons airlines may choose to operate fifth freedom routes. One reason is because a destination can’t practically be reached nonstop, so a stop is necessary along the way:

• For example, Emirates flies from Mexico City to Barcelona to Dubai (with the first flight being a fifth freedom flight)
• This is done because a 777 can’t easily fly nonstop from Mexico City to Dubai without a significant weight restriction, due to Mexico City Airport being at a high altitude (which reduces takeoff performance)
• In other words, the only way for Emirates to fly to Mexico City is through a third country, so the airline might as well figure out a lucrative second market

Another reason is because a fifth freedom market is determined to be lucrative, even if there are no operational limitations:

• For example, Emirates flies nonstop from Dubai to New York, but also operates flights from Dubai to Milan to New York
• This isn’t because the airline can’t fly nonstop (it can and does), but rather because the economics of the Milan to New York flight make sense
• The market between Dubai and Milan is large, the market between Milan and New York is large, and the market between Dubai and New York is large, so this gives the airline lots of opportunities to fill seats and maximize revenue

A last main reason is because an airline wants to serve a certain destination, but there’s not enough demand to operate directly there:

• For example, SWISS flies from Zurich to Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires
• Clearly the airline didn’t see sufficient demand to fly directly from Switzerland to Argentina, but sees value in offering connecting service there as part of an existing Brazil flight
• Presumably the icing on the cake is the ability to exclusively transport passengers between Brazil and Argentina

Why should passengers care about fifth freedom flights?

There are three main reasons passengers should care about fifth freedom flights. First of all, as an avgeek it sure is fun to fly an “exotic” airline between other countries, whether we’re talking about flying Singapore Airlines from New York to Frankfurt, or Ethiopian Airlines from Buenos Aires to Sao Paulo.

Next, in many cases fifth freedom flights are more reasonably priced, or have a lot more award availability. Airlines operating fifth freedom flights often have to price more aggressively, since they may not have the pricing power of an airline based in that country, in terms of frequencies, a loyal local customer base, corporate contracts, etc. For example, you might find that Emirates is significantly cheaper between Bangkok and Hong Kong than Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways, etc.

Lastly, in many cases fifth freedom flights can offer a significantly better passenger experience, since these flights are often operated by long haul aircraft. For example, Singapore Airlines flies between Milan and Barcelona (though this route is ending in several months), so you could enjoy the carrier’s excellent A350 business class on this short route.

It looks a bit better than the typical intra-Europe business class products out there, eh?

As another example, who wouldn’t want to fly Emirates first class between Newark and Athens? It’s certainly better than anything offered by a US-based airline in the market!

Why is there controversy with fifth freedom flights?

Historically, fifth freedom flights haven’t been without controversy:

• In many cases the “home” airlines in a country have been opposed to other airlines launching fifth freedom routes, since they don’t like the competition
• Fifth freedom flights from Gulf carriers have been especially controversial, given accusations of government subsidies
• Many governments have refused to grant airlines permission to operate fifth freedom flights, even in situations where an air services agreement would otherwise allow it

For example, for a long time we saw airlines in the United States rally against Emirates’ flights between Europe and the United States, and it took Emirates a couple of years to get approval from the Mexican government to launch a flight between Mexico City and Barcelona.

Are fifth freedom flights becoming obsolete?

Great question. 😉 The way I view it, fifth freedom flights are less necessary than they used to be, so now they’re primarily being operated for different reasons. Airlines are now largely operating fifth freedom flights based on where they see demand, rather than due to operational requirements (there are of course exceptions).

For example, for decades Cathay Pacific operated a fifth freedom flight between New York and Vancouver. This route was initially launched at a time when Cathay Pacific only flew between Hong Kong and New York via Vancouver, due to aircraft range.

Eventually the airline also started nonstop flights between Hong Kong and New York, but at that point the airline was so well established in the market between New York and Vancouver that it stuck around. Unfortunately the route was terminated in 2020, and had apparently been losing money for quite some time.

While the operational needs for these kinds of flights is largely limited, airlines increasingly see business cases for operating these routes, to the extent that governments will allow.

What fifth freedom flights are in the United States?

What fifth freedom flights can you take to and from the United States? Off the top of my head, here are the ones that are currently available:

• Emirates flies from New York to Milan, Newark to Athens, and Miami to Bogota (all in connection with routes to Dubai)
• Ethiopian Airlines flies from Newark and Washington to Lomé, and from New York to Abidjan (all three routes continue to Addis Ababa)
• LATAM flies from Miami to Punta Cana (the route continues to Santiago)
• Singapore Airlines flies from Los Angeles to Tokyo and from New York to Frankfurt (both routes continue to Singapore)
• Surinam Airways flies from Miami to Georgetown (the route continues to Paramaribo)
• Qantas flies from from New York to Auckland (the route continues to Sydney)

What are the other freedoms of the air?

With the focus of this post being fifth freedom flights, what are the other freedoms of the air? Maybe some people will find this to be interesting, so let’s quickly cover that:

• The first freedom of the air is flying over a foreign country without landing; for example, this includes a United flight from the United States to China flying over Japan
• The second freedom of the air is the right to refuel or carry out maintenance in a foreign country, without passengers or cargo getting on or off; for example, this includes Ethiopian Airlines having a refueling stop in Rome on many flights from Addis Ababa to the United States
• The third freedom of the air is the right to fly from one’s own country to a foreign country; for example, this includes a Delta flight from the US to France
• The fourth freedom of the air is the right to fly from a foreign country to one’s own country; for example, this includes a Delta flight from France to the US
• The sixth freedom of the air is the right to fly between two foreign countries while stopping in one’s own country; for example, this includes someone flying American from the UK to Argentina via the US
• The seventh freedom of the air is the right to fly between two foreign countries, while the journey doesn’t touch the carrier’s home country; for example, this includes a Ryanair aircraft registered in Ireland flying between Spain and Morocco
• The eighth freedom of the air is the right to fly within a foreign country, as part of a continuation of a journey from one’s own country, with pick-up rights; these kinds of flights are exceedingly rare
• The ninth freedom of the air is the right to fly within a foreign country, without continuing to one’s own country; for example, this includes a Ryanair aircraft registered in Ireland flying within Spain

Bottom line

A fifth freedom flight is when an airline based in one country operates a flight between two other countries. Personally I love fifth freedom flights, since they can often represent a great deal, offer a superior experience, and even give you a bit of flair.

I’ve taken tons of fifth freedom flights over the years, and always seek them out when possible.

Have you flown any fifth freedom routes? What are your favorites?

While my focus with Marriott Bonvoy is generally on the perks associated with Platinum Elite, Titanium Elite, and Ambassador Elite status, in this post I want to take a look at Gold Elite status. How do you earn it, and what are the perks?

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy Gold status

You can earn Marriott Bonvoy® Gold Elite status through hotel stays, by having certain credit cards, or through a combination of both. Let’s take a look at what’s required.

Earn Marriott Gold Elite status with hotel stays

Marriott Gold Elite status requires earning 25 elite nights in a calendar year. Both paid and award nights count toward this total, as long as you booked directly with Marriott.

Earn Marriott Gold Elite status with lifetime perks

Marriott Bonvoy has a lifetime elite status program, and you can earn Marriott Gold Elite status permanently by passing certain thresholds. Specifically, you can receive lifetime Gold Elite status if you earn 400 qualifying lifetime elite nights and have seven years of Gold Elite status or above. Even status or nights earned through credit cards count toward these requirements.

Earn Marriott Gold Elite status with airline status

Marriott Bonvoy has partnerships with some airlines. Marriott Bonvoy and United MileagePlus have a Rewards Plus partnership, offering a variety of reciprocal perks. In addition to preferential mileage transfer rates, United MileagePlus Premier Gold members and above can also receive Gold Elite status at no cost. This is available on an ongoing basis.

Beyond that, Marriott Bonvoy also has a partnership with several other airline loyalty programs:

• Air Canada Aeroplan 50K members and above can receive complimentary Bonvoy Gold Elite status
• Japan Airlines Mileage Bank JGC Premier members and above can receive complimentary Bonvoy Gold Elite status
• Lufthansa Miles & More Senator members and above can receive complimentary Bonvoy Gold Elite status

Earn Marriott Gold Elite status with credit cards

Credit cards can help you earn hotel elite status, and that’s the case with Gold Elite status as well. The following cards offer Gold Elite status just for being a cardmember:

• The Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (learn more)
• The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card (learn more)
• American Express Platinum Card® (learn more) (Enrollment required)
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (learn more) (Enrollment required)

A special mention has to go to the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (learn more), which offers Marriott Bonvoy® Platinum Elite status just for being a cardmember.

Beyond that, you can earn elite nights with credit cards. Specifically, you earn 15 elite nights toward status annually just for having one of the following cards:

• The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card (learn more)
• The Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card (learn more)
• The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (learn more)
• The Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (learn more)

Meanwhile the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card offers 25 elite nights toward status.

You can earn 15-25 elite nights from at most one personal and one business card. So the ideal situation would be to have the Bonvoy Business Card and Bonvoy Brilliant Card, and then you’d get 40 elite nights every year.

Marriott Bonvoy Gold status perks & benefits

With the requirements to earn status out of the way, what are the benefits of Bonvoy Gold Elite status? Below are the perks, roughly in the order that I value them.

Room upgrades, subject to availability

Bonvoy Gold Elite members are entitled to room upgrades subject to availability at check-in. Upgrades are to “enhanced rooms,” which could include rooms with desirable views, rooms on high floors, corner rooms, rooms with special amenities, and rooms on executive floors.

Don’t expect suite upgrades or club access rooms as a Gold Elite member, but hopefully you get some sort of an upgraded room.

25% Marriott Bonvoy® bonus points

Bonvoy Gold Elite members earn 25% bonus points on hotel stays. Since Bonvoy members ordinarily earn 10x points per dollar spent, that’s an extra 2.5x points per dollar spent. I value Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each, so to me that’s like a 1.75% incremental return on Marriott spending.

Premium internet access

While all Bonvoy members receive free internet at Marriott properties, Gold Elite members and above receive premium in-room internet. This could come in handy, given the slow Wi-Fi speeds at some hotels for the basic plans, as well as how much some hotels try to charge extra if you want faster Wi-Fi.

Bonus points as a welcome gift

At check-in, Bonvoy Gold Elite members receive a welcome gift consisting of points. This will be 250-500 points, depending on the brand. That’s better than nothing, though nothing too exciting — I value those points at $1.75-3.50.

2PM late check-out, subject to availability

Bonvoy Gold Elite members receive 2PM late check-out subject to availability. Unfortunately, unlike the 4PM late check-out that Platinum members and above receive, this isn’t a guaranteed perk, so the hotel can reject this request.

Is Marriott Bonvoy Gold status worth it?

Is it worth being loyal to Marriott in order to earn Bonvoy Gold Elite status? Probably not. I’d argue status with Marriott really gets valuable at the Platinum tier, where you’re potentially eligible for suite upgrades, complimentary breakfast, guaranteed late check-out, and more bonus points.

That being said, if you stay at Marriotts with any frequency, then getting Bonvoy Gold Elite status just for having the Amex Platinum (or another credit card) is certainly worth it.

How does Bonvoy Gold Elite status compare to other mid-tier hotel status?

• Gold elite status can also be earned just by having a credit card, and offers stronger perks, including complimentary breakfast or a food & beverage credit
• IHG One Rewards Platinum status can also be earned just by having a credit card; while there’s not much in the way of guaranteed benefits, I’d say the potential benefits are still a bit stronger
• World of Hyatt Explorist status can’t be earned just by having a credit card, but offers better room upgrades, and also gives you access to the Milestone Rewards program, where perks start to become more valuable

Bottom line

Understandably the Marriott Bonvoy program is most widely discussed when talking about Platinum Elite status and above, since that’s where the program becomes really valuable. That being said, Gold status can be attained just by having the Amex Platinum, so it’s a status that many probably have (or are eligible for).

Bonvoy Gold Elite status offers complimentary room upgrades, 25% bonus points, premium internet, late check-out subject to availability, and a welcome gift of points. It’s better than nothing, but also probably not a reason to be loyal to Marriott.

If you’re a Bonvoy Gold Elite member, what has your experience been like?

I’ll share mine below, in no particular order, and I’d love for OMAAT readers to share their habits in the comments section, to see how they compare…

Check room inventory just prior to arriving

Obviously everyone wants to have as nice of a hotel stay as possible, and in that regard, it’s worth doing a little research before checking in. Shortly before arriving at a hotel, I’ll always check what room I’ve been assigned, assuming I’m staying at a hotel group that makes that information available through its app (obviously this doesn’t work for independent properties, or smaller hotel groups).

I also check what rooms are still for sale, just to get a general sense of whether I should ask about the possibility of a room upgrade, what would be realistic, etc.

Enter the room slowly, and make a noise

When you check into a hotel room, you expect that it will be empty and properly serviced. However, sometimes mistakes happen. I remember several years ago entering my hotel room for the first time after a long flight, only to find the room occupied.

Ever since, I open the door very slowly when first entering the room, and maybe say “hello” or something along those lines, to make sure there’s no one in there. Fortunately it hasn’t been an issue since, but the one experience was enough to traumatize me. 😉

Take a picture of the hotel room number

When you check into a hotel, you’ll typically give your key in an envelope that has the room number written on it. As soon as I get to my room, I take a picture of the room number (either the placard by the door, or the key envelope), and then discard the envelope.

Why do I get rid of the envelope with the room number? Well, it’s easy enough to lose a room key, and the last thing you want to do is have someone else with not only your room key, but also your room number.

Check alarm clocks immediately

As much as housekeeping does a good job cleaning rooms at most places, all too often they don’t seem to check if alarm clocks have been turned off. So I always check clocks to make sure that they’re not set. Then again, given that I get up unpleasantly early no matter where I am, alarm clocks typically don’t actually wake me up, but they do startle me.

I’m hardly the most tech savvy person on earth, but I’m kind of amazed that people still use in-room alarm clocks, given that anyone’s phone can function as an alarm. They are slowly being phased out at many hotels, which I frankly don’t mind.

Check the air conditioning, shower, and Wi-Fi

When you arrive in your hotel room, you hope that everything is functioning as promised. However, all too often that’s not the case. So the first thing I’ll do when I get to a hotel room is checking the air conditioning, shower, and Wi-Fi, to make sure that they’re all working correctly.

You don’t want to find out that the air conditioning isn’t working late at night when you go to bed, and when there may be no rooms you can be moved to. Similarly, you don’t want to only find out the shower is having issues when you’re rushed in the morning prior to departing. While hotel Wi-Fi has come a long way over the years, not all areas of the hotel have the same signal strength, so I also try to check that ASAP.

Use the deadbolt whenever in the room

Without exception, I always use the deadbolt when I’m in the room. This is just a basic safety protocol, since there are all kinds of people who may otherwise be able to access your room. So whether it’s the day or the middle of the night, I always have the deadbolt in use.

All too often we hear stories of rooms being broken into (including while occupied), and in a vast majority of situations, that could be prevented by simply using the deadbolt.

Use the “do not disturb” sign when in the room

I realize some people will disagree with me on this, but I almost always have the “do not disturb” sign on when I’m in the room. When it comes to hotel housekeeping, my strategy is to just let the hotel know when I’m leaving the room so that it can be serviced, rather than having housekeeping constantly checking to see if it’s a good time for my room to be cleaned.

The only time I won’t use the “do not disturb” sign is if I just arrived, and if I’m expecting there might be a welcome amenity delivered, or something along those lines.

Check the closet and under the bed

I admit that this falls into the “strange” category. Once I arrive in a hotel room, I always check both the closets and under the bed. I recognize that this is probably entirely irrational, but you’ve gotta make sure there are no ghosts or other weird spirits there. I’m totally serious, by the way (well, about checking… I’m not sure why I do so, though).

I know other people look for hidden cameras and other things, but that’s not something I do, personally.

Never slam hotel room doors

This is more of a “golden rule” policy of mine than anything else, but it’s something I do religiously. When staying in a hotel, it’s easy to assume (or hope?) that sound insulation is good. Often it isn’t. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been woken up by other people in nearby rooms closing their doors loudly in the middle of the night.

So whenever I exit my room, I always try to close the door manually and quietly, rather than just letting it slam. This also serves another purpose, so I can make sure that the door is closed correctly. Similarly, I try to keep my voice down in the hallway.

Use the gym to get free water

I drink a lot of water. I’m not a water diva, and I’m happy to drink tap water anywhere that it’s safe to do so. That being said, sometimes I end up in places where it’s not safe, and then you find that a hotel only gives you a couple of bottles per day.

While some hotels are happy to send up more water complimentary, others aren’t. Regardless, my approach is to typically just go to the hotel gym to get water, since it’s almost always readily available there.

Consider tipping housekeeping

The topic of tipping hotel housekeeping is controversial. I’m not trying to open that whole can of worms, but rather am sharing that tipping housekeeping is part of my hotel routine. Admittedly it depends on where I’m traveling to, but it’s something I try to do in the United States, since I know what economic conditions are like for housekeepers, and what our general tipping culture is like.

The reality is that hotel housekeepers are among the hardest working and lowest paid employees at hotels. While the bellmen are often tipped simply for briefly handling luggage or opening a door, housekeepers do a lot more for guests, but aren’t rewarded as often. I guess it comes down to “out of sight, out of mind.”

While I don’t travel with much cash, I try to bring some small amounts of money with me to tip hotel housekeeping, as a gesture of appreciation for the hard work they do.

Bottom line

We all have our habits in life, so I figured it would be fun to share some of my habits when staying at hotels, and compare those to others. I think some of these make perfect sense, while others perhaps border on paranoia. Then again, who doesn’t have some strange rituals?

What are your hotel habits, and how do they compare to mine?

I have to say right off the bat that my flight didn’t exactly go as planned. Initially my flight was scheduled to be operated by one of the carrier’s ex-Etihad Airways Boeing 777-300ERs, featuring first class suites with doors. However, a few days before departure, the flight got swapped to a 777-300ER with Air India’s old first class, which isn’t exactly industry leading, to put it politely.

That being said, I was still looking forward to checking out Air India’s updated first class soft product, given how impressed I was by my Air India A350 business class flight several months back.

Unfortunately I must say that this flight left me underwhelmed. On the plus side, the crew was friendly, I was the only first class passenger, I actually got a great night of sleep, and the cabin wasn’t actively falling apart (making it better than some other experiences I’ve heard of).

That being said, I couldn’t help but feel like Air India puts absolutely no effort into the first class soft product. It’s so strange, the airline has done an amazing job overhauling its business class soft product, but then there’s virtually no differentiation for first class, except a slightly better alcohol selection.

I get that first class probably isn’t a terribly profitable cabin for Air India, but if/when the airline does introduce its new first class hard product, I hope the airline also invests in its soft product. As things currently stand, business class is definitely more impressive than first class, on a relative basis.

How I booked my Air India first class ticket

I redeemed Air Canada Aeroplan points for my Air India first class flight. Specifically, I booked the following for 75,000 Aeroplan points plus $53 in taxes & fees:

7/17 AI2025 Delhi to Frankfurt departing 3:55AM arriving 10:40AM

For an international first class ticket, that’s quite a good value, even if Air India first class isn’t much to get excited about.

For what it’s worth, I ticketed this a little under two weeks before departure, though the award space had been there even before I booked… I guess there’s just not much demand! Aeroplan points are of course really easy to earn, as the program partners with most major transferable points currencies.

Air India first class lounge & boarding

In previous installments, I reviewed the Air India Maharaja Lounge Delhi, including the first class section and business class section. This is Air India’s new flagship lounge, and the airline did a stellar job with this facility. I even rank the first class lounge as being among the best in the world.

Even beyond the lounges as such, Air India deserves credit for its ground experience in terms of escorting guests every step of the way. Since I was in international transit on a separate ticket (arriving in Turkmenistan Airlines’ 737 business class), I didn’t get the typical check-in experience.

However, I was transported from the lounge to the gate by golf cart, and also had a porter help with my luggage. In the lounge I had been asked whether I wanted to board first or last — I asked to board first, and sure enough, they waited to start boarding until the second I arrived at the gate. My flight was departing from gate 24, with the process starting at 2:55AM, a full hour before departure.

Air India 777 first class cabin & seats

I boarded through the forward left door, where I was immediately greeted by the lovely cabin supervisor, Ritu, and escorted to my seat. Air India’s 777-300ER first class cabin consists of just four seats, in one row, in a 1-2-1 configuration. So in that sense it’s like Air France’s La Premiere first class, but that’s also where the similarities end. 😉

The seats have 80″ of pitch and 23″ of width, so they’re super spacious, and actually really comfortable. However, they’re not very private, as there are no doors, and even the partitions aren’t huge. Then again, when you’re the only person in the cabin, that’s a non-issue.

If you’re traveling with someone, you may appreciate the ability to assign seats together in the center section, so you can truly enjoy the flight together. That’s something that isn’t possible in so many newer first class products, so that’s a nice element to this cabin.

Meanwhile if you’re a solo traveler, you’re best off assigning one of the window seats — in my case, I selected seat 1A. The first thing that stood out to me about the seat was that it was in decent condition.

There have been so many reports of Air India’s 777 first class cabins basically falling apart. While the full retrofit of these aircraft has been massively delayed, the planes have undergone mild refreshes, and they at least make a difference. Of course this cabin by no means felt cutting edge, but at least most things were more or less functioning as they should.

When it comes to seat features, immediately to the side of the seat is an enclosed area with the entertainment controller, AC and USB-A power outlets, and headphone jack. On the armrest there’s also a little controller for the seat functions. Obviously this is all outdated tech, but at least it was functioning.

The tray table then folds out from the side of the seat, and is really heavy — it’s a struggle to move around, and I felt a bit bad for the crew members, who insisted on taking it out and storing it for me. This tray table also kept sort of collapsing, as the far side would just hang down quite a bit when things were placed on it. As a result, I kept most things on the left side of the tray table.

There’s also an additional small enclosed storage compartment to the side of the seat.

Then there’s an open closet space of sorts, where you can hang clothes.

Air India also has individual air nozzles on its 777s, which is perhaps one of the carrier’s biggest competitive advantages when it comes to product on this plane. That contributed to me getting some great rest on this flight.

While not related to first class, I did also take a glance into business class. Behind first class and ahead of the second set of doors were 21 business class seats, in a 2-3-2 configuration. While the seats were angled, they otherwise looked fairly fresh.

In terms of hard product, this was exactly what I was expecting, except the seat was in better condition than I was anticipating, so that’s good, at least.

Air India 777 first class entertainment

The entertainment situation in Air India’s 777 first class is pretty rough. First of all, there’s no Wi-Fi on these Air India 777s, so don’t expect that you’ll stay connected to the outside world, despite these planes operating some very long missions.

Instead, the primary option is the seat back entertainment, and that system is really outdated. I mean, I think the interface speaks for itself — this stuff feels a good 15+ years past its prime. The system had movies, TV shows, music, and games, though the selection was rather limited, so I’d highly recommend bringing your own entertainment.

There is also streaming entertainment, with the selection being identical to the seat back entertainment. I assume that’s available so that people with broken screens can still watch the entertainment.

The other thing I’d mention is that beyond how limited the entertainment was, using the controller was just an absolute pain. It was so unresponsive, where there was a delay of seconds between the input and the system actually responding. So I just spent most of my time awake watching the map feature, which is my favorite inflight entertainment anyway (well, assuming there’s no tail camera!).

Air India first class amenities

Waiting at my Air India first class seat upon boarding was a good amount of bedding. This included a colorful pillow and day blanket on my actual seat — while not the coziest, the design was cute.

That was complemented by the additional bedding on the ottoman, including a mattress pad, an additional pillow, and a larger blanket. It’s not at all a big deal, but I found it interesting how this bedding for turndown service was stored directly on the seat, rather than in the overhead bin.

Once settled in, both the cabin supervisor and first class flight attendant introduced themselves to me and familiarized me with the seat. They also offered me a pre-departure drink, with the choice of buttermilk juice or kala jamun juice (did I get that right?). I went with the latter, and it had… a unique taste.

I was also asked if I wanted a hot or cold towel, and that was presented on a little plate.

I was then given the amenity kit, which was Forest Essentials branded. It was a pretty basic kit, and had socks and eyeshades, as well as a facial mist, lip balm, body lotion, etc. I was surprised by the lack of basic amenities, as there was no toothbrush, earplugs, etc.

I was also presented with some Air India branded pajamas, the same I’ve been offered in business class in the past, along with slippers.

Then there were a pair of noise canceling headphones, which were reasonably nice. However, the system’s audio quality was so bad that they could only do so much to help with that.

Lastly, I was given with the menu and drink list, with an explanation about how I could order whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.

Air India’s first class amenities are okay, and what stood out to me the most was the lack of differentiation from business class.

Air India 777 departure from Delhi

The boarding process took quite some time, and wrapped up by 3:50AM, five minutes ahead of our scheduled departure time. At that point the captain was on the PA to quickly welcome everyone onboard, and inform us of our flight time of 9hr25min.

At 3:55AM we began our pushback, and then at 4:05AM we began our taxi, at which point the safety video was screened. The audio quality in the cabin was horrible (it was constantly making a “crackling” sound), though I’m otherwise a fan of Air India’s safety video.

We had a very long taxi to our departure runway, but we taxied fast, at least. At 4:25AM we were cleared for takeoff on runway 28. We had a fairly quick takeoff roll, and a smooth climb out.

The seatbelt sign was turned off around five minutes after takeoff.

Air India first class breakfast service

On this Air India first class flight, there was both a breakfast and lunch meal option, and the idea was that you could order what you wanted, when you wanted. While I’d ordinarily order the main meal after takeoff and then breakfast after waking up, I decided to reverse it this time around, since I had a couple of lunch and dinner type meals at the airport during my extended layover, so it felt like breakfast was appropriate at this point.

You can find the Air India first class menu below.

You can find the Air India first class drink list below.

The thing that stood out to me is that while the drink selection was a bit elevated compared to business class (without being anything remarkable), the food seemed identical to business class, which I’d consider to be pretty underwhelming.

Service was very quick to get started. Within 20 minutes of takeoff, my tablecloth was set, and I was offered a drink with some warm, mixed nuts. I had a glass of champagne, with Charles Heidsieck Blanc de Blancs being on offer — it was a step up from the business class champagne for sure.

The entire breakfast was served as one course. I opted for the South Indian platter, with podi upma, paniyaram, neer dosa, and sagu. I also had some fruit yogurt to accompany that, along with a croissant.

I love Indian food, and I thought that this was delicious. However, there was nothing about this that felt particularly first class, in terms of both quality and presentation. I was ultimately happy, but still, it doesn’t feel like there’s much effort put into this.

Air India 777 first class lavatories

Air India’s 777 first class has two lavatories at the very front of the cabin, right by the cockpit. The one to the left is the larger of the two, and is the one generally reserved for passengers (while the one on the right is more used by the crew).

I’d say the crew did a great job taking care of it, though in reality, I think I was the only one using it, so I think I also deserve a pat on the back. 😉

Air India 777 first class bed

After the meal, the crew kindly prepared my bed for me, so that I could get some rest. I asked to be woken up with enough time before landing to have a pre-landing meal.

I must say, I found the bed to be really comfortable, especially since I could grab some extra pillows from the seat next to me.

I’m generally a horrible airplane sleeper, though I slept spectacularly well on this flight. I fell asleep with around 8hr30min remaining to Frankfurt…

…and I woke up with around 1hr55min remaining, meaning that I slept for well over six hours. For me, that’s absolutely unheard of on a plane. I’m a really sensitive airplane sleeper, so obviously the dark cabin, lack of noise, smells, and sounds, and individual air nozzles, all contributed to a great experience.

Air India first class lunch service

After waking up, it was time to enjoy the main meal. Once again, you can find the selection below, as this time I was working off the right menu.

There were two choices of appetizers, and I selected the citrus tiger prawns with mango wasabi mousse and fresh cucumber. That was served with a side of bread. This dish was fine, but nothing remarkable, or that felt like what you’d expect in first class rather than business class.

Of the four main course choices, I selected the nawabi paneer gucchi, essentially cottage cheese dumplings with creamy tomato gravy, saffron basmati rice, yogurt cooked lentils, spiced okra potatoes, and raita.

Lastly, for dessert I had the shahi gulab jamun — fried, condensed milk dumplings with saffron pistachio filling. It was the inverse of being as tasty as it is healthy. 😉 I had a cappuccino to go along with that, served with packaged Biscoff cookies.

All-in-all, the meal was quite good. But again, there was nothing about it that felt like it belonged in first class over business class.

Air India first class crew & service

Service in Air India first class was excellent. Both the cabin supervisor and first class flight attendant were warm, hospitable, and attentive. Admittedly you’d expect that to be the case with two crew taking care of one passenger.

In general I’ve found service on Air India to be one of the strong points of the experience. While the carrier’s turnaround sure isn’t progressing very quickly, staff in general seem to take a lot of pride in the airline, which is nice to see.

Air India 777 arrival in Frankfurt

At 9:50AM Frankfurt time, the captain was on the PA to announce that we had already started our descent, and would be landing in around 30 minutes. During our descent to Frankfurt we had quite a bit of turbulence, so the crew had to prepare the cabin for landing early.

We ended up touching down in Frankfurt at 10:20AM on runway 25C.

From there we had a very long taxi to our arrival gate. At around 10:35AM we approached the area near our gate, though the captain advised that our parking position was still occupied, and should become available soon. On the plus side, we waited on a taxiway that afforded some great views.

Finally at 10:45AM we were cleared to taxi to our gate, where we pulled in next to a SunExpress Boeing 737.

I bid farewell to the crew, and then continued for my connecting Lufthansa flight to Venice (VCE), to kick off the main part of my trip — after three redeye flights in a row, I was looking forward to spending a night in a hotel!

Bottom line

If the goal of a first class flight is to arrive at your destination well rested, then my Air India first class flight actually deserves high marks, because I got among the best sleep I’ve ever had on a plane. However, it’s also hard to objectively judge the experience based on that.

All-in-all, I had a pleasant flight with friendly service, an empty cabin, and tasty food. The seats were also in better condition than I was expecting, but that’s because I had heard absolute horror stories.

That being said, there’s no denying that this simply isn’t a competitive product. There’s no Wi-Fi, the entertainment system is really outdated, and the soft product feels identical to business class, except the alcohol selection is slightly elevated.

If you’re going to offer first class, the expectation is that the soft product will be substantially better than business class, and that just wasn’t the case here. Frankly, all things being equal, I’d probably prefer Air India’s new business class with Wi-Fi, more modern entertainment, etc.

What’s your take on Air India’s 777 first class?

On the points & travel front, this week Alaska announced its latest Europe expansion, Flying Blue unveiled a devaluation, the FAA introduced new rules around pre-departure drinks, Bilt and Blacklane launched a new partnership, Eurowings expanded its “real” business class concept, and more.

With that out of the way, here’s a recap of this week on the blog:

This is a card that I’ve had for years, as part of a larger Chase Ink Business card strategy. I initially picked up the card for its massive welcome bonus, but I’ve kept the card thanks to the lack of an annual fee, great rewards structure, and perks. In this post, I’d like to share the reasons I’d recommend considering the Chase Ink Business Cash Card, if you don’t yet have it.

Link: Learn more about the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and apply with 100K bonus points

1. The Ink Cash has a 100K points welcome offer

The Chase Ink Business Cash Card has a highest-ever publicly available welcome bonus of 100,000 points after spending $8,000 within the first four months. I consider this to be among the best welcome offers out there, and that doesn’t even account for this being a no annual fee card.

On the surface this is a cash back card, meaning that the 100,000 points are worth $1,000 cash back. However, you can potentially convert these rewards into “full” Ultimate Rewards points, which I value at 1.7 cents each, so to me that bonus is worth $1,700. Yes, on a no annual fee card. That’s incredible.

2. The Ink Cash has no annual fee

The Chase Ink Business Cash Card has no annual fee. Getting a no annual fee card that’s super rewarding is rare, especially when you consider the value of the welcome bonus.

I’d argue that this is one of the two most compelling no annual fee business cards, along with The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Rates & Fees), which offers 2x Membership Rewards points on the first $50,000 spent each calendar year (and 1x points after that).

3. The Ink Cash has valuable 5x points categories

The Chase Ink Business Cash Card offers 5x points on the first $25,000 of combined purchases per account anniversary year at office supply stores, and on internet, cable, and phone services.

If nothing else, earning 5x points on your cell phone and cable bill is huge, in my opinion. However, I should note that some may prefer the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (learn more), which offers 3x points on your cell phone bill, but also offers a great cell phone protection plan.

4. The Ink Cash has 2x points categories as well

On top of the 5x points categories, the Chase Ink Business Cash Card offers 2x points on the first $25,000 of combined purchases per account anniversary year at restaurants and gas stations.

While these are categories that other cards also offer bonuses on, that’s pretty generous for a no annual fee card, and for many businesses it may be worth putting that spending on this card.

5. The Ink Cash offers business rental car coverage

The Chase Ink Business Cash Card offers primary collision damage waiver (CDW) coverage for rentals of most types of vehicles in most countries, except where it is prohibited by law, by individual merchants, or is in violation of the territory terms of the rental agreement. There aren’t many no annual fee cards offering rental car coverage, so I think that’s pretty remarkable.

Prior to renting, you should check with the benefits administrator (call the number on the back of your card) to verify your coverage. Keep in mind, you’re only eligible for coverage when renting for business purposes. For personal rentals, look to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (learn more) or Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (learn more).

6. The Ink Cash offers travel & purchase protection

In addition to rental car coverage, the Chase Ink Business Cash Card offers other purchase and travel benefits, including (but not limited to) the following:

• Trip cancellation and interruption coverage, of up to $5,000 per person and $10,000 per trip
• Purchase protection for up to 120 days against damage or theft
• Extended warranty protection, for up to a year on eligible purchases

You’ll want to read the cardmember agreement for exact terms, but this has the potential to be extremely valuable for purchases as well.

7. Maximize the value of Ultimate Rewards

On the surface, the Chase Ink Business Cash Card is a cash back card, as the name suggests. When I talk about “points” above, each point gets you one cent cash back.

That’s potentially valuable in the categories in which the card offers bonus points, since 2-5% cash back on a no annual fee card is solid. However, for base spending you’re only earning a return of 1%, which isn’t terribly competitive.

However, you can do much better than that if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Reserve Business, and/or Ink Business Preferred.

If you have the Ink Business Cash in conjunction with any of the above four cards, then those points can be converted into “premium” Ultimate Rewards points at a 1:1 ratio. This allows them to be transferred to Ultimate Rewards airline & hotel partners, or to be redeemed through Chase Travel℠ at a favorable rate.

I value Ultimate Rewards points at 1.7 cents each, so to me that increases the value of the points earned on this card by 70%. Let me emphasize that you’ll get the most value if you have this card in conjunction with the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Ink Cash application rules, and how to get approved

If you plan to apply for the Chase Ink Business Cash Card, there are a few things to be aware of:

• The Ink Cash is in theory subjected to Chase’s “5/24 rule,” meaning you typically won’t be approved for the card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months; however, this rule is no longer consistently enforced, so this seems to fit into the category of “your mileage may vary”
• While the Ink Cash is subjected to 5/24, note that when you apply it won’t count as a further card toward that five card limit, since business cards generally don’t appear on your personal report
• It’s possible to get approved for the Ink Cash and earn the bonus even if you don’t have a corporation, as you can apply as a sole proprietorship
• You are eligible for the Ink Cash if you have the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (learn more) or Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ (learn more), but you aren’t eligible if you have the no annual fee Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (learn more), as eligibility for the two card bonuses is mutually exclusive nowadays
• While there’s no hard limit to how many Chase credit cards you can have, there is often a limit to how much total credit Chase will extend you
• Generally, I recommend only applying for one Chase business card every 30 days at most

Bottom line

The Chase Ink Business Cash Card is a phenomenal no annual fee business credit card, and on top of that it’s offering a huge welcome bonus. Getting $1,000 cash back (or 100,000 points) as a bonus on a no annual fee card is remarkable.

On top of that, being able to earn 2-5x points on a card that complements other Ultimate Rewards cards is an excellent opportunity. Add in the fact that the card offers great benefits, and this is a no annual fee card you’ll want to keep long term. This is a card that I’ve had for years… my only regret is that I can’t sign up and earn the bonus again. 😉

If you have the Chase Ink Business Cash Card, what has your experience been?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Rates & Fees).