All posts tagged: News

Cathay Pacific partners Bamford in enhancements to premium cabins

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New collaboration the UK brand will see new amenity kits and bedding in first class and business class Cathay Pacific has refreshed its service offering in its first and business class cabins with a series of enhancements. In its PR, the airline promises the changes are geared towards “indulging passengers with an elevated premium travel experience”. Expectedly, the enhancements ride on the current wave of health and wellness focus by airlines, ranging from providing in-seat exercise videos to healthier options for in-flight menus. First class enhancements In first class, passengers will be treated with a personalised welcome note along with a hot towel and a glass of refreshing sparkling jasmine silver needle tea from their current tea partner, JING. I’m personally not a big fan of JING teas, but I’ll be curious to see how this sparkling tea will be like. In the food department, Cathay Pacific cater a range of lighter (which are supposedly healthier) options for the main and breakfast meals as well as healthy alternatives such as superfood bowls and lighter protein …

Qantas Singapore First Lounge to open doors in late November

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The much awaited first class lounge at Changi Airport Terminal 1 should open from the week of 18 November 2019 Finally we are very near to the fanfare: the Qantas Singapore First Lounge is expected to open this month, in November. The airline has earlier said that the lounge will be opened in mid to late November. Based on sources, the lounge should be opened from 18 November 2019 if there are no hiccups. Official opening on 2 December Based on a report by Executive Traveller, the official opening date of the lounge is set to be on 2 December 2019, and Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce will be present to officiate the opening. However, according to some sources, there seems to be a staff event over the weekend of 16 & 17 November as a trial before the doors are opened to customers on 18 November, Monday. Long awaited development As early as mid-2018, Qantas announced that it will be building a separate First class lounge for its topmost tier members, a nod to …

Alaska Air Mileage Plan sale now on again: get up to 40% bonus miles

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Works out to an effective 28.6% discount on the miles purchase. Book now until 1 November 2019, 3pm. Alaska Air is back with a bonus miles promotion for miles purchase – this time round offering a 40% bonus when you buy miles. Note that the bonus is tiered: you will need to purchase at least 30,000 miles to trigger the 40% bonus. There is a limit of 60,000 miles that you can buy per transaction, up to a maximum of 150,000 miles (including all bonus miles) per year, per account. This limit is actually rather inconsequential, given that you can redeem air tickets for virtually anyone from any account. Having said that, status holders (MVP, MVP Gold and MVP Gold 75K Mileage Plan) have no annual limit on the number of miles which may be purchased or gifted. How much will it cost? At the time of writing, Alaska Air Mileage Plan is selling miles at 2.75 US cents per mile, not including a 7.5% ‘tax recovery’ fee. At a 40% bonus, this works out …

DBS raises foreign currency transaction fee to 3.25%

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From 1 November 2019, DBS will have one of the highest fees for foreign transactions for its Visa and Mastercard credit cards. DBS will be raising its foreign currency transaction fee on all DBS & POSB Visa and Mastercard credit cards from the existing 3% to 3.25% from 1 November 2019. The notice did not mention anything about Amex cards, so it should be staying at 3% for now. What are foreign currency transaction fees? When you use your credit card overseas, there are typically two fees involved that is added to the converted amount: The card network fee (charged by Visa, Mastercard or Amex) The bank transaction fee These fees are incurred for processing the transaction, converting them into the billing currency (Singapore dollars for those using Singapore credit cards, etc). The prevailing rates charged by the card networks are as follow: Visa & Mastercard – 1% American Express – 1 to 1.25%, depending on bank Different banks have different transaction fees, which will bring the total up to anything between 2.75% to 3.25%. …

Qantas’ refurbished A380 takes to the skies

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After more than 18 months since Qantas announced a refurbishment programme for its A380 fleet, the first of the refreshed birds is finally out of the factory and back in the skies. The first of Qantas’ twelve refurbished Airbus A380 will begin flying the flagship Sydney-Singapore-London route next week, following an extensive make-over which includes a modernisation of the first class cabin and installation of the airline’s latest business class seats, along with two new upper deck lounges. What has changed? The multimillion-dollar upgrade most significantly features an upgraded business class cabin featuring their flagship business suites, as well as their latest premium economy product. The upper deck is also now exclusively premium, with all economy class seats now moved to the lower deck. The on-board lounge has also been redesigned.  Don’t expect to see a brand new first class product on the Qantas A380 – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing given that the product actually works (see my review here!) and remains pretty luxurious even a decade after it was first rolled out.  …