Ben Reed’s Post

Our 3 months away have come to and end - but more on that later. In chapter 1 of my book I wrote a fairly long story about the last time I travelled home from Europe. And it just reminded me again. This photo was taken right before we commenced our return trip with Qatar Airways. The recent Skytrax Airline Awards ecently voted them #2 airline in the world - with service being a compelling factor. For the next 22 hours after this photo, we were entirely in the hands of the airline and their service. So who is the next person or company that I (and all of the other passengers on that flight) will get to experience next? This year, it was my local coffee shop. After my last trip 5 years ago, it was the post office. Onboard service in an airline is quite unique, and it stands out especially in comparison to other businesses. No one would ever think that the person they’re about to serve has just come off a 22 hour flight by an award winning airline, but how useful would it be to frame every service moment that way. In competing with a 5 star airline, your service will less likely create a gap in the customers mind, and it’s something we should be striving for every day. What if some of your customers were actually frequent travellers. If you knew this about them, you’d be in a great position to serve them like the airlines do. #serviceculture #customerservice #leadership #airlineindustry #businessbook #allin 📷📍Zagreb Airport 🇭🇷

Norse Atlantic Airways has added Barbados, Montego Bay, and Kingston to its London Gatwick network (see my post: https://lnkd.in/d6W2Kvqv ). Norse becomes the *fourth* airline to Barbados, joining British Airways (11 weekly from LHR/LGW, based on when Norse is operational), Virgin Atlantic (11 weekly from LHR), and TUI (up to daily from LGW). LON-Barbados will have a max of *seven* daily flights. Of course, unlike these carriers, Norse has no holiday division. This could be a big hindrance with a daily service, unless they sell to tour operators. It is the second carrier on LON-Montego Bay, alongside TUI (up to 4 weekly from LGW) and Virgin (6 weekly from LHR, 2 nonstop). BA ended Montego Bay in 2022, and Air Jamaica operated until 2009. Kingston, driven much more by VFR demand, is alongside BA from LGW (3 weekly). Virgin ended LGW-Kingston in 2012; it will again have a second operator. Air Jamaica operated until 2009; the market had three carriers between 2007-2009.

Credit to Ben Schlappig June 30, 2023 https://lnkd.in/gUEVmQX7 The frequent flyer programs I find to be most valuable With the above out of the way, let me share what I’d currently consider to be the most valuable programs for award redemption opportunities. If I could only redeem through these five programs again, I actually wouldn’t feel like I’m losing out that much (at least based on current conditions). 1). I consider Air Canada Aeroplan to be the single most useful frequent flyer program. Aeroplan has reasonable redemption rates, an amazing array of airline partners, and allows stopovers for 5,000 points. Simply put, I think Aeroplan leaves one best positioned for aspirational redemptions. On top of that, there are no fuel surcharges through Aeroplan. 2). AAdvantage has excellent partner redemption rates, especially on Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways. These are among the most useful for traveling to the Middle East, India, Africa, Central Asia, etc., and AAdvantage miles leave you best positioned for those redemptions. 3). Air France-KLM Flying Blue is the most useful SkyTeam frequent flyer program, in my opinion. A lot of us like to fly across the Atlantic, and Flying Blue has access to more Air France and KLM business class award space than partner programs. I’d say that Air France and KLM are probably the two best airlines at releasing transatlantic premium award space regularly, and I frequently redeem this way for travel to Europe. While there are carrier imposed surcharges through Flying Blue, they’re quite mild. 4). Emirates Skywards isn’t a useful program in terms of partner redemptions, as Skywards has no efficient partner redemption opportunities. However, there’s no denying that Emirates is a global force to be reckoned with, and being able to redeem miles for Emirates first class is awesome. 5). British Airways Executive Club has a unique distance based award chart, which is valuable in many markets where other points currencies aren’t. Personally I don’t use Executive Club quite as often as others do, but there’s no denying that the program is very useful for short haul awards, especially between regions.

From Forbes Advisor Australia 🇦🇺: Here's what Qantas points can be worth to Australians, providing examples of how you can use them and how many points you will need to redeem for some of the most sought after rewards.