Latest Posts

Introduction: A Mostly Star Alliance First Class Weekend

I have been searching for an amazing chance to use miles and points ever since I started collecting them a few years ago. Over the past few years I’ve used miles for hotels nights, a few domestic flights, and to buy some merchandise (stupid)! Until this last-minute trip I had never used points for an “unforgettable” experience.…
PSA: Always Keep Your Seatbelt Fastened While Seated

If you’ve ever flown on a commercial airline flight I’m guessing you’ve heard the somewhat repetitive request to keep your seatbelt fasted when in your seat. Flight crews constantly remind passengers to keep their seatbelts fastened during all phases of flight. This often includes during cruise while the seatbelt sign is off. Over the past…
US Bank Altitude Reserve Card Overview

Today the premium credit card space became a little more crowded thanks to the US Bank Altitude Reserve credit card. Rumors of a new premium card from US Bank surfaced just a few weeks ago which US Bank confirmed a week ago. Today the application page went live on US Bank’s website. At face value the…
PSA: Do Not Eat Fruit In A Customs Line

I may have mentioned this before, but one of the things I love most about traveling is people watching. It’s so interesting to walk through an airport and see the wide variety of people. People from all walks of life wandering around the same space going who knows where. Its even more interesting when traveling through…
Conclusion: An Unforgettable Trip To Paris

One of the thing’s that I’d like to do with trip reports is put an end cap on the experience. Many trip reports out there feature an introduction, but few I read feature a physical conclusion. This conclusion should serve as a high level summary of the entire trip. Installments My Paris Trip Report Introduction American…
Travel Tech: Preview Flights On Apple iOS

I recently stumbled upon a really cool feature from Apples’ iOS on the iPhone that makes tracking your flights and the flights of others extremely easy. Evidently Apple released this feature back in late 2015. However, I just realized it existed this past weekend when texting flight numbers to my mother. The feature allows iOS or…
Review: Mobile Passport Chicago O’Hare International

As my girlfriend and I wrapped up our week in Paris it was finally time to officially come back into the United States. We arrived back at Chicago O’Hare International after our American Airlines business class flight from Paris. After our great trip it was finally time to clear immigrations back in the US. Typically clearing…
Freedoms Of Air: 5th Freedom

Although I love writing about flights, hotels, and travel I also am an aviation nerd at heat and love learning about the rules and regulations associated with aviation. Today I want to discuss the Five Freedoms of Air, but will focus on the 5th freedom because it’s relevant for an upcoming trip report (hint). Also,…
United Downgraded Me From First To Economy

First off, I want to start by explaining that I’m not complaining. The flight from EWR to ORD was less than two hours, I don’t really care about sitting in domestic first class, and United did a great job handling my situation. I’m writing this because of how absurd the whole thing is and because this…
Review: American Airlines Business Class 787-8 Paris To Chicago

After an amazing week in Paris it was finally time to come home. I originally booked our flight home on American’s newly retrofitted 767 aircraft, but weeks before departure American swapped the plane to a 787-800. I originally selected our flight because of the 2-4-2 configuration in economy, but the swap meant a 3-3-3 configuration. Once I noticed the change…