Throughout the week, our team shares articles they’ve stumbled upon that may interest our readers, even if they might not otherwise merit a full post. Here are some of the posts we found interesting this week: Park Hyatt Tokyo will finally reopen, Spirit Airlines is making some big cuts, Fiji Airways ditches amenity kits, some interesting insights behind rewards debit cards, and a common-sense view of best and worst airports in the US.
We Have a Date: Renovated Park Hyatt Tokyo Will Reopen in December
What feels like a lifetime ago in the very first year of our travels, Drew and I stayed in the Park Hyatt Tokyo, the hotel featured in the movie “Lost in Translation”. That was 13 years ago, so it’s wild to think the hotel’s had no major renovations since then! That is, until May of 2024. Those renovations are finally wrapping up, with the hotel set to reopen on December 9th of this year. Once reopened, the hotel will now be a World of Hyatt Category 8 (up from Category 7).
Spirit Airlines Slashing Capacity By 25%, Furloughing Pilots & Flight Attendants
In a previous Saturday Selection, we talked about how Spirit Airlines filed for bankruptcy again. This time, they’re making serious changes to try to stay afloat, but Ben at One Mile at a Time wonders if it may be too little too late. (Why didn’t they make these changes with their first bankruptcy just months earlier, for example?) This time, they’ll be cutting their capacity by 25%, suspending flights to a dozen different airports, and letting go of ~1800 flight attendants, with pilots likely next. In other words…things look very bleak.
Fiji Airways Thoughtfully Cuts Amenity Kits: “We Are Wasting Money”
It’s frugality-appreciation-day apparently in today’s Saturday Selection with another post about budget cuts. In Fiji Airways’ case, they’ve been garnering positive attention for saving money with an uncommon choice to nix the amenity kits in business class. Their ground-breaking decision here was to simply pay attention to how many people were actually valuing amenity kits (by taking them home) vs leaving them behind. For those who love the amenities, don’t worry, flight attendants will still come around with a tray of the amenities – a disassembled amenity kit, if you will. I’m sure there are collectors/enthusiasts out there who will be disappointed, but it’s hard to argue with data. Personally, I love to see informed decision-making like this. If people weren’t taking these kits home, it’s hard to justify spending money (and producing waste) to accommodate that.
Airline Miles on Debit Cards? Southwest Just Found a Way To Bring Them Back
We’ve already discussed Southwest’s decision to launch a debit card here, but you may find this View from the Wing article interesting for the background on why we haven’t seen rewards on debit cards in the past decade or two, and how Southwest is approaching this.
Gary Leff at View from the Wing is giving his two cents on J.D. Power’s list of best airports, using his own judging criteria for things that truly matter to travelers. His assessment of the best and worst airports is based on things like accessibility, navigability, and efficiency of actual plane departure. He even considers practical things like whether or not the rental car return is in a convenient proximity. His favorite airport based on these factors is Washington National. Where I’m located in West Virginia, this is one of the major airport options in my radius, and it’s my least favorite to drive to. Thus, its rank as “best US airport” kind of surprised me, though it really shouldn’t have. It’s easily accessible from the city and easy to make connections inside (all on foot). For travelers, it provides a nice experience. On the opposite spectrum, according to Gary, is Denver’s airport because of long lines for security, a frequently defunct train system, and baggage handling fraught with issues.
What are some of your favorite and least favorite US airports to transit through?
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Flew from MIA. As someone who lives in the UK, the security lines were beyond a joke. Something akin to an airport in Pakistan. I was actually in awe that it was so bad, it was comically bad. No fast track for Business passengers we were MIA-MAD, I do not know if we were lied to but it was absolute bedlam.
I don’t much like the Fiji move. If they wanted to save money and still keep customers who really like amenity kits happy they could make the change and still stock some amenity kits for passengers to be given on request.
I’ve been to many airports and Denver is no where near the worst. Chicago, Newark, Miami, Atlanta…these are much much worse. I have never had a problem with the train in Denver, security is fast with TSA, which has all been redesigned, and Denver has several great lounges (Cap One, Centurion, and a PP restaurant).
LGA is closest to home, and since the renovation, it is probably my favorite airport in the US (Terminal B is the better of the two). The new MCI is absolutely wonderful. I’ve always had a soft spot for PIT, and I think the renovations will make it better. DEN is awful. JFK is currently a nightmare, but MIA is like the next level of hell.
With regard to the amenity kits, I agree. They feel nice the first time, but they seem wasteful. We just put a pair of unused (nice) socks from LOT in the clothing recycling. Hopefully someone will get to use them.
Security at Denver was designed by East German torture specialists.