Brussels Airlines is starting flights to New York JFK from June 1 2012. They are a member of Star Alliance and part of the Lufthansa group of airlines. While they are not as well known as Swiss or Lufthansa, they do offer a great business class product- and a smaller airline can often mean a more personal touch. There’s a great trip report by A.netter Abrelosojos here.

But wait, there’s more! Looking at the Continental web site, there is at least eight award seats in both economy and business class, for every flight, until end of schedule. That’s right! Brussels Airlines on Twitter also suggests that’s not a glitch- but one has to wonder whether award space will always remain this generous. Nevertheless, this remains a great deal, and a genuine option for those looking to redeem for flights to Europe and Africa.

The much anticipated George Clooney movie “Up In The Air” has gone on general release in the USA. Clooney Plays the role of a jet setting business man who spends his life in airport lounges. The movie is a comedy and is sure to be a hit with the holiday crowd.

Box office figures are positive and reviews are favourable. The movie has yet to be released on this side of the world, so I can’t comment on it yet. Rest assured, as soon as I get a chance to see it, I will let you know if it is any good.

In the mean time, check out the Wall Street Journal’s selection of opinions.

Photo by pfreviews

By law, airlines must provide at least one free method of payment, otherwise booking fees must be added to the base ticket price. This inflates the apparent price of the ticket and makes customers less likely to make a purchase. In reality, there is a battle between keeping one free method of payment available and ensuring that as few people as possible use it.

Most budget airlines in the UK have a policy of charging for payments made with most Visa and Mastercards, but not for Visa Electron cards. Visa Electron cards are rarely used, fewer than 1.7 million people in the UK have them – most of which are teenagers. It makes sense for airlines to choose Visa Electron cards as the one payment method that does not incur payment charges.

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