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Travel Made Easy

Hello! My name is Jonathan, and I'm passionate about getting people to travel as much as possible!

03/21/2023

If anyone is interested, Jetblue is currently having a sale on flights from April until June!

02/04/2023

The End of an Era - Boeing 747

This past week was the end of over 50 years of the Boeing 747, built in 1969 until 2023. It's been featured in films, flown billions of miles, and has become an aviation icon. I had the pleasure of flying on one back in June, and it was one of the most comfortable flying experiences I've ever had. If you want to fly on one at some point, sadly very few airlines are still flying them in a passenger capacity, but Lufthansa and Korean Air are the biggest users of the plane. The pandemic was actually the death blow for the airplane, and many airlines - in order to save money - retired their inventories early.

There was a special event for the finishing of the final 747 on the assembly line, and it flew a special flight path for this special occasion (image of the flight path below).

Thank you to Boeing for 50 years of an iconic and a truly amazing aircraft.

02/03/2023

Travel Credit Cards

One thing I get asked about a lot is, "How do you travel so much? You must have a lot of money!" The real answer is, I don't have a ton of money. I use travel credit cards to get as many benefits as possible! Saving up points and using them on big travel purchases has allowed my wife and I to go to many places we wouldn't be able to afford without points. The best way to get these points is through travel credit cards.

If you're in the market for a new credit card, or want to build up loyalty points, there are some advantages and disadvantages to them, so this article is to share some knowledge on them! Here's some hopefully helpful advice on them?

- Find a airline or hotel credit card for airlines and hotels you frequent the most! If you like Hilton hotels, get a Hilton credit card. If you live in NJ and fly out of Newark Airport (which is a United AIrlines hub), get a United credit card. Want a credit card that offers benefits for both hotels and airlines? Get an American Express or Capital One travel card! Everyone is different and has different priorities when it comes to travel, so if you find you fly one airline more than another, stick with what you use the most.

- Most travel credit cards have promo offers! You do have to read the fine print, but many cards offer a new user promotion, such as 100,000 points after spending a certain amount of money in a certain amount of time (ex. 3-6 months). These are a great way to build up points, especially if you meet the card's offer for a large or necessary purchase. For example, we got our American Express Platinum Card right before we bought our first house, so we used the card to buy a ton of new furniture and things for the house, so we met the requirement quickly, and got the promo offer. Just find the offer and card that works best for you.

- Most travel cards have a ton of benefits. Many of them don't have foreign transaction fees, give bonus points for booking with the airline/hotel the card belongs to, and more! Our Amex Platinum Card gave me free TSA Precheck, a free Priority Pass for lounge access, access to the Centurion Lounges, 5x points on airfare and hotels booked with Amex, $200 back for airline fees every year, free Disney/Hulu bundle, Hilton and Marriott Gold Status, and so much more besides! Our Jetblue card gives us free checked bags for up to 4 people in our booking. Our Delta card gives us a free domestic flight for 1 person every year. Again, just find what works best for you, and see what benefits you would use the most.

- Make sure the annual fees (if any) are worth it to you. Some cards are free, some are not. Usually the more benefits you want, the more the card costs. Our Hilton Card runs us only $95 a year, and no annual fee for additional cards, but doesn't have as many benefits as our Amex Platinum Card, which offers a lot but costs a whopping $695 a year. So, decide what benefits are the most worth it to you, and go from there.

Overall, travel credit cards are a really great option for anyone trying to get more points with the airlines and hotels they frequent the most. There are even some cards that will help with both airlines and hotels, but usually come at a cost. Just look at the cards you think would work best for you and decide what you're willing to spend annually, and if that cost is worth it.

If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! Also, I have a referral link for the American Express Platinum Card if anyone is interested! It's a great card but is expensive to have. However, if you use the link to get the card, you can earn 80,000 points if you spend $6,000 in 6 months! Link here https://americanexpress.com/en-us/referral/JONATHZ7YG?xl=cp33

01/18/2023

Hello everyone! I plan on reviewing a lot of airlines here in the US. Which ones are you most interested in learning about?

01/08/2023

Airline Review - Delta Economy
Date of flight - 10/21/2022 from LGA to Orlando
Airplane - Boeing 737-800
Seat - 23F

Seat - 8/10 - For an economy seat for a 2 hour flight, it was perfectly fine! Seat was comfortable with adjustable head rests. 31" of seat pitch, so it would be perfectly fine for an even longer flight.

Food - 5/10 - Most domestic flights don't offer free meals in economy, even for longer flights. Flight crew came around with snacks and drinks after reaching 10,000 feet. They do have snack boxes available for purchase, but if you're looking to save money, bring something from the airport (and will also be more filling).

Entertainment - 10/10 - One thing that Delta does very well is offering inflight entertainment on all flights, and the movie and show selection is second to none. With the amount of choices in just movies, you'd be able to watch plenty of films back to back and make the flight...fly by...

Crew - 9/10 - The crew were excellent! Delta has always had great on board customer service, and constantly checked on us to see if we needed water or more snacks or drinks.

Flying with Delta is always a nice experience. Their app is also great for finding out what's going on with your flight, and will also tell you where to find your luggage if you have anything checked on board. I do highly recommend flying with them, especially since there's always a ton of flights out of JFK and LGA.

12/14/2022

Airline Review - Lufthansa Business Class
Date of flight - 6/21/2022 from JFK to Frankfurt
Airplane - Boeing 747-800
Seat - 83A

Seat - 8/10 - It was really nice! Seat was extremely comfortable with lie flat capability, bedding was very comfortable. If sitting on the upper deck of the 747, insead of overhead storage, you get storage next to the seat, and there's plenty of room in there! Only downside to the seat itself is the foot well is kind of small, especially if you're big footed like me.

Food - 8/10 - Food was very tasty! For dinner, I had the Halibut and Ceviche for my appetizer, tenderloin and shrimp with vegetables and potato mash for the main course, and the passion fruit panna cotta. For breakfast, there was only the option of fresh fruit and cottage cheese with tomato. Very good food overall, I would've certainly liked to have seen a hot option for breakfast, but it was extremely filling and not a unhealthy way to start the morning.

Entertainment - 7/10 - Modern airliners have really good entertainment, and the noise cancelling headphones provided by Lufthansa are amazing! My biggest gripe with the entertainment is that the screen is an older LCD screen that swivels out. On a sunny day like the one on my flight, it's extremely hard to see the screen if you have the windows open (which if you're an avgeek like me, you will definitely be looking out the window). I'm hoping that Lufthansa upgrades these screens in the future. Also, fun fact, the 747 has outside cameras so you can watch the landings and takeoffs!

Crew - 10/10 - The crew were wonderful! If I needed something, or even anticipated that I might need something, they were there immediately. As a recommendation, Lufthansa has business class seats on 2 levels. The main level has a lot more seats, and I imagine service may not be as intimate or immediate as it is on the upper deck, which has far fewer seats. Definitely go for the upper level if you can.

Overall, flying on Lufthansa was a wonderful experience! The 747-800 is a wonderful aircraft, and was so quiet at times, that with the noise cancelling headphones on, I couldn't hear the engines at all! Also, now that many of them have been retired, flying on one is harder to do. Just for the experience alone, I highly recommend flying on one. For the airline itself, the crew were lovely, food was quite good, and I was able to get a solid 3-4 hours of sleep in, which, for those of you who know me, I never sleep on flights. Definitely recommend Lufthansa as a viable option to travel to Europe.

12/13/2022

If anyone is interested in cheap fares to the West Coast or looking to go to Alaska for cheap, highly recommend checking this out! Sale ends tomorrow!

Alaska Airlines is highly regarded in the avgeek industry for quality service, so if you're in the market to try them, give them a go! I will definitely do a review on them in the future.

Also if you're traveling from the East Coast and planning on going to Alaska, Alaska Airlines uses Seattle as their hub, so you want to travel through there.

12/12/2022

A great way to save money on future trips is to join any airline loyalty programs and stick with them for a lot of your travel. Some of them are also partners with other airlines around the world, and you can convert their points to your favorite airline points!

For example, I took a flight to England with Lufthansa back in June. They and United Airlines are part of Star Alliance, so when I flew with them, I gave them my United member number, and got points with United. Paired with other United flights I've taken in the past, I had a bunch of points just sitting around.

Thanks to saving and partner programs, I was able to book a premium economy one way ticket to Los Angeles for the insane price of...$5.60!

Definitely find an airline you like and fly with them to build points, especially if they have partners! If you need help finding any or have any questions about the programs out there, definitely message me!

12/11/2022

Hello everyone! My name is Jonathan, and I'm extremely passionate about travel, aircraft, and finding the best deals on travel! The purpose of this page - aside helping you book the best travel you can for your money - is to also offer advice on travel and the best ways for you to enjoy your experiences. Whether it's airline reviews, current airfare deals, credit card and travel point advice, travel anxiety, we will cover it all here! I will be posting at least weekly on cool bits of information, as well as posting airfare deals when I can. I also have a Patreon account for you to support my work, as I intend on doing more unbiased airline and hotel reviews to give everyone whatever information they need for their journey. Thanks for all the support and I look forward to helping you in any way I can for your dream vacation!

Patreon Link - patreon.com/user?u=33597335

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