January 11, 2026
Qantas partners with R.M.Williams for business class amenity kits
Executive Traveller, on Instagram:
Qantas is following up its Aesop first class amenity kits with the rollout of these R.M.Williams business class amenity kits… Inside each kit, passengers will find a selection of Grown Alchemist skincare products including hydrating day cream, restorative hand cream, and nourishing lip balm.
London airports now charge £7-13 for drop-offs
Speaking of airport transport, this, from Ali Mitib at The Times:
Airports have been accused of mounting a “cash grab” and punishing passengers after putting up charges at drop-off zones and short-stay car parks, some by almost 50 per cent.
Bristol increased its fee for a ten-minute stay from £7 to £8.50, and a spokesman said that the rise was due to projections that the airport’s business rates bill would more than double.
Heathrow raised its fee from £6 to £7 on January 1, and Gatwick’s fee rose from £7 to a £10 on January 6, a 42 per cent increase. London City started charging £13 for a ten-minute drop-off on January 6.
Bad news for relatives and friends already doing someone a favor. Also from the article:
Clive Wratten, chief executive of the Business Travel Association… said that for many passengers public transport was not always a practical option because of factors such as early flights and strict check-in times, and that taxis or private cars were “essential.”
The solution is to remove these fees during the overnight hours.
The LAX Metro Transit Center is a glorious work-in-progress
Getting to and from LAX meant getting in a car until last June, when the city opened the LAX Metro Transit Center. The station connects LAX with two rail lines (C and K), buses, and bikes. I say “connect” loosely, because accessing it from LAX is, for now, a mess.
Here’s how the metro currently works:
- Leave terminal
- Take the M bus from the terminal to the LAX Metro Transit Center
- Wait for your train or bus
If you book a ride or taxi, you get on a different bus to LAX-It, the giant parking lot where most of those rides originate.1
On a trip last week, I counted six LAX-It buses during the 15 minutes that it took one M bus to arrive. You can scan a QR code painted onto a column outside the terminal to see when your bus is arriving, but good luck making any sense of the website, which was also inaccurate. When the bus showed up, it was crowded and had no room for luggage. It took a long time to get passengers onboard, and some missed out.
Once I made it to the transit center, I saw a bright future for public transit in Los Angeles.
The center is beautiful and easy to navigate. The trains were clean, safe, and ran on time. The stations I transferred through in the city were pleasant (in my case, Expo/Crenshaw and Culver City). And the lines already take travelers to some notable places, including:
- Santa Monica
- Hollywood & Vine
- Universal/Studio City
- Downtown
- Inglewood
Once a monorail opens between LAX and the transit center,2 the airport is promising a train every two minutes in peak times and a total trip time of 10 minutes or less to get to the Metro. The monorail will also stop at LAX-It, so getting to public transit or a ride will take about the same time.
That will make the time and money math compelling for some trips. Consider a trip to W Hollywood in traffic:
- Uber: $90, 45 minutes
- Train from LAX Metro: $1.75, 1 hour 15 minutes
- Uber: $65, 40 minutes
- Train from LAX Metro: $1.75, 1 hour
USC:
- Uber: $55, 30 minutes
- Train from LAX Metro: $1.75, 45 minutes
There’s still a lot of places these trains don’t go, and for business trips, Uber is going to be the better option for a long time. But for at least some trips, it will soon be worth checking the transit tab before booking a car. That’s a leap forward for a city that has suffered from poor transit infrastructure for so long.
- You get picked up curbside at the terminal if you’re taking Uber Black or one of its equivalents. ↩︎
- Currently scheduled for mid-year, after multiple delays. ↩︎
January 6, 2026
British Airways launches US sale; good time to book Summer trips
Highlights from their press release:
Business
- Boston → London: $2,980
- New York → London: $3,080
- Chicago or Atlanta → London: $3,830
Premium Economy
- New York → London: $1,283
Economy
- New York or Boston → London: $512
- Los Angeles or Austin → Rome via London: $463
- San Francisco or Seattle → Madrid via London: $437
- New York → Paris via London: $453
Checked the calendar for New York → London, and these prices stretch through Summer. There are multiple fares around the $3K mark in July and August (Business), and as low as $510 in May and August (Economy). You’re flying out on certain Tuesdays or Wednesdays but there’s some flexibility on when you return.
January 5, 2026
Hawaiian is building a new lounge and check-in area at Honolulu; redesigning its A330 cabins
(If you’re signed up to the newsletter and received an email for this post, it was sent in error. Apologies.)
Hawaiian, today:
Starting this year through 2029, Hawaiian Airlines will renovate lobbies and gates in Honolulu, Līhu‘e, Kahului, Kona and Hilo to improve passenger flow and comfort, with bright, elegant open spaces and better seating and amenities like increased power charging. In Honolulu, Hawaiian’s busiest hub, the airline will build a spacious 10,600-square-foot premium lounge at the entrance of the Mauka Concourse in Terminal 1 – setting a new standard of preflight comfort.
And good news for the A330, which currently serves long-haul routes like New York and Sydney:
Hawaiian Airlines’ fleet of widebody Airbus A330s, based in Honolulu, will undergo a full interior upgrade, starting in 2028, with new seats, carpets, lighting, first class suites, and a premium economy cabin. Guests will also enjoy a Bluetooth-enabled in-flight entertainment system with high-definition seatback screens and an extensive movie and music library, along with fast and free Starlink Wi-Fi. The airline is also acquiring three of its A330 aircraft off lease to support the future of this fleet in its service across the Pacific.
