June Cover Battle
Jaipur or the Amalfi Coast? Which to choose for our June cover image? We opted for the solitude elicited by the Jaipur image rather than the Amalfi Coast. What did you think?

I liked both of your June cover options and can appreciate what a difficult decision that must have been. Since each was a winner, it was a win-win and a great issue overall.
Declan Thomas, St. Louis, Mo.

You made the right decision — Jaipur made for a visually appealing June cover. In my opinion, Jaipur is the more interesting destination, making it an overall better choice for the magazine and fellow global travelers. I really enjoyed both the cover and the article.
Theresa Andreo, Chicago, Ill.

I think Amalfi Coast would have been a better cover for your June issue, mostly because of timing. That image seemed more summer-like to me, more appropriate to June. I think Jaipur would have been a wonderful option for a fall issue.
Keith Roust, Charleston, S.C.

American Airlines
Jennifer Adams, managing director of integrated marketing, American Airlines, accepts the airline’s multiple trophies for its wins in the 2015 GT Tested Reader Survey awards, announced in the December 2015 issue. Congratulations, American Airlines!

Joy of Cooking
Great to see a female chef covered in your June Chefs column. In a field still dominated by men, Chef Catherine Medrano successfully made a name for herself, heading up the kitchen behind an iconic culinary concept. Congratulations, Chef Medrano — I look forward to trying your food someday soon.
Lucy Taylor, Washington, D.C.

Share and Share Alike
I enjoyed the June article about the peer-to-peer travel market. My company recently approved ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft for business travel, seeing the clear benefits to both travelers and the company. It’s made my time on the road much easier. I wonder if homesharing accommodations will be approved next. I’ve stayed in an Airbnb for leisure but never for business travel. The article was an interesting look deeper into this phenomenon and its far-reaching implications.
Victoria Richards, Houston, Texas

Airline Food and Wine Options
Global Traveler’s Globility Board comprises vetted subscribers who serve as a focus group for our questions about the world of travel. To coincide with this month’s announcement of the 2016 Wines on the Wing Airline Wine Survey winners (page 38), we asked whether they have a favorite airline for food and wine.

For airline food and drink, my favorites are Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic Airways. However, I have to admit I really loved one specific wine from the Wines on the Wing Airline Wine Survey after-party — the British Airways first-class red entry was brilliant. It was a 2006 Château Faugères Saint-Émilion Grand Cru.
Mike Russo, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Loyalty Programs
We also asked our Globility Board members to share their tips and tricks for optimizing miles and hotel rewards points. One member shares his thoughts below.

Most airline and hotel loyalty programs award points based on dollars spent (with bonuses for elite members). Therefore, the “tricks” for optimizing loyalty points lies in the redemption of points, not in earning them.

The worst airline award redemption is for standard domestic awards, because a domestic roundtrip is rarely worth more than $500, and one can spend 50,000 or more miles for that ticket. A much better redemption value is a last-minute, one-way saver award for 12,500 miles, when airlines open up some unsold seats at the lowest mileage level, and these last-minute tickets are often worth a lot of money.

I find the best airline redemption values to be business- and first-class international tickets on partner airlines. For example, in March I redeemed 45,000 United Airlines MileagePlus miles for a one-way business-class ticket from São Paulo to Johannesburg on South African Airways, a ticket worth $4,000.

For hotel awards, the best value per point redeemed is often in major cities, especially abroad.
Eric Chiang, via email

DOT Approves New Cuba Service
In the June 20 issue of eFlyer USA, we reported the Department of Transportation approved six U.S. airlines to begin service to select Cuban destinations — American Airlines, Frontier, JetBlue, Silver Airways, Southwest and Sun Country. We asked: Do you plan to visit Cuba in the near future?

I’m traveling to Cuba from Los Angeles.
Frank LoVerme, Los Angeles, Calif.

The travel industry changes so quickly; I never expected to be able to visit Cuba in my lifetime, much less see a time when six U.S. airlines were approved to begin service to the country. I’ll be looking into planning a trip in 2017; I plan to give myself plenty of time to work out all the travel logistics, but I do want to get there before too many changes come about.
Allison Hodges, via email