United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby says one of his most important work habits is closing the office door for a daily nap, because tired people should not be making big decisions. Also Hyatt’s May 7 award devaluation, Delta’s AI dreams for air traffic control, bag fee hikes spread again, and a the Seats.aero trial grinds forward.
United flight attendants are finally getting a raise after more than five years without one, and this tentative deal will likely pass after last summer’s overwhelming rejection. But the new agreement also shows the cost of delay: compared to the deal they turned down, each crewmember is effectively giving up thousands in retro pay and lost boarding pay gains while just getting back to industry-standard wages overall.
A software company promised employees a tropical, Survivor-style retreat in Honduras, but the trip started collapsing before most people even arrived. What followed was a week of resignations, food safety problems, brutal team-building drills, and a stranded island group — the sort of corporate offsite disaster that should have been called off long before anyone boarded a plane.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says he is open to airline mergers and framed the issue in unmistakably political terms, saying President Trump “loves to see big deals happen.” He’s signaling that the administration is more open to consolidation than the last one, and speculation abounds over what happens to Spirit Airlines and especially JetBlue.
A passenger brought raw eggs on board, broke them all over the seat and floor, and left flight attendants to deal with the mess. When travelers bring fragile, messy food into the cabin, crew and cleaners are the ones who get stuck dealing with it.
Etihad is selling seats for half price not because Gulf fuel is cheap, but because demand to and through the UAE has weakened enough that the airline is cutting fares to fill planes. It has slashed some fares by up to 50% through June even as Emirates and Qatar have not matched those discounts.
Capital One Shopping is showing that Bonvoy elites often get smaller rebates than nonmembers and base members booking the same chain. Marriott is willing to pay more to acquire a guest it does not think it already owns, while elite members are treated as captured customers who can be rewarded less at the point of sale.
Marriott allows hotels to impose cash co-pays on award stays, and the Westin LAX is now charging a $20 destination fee even when you redeem points for a free night. It is one of the ugliest differences between Bonvoy and rivals like Hyatt and Hilton, which do not let hotels tack resort or destination fees onto standard award stays.
Marriott is finally ending one of the most quietly annoying things about staying at its hotels: Pepsi. After 34 years, Coca-Cola is taking over across nearly 10,000 properties worldwide, a huge switch that says Marriott thinks guests notice the difference — and that superior economics justify replacing a decades-old global deal.
I’m rooting for them each time they add something new, because competition benefits all of us even if you don’t make bookings through Rove – but I find I do occasionally use their shopping portal (when it offers the best deal) and they offer points for booking hotels that still earn hotel points and elite status credit, also.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
