Monthly Archives for July 2015.
One of the more frequent questions I’ve been asked about the US Airways-American Airlines merger, now that the US Airways brand is expected to go away October 17 and all flights going forward will be American flights, is what happens to US Airways companion tickets after that?
“Have you ever seen that much award space on 1 flight [British Airways, London – Boston]? 8 in [business and] 7 in [first class] on the same flight. Also lots of space in early January to all other BA locations in [North America].”
The Parable of the Happy Meal. We all want free fries and a drink. Yet there’s no such thing as free fries.
I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
The American Express lease was approved at the June 17 Houston City Council meeting. The lounge is slated for opening “in the first half of 2016.”
American Express is spending $7 million to build out 8596 square feet in Houston Intercontinental’s Terminal D that’s the old immigration hall.
The Houston lounge will feature full complimentary food and beverage offerings. There will be a family room and there will be a shower facility. Unlike Dallas and Miami, though, there won’t be a spa.
British Airways started giving out ‘yellow card’ warnings to unruly customers got a bunch of attention again with BA’s introduction of these warnings for ‘ground rage’ in the fall of 2002. Apparently they believed they had a problem of customers losing their stuff even before they board.
The value of miles: “I am interested in what you do with that number: how does it influence when you use cash vs points, how does it effect which card you choose, etc?”
American Airlines has updated its same day confirmed change policy and not for the better.
Turkish Airlines made perhaps the world’s biggest bet on premium economy. And some of their Airbus planes have a couple of inches more legroom in economy than US airlines do.
What’s more, when an itinerary contains a forced layover in Istanbul, Turkish will provide a free hotel night even for economy passengers. A work colleague was given the Radisson Blu at the airport when flying economy to and from Eastern Europe.
American is testing offering ‘extended hold’ options for sale on reservations.
American will only charge for the extended hold after 24 hours, so if you select extended hold but purchase or cancel within 24 hours you won’t be charged for the optional hold.
They’re hardly first to this party, it’s been offered by other airlines including United. This is actually something I like to see — it’s added fees, but for something that wasn’t already offered free, it’s truly optional, and it’s added value.
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 »
