Monthly Archives for September 2015.
Indispensable news source, latest issue includes: Your Global Entry membership now makes you eligible to sign up for expedited PreCheck-like security in Mexico. France, UK, and Greece are all privatizing airports while the US is not. Gordon Bethune thinks air marshals are a joke. And a Spanish billion euro airport was just sold for 10K…
United debuted their new narrowbody premium (first class) seat which week starts flying on a single Airbus A319 next week, continuing rolling out across the Airbus fleet in the fall (although the retrofit won’t be completed until 2017), and work will begin on ‘many’ 737s and 757s throughout 2016. It appears that while over 200 planes in United’s fleet will get the new seats not every narrowbody will have it. I assume that has to do with projected retirements from the fleet.
The seat appears to add half an inch of width compared to the current Airbus first class seat, at least that’s my read although United claims the cushion width represents a greater increase than that.
DHS is patting TSA on the back for acting firing the agent who sexually assaulted a passenger a couple of weeks ago in New York.
On a flight from Paris to Stockholm flight crew made a congratulatory announcement when two passengers joined the Mile High Club. I am most impressed that they managed to accomplish the deed on a European low cost carrier. (And they weren’t charged extra.)
Virgin Atlantic is offering 20% off economy and premium economy award redemptions on bookings made by September 23 (there are no restrictions on travel dates as long as award space is available).
Earlier today I hosted a ‘blab‘ (video discussion) with Hyatt Gold Passport’s Jeff Zidell.
One tidbit that Jeff dropped during our conversation was that cash and points awards should become searchable on Hyatt’s website either sometime during the four quarter of 2015 or first quarter of 2016.
I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
The biggest long-term threat to rewards credit cards is declining interchange fees, as the cost to process transactions falls each dollar pushed through a card’s network is less valuable and thus less worth incentivizing with miles or other rebates.
And indeed, Chase’s interchange fee income fell 2% in the first half of 2015 despite greater charge volume. But Chase has a deal with Visa that allows it to get aggressive hanging onto partners and bringing new ones on — and it’s highly-incentivized to do so.
Through October 5 Hilton is offering a bonus up to 75% on purchased points.
Hilton usually charges a penny apiece for points, so with this bonus is selling points for a little over half a cent each. They’re selling points for just a little over what they’re worth.
$4.8 million cash severance; vesting of $3.5 million stock; a performance bonus (!); full family benefits for the next 4 years; flight benefits and parking (and cash to cover taxes on those benefits) for life. He also gets to keep his company car.
But there’s a kicker…
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 »
