Monthly Archives for March 2016.
The deal for Anbang — instead of Marriott — to acquire Starwood – may be back on.
I wrote on Saturday that the door was open for the consortium led by Chinese insurer Anbang to make another offer for several reasons.
Things could ultimately now work out for Starwood to remain independent!
We often talk about the what airlines are serving but more important than the what is the taste.
I know that sounds like an oxymoron, the idea of airline food that’s good. Passengers complain that they aren’t served food anymore in coach most of the time. When i first started traveling for business (and certainly growing up), passengers complained that they were served food. Because airline food was a joke.
There were efforts to improve on that, of course. Back when United’s premium cabin meals were branded with celebrity chef Jacques Pepin (so long before Charlie Trotter’s first appearance with the airline, the celebrity chef whose meals were largely derided as giving passengers ‘the trots’), they actually had economy meals which were chef-branded. United’s chef in economy was Sheila Lukins.
The airport’s Executive Club has hot food, but no bathrooms. It’s non-descript and was busy while I was there. I didn’t stay long. Instead, I grabbed my Priority Pass card and headed down to the middle of the terminal, and later to the end of the terminal, to check out two other lounges.
What’s especially strange is that terminal D itself has both a KLM lounge and an Air France lounge — two separate lounges operated by Air France KLM. In the same terminal. An easy walk from each other. And with overlapping lounges. Even if they’ve got both on long term leases it seems gratuitous to staff and supply them both. Now, Air France’s Paris flight usually leaves just an hour after the KLM Amsterdam flight most of the time. But even if they needed both lounges to support the two overlapping flights it’s strange that they keep the lounges open throughout the day.
In light of President Obama’s historic trip to Cuba, The Onion covered Air Force One’s return flight with ‘hundreds of Cuban refugees’ clinging to the plane.
The scary thing? Plenty of people believed this was real. But then they believe what they read in the National Enquirer, like that Ted Cruz could be having five affairs. With actual women (not one of whom is an imaginary Michelle Pfeiffer in The Russia House). Because people are dumb.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Hair stylist Bridget Nhire has been banned for life by British Airways after getting up to stretch her legs through a flight from London to Dubai.
In her version it was all about staving off deep vein thrombosis.
Apparently the crew ‘moved her to the front of the plane’ because off her ‘aggressiveness’. She was also strapped to a seat. She admits to drinking “two glasses of wine with my meal” but claims not to have been drunk.
Major changes at the company in a Marriott deal will include customers (as they ultimately create a single loyalty program for the combined companies), owners of some hotels (as they consolidate brands), and Starwood management (which is where job cuts will predominantly fall).
Don’t feel badly for the executives at the very top of Starwood, however. A Starwood SEC filing on Friday in connection with the Marriott acquisition revealed the payouts that the company’s officers will receive as a result of the transaction.
The co-pilot for American Airlines flight 738 this morning from Detroit to Philadephia was arrested on suspicion of being drunk.
The TSA reported that the co-pilot appeared inebriated while passing through the security checkpoint and police were called. The co-pilot failed a breathalyzer test and was arrested and then released after he had sobered up.
Apparently though the co-pilot made it on to the aircraft, because passengers reported watching him being removed from the plane.
One of the more interesting angles to the story of the flight attendant caught with 70 pounds of cocaine is that she wasn’t immediately arrested. Instead, she ran off.
And in my view the TSA did everything right.
On Monday Marriott increased their offer substantially to take the lead in the acquisition of Starwood. Marriott’s offer is 0.8 Marriott shares and $21 in cash for each Starwood share. A shareholder vote scheduled for April 8.
SEC filings that reveal the previous offers that Chinese insurer Anbang made for Starwood along the way to the most recent offers of $78 cash and Marriott’s offer which is valued at $75.91 as of Friday’s market close (Marriott’s shares fell on the announcement of their new offer for Starwood, again on the Brussels airport attacks, and have continued to slide.)
Anbang apparently made higher offers late last year, and Starwood’s board’s insistence on a lower breakup fee than Marriott wanted in their counter-offer suggest a window for the Chinese insurer to make a new bid.
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 »
