Monthly Archives for June 2016.
United has started to fly San Francisco – Singapore non-stop with a Boeing 787-9. It’s a directly blow against erstwhile partner Singapore Airlines.
Now Singapore is apparently going to announce a return to the U.S. two years early with San Francisco – Singapore non-stop service.
TV food personality Alton Brown tweets his unhappiness with Delta SkyMiles Platinum status.
What’s going on with upgrades is that Delta now monetizes 57% of its domestic first class seats and projects getting to 70% in 2018. When there are no more ‘leftover’ first class seats, that’s the end of first class upgrades. It’s a far cry from a decade ago when only 10% of forward cabin seats were purchased directly.
Citi has offered ThankYou Rewards for many years. Although it means different things for different cardmembers, and has been revamped several times.
AT&T is launching a new program, AT&T thanks. And Citibank is suing for trademark infringement.
Marriott will give you 500 points for following them on Instagram by June 21.
Once you follow Marriott Rewards on Instagram, go to this link and enter the email address associated with your Marriott Rewards account. It took me a few minutes to realize where on the page you do this:
Costco will start accepting Visa on June 20. The Citi website for the new Costco card will be live at that time.
Chase offered ‘warehouse clubs’ as a 5x earning category in the second quarter for their Freedom product. Clearly Chase wanted to get the message out that you can use their cards at Costco, too. In fact, Chase issues almost exclusively with Visa as a result of a flat rate pricing deal for use of Visa’s network.
Although United declared two years ago that its problem was too many customers, it hasn’t managed its elite pool as well and has shedded too many elites.
Last month United handed out one-level status upgrades to many elites, and free economy plus to many members without status (but who held status in the past). Now they want to sell status miles.
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.
On Thursday SkyTeam member China Southern was preparing for a 1200 mile hop it performs every day between Wuhan — the most populous city in central China — and Harbin, the capital of China’s northernmost province.
It’s a route flown daily by China Southern with a Boeing 737, and also by Sichuan Airlines with an Airbus A321. Normally not more than 2.5 hours in flight, this journey would be extended because of a passenger meltdown caught on film.
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.
Through July 8 American is offering to sell you miles for as little as 1.72 cents, which is the lowest price I’ve seen.
After last week’s program changes and the March 22 award chart devaluation perhaps they need to drop price in order to find buyers.
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 »
