Monthly Archives for July 2016.
Model Donald Trump’s negotiating tactics. He took on the role of meeting planner to negotiate with a hotel where his campaign was holding an event.
Instead of dealing directly with the hotel’s event staff, he made his demands for price reduction to the assembled crowd of supporters.
Delta’s and American’s shares are down about 10% year-over-year. United is down about 15%. JetBlue has fallen even more than United. Stocks are lower even as airlines continue to make record profits. And it’s actually easy to understand why that is.
Donald Trump flies mostly in his private Boeing 757 (which the campaign rents from the candidate). For short hops to small cities he also has a Cessna that required some administrative sleight of hand to keep legal.
His running mate, Governor Mike Pence of Indiana, will be flying a charted Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-700 registration N278EA that only days earlier displayed a Star Trek livery.
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.
Thai Airways used to operate a flying gas can Airbus A340-500 non-stop from Bangkok to Los Angeles and also to New York JFK (May 2005 – June 2008). Both of those flights were eventually eliminated as uneconomical. Thai has also flown one-stop between Bangkok and Los Angeles, such as via Seoul and via Osaka.
But they no longer serve the U.S. at all, having suspended operations last fall as they worked to stem financial losses. And they aren’t allowed re-start service, either.
Since the major US airlines American, Delta, and United began arguing for greater protectionism against rival airlines Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar because it’s somehow unfair for the most profitable airlines in the world to have to compete against carriers they contend are too subsidized, I’ve pointed out several inconvenient facts.
As was widely expected the US government is closing its investigation of the Gulf airlines with no action.
Back in March American tightened its free checked bag allowance for premium cabin customers eliminating the 3rd free checked bag from domestic first class and international business class.
Over the past 8 years checked bag fees have become a huge part of airline revenue. Crucially, while domestic airfares are taxed at 7.5% off the top, checked bag fees aren’t subject to this excise tax, making them an especially attractive tax arbitrage play. While politicians complain about checked bag fees, those fees are encouraged through the tax code.
Regular readers know I’m not a fan of see passengers’ feet on a plane. I especially think it’s never a good idea to go into the lavatory with bare feet. But I don’t want to see feet on the bulkhead. The worst was a passenger clipping their toenails during diner service.
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.
Last week I gave away 86 upgrades to AwardWalet Plus. I’ve updated this post on the first 2 things you should do when you’re new to the frequent flyer hobby with 99 more new free upgrade codes.
The first two things anyone interested in frequent flyer miles and travel should do is sign up for Award Wallet to track your points and get a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card to earn the most points in a highly flexible, valuable currency, quickly.
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 »
