Monthly Archives for August 2017.
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.
In addition to American’s suspension of Los Angeles – Auckland for seven months next year, this weekend’s schedule load also brought their new seasonal international routes online.
oneworld member air berlin is in bankruptcy and received a loan guarantee from the German government to keep operating. Its frequent flyer program topbonus is also a separate company, and if air berlin goes out of business (selling off pieces of the airline, a reasonably likely scenario) it too will lose its airline.
The topbonus program isn’t in bankruptcy. But it has announced a suspension of both mileage accrual and redemption.
The 52 year old wife of Zimbabwe’s strongman leader Robert Mugabe is ‘marooned’ in South Africa after allegedly beat a topless nightclub model with an extension cord after finding the woman with her two sons in a hotel.
Now South Africa has grounded Air Zimbabwe’s 3 routes out of Johannesburg, and Zimbabwe has seized a South African Airways plane in Harare — and is threatening to do the same to British Airways.
Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe fame was formerly married to Heather Locklear and to Pamela Anderson. He’s currently dating comedienne Brittany Furlan — who was apparently once the most followed person on Vine.
They managed to spend part of the one hour Embraer E-175 flight joining the Mile High Club. And another passenger caught their lavatory exit on video.
Under the leadership of former Delta CEO Richard Anderson the airline played hardball with customers, suppliers, and politicians. Under new CEO Ed Bastian their narrative is that they’re playing nicer. Apparently pilots at New York JFK haven’t gotten the memo!
Frontier Airlines doesn’t start with a great reputation for customer service, and that weighs on any opinion about how the altercation went down. This is the airline that kicked off a blind man in June because he’d be a liability in an emergency.
Back in April we learned that American Airlines service to Auckland would become seasonal.
What was once a suspension from August through October for 2017 now seems like a suspension from April through October for 2018 — if the flight returns at all
There’s nothing new about a total solar eclipse. It’s completely predictable, indeed the Greeks could predict it and those calculations will last until the sun burns out.
Now it would be cool if you were the only one who knew about an eclipse, and it happened to come right as you were captured by soldiers or savages. You could prove your mystical powers by blotting out the sun and then they’d all bow at your magnificence.
Low energy prices have meant a reduction in travel to energy rich nations of the Mideast. As a result the region’s airlines have made service cuts to reduce expenses.
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 »
