I receive compensation for content and many links on this blog. Citibank is an advertising partner of this site, as is American Express, Chase, Barclays and Capital One. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners. I do not write about all credit cards that are available -- instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Terms apply to the offers and benefits listed on this page.
News and notes from around the interweb:
- Spain’s Supreme Court rules throwaway ticketing is fine even skipping the first segment on a ticket. Airlines have long argued you buy a ticket from A to B, regardless of connections. Passengers naturally think they’re buying seats on each flight, they should be able to use whichever seats they’ve purchased that they want (or not). The Spanish court agreed with the passenger view.
- Interesting hotel offer Black Friday up to $500 off luxury hotel stays gets more interesting, Luxury Travel Diary emails that if you give them promo code GARYBF18 by end of November and “if the hotel is not luxury and we cant offer benefits, we can also give 2% cashback on ANY hotel booking above $250 – the less luxury ones like Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, Holiday Inn and so on
This could be relevant to people who might book long stays or corporate stays at standard chains. If we book for them they pay the same price as on the hotel website but we gift them 2% cashback via paypal after the stay is complete.
- For Thanksgiving “if passengers really want to experience what the stuffing feels like inside the turkey, all they need to do is squeeze into one of the newer bathrooms on the major carriers.”
- Singapore making awards for its new regional business class available only to its own Krisflyer members on most routes and not to people redeeming miles from partner frequent flyer programs. Another reason Chase, Amex, and Citi transferable points are useful to have.
- ANA complimentary elite upgrades to premium economy ends March 2020
- At what point does American question their strategy of ‘D0 by yelling at employees’ rather than by getting maintenance, catering, staffing right?
Numbers out today show @AmericanAir continues to struggle with its operation, @united not much better. Source: @TransportStats pic.twitter.com/STPLU67JpO
— David Koenig (@airlinewriter) November 21, 2018
- The struggles of Mideast carriers not named Emirates, Etihad, or Qatar
- Malaysia Airlines is not happy about fake ads for the carrier being spread around the country. The one pictured here was a real ad… for Turkish Airlines, and nobody realized how bad an idea it was.
- American Airlines fleet service employees are suing because they don’t want to be drug tested
Gary, would be interested to see a dedicated post with your analysis of the Spanish court ruling. I feel like this is right in your wheelhouse
The original article says that the Spanish court ruling only affects Iberia, and also leaves open that Iberia could – while not canceling the legs – reprice the ticket based on the legs flown. In that case, deliberate hidden city ticket bookings to save money would be pointless, though I can see that the ruling could in some cases help those who miss a segment due to a mishap or change in plans. I guess it remains to see how this is implemented.
European rules are better for consumers then FAA rules that put the airline first and say consumer rules are unfair to us
I wouldn’t bank on the Spanish supreme court ruling to meaningfully change things. It only affects Iberia, and they have free reign to reprice if you miss the first flight on a booking. It also does not apply to other airlines or other parts of Europe as this is a national, rather than European, ruling.
In other words, nobody get excited.