Monthly Archives for January 2020.
American Airlines flew the Boeing 737 MAX before it was grounded, and ordered 100 of the airplanes. They’re committed to the aircraft’s safe return to flying, and they’ve done polling to understand how customers feel about it today – and what will change their minds so that they’ll accept flying on the plane once it’s back in the sky.
SoFi’s free money offer is just too good. It’s quick and easy, all online, and they give you money. It’s a finance product that’s really aggressive getting new customers. It has no fees of any kind, and they’re offering a pretty good 1.6% APY in interest. And they even reimburse all ATM fees for withdrawls, so it’s convenient for pulling out cash anywhere. There’s no hard credit pull when you sign up, either.
And they’ll give you money for getting your friends and family to sign up – up to $10,000 a year.
One person staying on property reported spending hours on the phone with Marriott “trying to get the..chain to help.” The chain directed people to go into the office and get staff to find them somewhere else to stay. These were the employees who had just lost their jobs, and who abandoned the property early. Great strategy.
Marriott also reportedly stated “they were under no legal obligation to help” although eventually helped guests transfer to another Residence Inn.
San Antonio airport was at the forefront of a nationwide trend to ban Chick-Fil-A over its political beliefs. This almost certainly violates the chain’s first amendment rights and is impermissible for a government-owned and run airport.
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.
United’s top public elite tier is 1K, or 1000 which is short for 100,000. However it no longer takes 100,000 miles to earn this status. In fact United MileagePlus no longer has anything to do with miles at all. You no longer earn redeemable points based on miles flown, and status is no longer earned based on distance either. Instead 1K status is either earned based on number of flights (not 100!) and spending, or on spending alone. It’s time to rename 1K status.
Most people think the United club exclusion means United Gold elites don’t get lounge access on domestic trips (unless they’re a United Club member). But that’s wrong. I don’t believe I’ve written about this in two years so it seems worth sharing.
The trick – that the initiated know but most do not – is that any Star Gold member can access any Star Alliance lounge in the U.S. other than United’s clubs provided they are flying on Star Alliance airlines out of that airport that day and can physically access the terminal where the lounge is located.
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.
With the LAX Admirals Club space and Flagship lounge space ‘flipping’ – the Flagship lounge taking the larger club space when it opened – the Admirals Club gets really packed. This additional space, once built, should help alleviate that.
Will you get free drinks on your American Airlines flight – or will you be charged? It depends on the route you’re flying and your class of service. Here’s a simple chart that tells you what to expect.
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 »
