Monthly Archives for July 2020.
Australia has fewer than 8500 total confirmed cases of COVID-19. The country’s success appears to be a combination of effective policy response and luck.
International arrivals of their own citizens required quarantine. But it’s those quarantine facilities that are the site of a new virus outbreak in Melbourne – and also of a sex scandal. Because the guards were having sex with the passengers being quarantined, and exposing themselves to the virus.
When supermodel Chrissy Teigen has an opinion on aviation, you take it seriously. She’s got the bona fides. This time, though, she’s gone off the deep end calling American Airlines management murderers for selling middle seats on their planes.
When checked baggage gets lost and can’t be reunited with its owner – or someone just doesn’t pick up their luggage – airlines sell the bags after 90 days to the Unclaimed Baggage Center which has built a monopoly in the niche business of selling used items out of luggage.
The store is in Scottsboro, Alabama. They buy bags sight unseen. They comb through the bags to find what to sell, and claim to dry clean clothing they plan to sell and wipe electronics before making those available. The store is a tourist attraction. And now they’re online.
Over 30% of airline pilot in Pakistan were found to have fake licenses. But that’s hardly the only scandal. From sacrificing a goat for safety to flying with more passengers than seats (and making customers stand for 1700 miles), Pakistan’s flag carrier is the worst airline in the world.
Now comes a new story about ticket agent corruption that is – it seems – just another day at the airline.
Gate agents reported that she became angry over the fee, and things escalated when they told Ms. Jackson they wouldn’t allow her to fly. That’s when she “threw a bag of shoes at the agents at a service desk…reached over the service counter to hit an agent, …punched [another agent] in the head” and things only got more out of hand from there.
U.S. airlines need to block middle seats because their brands don’t convey cleanliness or trust. When you don’t have cleanliness and trust as a brand, you have to massively overshoot on investment to credibly signal ‘this time is different’.
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.
The rate of growth in air travel has slowed. Forward bookings actually fell after 8 straight weeks of growth. And travel searches are down.
Hyatt and Chase, their co-brand card partner, have juiced things a bit so that card spend counts even more towards elite status through June. And getting the card now does, too.
When people (1) fly because they have to, and (2) don’t have many competitive options because of reduced schedules, inflight product doesn’t drive business. And airlines are looking to conserve cash. Even when business turns around, it’ll take time for product to recover as carriers try to manage their debt burdens.
In the near-term, airlines are restoring their schedules (somewhat) on domestic routes and there are (some) more passengers willing to travel. That means competition starts to matter.
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 »
