Monthly Archives for December 2020.
Now that the second airline bailout is done – the CARES Act contained $50 billion plus invaluable tax relief for U.S. airlines – United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby is already positioning for a third bailout. United Airlines is telling the employees they’re recalling from furlough to expect to be furloughed again after March.
Three medical professionals on board administered chest compressions before the fire department arrived to the scene and removed the man to a hospital, where he passed away. There’s now video from onboard the plane during the time he was being treated by passengers.
EMTs among the passengers put themselves at risk to treat the man, whose mask had been removed, but that had been given an oxygen mask from the aircraft. One of them has since fallen ill with Covid-like symptoms.
For parents of two year olds who have difficulty maintaining a mask throughout their flight, fly Delta which permits young children in that situation to be exempt from the requirement.
Flying Delta is exactly what the family did next but, oddly, without their daughter. They “had to get down to Palm Beach” but the two year old stayed home and mom Instagrammed a beach shot.
President Trump is asking about what airport will be named for him once he leaves office. However he’s concerned that whatever airport is chosen, it needs to be nice enough. He didn’t accomplish the infrastructure investment he campaigned on, but worries that a dilapidated airport will bear his name.
Grover Norquist raised a ton of money for the ‘Reagan Legacy Project’ to have something named for Ronald Reagan in every state. Trump has reportedly hoped for an organized effort like that around renamings for him.
If you’re going to travel, wear a good mask that fits and learn how to use it. N95 masks are available, and increasingly so, I do not believe you should be wearing a cloth mask in the airport or in other crowded settings.
With Four Seasons Hotels even about to launch new elite rewards, it’s become clear: loyalty holdouts lose out. The principles of loyalty marketing apply to all travel businesses, and to other industries too.
How much it makes sense to invest in a customer depends on a product’s margins, and the extent to which elite benefits versus rebates matter to a customer depend on their profile and subjective preferences – but the basic principles are the same across customer groups and even industries. What form the program takes can vary, but recognizing and rewarding customers matters.
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.
You haven’t been buying airline tickets, but the airlines are taking your money anyway. $15 billion in the latest Congressional spending package goes to the airlines, a second bailout. In exchange they have to bring back workers that have been involuntarily furloughed, and can’t furlough again until April 1.
$15 billion, retroactive to December 1, will be provided to cover four months of airline payroll. That’s $375,000 per furloughed worker at an annual run rate of $1.5 million per job, perhaps the most expensive jobs program in history.
Some travelers think when you buy new luggage, you have to worry about it getting dinged and scraped, but I don’t think that’s true. The whole point of luggage is to protect what’s inside of it. Getting nicked is literally what it’s for. And the well-worn look just means the luggage has been with you through many journeys.
But what if you want your bags to look damaged from the start, like a new pair or torn jeans?
With more and more Americans testing positive for Covid-19, and with the first (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine already rolling out, we’re likely approaching the final stages of the pandemic. But are we all going to go right back to normal, how things were before?
Now that everyone uses Zoom remote work is better than it used to be. People coming into a meeting by video that’s happening in person used to be second class attendees For a large subset of white collar workers work from home simply works better.
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 »
