Monthly Archives for February 2021.
The CDC accepts antigen tests, and results can be provided in less than 30 minutes. If we want everyone tested for travel (or for any other activity) we need to make testing convenient and inexpensive. If you’re going to fly, show up at the airport, get tested, and go.
I shared a week and a half ago that American Airlines was selling off wine that it had in storage with fewer flights and customers in premium cabins. American partnered with Vinesse, a company known for offering lots of frequent flyer miles to reward customers’ buying bad wine, to handled the sales.
At American’s “State of the Airline” event following Thursday’s earnings call, Chief Customer Officer Alison Taylor was asked about the program, and joked that there must be a correlation between her being Australian, and being asked to talk about alcohol.
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.
American Airlines says they have too many employees to service passenger demand. The latest round of subsidies allows them to furlough again April 1. They haven’t sent out WARN Act notices yet. So they continue to being flight attendants back in for duty, with 1000 more told to begin April 1. They could find themselves working for just a matter of days.
Hotels.com is offering fictional booking confirmations. If you’re not traveling anywhere, that doesn’t mean you can’t book a stay – without cost and without risk. And it doesn’t mean you can’t book a stay for someone else that they don’t have to travel for.
What Hotels.com wants you to do is send a fictional hotel booking to an ex- for a stay in a dumpster. Wait, what?
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.
I have to give a lot of credit to Capital One for owning up to this, and in the process teaching me something about their debit cards I didn’t know before.
An African American passenger, checking in for an American Airlines flight at a kiosk in Charlotte, got hit with what they saw on their statement as an ‘African American service charge’ for their checked bags. It was an awkward coincidence involving data matching and good intentions.
The card that comes with a companion pass is a great deal – but – consider the current 80,000 point offer that ends February 8.
Meet the spending requirement and you’ll have a minimum of 90,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points. These count towards companion pass. As long as your Southwest Rapid Rewards account was open in 2020 you’ll only need 10,000 more qualifying points for a companion pass that’s valid longer – through 12/31/22 – and you have a lot more points.
Federal mask rules mean more loopholes to avoid wearing a mask inflight, not more masks. That can’t be called an unintended consequence because it’s been obvious for months this would be the result.
United Airlines has shared that it now has a mask avoidance process, too, although they haven’t put out a press release on it. Those who are looking to skip mask wearing for medical reasons should contact United directly in advance.
American Airlines has updated its mask rules to conform with CDC guidance in accordance with President Biden’s executive order on masks. And the result is mask exemptions, not stricter requirements.
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 »
