Monthly Archives for March 2021.
The J.W. Marriott Las Cabos Resort has been charging Bonvoy members a $30 per night redemption fee when staying on points.
That practice is ending and Marriott will be refunding guests that have been overcharged.
American Express will no longer publish Departures or Centurion magazines in print. They are in-sourcing both publications which will be available online only. Meredith Corporation, which had been publishing for American Express, has “laid off most of the staff and halted publication of the seven-times-a-year print titles.” According to American Express, We regularly evolve our premium card offerings and have made the decision to transition the Departures and Centurion US magazine benefits to a new digital-first editorial platform. The magazines used to be produced in-house by American Express Publishing, which was sold to Time in 2013 and then Meredith in 2018. The final print issue of Departures is May/June and the final Centurion Magazine is Spring/Summer. These print publications lasted longer than many, since they were reaching a highly targeted affluent cardmember audience. However they’re…
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 holdings in two recent court rulings against the CDC’s eviction moratorium have caused questions about the legality of the Biden administration’s transportation mask mandate. The mask mandate goes beyond the specified example powers in the statute cited by CDC for its authority, and Congress may not have been able to delegate broader unspecified powers to the CDC even if it had wanted to.
Thailand has approved the re-opening of Phuket starting in July for visitors who have been vaccinated against Covid-19, provided that 70% of its population is also vaccinated. And “[b]y the fourth quarter, the quarantine waiver is expected to be implemented in five holiday destinations..”
Don’t go planning July travel to Phuket just yet.
Wednesday’s Spirit Airlines flight NK185 from Cleveland to Los Angeles diverted to Denver after a passenger tried to open the emergency exit door of the Airbus A320.
The plane was pressurized. The passenger was never going to succeed. But he was ‘unruly’ and several other passengers on the plane held him down and zip tied him. When the plane made it to Denver the man was “wheeled out on a gurney by paramedics.”
The two week moving average of airline passengers going through TSA security checkpoints has bumped up to 54% of comparable 2019 levels. Passengers hit a pandemic-era single day high of 69% on Sunday, March 21.
Perhaps even more telling U.S. hotel occupancy is way up. It’s the highest it’s been in a year, and down just 15% compared to the same point in 2019. A lot more people are traveling now, vaccine or not.
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.
Around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning a fight broke out at an Atlanta airport security checkpoint. Three teenagers were trying to get through TSA screening while one of them lacked I.D.
There’s a simple procedure for confirming your identity without ID. It takes a little longer but the TSA accesses privately compiled databases with personal information and you confirm details about yourself. Instead video shows how things deteriorated.
As easy as most travelers have it going through immigration and customs – most U.S. citizens, anyway, I wouldn’t want to be Indian arriving in Japan – flight crew are usually given even more flexibility. That’s one reason why flight crew make attractive smugglers.
Airline employees aren’t always given a free pass, though.
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 »
