Monthly Archives for May 2021.
The Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort was hitting customers with a 2% fee to pay by credit card. Marriott has rich credit card deals with Chase and American Express, but Bonvoy members were even being penalized at this hotel for paying with a Marriott credit card.
It took a couple of months after being exposed, but this hotel no longer imposes a credit card fee – and no Marriott hotel in the U.S. or Canada is supposed to, either thanks to a new brand standard.
Belarus used a fake bomb threat to justify sending a fighter jet to intercept Ryanair flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania – and force it to land in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. Then, once it was on the ground, they snatched a journalist who had been highly critical of the nation’s strongman leader – and living in exile to avoid just this fate.
Now we know more about what happened as that plane was forced to land, and how the rest of the passengers were treated on the ground.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is hitting back at the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s placing his country’s air safety rating under review, with expectations of a downgrade, and the implications for limiting new flights to the U.S. by Mexican airlines and placing constraints on the ability of U.S. airlines to codeshare with Mexican carriers.
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.
According to the grandmother of one of the passengers fighting, “[t]he guy in the black t-shirt and his girlfriend were fighting” after asking that passengers not kick the back of her granddaughter’s seat. There was cursing that escalated to “snatching” a pregnant woman’s hair. That’s when things really got out of control and a flight attendant made an announcement threatening to divert the aircraft.
The true test of character comes when you’re staring into the abyss and you see what stares back at you. Ethics rarely come into play when they don’t cost you anything.
Airlines revealed their true character during the pandemic. Many airlines around the world stole their customers’ money, and argued it was justified because they needed it.
There are people who are so against vaccines – not just for themselves that for others. We’ve seen bars ban vaccinated patrons, and even a school ban vaccinated teachers. There’s also an Airbnb listing that refuses to rent to vaccinated guests, out of some sort of crazy fear that they will spread the vaccine.
United Airlines MileagePlus members can win free flights by uploading their proof of vaccination to its mobile app by June 22. They call it “Your Shot To Fly.” Ha ha ha.
This helps build excitement around vaccination, which we need to reach incremental arms, and even includes cash to help with the tax liability for winning the prize.
Belarus used a fake bomb threat to justify sending a fighter jet to intercept Ryanair flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania – and force it to land in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. Once on the ground, they entered the aircraft to grab an opposition journalist that had been living in exile.
And Ryanair did not even show outrage. Instead they whitewashed the incident, claiming there was little inconvenience to passengers.
The Lexington, Kentucky Blue Grass airport is the primary air travel embarkation point for central and eastern Kentucky. American, United, Delta and Allegiant all service the airport with service to 16 destinations frequented by more than 1.3 million passengers per year. And it’s decided to close and shut down to all air travel for 3 days.
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 »
