Monthly Archives for June 2021.
In the June 23 Airlines Confidential podcast, former Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza lays out his framework for the circumstances under which to expect airline frequent flyer programs to devalue. He sees strong airline credit card performance as working against devaluation, which I think is incorrect, and he sees the future of business travel doing a lot to determine the value of miles.
An 18 year old woman says she was groped by a male passenger on her Spirit Airlines flight for an hour. She took video! And she says flight attendants told her to “sit down and stay quiet” when she reported it.
It took just one day but Frontier Airlines is dropping its ‘Covid Recovery’ surcharge. It had explained the extra fee tacked on to tickets as covering the cost of cleaning (as though their planes aren’t expected to be clean otherwise) and personal protective equipment for employees (as though airline safety wasn’t the airline’s responsibility).
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 economy is recovering, states are opening up, and companies are looking for workers. But the number of people in the labor force – working or looking for work – hasn’t risen in a year. Unemployment numbers are down, but roughly the same number of people sitting out of the workforce early in the pandemic are still outside of it. That means it’s tough to find workers, whether you need people to clean Delta Skyclubs, push wheelchairs in airports, or take on any number of other roles.
Hotels are going to some interesting lengths to try to find new employees.
Aeroplan launched its new suite of credit cards in Canada back in November, and now through August 3, 2021 they’re running the richest initial bonus offers we’ve ever seen for their American Express co-brands, plus generous spend offers for existing customers.
These aren’t available to most Americans, but Chase will be issuing a U.S. Aeroplan Mastercard this year and the Aeroplan program promises “many additional promotions, partnerships, and feature announcements” this summer as well. So take it as a sign of aggressive cardmember acquisition and promotion, even if you can’t pick up 150,000 Aeroplan miles with a single credit card yourself.
There’s a surplus of vaccines in the U.S. Any American aged 12 and up who wants one can get one. Doses are even on the verge of expiring unused. So tiny Guam – which is just 212 square miles – is turning that surplus into support for its tourism industry while doing good for residents of Asia.
By the end of next month Singapore Airlines will have restored service to all of the European destinations it plans to fly to. The Singapore flag carrier will serve 15 destinations, not planning to return to Stockholm or Dusseldorf and cancelling planned service to Brussels.
It’s adding a new flight, though, starting to serve travelers within Europe. The carrier will fly Singapore to Copenhagen, and then Copenhagen to Rome.
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.
Tthe Hyatt Place Chicago has stopped adding 3.5% surcharges to guest folios for an ‘energy surcharge’.
A Hyatt spokesperson explained, “As soon as we were made aware of this situation, Hyatt worked with the hotel’s owners to look into the matter, and at this time, the hotel has removed this fee.”
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 »
