Monthly Archives for July 2021.
United Airlines now offers pre-order meals, snacks, and drinks in coach starting five days prior to departure. So far this is only available on some flights out of Chicago to 4 markets but will “expand to all flights over 1,500 miles by early fall.”
This morning I wrote about a 20% transfer bonus from Brex points to miles. I have a stash of 215,000 points thanks to a signup bonus and a Paypal deal – some of the easiest 215,000 points I’ve ever accrued.
As if the Brex deal hadn’t been good enough already, I received an email from them today: “Your Amazon Gift Card”
The American Airlines flight attendants union has filed a grievance against the airline because, it says, cabin crew are being forced to “in airports and outside of baggage claim” because they can’t get rooms on their layovers. And they report that pilots “are dealing with the same issues.”
This is an incredibly heartwarming story. Prieska Outland came upon a woman cleaning one of the bathrooms at the Charlotte airport. The woman was distraught. They to talking and beneath her mask were four missing teeth, and she was saving up to have them replaced. She had just 4% of the money she needed. And Ms. Outland verified the story, and paid the rest to the dentist to have it done.
There’s no “obvious place” to transfer miles. Normally I don’t want to transfer points out of a transferrable program unless I have to. The option value is too strong. However I don’t entirely trust Brex as a place to store points, especially since I’m not actively continuing to use the account.
Through August 8, 2021, Brex is offering a 20% bonus on points transfers to several mileage programs. And that caused me to work through my options.
Delta already bonused all travel towards elite status and made award trips count too. Now they’re throwing in the towel, more or less, and calling 2021 another wash as they don’t want to risk losing elite members who may again be valuable customers.
They’ve also figured out how to continue incentivizing elites to travel this year – at the expense of those who do not.
Right now is a fantastic time to book Asia travel a year out, because you can lock in business class awards between the U.S. and Asia for May and June 2022 for four passengers on Cathay Pacific.
This is available from New York JFK, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles and San Francisco .
The CDC is announcing today that fully vaccinated people should wear masks again in indoor public settings, because of spread of the Delta variant. People aren’t going to comply. However this change makes an extension of the federal transportation mask mandate more likely.
Global Entry lets you skip immigration and customs queues when you return to the U.S. It also gets you TSA PreCheck. It costs $100 and lasts five years. When you renew you may be asked to show up in person. Getting an in-person interview has been nearly impossible.
The government has rolled out Zoom interviews for renewals. Here’s what that’s like – and the one mistake people are making.
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.
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 »
