Monthly Archives for August 2021.
As of today Gulf Air is a new mileage earn and burn partner of Air Canada Aeroplan. Gulf Air is Aeroplan’s 8th new airline partner in the last 14 months and the program says to expect “additional airline partners in the months ahead.” Those Amex and Chase points are getting more valuable thanks to Aeroplan transfers.
U.S. travel restrictions are for show. There’s a huge status quo bias in policy. Lifting restrictions looks ‘soft on Covid’ which is galling from an administration that was supposed to be ‘guided by science’ yet has been unwilling to reverse the policies put in place by the previous administration. These restrictions have real consequences separating families and raising the cost of doing business.
We now know that there were Covid-19 linked deaths in the U.S. as early as the week of January 5, 2020. That’s contemporaneous with China’s first reported death on January 9, 2020. And there were January deaths now attributed to Covid-19 in California, Georgia, Alabama, Wisconsin and Oklahoma.
Cases could have been brought here as early as November on flights from China.
Australia is caught in a bind. They managed the early stage of the pandemic well, so well that they’ve backed themselves into a corner haven’t had an end game. Lockdowns have increased, frustrations have grown, and citizens haven’t been able to travel abroad – and often even domestically – for a year and a half.
Against this backdrop Qantas has a new commercial: get vaccinated and maybe the government will let you leave the country. I cried watching this.
Mastercard has a new promotion offering a $50 discount on an American Airlines flight if you make a booking on the AA.com website by September 30, 2021. You’ll receive a code for $50 off your next trip.
If you have a Mastercard, there’s no reason not to register in case you wind up booking an American Airlines flight by September 30. You don’t even have to enter the Mastercard’s details in order to register.
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.
A woman recently shared a story on Reddit about a London to Budapest flight she took last year. She took her assigned seat in the window, while a mother and child were in the two seats next to her. The mom asked if she’d swap, so the kid could look at the window.
She settled into the aisle (aisle seats are better anyway). But that’s when things started going downhill, with the solo passenger and the mom cursing at each other, and the family blocked from leaving he aircraft.
The Club at MSY airport lounge in the New Orleans airport is the Priority Pass option there. Many haven’t seen it since the airport opened a brand new terminal, abandoning the existing one, shortly before the pandemic.
A new lawsuit may shed light into risks staying in high end villas in Italy, with travelers guests and their belongings stolen – after having reportedly been advised by the villa company to “bring a good deal of cash.”
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 »
