Monthly Archives for December 2021.
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.
Indoor congregant settings are where the virus spreads most easily. Cruise ships require very high rates of vaccination in order to sail. They’re likely safer than spending time indoors at restaurants, bars and gyms or attending indoor concerts and sporting events. But they’re going to have Covid-19 cases because breakthrough infections are real, and they’re looking for cases.
It’s not the health risk you should be worried about, it’s whether you’ll be able to visit the ports on your itinerary, whether you’ll be quarantined in your room, and whether you’ll be allowed to disembark and return home as-planned.
Hilton and Marriott have extended expiring free night certificates. Hyatt has not. They’ve even said they’ll begin expiring points again December 31st. However they’ve quietly gotten much more generous in offering points for expiring awards, and in some cases even extending them on asking.
There’s even a surprise of points for top tier elites.
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.
American Airlines flight AA2578 from San Diego to Miami last night appears to be just the sort of flight that I had in mind, where a flight attendant went to lengths to try to show up – as incentivized by premium holiday pay – even when they were too sick to fly.
I’m told that one of the flight attendants was sick but went to the airport anyway, intending to fly, but called in sick once they’d arrived. There’s a second hand suggestion that the crewmember had Covid symptoms, but this isn’t necessary for the point. The flight wound up cancelling and the remaining crew – two pilots and three flight attendants – operated the aircraft to Miami without passengers as American Airlines AA9782.
Last week Emirates flight EK-231 from Dubai to Washington Dulles “was accelerating for takeoff from Dubai’s runway 30R when the aircraft rotated for takeoff past the end of the runway” and the Boeing 777-300 (registration A6-EQI) continued anyway – all the way to DC. It even flew back to Dubai as scheduled, but the aircraft was then grounded for four days after it returned. The FAA is investigating.
Dr. Anthony Fauci has been making the rounds on public affairs programs for several days talking up vaccination requirements for domestic travel. He emphasizes in each case that it makes sense for international travel to keep virus cases out of the country (but unvaccinated Americans are allowed to return, and the virus is already spreading here rapidly).
Fauci then goes on to suggest that a domestic vaccine travel requirement would make sense, not to ‘keep the virus out’, but to serve as an incentive to get vaccinated. In addition to being legally questionable, it may wind up having the opposite effect Fauci hopes.
British writer Raheem Kassam is the kind of conservative who hates business and free markets, preferring to ‘own the libs’ and take control of government to enforce the values he prefers. He’s hosted a podcast with Steve Bannon, ran Breitbart News London and when he ran for leader of pro-Brexit UK party UKIP he supported lifting their ban on white nationalist parties. He’s also anti-vaccine.
And now he’s going after United Airlines for offering more comfortable seats. Has 2021 finally lost it?
As the only U.S. carrier offering international first class and on a limited number of aircraft, there’s potential to make it work. There’s even less competition among foreign carriers for the market. American just hasn’t made the investment to do so.
American has the potential to offer a really competitive product. Already they have several of the pieces.
The pandemic kept kept much of Qantas grounded. Their Airbus A380 wasn’t supposed to return until June 2023 “at the earliest.” But the Australian government allowing its citizens to again leave the country, and residents to return, led to a re-start of the airline’s international route network and a planned return of the world’s largest passenger jet on the Los Angeles – Sydney route in July 2022. And then moved the re-introduction date up to March.
Now, because of increased coronavirus precautions rather than re-opening, the airline will again move up the A380 jumbo jet’s return to just two weeks from now on January 11.
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 »
