Monthly Archives for September 2022.
There’s no question that Emirates premium cabin customers who find themselves on board United’s new Newark – Dubai flight will be surprised by the food and beverage program. Sir Time Clark says the airline needs to “make strikes” to improve. That’s an understatement. But he’s not worried. Indeed, Emirates is able to partner with easyJet, Gol, and Jetstar while maintaining their premium image.
SkyTeam member Garuda Indonesia suffered greatly during the pandemic, including from government policies that banned most foreigners from coming to the country for an extended period of time. But it wasn’t Covid-19 that really did it in. They were forced to restructure $9.5 billion in debt earlier this year, citing in part “leasing costs way above the industry average” according to the country’s State Enterprises Minister. Unmentioned, of course, are the charges that were brought against the airline’s former CEO over money laundering and millions of dollars worth of bribery in connection with overpaying for Airbus aircraft. Such things are common in South and Southeast Asia, especially in connection with government-backed carriers. The airline has a new business model. They’re going to focus on domestic travel, and give up most international routes. That means reconfiguring…
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.
Hotel chains aren’t pushing guests to tip out of affection for their lowest-paid employees. They’re doing it as a way of controlling owner costs. The CEO of one hotel group even says they need guests to tip more – so they don’t have to raise wages.
The meals are “presented on tableware from Singapore luxury brand Luzerne, elegantly plated and accompanied by appetizers, breads and desserts” – even for those traveling in economy!
Hyatt is offering triple points on spending at their hotel restaurants when you are not staying as a guest through December 20, 2022. You can earn points on dine-in, delivery and takeout as long as the charge is made by hotels set up to award points, and you provide them with your Hyatt account number.
There’s nothing game-changing here. There’s two airlines that will modestly direct each other’s customers to each other in Dubai and the Mideast. This helps United sell flights to Pakistan, and Emirates sell flights to connecting cities beyond its U.S. gateways. But it doesn’t live up to the hype.
The former Rwandair Express is 20 years old and Qatar Airways agreed to purchase a 49% stake in the historically loss-making airline last year. They operate a dozen aircraft including Airbus A330 widebodies and Boeing 737 narrowbodies. They serve Brussels and London in Europe; Dubai, Mumbai and Guangzhou in the Mideast and Asia Pacific; and nearly 20 destinations in Africa.
With rail workers on the verge of going on strike, Amtrak will cease long haul train service starting Thursday and also shutting down most California service beginning Thursday and accelerating Friday.
Several commuter rails are also pausing service because of the way a strike would impact them, especially where they share track. Amtrak’s Northeast services are not affected.
Marriott began work on a new corporate headquarters before the pandemic. They had 4000 employees based in the Maryland-DC-Northern Virginia area including their existing headquarters building. They’ve shed some of those employees, and more work remotely now, but the new building is open and up to 2800 employees are supposed to be working on-site at least some days of the week.
They didn’t bring all the old furniture over from the headquarters they’re replacing.
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 »
