Monthly Archives for July 2023.
The two most common complaints I see about airlines in social media, being offered with photos, are both about baggage. Passengers share photos of checked bags being damaged, and about overhead bins with plenty of space after being forced to check their carry-ons ‘because the bins were full’.
Since I wrote about “parking recapture fees” readers have been sharing other hotels that do this. One sent me a folio from the Hilton Garden Inn Orlando at SeaWorld with a $2.13 charge. Another sent me a folio from Hampton Inn Philadelphia/King Of Prussia (Valley Forge) showing a $3.87 parking recapture fee.
Three million people have viewed a video of a woman who refused to give up her window seat for a mother traveling with her two kids. The mother offered the passenger a middle seat in exchange for her window. Not happening! And the kids looked 11 and 15 – not four and six.
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.
Passengers flying Air Serbia in late June and early July were apparently having their bags lost at a very high rate. And many, perhaps most haven’t seen their bags since. Luggage is piling up at their hub airport in Belgrade. Reportedly only a couple of employees are processing large amounts of lost luggage for the Serbian national carrier, which flies to New York JFK and Chicago O’Hare, and nobody knows when or if they’ll work through the backlog.
People are literally calling the police in Belgrade to report their bags as stolen. Others are flying to Belgrade in search of their bags.
Brazil has said that U.S. tourists will have to obtain a visa starting October 1, since the U.S. continues to require Brazilians to obtain a visa. The country scrapped the requirement in 2019 but it’s being re-imposed as a reciprocity measure.
Delta wanted 28 new roundtrips a day authorized, and of course they’d gain many of those for themselves. This faced significant pushback.
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.
While most airline have eliminated the ability to put an award “on hold” one of the more consumer-friendly features of American AAdvantage has been the offer to hold an award for up to 5 days rather than having to purchase it immediately. (Travel within a week is limited to just one day.)
Without any announcement, American appears to have reduced the allowable hold time from 5 days to 3 days.
United Airlines is launching daily service from San Francisco to Manila, and bringing back Los Angeles – Tokyo Narita and Hong Kong. They’re adding Taipei flying and are trying to expand back into mainland China.
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 »
