Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for September 2023.

Why The Points Guy’s New Effort To Value Miles Is Nonsense

by Gary Leff

Sep 08 2023

The Points Guy has published new “data-driven” valuations for U.S. airline miles and for credit card points, but they don’t… show you much about the data, and the methodology they offer makes very little sense. It’s nonsense built on stilts. They’ve picked out some flights to compare prices in cash and in miles, and then declared the value you’re getting for your miles on those flights is the value of miles. And that’s just wrong. This treats points as being worth the same as cash used towards an airline ticket. But points are not worth as much as cash, because cash can do more than buy airline tickets. You can spend cash on anything you want, not just on what an airline says you can, and you can invest cash to earn a return. You…

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Big Airlines Are Pressuring Airports To Kick Out Semi-Private Carrier JSX

by Gary Leff

Sep 08 2023

Airlines and the major pilot union have lobbied the federal government to put premium air carrier JSX out of business, and the FAA has introduced a rulemaking to do just that.

Asking the federal government to put them out of business isn’t the only front on which JSX is under attack by major airlines and their labor unions. Reportedly airlines press airports where they have influence to refuse JSX access to private terminals, and require them to fly from main terminals.

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World’s Dumbest Hotel Manager Caught Stealing From Aria Las Vegas

by Gary Leff

Sep 08 2023

A manager at MGM’s Aria hotel in Las Vegas has been arrested and charged with generating $770,000 in reservation refunds – that he put on his own personal credit card.

The 10 year operations manager with MGM Resorts spent the money “at Louis Vuitton and Versace, flying on private jets, doing spa visits, going to shows and even purchasing a home.”

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Washington National Airport’s Amex Centurion Lounge Finally Making Progress

by Gary Leff

Sep 07 2023

In January 2021 I reported that American Express would open a Centurion lounge at Washington National airport, near the southern end of the B concourse. The entire terminal, with the exception of the A concourse (“banjo”) is connected behind security, so this will be accessible to eligible passengers flying on most airlines (all except Southwest, Frontier, and Air Canada). It’s been more than two and a half years, though, and there’s mostly been crickets.

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United Introducing New Polaris 2.0 Business Class Product This Month

by Gary Leff

Sep 07 2023

United Airlines launched its Polaris business class product seven years ago. This was both a new soft product – meals, blankets, amenities – and a new seat or hard product.

United Airlines is launching Polaris 2.0 on September 20th, a refresh of the airline’s soft product. Employees are being given a mandatory one hour course on the new product.

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