Monthly Archives for October 2023.
SAS EuroBonus offers Gold status to those who hold 100,000 shares in the airline, and those shares are cheap while the carrier is in bankruptcy. But there are risks and hurdles that will keep most away from this lucrative offer.
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 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.
With Lufthansa tied to United and Air Canada, Air France KLM tied to Delta, and British Airways tied to American the transatlantic market has become far more concentrated inside of “metal neutral, anti-trust immunized, revenue-sharing joint ventures.” There are only a handful of players across the Pond operating with significant frequency outside of the one of these deals.
Back in April, Jaelynn Chaney started a petition demanding additional free seats for plus-sized passengers which, she acknowledged, would mean that everyone else would have to pay more to accommodate her.
Now she’s back with demands for hotels. She wants wider hallways; larger elevators; and retrofits to bathroom toilet seat, shower heads, and sturdier beds. And she thinks it’s discriminatory for hotels not to stock bathrobes up to size 6XL.
Premium American Express and Capital One customers have been frustrated by getting turned away from Virgin Atlantic lounges in the United States.
At the end of last year United Airlines ordered 100 Boeing 787s with options for 100 more, in addition to ordering 56 Boeing 737 Maxs and exercising options on 44 that were previously ordered as part of a massive buy in 2021.
United is going back to market for even more planes.
The IRS audited Hyatt for the tax years 2009 – 2011 and found that it wasn’t paying tax on loyalty program revenue. It didn’t include the revenue received for what was then Gold Passport (now World of Hyatt) in income, and didn’t include payments from the program as expenses. It just ignored the program, even though it collected money and invested it earning a return.
The IRS wanted Hyatt to not only pay up for those years but to go all the way back to the beginning of the program in 1987, with a quarter of a billion dollars of income at issue and a tax deficiency of $65 million.
Four years ago American Airlines and Dallas – Fort Worth airport came to agreement on terminal improvements that included piecemealing a new terminal F and refreshing terminal C for about $3.5 billion. This was put off during the pandemic.
Now it’s moving forward and renderings are available. They look great, and offer more detail around what the airport has planned.
Saturday night’s EVA Air flight BR68 from London Heathrow to Bangkok diverted to Vienna after a woman self-upgraded from economy to premium economy and ‘refused to pay for the upgrade’ while her booze-influenced partner wouldn’t stop smoking and became abusive to crew. He was tackled and taped to his seat.
The flight diverted, and they were taken off. The woman threw £5,000 (US$6,000) at the man. It blew off in the wind.
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 »
