Monthly Archives for January 2024.
There’s a legit fare sale from Star Alliance member TAP Air Portugal. They’re mostly promoting good coach deals (like Chicago to Copenhagen from $379 roundtrip), but it turns out there are even better business class offers. And the fare deals allow Lisbon stopovers at no extra charge.
Delta SkyMiles suspended status matches in September and it was anticipated this was related to a revamp of the elite program.
Well, that became a debacle with Delta rolling out major changes and facing such a huge customer backlash that they partially and temporarily pulled those back. Now status matches are supposed to be returning this month.
Hertz is a very badly run company. They hired Palantir to help them because they cannot track their fleet of cars. They regularly think their cars have been stolen, and have reported them stolen, when they still had the cars and were renting them out. That got their customers arrested, sometimes at gunpoint, and then they’ve been unwilling to retract false police reports out of fear that the retractions would lead police to stop trusting their false reports.
When American lounges do get crowded they prioritize customers paying for membership, either directly or with their premium $595 annual fee credit card, and to customers traveling on qualifying business class tickets. They have an obligation to deliver for those customers before offering complimentary access to others.
Would making everyone – paid club members, long haul business class passengers, and complimentary military guests alike – stand outside in the terminal in a line during their layover be better?
Flight attendants on a December 20 QantasLink flight from Melbourne to Hobart, Tasmania wore Palestinian flag pins. One (non-Jewish) passenger reported feeling “incredibly uncomfortable.”
A crewmember who was photographed with the pin inflight, and whose photo has gone viral, has vowed to “fight against” this passenger.
By making all Hyatt awards transferable, there’s now a market in more types of certificates – free night awards; club access awards; suite upgrade awards; as well as the Guest of Honor certificates that members will earn through stays going forward.
American Airlines offers incredible value through its partner award chart. Pricing for premium cabins especially on its own long haul flights is a big mess. Fortunately it’s still possible to get a decent deal occasionally – you just have to jump through some hoops to do it.
Three Orthodox Jewish passengers were kicked off of the JetBlue New Year’s Eve redeye from Palm Springs to New York JFK after changing seats on board.
One of the men moved to an open seat in order to avoid sitting next to a female passenger (that wasn’t a relative) who had the assignment next to him.
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.
Bilt Rewards get ‘first to know’ advance reservations for New York City Restaurant Week, January 16 – 24. Plus, take advantage and earn up to (3) $10 statement credits on $45+ spend at participating restaurants.
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 »
