Monthly Archives for February 2025.
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.
Baymont Inns seems to have a new take on the labor-saving strategy. They’ve got an outsourced front desk. Instead of having to hire American staffers to work on property, they supplement their employees with kiosks that give you a live person in India. The agent will interact with you just like they were across the desk.
Air Canada is testing a new ‘on demand’ amenity kit, and the products are from Byredo which is a fantastic brand. Most flights are still using the Acqua di Parma offering which I find to be quite sparse – there’s just not a lot to the current kit – but the items in this new offering are reportedly high quality.
Regular readers know that I’m skeptical of government regulation, but the reason eludes many of you since I have great concern for consumer issues. The reason is regulatory capture. Rules usually benefit large businesses, rather than tilting the playing field against them.
U.S. airlines are required to spend tens of millions of dollars in dubious carbon offsets each year under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation. What happens if the Trump administration stops enforcing this requirement?
On Thursday, American Airlines flight 835 from Tampa to Philadelphia went out without working water. According to a passenger on the flight, a gate agent announced that everyone should use the airport restrooms prior to boarding the scheduled 2 hour 41 minute trip.
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.
Since there’s no cost to participate, taking them up on the offer seems like an easy move to get Avis President’s Club and Radisson Hotels status which might be useful to match elsewhere. (And you can use Avis status to match to another rental car chain if you prefer that as well.)
In the fall, I was first to report that Southwest Airlines would end onboard service earlier, and make passengers stow their laptops earlier. This means less time where service is available on board, and as a result Southwest is cutting drink service entirely on some flights.
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.
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 »
