News and notes from around the interweb:
- 16.3% of passenger miles on Southwest Airlines were paid for with Rapid Rewards points in 2023. That’s up from 15% in 2022, and on average about twice what you see on competing carriers.
That’s not surprising. They’ve always been ahead of competitors, at least under the current iteration of Rapid Rewards. They generate a lot of points, and those points spend like cash for flights. There’s no reason to save them for the future, just use them on the first flight for which you’d come out of pocket personally. Still, the scale of redemptions is amazing.
- The good reason airlines don’t promise your family will sit together (WaPo)
- British Airways elite year changes meltdown customers are not happy.
- Taylor Swift threatens to sue college junior who runs social media account that tracks her private jet, accusing him of ‘stalking and harassing behavior’ People who objected when Elon tried to crack down on Jack Sweeney seem to be more sympathetic to Taylor here (and vice versa).
- U.S. airline customer service, a play in two acts:
In other news… loving the new jacket I found on my United flight today.
— Adam Fishman (@fishmanaf) February 7, 2024
- These are cool stats Southwest is sharing with its cabin crew.
I neeeda stop overnighting in Nashville. It’s bad for my health. And I always wear the same fancy pants when I go out. The front desk people def judging me
(outfit repeater) pic.twitter.com/iUvfmsyzkQ
— Cłegg McMuffin (@poachedClegg) February 6, 2024
- Tourism is good, actually ($)
Everywhere you look, people are arguing not just that tourists are cringe or annoying, but that tourism itself — the act of people traveling for leisure — is harmful. There are takes about how beach resorts are bad and about how remote workers visiting Mexico City is bad. Takes about how “over tourism” is destroying tourist attractions, and takes about how it’s bad when college alumni like to visit their former college town to watch football games. And, of course, tons of cities are trying to curtail AirBNB and other short-term rentals. The stated reason is never “hotel owners don’t like competition, so we’re doing them a favor.” It’s always something about how it’s undesirable to have more tourists coming to your city.
- Deutsche Bahn still uses Windows 3.11
- Hilton Woodcliff Lake in New Jersey abruptly closes after 40 years, and weddings, proms, and other booked events are left in the lurch.
It’s very difficult to get interested in Southwest points when it’s just a pegged currency. I occasionally fly them when it makes sense, but I would rather collect transferable points or legacy carrier miles. Yes even Delta miles.
What’s “cringe” is someone who uses it every other sentence, then you can only read the article if you sign up.
What’s even more “cringe” is someone who posts it for people to click on.
I was wondering whose bad writing that was in the tourism snippet, but then I clicked through and of course it’s Yglesias. The funny thing is that if you click through the link he includes for cities trying to curtail AirB&B, you will find out that the stated reason is not his “it’s undesirable to have more tourists” strawman, but rather “the major concern for officials is whether short-term rentals take away housing stock from Burlington residents”.
Still, he’s gonna have to try a lot harder if he ever wants to top his old “it’s good when Bengali sweatshop workers die in a fire” take.
The Taylor Swift/Elon Musk analogy is flawed. Ol’ Elon can go wherever he wants (Mars next, please please please) but she HAS to be in specific places at very specific times and doesn’t have a fleet of private jets to throw off heavily armed stalkers. The weasel who’s tracking her is a pathetic bully who needs a large dose of his own medicine.