News and notes from around the interweb:
- Brazil is considering allowing foreign ownership of majority stakes in airlines. Consumers who care about competition should want the US to allow the same.
- Delta expanding its ‘West Coast Shuttle’ to Seattle
- Passengers over 60 years old get free Virgin Australia lounge access on tickets purchased by May 16 for travel June 1 through August 31 with promo code SNR60 for ‘off-peak’ domestic coach departures Monday through Thursday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Virgin Australia Lounge, Cairns - The Wall Street Journal offers a Traveler’s Guide to Social Media (“Social networks [are] an indispensable tool to planning and making the most of your trip—even if you don’t know a hashtag from a hashbrown”).
According to Gary Leff, frequent-flier expert and author of the travel blog Viewfromthewing.com, airlines don’t typically share deals exclusively on Twitter. “But following people who know about deals—like @FareDealAlert and @SecretFlying—is a great way to be in the know yourself,” he said.
…Twitter can also help resolve travel snafus, especially of the airline variety. ”Twitter teams [on some airlines] are usually more empowered than phone agents,” said Mr. Leff. “You can avoid hold times and get through to someone quickly. A seatmate on a recent flight tweeted @AmericanAir that he was going to miss his flight, and they rebooked him before we landed.”
- Alaska Airlines is offering 1000 bonus miles for each partner airline you fly internationally between June 1 and September 15 (tickets purchased by September 1). Registration required. (HT: One Mile at a Time)
- So this is weird. American Express is advertising to travel hackers. (HT: Milelion)
Maybe Brasil can tackle it’s entry visa issue before the airline investment restrictions.
No entry visa required from June – September for citizens of USA, Canada & Japan.
Attendance to the Olympics not required. We are going in early July saving $320.00.