News and notes from around the interweb:
- Possible Uber co-brand credit card, the ideas for it though represent a pretty weak value proposition. (HT: IadisGr8)
- United’s small business Perks Plus program now allows points to be transferred to MileagePlus miles. A minimum of 10,000 points required to transfer, no account can receive fewer than 5000 miles per transaction, and no recipient can receive over 100,000 miles a year this way. (HT: Reid F.)
- American Airlines in advanced talks to make a $200 million investment in China Southern which is currently a member of SkyTeam. More uncreative copying of Delta which took a $450 million stake in China’s most subsidized airline China Eastern.
- There really was a snake on this plane in Alaska. Samuel L. Jackson’s famous line is very much Not Safe For Work:
- Pakistan International Airlines flight attendant arrested for shoplifting in Paris (HT: P.C.) She probably decided she needed a new laptop upon learning that the U.S. was banning large electronics on flights to the U.S. by Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar but not on PIA because Pakistan is only where Osama bin Laden was living with the support of that nation’s security services.
- Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings will no longer allow Senators or HON Circle members to have lounge access when flying on the cheapest economy fares, for tickets purchased March 26 onward. HON Circle effectively requires purchase of nearly all premium cabin international tickets, since the qualification requirement is 600,000 qualifying miles over two consecutive calendar years. But sure, kick them out of the lounge on a cheap domestic flight.
- Not just the TSA
The HON Circle lounge nonsense is a good example of why “customer segmentation” is nonsense.
Although I suppose it is ultimately the fault of the airlines and businesses that buy into it.
Yes I’ve sat through presentations by consulting firms that specialize in loyalty marketing. If any of those suited-up twentysomething dumbasses know an expectation-maximization algorithm from their own ass, I’ll eat shit.
This would be a Great Development for American and China Southern and hopefully ONEWORLD. Cathay Pacific is a nice Airline but cannot fly to internal Chinese Cities and China Southern could help with transiting customers that do not need to go to Hong Kong. There is no need for all these Chinese carriers to be aligned in Skyteam and tied to Delta who clearly has China Eastern as a preferred Partner. This Partnership of AA & CS will BENEFIT More Passengers across the Globe and increase competition.
@gary – your crack about PIA not being on the electronics ban because Bin Laden lived there is laughable. You might as well say that no one should travel to Australia because it was a penal colony. Even think that current intelligence might not relate to past events? Sheesh!
China Southern [shudder].