A Spirit Airlines gate agent was assaulted by a passenger they’d just denied boarding to out of a belief that the customer was intoxicated. The story is just coming out, though it occurred May 11 around 9:40 p.m. The passenger tried to force her way onto the jet bridge, and punched the gate agent in the face when that didn’t work.
A senior American Airlines pilot has filed a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas over the 100,000 member, $26 billion airline pension, arguing that it is pursuing “leftist political agendas” by making investments that follow ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) guidelines.
He argues that the plan breaches its fiduciary duty by privileging activism on issues including race, LGBTQ+ rights, and environmentalism over financial returns.
Chase and United have picked a strange time to run increased bonus offers for their co-brand portfolio. United has just quietly devalued their awards for long haul international travel, by roughly one third for business class to Europe and by up to 100% for awards in and out of Japan.
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.
Long-term the Airbus A380 will retire. And rather than add a new, top-end first class along the lines of something that might compete with Gulf rivals like Emirates, Etihad and even Saudia, or even like European carriers Lufthansa and Air France, Qatar is planning to eliminate long haul first class.
There are four major hotel loyalty programs, at least for Americans: Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott and IHG. Hyatt has the smallest footprint but the best benefits for frequent guests. Marriott is great on paper but most inconsistent at the property-level delivering promised benefits. IHG never had much in the way of benefits at all until last year when everything changed. And Hilton stands alone, promising almost nothing.
“Resort factories” where you have to get up before 8 a.m. to place a book or beach towel on the chair if you don’t want to wind up four rows back from the ocean aren’t my idea of a relaxing vacation.
One guest, though, took a rogue approach to the reserved beach chair problem. They didn’t want to get up and play the reservation game, which is also unfair to other guests – it selfishly takes up a space that goes unused for hours at a time. So they literally removed all the towels from loungers.
Austin’s airport has been one of the fastest growing in the country for several years. Their main terminal needs to grow to accommodate this – at peak times passengers are packed in so tight it’s barely possible to move. Gates are in constant use with no real room for more flights, either.
One way the city-controlled airport planned to manage growth was with a separate ‘South Terminal’ for low cost carriers. They leased space to a private company for 40 years, which built the terminal, and has been housing Allegiant and Frontier. The terminal is just six years old, but the airport changed its mind.
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.
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 »
