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 Southwest Airlines pilot is suing her airline after the captain in charge of flight WN6607 from Philadelphia to Orlando on August 10, 2020 pleaded guilty “to dead-bolting the cockpit door during a flight and stripping naked in front of her.”
As she explains it, the flight was the first time she’d met the man. He said it was hire retirement flight (though he actually continued to fly for 3 more weeks). And he shared that there was “something he wanted to do” before he retired.
Delta is doubling down on the requirement that you not only fly a minimum amount to earn elite status, but spend a minimum amount with the airline, too. There are no changes to how much you need to fly – just how much you need to spend. And they’re updating choice benefits for Platinum and Diamond members.
American Airlines is suing The Points Guy over its app that tracks account balances, scraping data from the AA.com website.
Hyatt is adding more than 30 hotels in 7 European countries, focusing on Germany and Central and Eastern Europe, by partnering with Lindner hotels to bring their properties into the Hyatt brand and loyalty portfolio.
When you reach a million mile threshold with Delta SkyMiles, they offer you a choice of gift. It’s a really nice touch, or at least it was. The program was paused during the pandemic, and just re-launched. So everyone who earned million mile status since the program went on hiatus (or earned a selection, but their selection didn’t ship prior to Covid) was invited to pick a gift from the new program.
If you have any upcoming stays it could be a good idea to check on whether rebooking makes sense, or to reserve this week rather than waiting until a future week to make that reservation – see whether the rate discounts, award discounts, or double points and elite nights for home share stays make sense.
Mexicana was one of the oldest airlines in the world operating under the same brand when it ceased operations on August 28, 2010.
The partially government-owned carrier went into bankruptcy, and several criminal cases emerged involving tax fraud and money laundering by key executives. The departure of the Star Alliance-turned-oneworld member left Mexico with airlines like Aeroméxico, Volaris and Interjet.
Airfares have been astronomical, but have been coming down a bit. Under $600 would be a very good coach fare of late, but right now it’s possible to travel to Europe roundtrip for under $600 in premium economy on Star Alliance member Scandinavian Airlines.
Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano gave an interview and the whole thing struck me as.. strange?
He incorrectly claims Marriott had the first hotel loyalty program. He talks about resort fees as incredible for customers. And he talks about how much control is necessary over hotel stays, even as they defer more and more to individual owners.
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 »
