American used to keep the details of its revenue-based Concierge Key status under tight wraps. They would refuse to answer questions about it. It was even referred to in hushed tones as George Clooney’s character was revealed to have this status in Up in the Air.
Now though there’s actually a new website detailing the benefits that Concierge Key offers. (HT: @xJonNYC)
The major approaches to ensuring arriving passengers are safe and are not infected all have limitations – so severe that they may not provide much protection at all.
Airlines are blocking middle seats. Delta has stopped processing upgrades in advance, handling all upgrades at the gate, to manage seat assignments in domestic first class so that passengers aren’t seated beside each other. They’re also blocking seats near flight attendant jump seats, to keep passengers away from flight attendants.
These are all social distancing steps to limit contact between people during travel, both to help stop the spread of the coronavirus and also to give customers confidence to fly. But they won’t do this if it means losing even a single ticket sale.
I’ve been saying we’ll start to see travel incentive programs investing in generous promotions, though frankly didn’t expect to see any this soon. American Airlines Business ExtrAA will give you points for a free roundtrip if you sign up for the program and take a single flight by June 30.
A month ago I wrote that credit cards might soon become tougher to get as banks tightened lending standards. In a down economy there’s more risk that banks won’t get paid back, so it’s logical they’d become careful about extending credit. Already we’ve seen what appears to be a tougher approach to new small business cards at Chase.
When banks expect an increase in defaults, they take steps to limit their exposure. During the Great Recession we saw banks unilaterally cut credit limits, especially where cards were going unused or underutilized.
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We do not need a vaccine to travel again. Widespread availability of a vaccine is probably two years away even if it’s developed in a year, since it has to be manufactured and distributed at massive scale. However a gimmick like an immunity passport, given our limited knowledge of the virus right now, isn’t likely to get us back in the sky.
So don’t get infected just because you think recovering from the virus will help you to travel, because it probably won’t.
The state has had just 55 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past week. Perhaps they benefit from warm, humidity, and a tendency to spend time outdoors. Perhaps the quarantine for arriving passengers put in place April 1 has helped as well.
But what happens when visitors to the Islands violate the quarantine order?
President Trump has an idea to help the airlines make it through to the future, while getting a deal for taxpayers: pay up front for several years of travel, but get a bigger discount from the airlines for doing it.
You can cancel an American Airlines award ticket online – there’s a cancel link in your account’s itineraries. Cancelling, through, doesn’t put miles back into your account. To get miles redeposited you’ve had to call American – until now, under certain limited conditions.
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 »
