Flights from Newark and New York JFK or from Los Angeles to Kuala Lumpur and back from Bangkok start at $287 right now. Travel is on United and Star Alliance member ANA via Tokyo.
Everyone partners with Uber, it’s integrated into the United app and American had a promo. Presumably they’re earning off rides. Three hotel chains — Starwood, Hilton, and IHG — partner with Uber. But only Starwood’s partnership has been worthwhile.
So naturally it’s ending.
My favorite hotel benefit is Hyatt’s confirmed suite upgrade. I can reserve a suite at time of booking a best-priced standard room for any stay up to 7 nights where standard suites are available.
Unfortunately the way Hyatt awards confirmed suite upgrades means I need to pretty much stop staying at Hyatts for the rest of the year. There are some simple changes Hyatt could make to fix this disincentive.
A year ago Lufthansa became the 19th airline set up with TSA PreCheck. They joined Air Canada, Etihad, Aeromexico and WestJet as the first non-US airlines set up with PreCheck. And with that the massive US data-sharing, surveillance and passenger-convenience program had gone global.
Now 5 more airlines have joined: ANA, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, Finnair and Contour Airlines.
In theory American believes they’ll sell out their flights the Sunday after Thanksgiving (though if that’s true, why are tickets just $133?) so they’re letting you redeem your miles at $0.0017 per mile.
That’s actually how much liability American has been accruing on its books for each mile they award for travel. The accounting changes January 1, and that may be why American is promising better award space.
Scandinavia’s flight SK4236 from Stockholm to Turku, Finland “spun 180 degrees on runway after landing” this evening.
After a 35 minute flight the one and a half year old Bombardier CRJ-900 operated by Cityjet “skidded on runway” due to heavy snow.
4% back on restaurants. $100 signup bonus. Cell phone protection and a rebate on Netflix or Spotify.
This is an interesting no fee card with no foreign transaction fees but it’s missing premium benefits from Uber.
Upside is the new travel booking site from Priceline founder Jay Walker that launched publicly at the beginning of the year. Last summer I interviewed Jay about his history with Priceline and his new business idea.
For both business and leisure travelers they occasionally run compelling first-use bonuses like guaranteed gift card minimums that make booking through them a no-brainer.
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.
The NAACP, co-founded by the legendary W. E. B. Du Bois, was one of the most important organizations — not just civil rights organizations — in the history of America. It’s pursued some of the most important lawsuits in the country, and did incredibly important work fighting Jim Crow laws.
We need an NAACP, even one tilting at the windmill of everyone’s passenger experience onboard commercial airlines. But suggesting that American Airlines is targeting African Americans for discrimination is simply unsupported by any of the facts offered, and runs counter to many of the facts available.
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 »
