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.
When hotels change brands, it often happens suddenly. Paid reservations are generally honored. Award reservations are sometimes honored. In either case, though, elite members of a loyalty program should not expect new management from a new brand to honor the benefits guests were entitled to in that other program.
Sometimes hotel chains do a good job re-accommodating guests with points bookings that are displaced. Sometimes they don’t do a very good job. However even when they do it can be stressful for the guest. And for employees.
American Express is running a 30% bonus on transfers from Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic through September 12. It only appears when logged into your American Express Membership Rewards account, so it’s possible that members with certain cards won’t have this bonus offer available.
There are some amazing award values even though Virgin Atlantic is a generally weak program, you can hold awards before even making your instant transfer to lock in success.
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 passenger on United’s flight 1697 from New York LaGuardia to Chicago O’Hare this morning reports that the 11 a.m. Airbus A319 departure was overbooked. United solicited 10 volunteers, offering each $800 travel vouchers.
The plane boards full, the door is shut, and the safety video begins. However the passenger says “I hear [one flight attendant] say to other [flight attendant,] ‘They’re bringing the jetway back out.’”
A couple of years ago Atlanta fired the General Manager of its airport. They didn’t provide much of a reason, and it seemed strange considering the success that the airport had.
The General Manager had plenty to say, though. He claimed he was fired for refusing to go along with corruption. Contracts were expected to be awarded to politically connected companies, not to the best companies or to those offering the best prices.
The federal government requires airlines to allow musicians to bring small instruments onboard as carry on items and to allow the purchase of an extra seat for larger instruments.
It seems American refused to fly a DePaul University School of Music student home to Chicago because her 10 pound cello – that was fine on her outbound trip – was deemed too large for a 737 departing from Miami. She was removed by police.
Two years ago American Airlines joined Delta and United in awarding miles for flights based on the cost of a ticket rather than the distance you fly.
At first you had 3 choices where the cheapest American Airlines tickets still earned 100% of flown miles.
At the beginning of the week we learned about a TSA program, “Quiet Skies” that follows passengers and notes their habits even though these passengers are on no threat list.
TSA acknowledges that this program hasn’t found a single actual threat. Not a single person being followed was determined to be worth any followup.
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 »
