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.
Through June 15 if you check into your hotel using the Starwood Preferred Guest mobile app you’ll receive 250 bonus points. The promotion applies to St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, Tribute Portfolio and Four Points brands only.
On April 28 a passenger onboard a flight from Sanya to Mian Yang, China thought the cabin was too stuffy and decided to get some air. He mistook the emergency exit door for a window, opened it and popped the slide.
The number one thing that gives me security when I travel is obscurity, there’s no one who wants to spy on me. I’m simply not important or valuable enough to be worth the effort.
At the same time I assume any device I carry with me to China is compromised. And in many countries the room I’m staying in may be set up for monitoring because of other people who might stay there either before or after me. Business espionage is at least as common as national security espionage.
American Express Membership Rewards is offering a 25% bonus on transfers to Air France KLM Flying Blue through June 15. It may be targeted because it only shows up for me when I log into my account.
Here’s how to play it.
Right now there’s reasonably good business class award availability on American Airlines New York JFK – Barcelona in the fall and winter.
Impressively there are even dates where four award seats are available, so it’s great not just for couples but for families too.
There’s an axiom on the internet that the answer to any question in an article title is always “no.”
And that’s just the case here. The Wall Street Journal thinks otherwise but fails to make the case, though there’s certainly more crowding in some lounges that’s difficult to manage.
The case the Journal makes is that the rise of Priority Pass cards distributed with credit cards, especially Chase, have led to a decline in quality of airport lounges. That’s false. The other major claim is they’ve made lounges more crowded, and that’s true with some lounges.
Shortly before Starwood announced a deal to be acquired by Marriott it agreed to spin off its timeshare business into a separate company, Vistana, which it sold to Interactive Leisure Group or ILG. ILG now holds the vacation ownership businesses of Hyatt, Sheraton and Westin.
Marriott Vacations is now buying Interactive Leisure Group for $4.7 billion. So an affiliate of Marriott will wind up owning the Starwood timeshare business Marriott itself was believed not to want two and a half years ago as well as Hyatt’s timeshare business.
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.
Unionized flight attendants — and flight attendants at airlines whose procedures mirror union work rules — get to work the most desirable trips based on seniority. Senior flight attendants at large international airlines can jet away to Sydney, to Buenos Aires, to Paris while more junior flight attendants overnight in Des Moines.
American Airlines flight attendants have created a secondary market renting out their seniority. They sell prime trip assignments to junior flight attendants, reportedly on average for $200 per trip.
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 »
