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 Miami-based flight attendant asked about building a buffer to ensure flights are properly catered, “several years ago I was called into the office because I took a 14 minute delay to wait for china plates to plate the food for Brazil. Like I’m going to shut the door and have a first class service to Brazil with no china plates, I just set the tins in front of them.”
Chase revealed several interesting facts about its credit card business in an investor deck this week.
While the average FICO score is 785 that means many cardholders have lower scores, just as they have higher scores. Annual spend of $39,000 sounds high but equates to $3250/month, not low but not as intimidating. I’m intrigued that 90% of users are keeping the card after the first year.
There was a lot of discussion at an American Airlines employee Q&A about the carrier’s fleet.
Airline President Robert Isom confirms that “Newer model used aircraft are absolutely something we have an eye out for. As we take a look at where 319s are available we’re gonna be out there after them, because we want ’em”
In September Hyatt named Mark Vondrasek as their new head of loyalty ‘and business platforms’. Tellingly at the time he reported directly to the chain’s CEO — and not to the Chief Marketing Officer, who was most responsible for Hyatt’s loyalty program revamp that launched last year. That CMO has since been departed.
United Airlines filed their 10-K annual report to the SEC (.pdf), and a couple of things stood out to me in their disclosures about the MileagePlus program.
Most importantly United just isn’t growing the number of miles it sells to partners.
A passenger flying United from Chicago O’Hare to Newark on United got into an argument with staff over the definition of ‘is’ about whether their purse fit in the bag sizer as a personal item. Even though it clearly fits.
The first employee says it doesn’t fit even while the bag is inside the sizer.
During an airline Q&A session with employees, one pilot says of American’s new standard domestic lavatories “It’s the most miserable experience in the world.”
He continues, “I can’t turn around in it. The sink is the most miserable thing going, and you cram those people in those little tiny seats you just bragged about to the point that I can’t sit back there. As a crew member if I ever have to deadhead back there I’ll refuse because it’s just not practical.”
American is dropping a flight attendant from their Boeing 777-200s in March arguing that the ratio of flight attendants to economy passengers would be the same as before the retrofit product (dropping first class, adding premium economy).
American has more Boeing 777-200s than any other widebody aircraft, and they’re treating premium economy on that plane as economy from a service standpoint even though they’re marketing it as a premium product.
Starwood lets you transfer points free to someone else’s account but your account and theirs must be registered with the same home mailing address. It’s actually even easier with Hilton and Hyatt.
That means you can get friends and family to sign up for cards and give the points to you. In fact they can sign up for cards you may not be able to get yourself.
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 »
