Delta’s relatively strong operational performance has led to a sort of self-delusion. They even lied about not cancelling any flights over the Thanksgiving weekend, their operational performance was very good but they couldn’t resist the temptation to overclaim. They seem to have lost all sense of humility over at Virginia Avenue. And that’s when bad things happen. Especially at an airline.
VietJet’s CEO became Southeast Asia’s first self-made female billionaire last year. And the airline’s CEO sees bikini campaigns and onboard stunts as empowering, even feminist given conservative Vietnamese mores.
When Delta re-upped its co-brand card agreement it set a bar that other airlines have tried to chase with their own bank issuer arrangements. American Express was willing to back the truck up to Virginia Avenue since it was set to lose its Costco cobrand and desperately needed to lock in its next-largest co-brand deal. (Shortly thereafter they re-upped their next largest, Starwood, as well.)
Revenue from American Express has continued to grow as spend on their products has grown. As Delta shared this week at is Investor Day 2017 revenue from American Express will total $3 billion. And they’re projecting out continued straight-line growth.
American lost its India reach when Delta outfoxed American and blocked its Jet Airways relationship. Now Delta is outmaneuvering American again with a WestJet joint venture and now American is losing its reach into Canada too.
A homeless man stumbled onto 300,000 Euros worth $354,786 at current exchange rates in the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport last Friday.
He ‘leaned on a door’ in terminal 2F which generally serves Air France’s partners like KLM and Alitalia. It was left unlocked and it opened.
To celebrate the launch of United’s new Houston – Sydney service they’re looking for 5 people with the first or last name Sydney to shower with gifts and prizes. Do you know someone named Sydney (or Sidney or Cydni or…)?
Over the summer Boeing pulled off some spectacular art with a 787 — drawing a 787 in the sky with the route that it flew.
And other pilots have gotten even more creative.
My wife and I booked first class awards in Singapore’s Suites from Sydney to Paris, with a stopover for a couple of days in Singapore. And we were fortunate to experience the ultimate in luxury — a Singapore airlines Suites cabin to ourselves with separate seats for eating and entertainment and separate suites for our double bed — plus a Singapore crew to ourselves!
The exclusive experience is unquestionably nice. Flagship First Dining gives American one of the best lounge experiences in the U.S. You have to compare it to the Qantas first class lounge in LAX, for instance.
A leisurely and serene sit down meal in this lounge is the perfect way to start a long flight, skip the first meal service and go right to sleep especially for the 11 p.m. departures.
French Polynesia is one of the toughest frequent flyer awards to book. That may be about to change, or at least we may expect a big drop in price.
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 »
