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.
United unveiled its new business class – Polaris back in June, and they launched the soft product on December 1.
The new fully flat direct aisle access seat isn’t fly yet, though. We just got more details about the first plane to have it and where it will fly.
Emirates expects to be offering premium economy within 18 months.
Some might argue they already offer premium economy, only they call it business class. Emirates offers an angled business class on its Boeing 777 aircraft. Only their A380s have fully flat seats. They’re introducing a new flat business class seat on new 777s, but not retrofitting existing ones.
Marriott’s top elite status comes with United status, and therefore access to Economy Plus seating. Starwood’s top elite status comes with pseudo-elite benefits on Delta, and those now include access to extra legroom seats. With the Marriott-Starwood merger, arn one of those statuses, you get both.
Frequent flyer programs all have corporate security, and so does American Express. I’m not sure whether this is a ‘new team’ and even if it is whether that means a new charge. We’ve certainly seen reports of accounts being frozen and investigated when using targeted links that weren’t intended for public use, and we’ve seen points clawed back from those accounts when violating American Express terms to achieve bonuses (such as meeting minimum spend with gift cards).
Judge Reinhold played a police officer in Beverly Hills Cop (and more importantly Brad in Fast Times at Ridgemont High).
Despite his law enforcement background as Detective Billy Rosewood alongside Eddie Murphy, he was arrested yesterday at the Dallas Love Field TSA checkpoint.
The Department of Transportation announced a proposed rule today to require airlines to disclose to consumers in advance if their flight will permit passengers to make voice calls using wireless devices.
This is a strange regulation to open comment on for a number of reasons. Not least of which because there’s no inflight cell phone calling allowed in the US today.
United’s Newark, Washington Dulles, and Houston flights to Hawaii have offered flat business class seats, and have not been eligible for complimentary elite upgrades.
Chicago and Denver flights are going to fall under this rule as well.
Here’s an overview of status matches, asking a loyalty program to give you status based on the status you hold with another program.
Travel providers are interested in acquiring their competitors’ best customers, but elite status has a lock-in effect. Sure, you might want to defect from United to American or from Delta to Alaska, but it’s pretty tough to do that and start from scratch with a new airline. You’re well treated as an elite, and it’s rough out there often times flying without any status.
While frequent flyer programs have gotten less competitive over the past three years, and many blame airline consolidation, in many ways airline product has gotten more competitive.
The major US legacy airlines have even been improving the experience in coach with better snacks and inflight entertainment. Delta takes their next step December 15.
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 »
