In January American introduced Platinum Pro, a 75,000 mile status tier, and formalized benefits for ConciergeKey members above Executive Platinum.
American also started requiring minimum spend for elite status earned this year.
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.
The UK’s Sun runs a scare story on germs on planes. Now, I’m absolutely worried about germs on planes. But much of what’s presented in the piece is flat wrong.
Is it clearly unacceptable for a coach passenger to use the lavatory in a forward cabin? “Use the lavatory in your ticketed class of service, first class bathrooms are for first class passengers.”
Or is it clearly fine? “You paid for a first class seat not a bathroom, and basic human needs should be met in the most efficient way possible.”
Between May 27 and September 4 it appears as though Starwood will be offering double points on weekdays and triple points on weekends under the marketing monkier “Take Three.”
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.
In March the TSA announced that pat downs would become more ‘intimate’ and began reaching out to local law enforcement to let them know they’d be getting complaints about sexual assault but to please ignore them.
TSA believed that since they’d basically be sexually assaulting passengers at will, some passengers may fail to understand that it’s not sexual assault when the government does it.
This is a lightning round, I’m going to give one quick thing that overwhelms everything else and I’m not going to offer a detailed explanation — just a simple statement of the one worst thing about an airline, a hotel chain, or a rental car company.
These choices are, of course, influenced by my idiosyncratic preferences — but I think they stand up:
Southwest Airlines flight attendants are unionized. They offer some of the best service in the US airline industry.
American Airlines has some fantastic flight attendants, but the service customers receive is like Forrest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates.
The truth is that frequent flyer programs will have to experience lower margins to remain competitive and defend their income streams into the future. And a successful loyalty marketing program actually needs to keep its members at the center of its thinking. When was the last time a US major airline program did that?
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 »
