Former Congressman Aaron Schock has been indicted by the FBI, accused of a dizzying array of fraudulent transactions to enrich himself.
Politicians get special travel perks anyway and when they’re pushing the envelope, they often do it across the board, including with miles. So it’s no real surprise that former Congressman Schock dipped into campaign funds when an award redemption went awry.
The biggest tradeoff with Hyatt’s program changes for many is that top tier status becomes harder to qualify for (although everyone who made elite status under the current rules will be grandfathered through February 2018).
Since the Hyatt program has the most lucrative top tier among the major hotel loyalty offerings, there are plenty of people considering whether it makes sense to try to get in under the wire with status before the rules change.
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.
I don’t know what a Trump administration will do on very many policy areas. Unlike a traditional candidate, there isn’t the litany of well-crafted proposals published and ready to hand to a stable of clear choices to lead cabinet agencies. And of course we have campaign rhetoric to go off of, but politicians aren’t known for keeping promises.
In the travel space though there are some things we can expect.
Donald Trump’s 757 received a water cannon salute as it departed New York LaGuardia airport for Washington DC so that the President Elect could meet with President Obama.
He could have taken the American Airlines Shuttle to Washington National, of course, it used to be the Trump Shuttle. On the Trump Shuttle, there were gold colored fixtures in the lavatories. On Trump’s 757 the seat belts — and everything else — are gold plated.
What happens next is exactly what you’d expect.
According to the criminal complaint (.pdf), Oliver Charles Halliday Gee was onboard Condor flight DE2115 on November 2 from Cancun to Frankfurt…
I’ve argued that if Marriott really wanted they could make their loyalty program the best in the world. While it remains to be seen what path they choose, we learned three things that should be relevant to consumers from yesterday’s quarterly earnings call:
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.
Effective December 5, Alaska Airlines will start taking fare class into account when determining upgrade priority.
In addition, coach award tickets will become upgradable. Full, refundable coach awards (these book into ‘Z’ inventory) will be eligible for instant upgrade to first class for elite members.
American Airlines was the first Gogo inflight internet customer in 2008. Four years later most, but not all, mainline aircraft had the service.
They installed the air to ground service, and largely didn’t upgrade to newer generations of the technology. As a result on many planes it’s super slow.
American should be driving quickly to a fast, consistent solution — not taking years to get to a fragmented one.
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 »
